Process Biohydrogen

Generation Biohydrogen

Biohydrogen is defined as hydrogen produced biologically, most commonly by algae, bacteria and archaea. Biohydrogen is a potential biofuel obtainable from both cultivation and from waste organic materials.

Refineries are large-volume producers and consumers of hydrogen. Today 96% of all hydrogen is derived from fossil fuels, with 48% from natural gas, 30% from hydrocarbons, 18% from coal and about 4% from electrolysis.

Oil-sands processing, gas-to-liquids and coal gasification projects that are ongoing, require a huge amount of hydrogen and is expected to boost the requirement significantly within the next few years. Environmental regulations implemented in most countries, increase the hydrogen requirement at refineries for gas-line and diesel desulfurization.

It would take about 25,000 square kilometres to be sufficient to displace gasoline use in the US. To put this in perspective, this area represents approximately 10% of the area devoted to growing soya in the US.

The US Department of Energy has targeted a selling price of $2.60 / kg as a goal for making renewable hydrogen economically viable. 1 kg is approximately the energy equivalent to a gallon of gasoline. To achieve this, the efficiency of light-to-hydrogen conversion must reach 10% while current efficiency is only 1% and selling price is estimated at $13.53 / kg.

Process Biohydrogen

According to the DOE cost estimate, for a refueling station to supply 100 cars per day, it would need 300 kg. With current technology, a 300 kg per day stand-alone system will require 110,000 m2 of pond area, 0.2 g/l cell concentration, a truncated antennae mutant and 10 cm pond depth.

Areas of research to increase efficiency include developing oxygen-tolerant FeFe-hydrogenases and increased hydrogen production rates through improved electron transfer.