Algae producers

2000/04/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Energia berriztagarriak

Hydrogen is a very clean energy source, but very expensive to produce, so far!

A team of researchers from Colorado and Berkeley have discovered the possibility of producing hydrogen gas naturally and cleanly using algae that inhabit many places on the planet. These algae are photosynthetic algae, but when forced to live in an anaerobic environment, that is, oxygen-free, they alter their metabolism and produce hydrogen.

The laboratory procedure involves removing oxygen and light when algae have grown under normal conditions and have increased considerably. Algae will alter your metabolism and produce hydrogen. After four days, the algae must return to their normal state and after several days of rest, they are ready to work again. 850 ml Chlamydomonas reinhardtii can produce 3 ml of hydrogen per hour. All you have to do is collect this hydrogen. Although small amounts of hydrogen have still been produced, researchers believe they are able to multiply production by ten. If they believe it is correct, algae growing in a small well can produce enough hydrogen to move about 10 cars.