There is a growing need for hydrogen and a future hydrogen economy is high on the political agenda. But where should the hydrogen come from? The “sustainable” routes are still too expensive. Steam reforming of hydrocarbons is the most feasible route today. If CO2-sequestration is accepted, fossil fuels may play an important role in a starting future “hydrogen economy”. This will happen by use o...

The photocatalytic production of hydrogen from aqueous systems is reviewed, stressing the very promising features of the process as an environmentally friendly, perfectly renewable way to produce hydrogen, the ideal fuel for the future. Starting with a brief historical background, the most recent achievements in the field are discussed, both in the development of innovative materials able to ca...

The limited fossil fuel prompts the prospecting of various unconventional energy sources to take over the traditional fossil fuel energy source. In this respect the use of hydrogen gas is an attractive alternate source. Attributed by its numerous advantages including those of environmentally clean, efficiency and renew ability, hydrogen gas is considered to be one of the most desired alternate....

We demonstrated the feasibility of fedbatch operation using Clostridium acetobutylicum suspension culture as a biocatalyst for the continuous production of hydrogen. The optimum operating pH and temperature of the current cultivation system for hydrogen production were pH 6.0 and 37 degrees C, respectively. The volumetric loading of the bioreactor for hydrogen production can be as high as 650 m...

At the University of Hawaii (UH), the approach to developing high-efficiency, low-cost photoelectrochemical (PEC) processes for the direct production of hydrogen has included the use of integrated electrochemical/optical models to design photoelectrodes based on multijunction thin-film technology; materials research to identify critical issues on photoelectrode efficiency and stability; and the...

In this year’s Phase II photoelectrochemical hydrogen production research at the University of Hawaii, we have continued our emphasis on developing high-performance multi-junction hydrogen photoelectrodes based on low cost semiconductor and catalyst films. Significant progress was made in the advancement of amorphous silicon/germanium and copper indium gallium diselenide materials for solid-sta...

the majority of rhizospheric bacteria, particularly fluorescent pseudomonads are able to stimulate plant growth by producing different metabolites including hydrogen cyanide and siderophores. to evaluate the effect of these metabolites on wheat growth, strains of fluorescent pseudomonads were isolated from the wheat rhizosphere in khorasan provinces, identified and studied for production of hyd...

Experimental designs were applied for optimizing media and process parameters for hydrogen production from maize stalk hydrolyzate by a newly isolated facultative strain.Plackett-Burman design was used to identify the significant components and using this method the media components - glucose, yeast extract, malt extract, peptone, and NaCl were identified as signi...

A modified sol-gel process has been found to significantly improve the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 nanoparticle in the process of solar hydrogen production. The surface of TiO2 nanoparticles were modified by the optimization of solvent of titanium precursor (acetic acid and/or ethanol) in the sol-gel method. A multi technique approach (SEM, XRD, FTIR, UV-DRS and TGA) was used to characteriz...

This report deals with a comparative study of typical methods for determining the fermentative abilities of microorganisms. The aim of the first studies was to select the best method for use with members of the Enterobacteriaceae and other easily cultivable species, using as criteria, rapidity, dependability, and simplicity. Later studies have involved adapting the method to some less easily cu...