Sustainable Energy Blog

Waste water plus bugs make hydrogen

Bacteria that feed on vinegar and waste water zapped with a shot of electricity could produce a clean hydrogen fuel to power vehicles that now run on petrol, researchers report. These so-called microbial fuel cells can turn almost any biodegradable organic material into zero-emission hydrogen gas fuel, says Professor Bruce Logan of Penn State University. This would be an environmental advantage over the current generation of hydrogen-powered cars, where the hydrogen is most commonly made from fossil fuels. Even though the cars themselves emit no greenhouse gases, the manufacture of their fuel does. “This is a method of using renewable organic matter, using anything that’s biodegradable and being able to generate hydrogen from that material,” Logan says. In research published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Logan and colleague Dr Shaoan Cheng used naturally-occurring bacteria in an electrolysis cell with acetic acid, the acid found in vinegar. The bacteria slurp up the acetic acid and release electrons and protons creating up to 0.3 volts of electricity. When a bit more electricity is added from an outside source, hydrogen gas bubbles up from the liquid. 

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/2089315.htm?enviro