International Collaboration on bio-hydrogen R and D Report for the Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE), Tokyo, Japan

In order to solve the problem of the foreseeable depletion of fossil energy resources and of expected global climatic changes due to the emission of greenhouse gases future energy systems are required which meet the growing world energy demand but do not depend on fossil fuels. One possible option which is discussed as a clean and environmentally friendly energy source for the 21"s"t century is the conversion of solar energy into hydrogen. Hydrogen as an environmentally friendly energy source can also be an integral part of a zero-emission economy because it can contribute to the minimization of toxic dispersion (especially the greenhouse gas CO_2) and to the maximization of sustainable use of renewable resources. It has been known for more than 50 years that certain living organisms are able to produce hydrogen. Biological hydrogen production has several comparative advantages over competing hydrogen production technologies such as photovoltaic or solarthermic electricity generation plus water hydrolysis. These advantages are - simpler systems: hydrogen production from direct water splitting without involvement of electricity/electrolysis, -self-regenerating systems, - biologically degradable systems: disposal can be coupled to the production of additional value-added substances, - flexible systems: production organisms can adapt to changing environmental conditions, -versatile systems: production organisms which are tailor-made to special environmental conditions can be selected. (orig.)Available from TIB Hannover / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman