Photosynthetic Hydrogen and Oxygen Production by Green Algae

Abstract

Photosynthesis research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is focused on hydrogen and oxygen production by green algae in the context of its potential as a renewable fuel and chemical feed stock. Beginning with its discovery by Gaffron and Rubin in 1942, motivated by curiosity-driven laboratory research, studies were initiated in the early 1970s that focused on photosynthetic hydrogen production from an applied perspective. From a scientific and technical point of view, current research is focused on optimizing net thermodynamic conversion efficiencies represented by the Gibbs Free Energy of molecular hydrogen. The key research questions of maximizing hydrogen and oxygen production by light-activated water splitting in green algae are: (1) removing the oxygen sensitivity of algal hydrogenases; (2) linearizing the light saturation curves of hotosynthesis throughout the entire range of terrestrial solar irradiance-including the role of bicarbonate and carbon dioxide in optimization of photosynthetic electron transpor;t and (3) constructing real-world bioreactors, including the generation of hydrogen and oxygen against workable back pressures of the photoproduced gases.