BIOHYDROGEN

At the present, the concentration of CO2 is found to be exceeding 350 ppmw where it
can potentially intensify the greenhouse effect by the raising global temperature. The
bulk emissions mainly come from motor vehicles, which alone account for more than
70% of the global CO and 19% of CO2 emission. (Goldemberg 2008).

Hydrogen gas is an important and promising energy carrier that could play a significant
role in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. On combustion, H2 produces water
and hence is as considered a clean and carbon-neutral energy carrier. With a high
energy yield of 122 kJ/g, which is 2.75-fold greater than that of hydrocarbon fuel, H2 is
regarded as an ideal energy.

Hydrogen is being investigated extensively as a future fuel, with many demonstration

project and prototype hydrogen-powered vehicle on display throughout the world
(Tollefson 2010). Because more than 85% of the hydrogen presently on the market is
made by steam reforming of methane, there is a real need for a sustainable means of
hydrogen production. Hydrogen has many characteristics that make it a more desiable
biofuel than other currently being developed, including a high gravimetric density,
lower emissions, and higher efficiency of energy conversion, as it can be converted in
fuel cell rather than combusted.

Molecular hydrogen does not occur naturally in the Earth’s crush. For partical
applications, molacular hydrogen needs to be produced. At the present, total annual
world hydrogen production is around 368 trillion cubic meters (Pandu and Joseph,
2012). Out of the total global production of hydrogen, 48% is produced from steam
methane reforming, about 30% from oil/naphta reforming from refinery/chemical
industrial off-gases, 18% from coal gasification, 3.9% from water electrolysis, and 0.1%
from other source (Baghchehsaree et al, 2010).

In nature, hydrogen is produced by a wide variety of organisms. These organisms

produce hydrogen mostly under anaerobic condition. Among all the processes, dark
fermentation is primarily for most of the hydrogen produced.