IEA CERT Conference
Application of Microbial
Photosynthesis to Hydrogen
Production
Yasuo ASADA
General Education, Chemistry
College of Science & Technology,
Nihon-University
IEA Hydrogen Agreement Task 15
PHOTOBIOLOGICAL HYDROGEN PRODUCTION
1999 2004
Participating Countries: Japan, Norway, Sweden, USA, Canada, Netherlands, UK
Objective: The biological production of hydrogen from water or organic acids nd sunlight
using microalgal or bacterial photosynthesis
The fermentative production of hydrogen from organic matter
Subtask A. Light-driven Hydrogen Production by Microalgae and Photosynthetic Bacteria
The fundamental understanding of the genetics, biochemistry and physiology of hydrogen
metabolism of microalgae and photosynthetic bacteria.
Subtask B. Maximizing Photosynthetic Efficiencies
Develop green algae and photosynthetic bacteria strains with considerable reduced light-
harvesting pigment contents in both photosystems using molecular genetic techniques.
Subtask C. Hydrogen Fermentations.
Subtask D. Improve Photobioreactor Systems for Hydrogen Production
Concluding Remarks
Basic Sciences
Intensive studies on photosynthetic microorganisms,
especially their hydrogen metabolism
Studies on function of hydrogen producing enzymes
Basic studies on microbial photosynthesis
Would be applicable to
Establishment of hydrogen producing system in
photosynthetic microorganisms
Improvement of efficiency of light energy conversion
(R & D for large scale culture and photobioreactors)
ANNEX