Israeli researchers have developed a technology to produce hydrogen and electricity from live bacteria, as published Monday by Technion Institute of Technology, located in northern city of Haifa.
The new technology enables generating energy from photosynthetic bacteria called "cyanobacteria", which is common in lakes, seas and other environments.
Such bacteria has developed during evolution photosynthesis mechanisms that allow it to produce for themselves energy from sunlight.
It can also produce energy in the dark using respiratory mechanisms based on sugar decomposition.
The bacteria passes the energy to its chemical reaction center, and breaks down water by creating an electron current and hydrogen ions, which are used to produce chemical energy for creating food.
Technion researchers have created a system for generating energy from both light and dark processes.
The collected energy is harnessed to produce electricity that is used to generate hydrogen gas. Hydrogen is considered the future fuel, because it does not emit pollution but only water.
Editor:Cherie
