Researchers studying a hydrogen-producing, single-celled green algae, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, have unmasked a previously unknown fermentation pathway that may open up possibilities for increasing hydrogen production.
Normally, only a small fraction of the electrons go into generating hydrogen during fermentation.
However, a major research goal has been to develop ways to increase this fraction, which would raise the potential yield of hydrogen.
In the new study, researchers at the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Plant Biology, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and the Colorado School of Mines (CSM), examined metabolic processes in a mutant strain that was unable to assemble an active hydrogenase enzyme.
The researchers expected the cell’s metabolism to compensate by increasing metabolite flow along other known fermentation pathways, such as those producing formate and ethanol as end products.
Instead, the algae activated a pathway leading to the production of succinate, which was previously not associated with fermentation metabolism in C. reinhardtii.
Notably, succinate, a widely used industrial chemical normally synthesized from petroleum, is included in the Department of Energy’s list of the top 12 value added chemicals from biomass.
