A novel catalyst synthesis method, capable of generating hydrogen from yeasts, the main microorganisms involved in alcohol and bread fermentation, has been developed. The new system can efficiently decompose water into oxygen and hydrogen, using substances found in waste-yeast biomass. Besides, this method is inexpensive, has a high yield, and thus is expected to reduce the hydrogen production cost from the decomposition of water. A research team, led by Distinguished Professor Kwang S. Kim (National Honor Scientist of Korea) in the School of Natural Sciences at UNIST has successfully developed a new catalyst synthesis method that can efficiently decompose water into oxygen and hydrogen using waste-yeast biomass. Besides, by covering the yeast-based support with ruthenium (Ru) and iron (Fe)-based materials, they developed a new catalyst material that exhibits excellent performance in both hydrogen and oxygen generation.
Scaleable Hydrogen Production via Bioengineered Yeast Systems Summary A new synthetic biology approach is proposed for producing hydrogen from bioengineered yeast strains. The invention applies aggressive engineering of metabolic pathways and reducing complexes to create a yeast microenvironment capable of producing hydrogen from glucose at theoretical maximum levels (approaching >50 kg hydrogen/ton of biomass) according to the glucose-hydrogen reaction: