NEW!  Making H2 in a bio-electrochemically assisted microbial reactor (Developed by adapting a type of completely anaerobic microbial fuel cell)  See the PSU press release.

The most environmentally-benign methods of energy production are based on sustainable methods.  While there will be no single solution for “green energy”, hydrogen-based fuel cells offer great promise for non-polluting energy production. The technology to turn hydrogen into electricity already exists, and is forming the basis of a new, global shift to a “hydrogen-based” fuel economy. A move towards hydrogen is motivated by international environmental concerns and diminishing petroleum reserves. A hydrogen-based economy is inherently environmentally friendly as hydrogen oxidation with oxygen in a fuel cell produces harmless water. The global emergence of hydrogen technologies will provide new growth opportunities for developing countries and allow them to to take a "technology leap" to more environmentally safe hydrogen fuels, avoiding fossil fuel consumption during industrial development. 

Hydrogen production in fuel cells does not increase CO2 emissions only when the hydrogen is produced from renewable resources, such as water or biomass sources such as high-sugar crops.  Because growing these crops captures CO2 in the form of biomass, carbon release during hydrogen production will not produce a net increase in global atmospheric CO2.

Wastewater treatment is currently a drain on the economic health of many industries, particularly food-processing plants.  The fact that a wastewater infrastructure already exists at these site makes wastewater production of hydrogen an economical alternative to costly aeration-based treatment processes. Extremely high concentrations of carbohydrates in wastewater can most economically be captured and turned into energy. If the organic matter in domestic wastewater was completely converted to H₂, the energy released would equal the equivalent of about eight 1000 MW power plants.  While all of the organic matter in a wastewater stream cannot be converted to H2, and fuel cells are not 100% efficient, this calculation shows the enormous potential of hydrogen to serve as a net producer of energy for a community and also to reduce our national consumption of energy. 

Researchers in the Logan group at Penn State University are working on methods to economically produce hydrogen from waste materials.  We are currently working on an project funded by the National Science Foundation aimed at increasing the efficiency of hydrogen production in bioreactors, by understanding the factors that affect biological hydrogen production by bacteria during anaerobic treatment (see NSF-H2 Project).  With funding from USFilter, we are demonstrating the feasibility of turning wastewaters at several sites in Pennsylvania into hydrogen gas as a part of wastewater treatment systems (see USFilter project).  In some instances, it may be possible to develop systems based on high hydrogen production using genetically engineered bacteria, and we are engaged in research to enhance hydrogen production with these modern techniques (See LSC Seed Grant).  Our research on energy production is not limited to biological hydrogen production; we currently are looking at direct energy production in microbial fuel cells.

The BioHydrogen Group at Penn State:

Graduate Students: Steven van Ginkel, Husen Zhang, Booki Min, Jung Rae Kim

Post doctoral researchers: Sang Eun Oh, Jianlin Xu, Hong Liu, John Trimble

Visitors/collaborators:  Paul Schraeder

Faculty: Bruce Logan, Mary Ann Bruns, Jay Regan, Mark Guiltinan