Biological convertor of hydrogen to electricity for integration of renewable power to the grid

用于将可再生能源并入电网的氢电生物转换器

• 批准号: RGPIN-2014-06551
• 负责人: Karamanev, Dimitre
• 金额: $ 2.11万
• 依托单位: University of Western Ontario
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2015-01-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=589081
• 关键词: Biological; convertor; hydrogen; electricity; integration

According to the Nobel laureate Richard Smalley, "energy is the single greatest challenge facing humanity". The energy problem has two main aspects: (1) Environmental aspect. Greenhouse gases and other atmospheric pollutant emissions are of great concern. (2) The availability of conventional energy sources and energy security. Among the most promising ways to solve these problems is the use of renewable energy sources. Among the biggest problems of the latter, especially wind and solar, is the significant variability in time. One of the most promising ways to smooth and store electrical energy is by using hydrogen as an energy storage medium. After producing and storing hydrogen, unfortunately there is currently no developed technology to convert it back to electrical power. A fundamentally new technology for the conversion of hydrogen to electricity, developed and patented in the laboratory of the PI, allows to eliminate that bottlenecks in the hydrogen-based energy storage and smoothing of renewable power generation. The proposed novel technology named Biogenerator, is the first viable bio-technology for electrical power generation. It is based on the use of chemolithoautotrophic microorganisms as an electro-bio-catalyst for the bioelectrochemical electricity production. The microorganism used, Leptospirillum ferriphilum, was isolated from natural source - an abandoned gold and copper mine. The Biogenerator is one of the most environmentally-friendly power generation technologies, which has very low, and under certain conditions, even negative carbon dioxide emissions. The proposed project is related to the significant improvement of both the energy efficiency and the capital cost of the Biogenerator. The energy efficiency will be increased by developing a new microbial consortium for the conversion of hydrogen to electricity. The microorganisms will work at low temperature and high level of acidity. They will be obtained from acidic water streams originating from active volcanic sites. We are expecting to obtain unique microbiological characteristics of the consortium because of the original source of microorganisms, which has never been exploited before for electrical power generation. The microorganisms will be obtained from two volcanic sites: the Copahue volcano in Patagonia, Argentina and Kusatsu-Shirane volcano in Japan. The decrease in the capital cost of the Biogenerator will be achieved by synthesizing a anodic electrocatalysts for the hydrogen oxidation which will contain no noble-metal catalyst. Currently, the platinum-based electrocatalyst is one of the most expensive components of the Biogenerator. The non-noble electrocatalyst will allow not only to decrease the capital cost of the Biogenerator, but also will allow the use of “dirty” hydrogen, containing various pollutants, as a fuel. As a result of the successful completion of this project, the commercial potential of the Biogenerator will be increased significantly.

根据诺贝尔奖获得者理查德·斯马利的说法，“能源是人类面临的最大挑战”。能源问题主要有两个方面：(1)环境方面。温室气体和其他大气污染物的排放非常令人担忧。(2)常规能源的可获得性和能源安全。解决这些问题最有希望的方法之一是使用可再生能源。后者最大的问题之一，尤其是风能和太阳能，是时间上的显著变化。平滑和存储电能的最有前途的方法之一是使用氢气作为能量存储介质。不幸的是，在生产和储存氢气之后，目前还没有开发出将其转化为电能的技术。在PI实验室开发并获得专利的一种将氢气转化为电能的全新技术，可以消除氢气能量存储和可再生能源发电平滑方面的瓶颈。提出的新技术名为生物发电机，是第一个可行的生物技术发电。它的基础是使用化学自养微生物作为生物电化学发电的电生物催化剂。使用的微生物铁钩端螺旋体是从一个废弃的金矿和铜矿的天然来源中分离出来的。生物发电机是最环保的发电技术之一，它的二氧化碳排放量很低，在一定条件下甚至是负的。 拟议的项目与显著提高生物发电机的能源效率和资本成本有关。开发一种新的微生物联合体将氢气转化为电能，从而提高能源效率。这些微生物将在低温和高酸度下工作。它们将从源自活跃火山遗址的酸性水流中获得。由于微生物的原始来源，我们希望获得该财团独特的微生物特征，这些微生物以前从未被用于发电。这些微生物将从两个火山遗址获得：阿根廷巴塔哥尼亚的科帕霍火山和日本的草津-什拉内火山。 通过合成一种不含贵金属催化剂的氢氧化阳极电催化剂，可以降低生物发电机的投资成本。目前，铂基电催化剂是生物发电机中最昂贵的部件之一。这种非贵重的电催化剂不仅可以降低生物发电机的资本成本，还可以使用含有各种污染物的“脏”氢作为燃料。 随着该项目的成功完成，该生物发电机的商业潜力将大大增加。