Targeted bioengineering and systems biology for solar powered hydrogen production in green algal cells

发展清洁燃料以应对气候变化和防止石油价格冲击，是我们社会面临的一项紧迫挑战。燃料约占能源市场的67%，但大多数低二氧化碳排放技术(例如核能和清洁煤炭技术)都瞄准了电力市场。相比之下，Solar Bio-H2工艺使用藻类光生物反应器从水(最终是海水，促进海水淡化)生产太阳能驱动的H2燃料。该项目旨在提高该工艺的效率，使之达到经济的水平。太阳能生物氢工艺减少了生产生物燃料所需的水。将生物反应堆设在非耕地上还可以消除生物燃料和粮食生产之间的竞争。

The development of clean fuels to combat climate change and protect against oil price shocks, is an urgent challenge facing our society. Fuels make up ~67% of the energy market, yet most low-CO2 emissions technologies (e.g. nuclear and clean-coal-technology) target the electricity market. In contrast the Solar Bio-H2 process uses algal photobioreactors to drive solar-powered H2 fuel production from water (ultimately sea water, facilitating desalination). This project aims to improve the efficiency of the process towards economical levels. The Solar Bio-H2 process reduces water requirements for biofuel production. Locating bioreactors on non-arable land also eliminates competition between biofuel and food production.