Super bacteria ramp up hydrogen production

Greenbang had never thought of bacteria resembling students until today. You know, bit slack, shy of hard work, but apparently, that’s just what they are. You can’t rely on anyone nowadays, not ever bacteria. Luckily, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIA), Kharagpur has found out a way of picking out the equivalent of the grade-A getting, chess club leading, doctoral thesis-writing student bacteria. If you could put them under the microscope, by all accounts, they’d probably turn up at their lecture in a waistcoat doing long division for fun.

Or, to put it another way, the IIA has found a strain of bacteria that produces 40 percent more hydrogen than most other strains, according to Express India, which is going to be handy for hydrogen fuel.

Express India also reports that the university has found the bacteria 3.85 moles of hydrogen from one mole of the substrate, which is very close to the theoretical limit of 4 moles of hydrogen during anaerobic fermentation.

Apparently, the academics have been approached by companies with a view to a commercial pilot of the technology.