Biological Enzymes Can Be Used As Source of Hydrogen Fuel

Research that came from the University of Illinois and also the University of California, Davis has chemists’ one step closer for recreating the nature's most efficient machinery that generates hydrogen gas. This new development may also help in clearing the path for the hydrogen fuel industry for moving into a larger role in the global push toward that is more environmentally friendly energy sources.

The researchers have reported their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Currently, it has been found that hydrogen gas is being produced using a very complex industrial process which has limited its attractiveness for the green fuel market, the researchers has said. In response the scientists have been looking toward biologically synthesized hydrogen, which is very much efficient than the current human-made process has been told by chemistry professor and study co-author Thomas Rauchfuss.

Biological enzymes, called hydrogenases, are from nature's machinery for making and burning the hydrogen gas. These enzymes range come in two varieties, iron-iron and nickel-iron – and named for the elements responsible for driving the chemical reactions. The new study focuses on the iron-iron variety because it does the job faster, the researchers said.

The team came into the study with a general understanding of some chemical composition of the active sites that is within the enzyme. They have hypothesized that the sites were assembled by using 10 parts which incorporate four carbon monoxide molecules, two cyanide ions, two iron ions and two groups of a sulfur-containing amino acid known as cysteine.

By: Prerana Sharma

Content: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/11/191125120936.htm