PHOTOSYNH2

Developing bacteria to produce hydrogen from sunlight using synthetic biology for efficient and cost-effective energy conversion.

Certain bacteria can split water into hydrogen and oxygen using light. Taking a cue from nature, the EU-funded PhotoSynH2 project aims to develop genetically modified bacteria (cyanobacteria) able to convert solar energy to hydrogen. For their synthesis, researchers will employ a novel synthetic biology approach called photosynthetic electron focusing. The bacteria could be adapted and grown in seawater and wastewater. To realise a scalable approach, researchers will target the development of large-scale photobioreactors that could demonstrate a tenfold increase in efficiency compared to the state of the art. The theoretical estimates for hydrogen production costs could be as low as EUR 5/kg, rendering the proposed technology cost competitive compared to current systems integrating photovoltaics and electrolysers.