Originally published March 2 2005
Scientists working on ways to create artificial photosynthesis to produce hydrogen fuel
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
With hydrogen becoming the fuel of the future, a European research network known as SOLAR-H is looking at ways to create artificial photosynthesis to fill the world's anticipated hydrogen demand. This network, which was started in Sweden, is researching microorganisms to determine the chemical reactions necessary to produce large amounts of hydrogen through processes initiated by sunlight.
Plant photosynthesis has long been studied with an eye to understanding its underlying mechanisms and then applying this knowledge to the production of energy for the needs of society.
Today, hydrogen is regarded as one of the most promising forms of fuel for the future.
A new European network, SOLAR-H, has now been established to bring together research competence from different fields.
"The network consists of laboratories that lead the world in a broad spectrum of fields from molecular biology, biochemistry, and synthetic chemistry to physical chemistry," says Professor Stenbj�rn Styring at the Section for Biomimetics at Uppsala University.
He recently moved to Uppsala from Lund University, together with his research team, and he will now be coordinating the new network, which was initiated in Sweden and the Consortium for Artificial Photosynthesis.
With the move to Uppsala the Consortium will now be able to gather most of its research at one university, having previously been split up at three different ones.
Uppsala already had Leif Hammarstr�m's team in chemical physics and Peter Lindblad's group in physiological botany.
Lindblad's team is studying living cyanobacteria (a kind of alga) and is altering their metabolism at the genetic level so they produce hydrogen without absorbing it at the same time.
Styring heads a team that is studying the mechanisms of natural photosynthesis at the biochemical level, while a third team led by a group of young scientists are busy synthesizing the molecule complexes necessary to imitate the natural process.
In Leif Hammarstr�m's team the rapid and complex reactions can be studied using a series of different physical methods of measurement.
It's a scientific challenge, and if we succeed, the market will be gigantic."
Other laboratories in SOLAR-H are in France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.
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