{"id":24332,"date":"2015-02-06T03:03:48","date_gmt":"2015-02-06T02:03:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rss.nova-institut.net\/public.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.innovations-report.com%2Fhtml%2Freports%2Flife-sciences%2Fresearcher-finds-hydrogen-production-in-extreme-bacterium.html"},"modified":"2015-02-05T16:16:06","modified_gmt":"2015-02-05T15:16:06","slug":"st-researcher-finds-hydrogen-production-in-extreme-bacterium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/st-researcher-finds-hydrogen-production-in-extreme-bacterium\/","title":{"rendered":"S&T researcher finds hydrogen production in extreme bacterium"},"content":{"rendered":"

A researcher at Missouri University of Science and Technology has discovered a bacterium that can produce hydrogen<\/a>, an element that one day could lessen the world\u2019s dependence on oil.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr. Melanie Mormile, professor of biological sciences at Missouri S&T, and her team discovered the bacterium \u201cHalanaerobium hydrogeninformans\u201d in Soap Lake, Washington. It can \u201cproduce hydrogen under saline and alkaline conditions in amounts that rival genetically modified organisms,\u201d Mormile says.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsually, I tend to study the overall microbial ecology of extreme environments, but this particular bacterium has caught my attention,\u201d Mormile says. \u201cI intend to study this isolate in greater detail.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mormile, an expert in the microbial ecology of extreme environments, wasn\u2019t searching for a bacterium that could produce hydrogen. Instead, she first became interested in bacteria that could help clean up the environment, especially looking at the extremophiles found in Soap Lake. An extremophile is a microorganism that lives in conditions of extreme temperature, acidity, alkalinity or chemical concentration. Living in such a hostile environment, \u201cHalanaerobium hydrogeninformans\u201d has metabolic capabilities under conditions that occur at some contaminated waste sites.<\/p>\n

With \u201cHalanaerobium hydrogeninformans,\u201d she expected to find an iron-reducing bacterium and describe a new species. What she found was a new species of bacterium that can produce hydrogen and 1, 3-propanediol under high pH and salinity conditions that might turn out to be valuable industrially. An organic compound, 1, 3-propenediol can be formulated into industrial products including composites, adhesives, laminates and coatings. It\u2019s also a solvent and can be used as antifreeze.<\/p>\n

The infrastructure isn\u2019t in place now for hydrogen to replace gasoline as a fuel for planes, trains and automobiles. But if hydrogen becomes an alternative to gasoline, \u201cHalanaerobium hydrogeniformans,\u201d mass-produced on an industrial scale, might be one solution \u2013 although it won\u2019t be a solution anytime soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be great if we got liters and liters of production of hydrogen,\u201d Mormile says. \u201cHowever, we have not been able to scale up yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her first single-author article, Mormile\u2019s findings were featured in the Nov. 19 edition of Frontiers in Microbiology<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mormile holds two patents for her work on the Soap Lake bacterium\u2019s biohydrogen formation under very alkaline and saline conditions. Also named on the patents are Dr. Judy Wall, Curators\u2019 Professor of Biochemistry and Joint Curators\u2019 Professor of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology at the University of Missouri-Columbia, and her former lab members, Matthew Begemann and Dwayne Elias. A pending patent application, submitted along with Elias; Dr. Oliver Sitton, professor of chemical and biochemical engineering at Missouri S&T; and Daniel Roush, then a master\u2019s student for Mormile, is for the conversion of glycerol to 1, 3-propanediol, also under hostile alkaline and saline conditions.<\/p>\n

This patented and patent-pending technology is available for licensing through the Missouri S&T Center for Technology Transfer and Economic Development.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Contact<\/h3>\n

Eric Anderson
\nPhone: 573-341-4690
\nE-Mail: ericwa@mst.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A researcher at Missouri University of Science and Technology has discovered a bacterium that can pr…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[],"supplier":[1546,1060],"class_list":["post-24332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","supplier-missouri-university-of-science-and-technology","supplier-university-of-missouri"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24332\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24332"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=24332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}