Renewable hydrogen production and storage via biotechnological routes

Project team: Io Antonopoulou (project leader)

Duration: 2022-2024

Funded by Carl Tryggers Stiftelse

Climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions is one of the world’s most pressing challenges. Hydrogen (H2) deployment has been identified as one of the main strategies for becoming climate neutral. However, although H2 is a clean energy carrier, it faces limitations related to safe storage and transportation and higher energy density. Formic acid (FA) is a compound that is identified as a promising storage compound due to its high H2 content (4.4 wt.%), high energy density, low toxicity, and high stability at room temperature. Aim of the project is to create a biotechnological cycle that recycles CO2 and FA targeting renewable H2 production and storage. Enzymes are highly specific catalysts and ideal to be used for this purpose. They operate under mild conditions and be easily recovered and reused, which is a significant limitation of the current chemical catalysis technologies. The CO2/FA cycle has great potential for facilitating H2 deployment, which in turn is a key renewable resource for becoming a sustainable and circular economy.