Converting plentiful, renewable resources
into energy
The Department has a high-level goal of designing a new organism
to produce hydrogen from a renewable resource with efficiencies
approaching theoretical. This new organism will ferment cellulose
– one of the most abundant renewable resources available –
and produce hydrogen. One of the primary advantages of creating
a completely new organism for such fermentations is to control growth
and eliminate any side re
actions that might reduce the efficiency
of cellulose conversion to hydrogen. The cell designs developed
for hydrogen production will form the basis for new cell designs
to remediate recalcitrant environmental contaminants, sequester
carbon, and synthesize new materials in an environmentally friendly
way.
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