Edited by Mary Rose de Valladares M.R.S. Enterprises, LLC ...

Jun Miyake,
Operating Agent,
National Institute of Advanced
Industrial Science and Technology
(AIST), Japan
INTRODUCTION
‘BioHydrogen,’ the production of
H2 by microorganisms, has been an ac­
for many years. The Governments
of Japan, Europe, and the U.S cur­
programs and related basic research.
Realization of practical processes for
photobiological hydrogen production
from water using solar energy would
result in a major novel source of sus­
tainable and renewable energy without
greenhouse gas emissions or environ­
mental pollution. This important and
challenging item was studied in Task 15
in succession to Task 10B. However,
development of such practical process­
relatively long­term basic and applied
R&D. Our efforts for the photobiological
hydrogen production from water should
be continued.
In the new Task 21, dark hydro­
gen production (without photosynthetic
process) must also be considered
because this hydrogen production
method, based on the utilization of
waste biomass or other photosynthetic
products, is one of the environmentally
acceptable technologies. Furthermore,
the new task will also involve hydrogen
production by in vitro systems and the
construction of biological fuel cells, a
technology and molecular handling tech­
nology. Finally, the social acceptance
of BioHydrogen will be emphasized as
a new subtask. As energy prices rise,
the prospects for advanced energy
BioHydrogen
technologies like BioHydrogen improve.
We have to evaluate the feasibility of
the technology taking every factor into
consideration. Task 21 will cover the
integrated areas of research, technologi­
cal/economic evaluation, and its adapta­
tion to society, all of which are of mutual
interest to the countries and research­
ers participating in the IEA Hydrogen
Agreement. This new Task will provide
a basis for establishing actual collabora­
tive research projects and an overall
coordinated program.
OBJECTIVE
The Task will carry out collabora­
tive research activities on the biological
production of hydrogen using bacterial
dark fermentation, photosynthetic mi­
crobes, and in vitro and bio­inspired sys­
tems. The overall objective is not only
applied science in this area of research
evaluate the economics and sociological
search program in which advancements
could be made that allow the evaluation
of the progress made and the potential
TASK DESCRIPTION
The Task concerns develop­
ment of basic and applied science of
BioHydrogen and total integration of
the state­of­the­art of each subtask into
techno­economic evaluation. Dark fer­
mentation, hydrogen production by mi­
croalgae and cyanobacteria from water
and in vitro systems will be studied with
close connection to techno­economic
evaluation. The following R&D areas
will be investigated in a collaborative
R&D effort.
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“The Biohydrogen
Task will carry
out collaborative
research activities
on the biological
production of
hydrogen using
bacterial dark
fermentation,
photosynthetic
microbes, and
in vitro and bio­
inspired systems.”
“The overall
objective is not
advance the basic
and applied science
in this area of
research over the
also to evaluate
the economics and
sociological aspects
of BioHydrogen.”