Scientists discover Hydrogen producing bacteria

Scientists have found a new species of bacterium

environment and produces hydrogen, an element which may in the future reduce the world's dependency on oil.

The bacterium

hydrogeninformans

Soap Lake

researchers from the Missouri University of Science and Technology.

It can "produce hydrogen under saline and alkaline conditions in amounts that rival genetically

head researcher Dr. Melanie Mormile.

Mormile, a microbial ecology of extreme environments

Bacterium’s capability by accident when she was searching for bacteria that could aid in the

environment, especially the extremophiles which live in Soap Lake.

An extremophile

microorganism

temperature,

chemically concentrated environments.

She was

hydrogeninformans

metabolic

conditions which are usually prevalent in contaminated waste sites.

Mormile and her team discovered that the new species of bacterium is capable of producing hydrogen and 1, 3-propanediol in environments with high pH and salinity conditions.

"It would be great if we got liters and liters of production of hydrogen," Mormile said. "However, we have not been able to scale up yet."

Currently the infrastructure isn’t present for gasoline to be replaced by hydrogen as an energy source. But in the future it may become

problem of ever dwindling fossil-fuels.

The bacterium’s

propenediol, an organic compound, can be used in industrial products such as coatings,

composites

antifreeze.