Fuel from algae

As petrol prices continue to soar to record highs, motorists are crying out for a cheaper alternative.

Scientists at the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory are answering that call by working to chemically manipulate algae for production of the next generation of renewable fuels - hydrogen.

'We believe there is a fundamental advantage in looking at the production of hydrogen by photosynthesis as a renewable fuel,' senior chemist David Tiede said. 'Right now, ethanol is being produced from corn, but generating ethanol from corn is a thermodynamically much more inefficient process.'

Some varieties of algae, a kind of unicellular plant, contain an enzyme called hydrogenase that can create small amounts of hydrogen gas. Tiede and his group are trying to find a way to take the part of the enzyme that creates the gas and introduce it into the photosynthesis process. The result would be the production of a large amount of hydrogen gas, possibly on par with the amount of oxygen created.