Open AccessChallenges and opportunities for hydrogen production from microalgae
Author(s) -
Oey Melanie,
Sawyer Anne Linda,
Ross Ian Lawrence,
Hankamer Ben
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
plant biotechnology journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.525
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1467-7652
pISSN - 1467-7644
DOI - 10.1111/pbi.12516
Subject(s) - renewable energy , energy security , hydrogen production , production (economics) , software deployment , electricity generation , climate change mitigation , fossil fuel , biofuel , environmental science , natural resource economics , environmental economics , climate change , waste management , ecology , engineering , biology , economics , power (physics) , biochemistry , physics , macroeconomics , software engineering , quantum mechanics , catalysis
Summary The global population is predicted to increase from ~7.3 billion to over 9 billion people by 2050. Together with rising economic growth, this is forecast to result in a 50% increase in fuel demand, which will have to be met while reducing carbon dioxide ( CO 2 ) emissions by 50–80% to maintain social, political, energy and climate security. This tension between rising fuel demand and the requirement for rapid global decarbonization highlights the need to fast‐track the coordinated development and deployment of efficient cost‐effective renewable technologies for the production of CO 2 neutral energy. Currently, only 20% of global energy is provided as electricity, while 80% is provided as fuel. Hydrogen (H 2 ) is the most advanced CO 2 ‐free fuel and provides a ‘common’ energy currency as it can be produced via a range of renewable technologies, including photovoltaic ( PV ), wind, wave and biological systems such as microalgae, to power the next generation of H 2 fuel cells. Microalgae production systems for carbon‐based fuel (oil and ethanol) are now at the demonstration scale. This review focuses on evaluating the potential of microalgal technologies for the commercial production of solar‐driven H 2 from water. It summarizes key global technology drivers, the potential and theoretical limits of microalgal H 2 production systems, emerging strategies to engineer next‐generation systems and how these fit into an evolving H 2 economy.