Hydrogen can be produced in a way that is carbon neutral by adding bacteria to forestry or household waste in a similar way to that used for biogas production. However, this process does not produce much hydrogen gas for the amount of biomass needed.
Now, researchers at Lund University in Sweden have found that a bacterium called Caldicellulosiruptor saccharolyticus, which was isolated in a hot spring in New Zealand, .produces twice as much hydrogen gas as the bacteria currently used. The discovery increase the possibilities of competitive biological production of hydrogen gas.
According to Karin Willquist, who is presenting a doctoral thesis on the research, "If hydrogen gas is produced from biomass, there is no addition of carbon dioxide because the carbon dioxide formed in the production is the same that is absorbed from the atmosphere by the plants being used. Bio-hydrogen gas will probably complement biogas in the future. A first step towards a hydrogen gas society could be to mix hydrogen gas with methane gas and use the existing methane gas infrastructure. Buses in Malmö, for example, drive on a mixture of hydrogen gas and methane gas."
