| EPSRC Reference: |
EP/J015571/1 |
| Title: |
Development of a microscopic gas diffusion-reaction model for a H2 producing biocatalyst |
| Principal Investigator: |
Blumberger, Professor J |
| Other Investigators: |
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| Researcher Co-Investigators: |
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| Project Partners: |
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| Department: |
Physics and Astronomy |
| Organisation: |
UCL |
| Scheme: |
Standard Research |
| Starts: |
03 September 2012 |
Ends: |
02 September 2014 |
Value (£): |
171,251
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| EPSRC Research Topic Classifications: |
| Catalysis & Applied Catalysis |
Gas & Solution Phase Reactions |
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| EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications: |
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| Related Grants: |
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| Panel History: |
| Panel Date | Panel Name | Outcome |
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08 Feb 2012
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EPSRC Physical Sciences Chemistry - February 2012
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Announced
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Summary on Grant Application Form |
Providing the technology for production of renewable energy is one of the grand
challenges of this century. There are alternatives to oil, gas and nuclear such as
water, wind and solar power. Of those, the latter is a virtually unlimited power source
and we think that every effort should be undertaken to try to harvest the power
of the sun. This is not an easy task because light energy needs to
be converted into a form of energy that can be stored and supplied
on demand. A convenient storage medium are molecules comprised of atoms
that are held together by energy-rich covalent bonds. Indeed, over millions of years
nature has stored sun light in form of organic molecules (fossil fuels) via natural
photosynthesis. A carbon-free alternative storage medium is molecular hydrogen with
the added advantage that the energy density that can be stored with hydrogen
is significantly larger than for fossil fuels. Thus, molecular hydrogen is envisaged as one of
the primary energy carriers of the future. One of the grand challenges for scientists
is to find or design a cheap catalyst that allows for efficient production of hydrogen from
sunlight and a source for hydrogen atoms, ideally water.
Clearly, one of the most sustainable approaches to hydrogen production is
photocatalytic water oxidation, although this process requires efficient catalysts.
Their design is by no means trivial and can probably be considered as the holy grail
of contemporary material science. A viable alternative that we investigate here
is to exploit biological molecules (hydrogenases) that can be found in microbes
such as green algae and cyanobacteria capable of photosynthetic water splitting.
Pilot plants of H2 producing organisms exist, but there are major barriers that must
be overcome to bring the process to commercial viability. The most important one that
needs to be addressed is the high sensitivity of the organism's hydrogenase to
molecular oxygen. Evolved under anaerobic conditions, the biomolecule gets inhibited or
damaged upon exposure of the oxygen that is around us in the atmosphere.
There is evidence that hydrogenases may be modified so as to render the molecule
less sensitive to oxygen. In order to facilitate this optimization process we propose
here to investigate theoretically the primary events of the oxidative damage, that is diffusion
and binding of oxygen molecules to the active site of hydrogenases, by developing
novel molecular simulation methods. The simulations will help to understand and
interpret recent experimental measurements on a molecular level. For example,
they will allow us to understand which pathways oxygen molecules take before they
damage the active site and how fast this process occurs. The microscopic information
gained from simulation will be vital for the suggestion of modifications (mutations)
of hydrogenase that aim to restrict the access and the binding of molecular oxygen
while leaving the catalytic power for hydrogen production unchanged. The effects
of the suggested mutations will be predicted by our simulations and tested in vitro
by an experimental colleague.
The long term goal of this project is to obtain a hydrogenase mutant with
significantly increased aerotolerance, which can be used for hydrogen production
on a technological scale. This would have a tremendous socio-economic impact
as the hydrogen industry is likely to take a prominent position on the
future energy market.
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Key Findings |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Potential use in non-academic contexts |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Impacts |
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| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
| Summary |
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| Date Materialised |
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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| Project URL: |
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| Further Information: |
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| Organisation Website: |
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