A new 'green' technology developed cooperatively by scientists with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and North Carolina State University (NC State) could lead to production of hydrogen from nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Renewable sources of energy—such as hydrogen—that don't produce pollutants or greenhouse gases are needed to solve global energy shortages. Fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas are nonrenewable energy sources implicated in global warming.

The invention holds promise as a source of hydrogen for use in fuel cell technology. Fuel cell devices combine hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity and water, and are considered efficient, quiet and pollution-free. Fuel cells are now being tested in a range of products, including automobiles that release no emissions other than water vapor.

ARS inventors Paul Bishop and Telisa Loveless and NC State inventors Jonathan Olson and José Bruno-Bárcena developed the patent-pending technology.

Nitrogen-fixing bacteria play a key role in agriculture. They live in soil and on certain plant roots, and convert nitrogen from the air into a chemical form that plants can use to grow. The researchers developed a way to identify strains of these bacteria that produce hydrogen gas. read more...