In the SmartBioH2-BW project, a biorefinery is to be integrated into the existing industrial environment of Evonik Operations GmbH in Rheinfelden to produce biohydrogen and biobased recyclables on an industrial scale - using industrial wastewater and residual material streams generated there.

Hydrogen (H2) is considered a key element of the energy transition. It can be used not only as an energy carrier, for example as fuel for aircraft and ships, to fire furnaces or to generate electricity and heat in fuel cells, but also as a raw material for the chemical industry. As part of its national hydrogen strategy, Germany is focusing primarily on green hydrogen, which is produced from water and renewable energy by means of electrolysis. However, biotechnological processes can also be used to produce hydrogen without the use of fossil energy sources. Processes using photosynthetically growing, hydrogen-producing purple bacteria or microalgae have been studied for a long time. Processes for the production of biohydrogen have not yet been implemented on a larger scale.

With the process of photosynthesis, known primarily from plants, organisms use light energy to convert water and carbon dioxide from the air into sugar, a high-energy chemical carbon compound. Purple bacteria and microalgae release hydrogen in the process. Research work on the biotechnological production of hydrogen focuses on modifying or adapting the metabolism of the microbes or the culture conditions for the microalgae in such a way that the organisms produce as much hydrogen as possible and economic production becomes possible. Another challenge is the limitation of the light supply for the purple bacteria in plants that go beyond the laboratory scale.

Further information at: https://um.baden-wuerttemberg.de/biooekonomie-bio-ab-cycling https://um.baden-wuerttemberg.de/biooekonomie-bio-ab-cycling