US boffins claim Hydrogen breakthrough

Bioengineers at Virginia Tech in the US claim to have developed an efficient method to extract large quantities of hydrogen from plant material – 
a move that hints at powering cars from agricultural waste

The cocktail of enzymes works under mild reaction conditions at 50°C and normal atmospheric pressure to liberate high‑purity hydrogen from xylose – a sugar that makes up as much as 30 per cent of plant cell walls. The enzymes are taken from microorganisms that thrive at extreme temperatures, and produce three times as much hydrogen than other natural or engineered micro-organisms, the team claims.

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