A team of Virginia Tech researchers has discovered a way to
extract large quantities of hydrogen from any plant, a breakthrough that has
the potential to bring a low-cost, environmentally friendly fuel source to the
world.
“Our new process could help end our dependence on fossil
fuels,” said Y.H. Percival Zhang, an associate professor of biological systems
engineering in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of
Engineering. “Hydrogen is one of the most important biofuels of the future.”
Zhang and his team have succeeded in using xylose, the most
abundant simple plant sugar, to produce a large quantity of hydrogen that
previously was attainable only in theory. Zhang’s method can be performed using
any source of biomass.