Plant-derived technology will be the solution to a clean energy problem

Hydrogen produced from artificial photosynthesis is now used as a fuel cell for electric vehicles, and it is also used to store solar energy.

Photosynthesis is a very important autonomous process, which is responsible for providing life for not only plants, but all living things on the earth - including us. When plants convert carbondioxide and water into carbohydrates , they nourish themselves and release oxygen into the air to help us breathe.

But what if we "stole" the book of nature and found a way to use sunlight to produce hydrogen for fuel? 'If it can be done, it is no different from the magic of life,' Bill Gates told Reuters, 'Because with the battery, the battery does not encounter problems after a period of no use. use. You can store it in a large container and burn it whenever you want. "

Liquid fuels such as hydrogen have many advantages over conventional batteries, because they are light, less bulky.(Illustration).

Artificial photosynthesis is expected to be able to extract water from the sea, or even rivers, into elements such as hydrogen, oxygen and carbon through sunlight. Hydrogen produced from artificial photosynthesis is now used as a fuel cell for electric vehicles, and it is also used to store solar energy. Liquid fuels such as hydrogen have many advantages over conventional batteries, because they are light, less bulky.

Combining elements obtained by Artificial Photosynthesis with certain quantities will produce methanol, which is used to fuel the combustion engine. The main Chinese home where the world's largest methanol consumption is, they mix it with gasoline at a rate of 15% or less at gas stations to sell to regular vehicles, and this number can reach 85. % for minivan.

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A variant of the Artificial Photosynthesis process is also used to create bacteria from nitro by metabolism, to form fertilizer in the ground - a technique that can increase harvest yields in many places. There is no need for conventional fertilizer. Later, these bacteria will "absorb" hydrogen produced by Artificial Photosynthesis to produce many different products, including medicines, fertilizers, fuels and even plastic, resulting in is based on bacterial recombinant technology.

The biggest difficulty of Artificial Photosynthesis is that the natural process (root) is not highly effective. Plants only convert about 1% of carbon and water into carbohydrates. This number has been multiplied up to 10 times in the laboratory, but researchers at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia have reached 22%.

Bill Gates realized that the development of new types of energy such as Artificial Photosynthesis is essential.

Meanwhile, Bill Gates, who has always supported the development of new technologies in general and Artificial Photosynthesis in particular - established the Energy Breaking Alliance, a global organization of investors who want to contribute. into research projects that get government capital related to clean energy. He found that the development of new types of energy such as Artificial Photosynthesis is essential, and hopefully in the future there will be many new innovations that bring about such positive changes. 'We need to prove to the world that these alternatives can be very beneficial economically,' he told Big Think.