Hydrogen in education—a biological approach

Hydrogen gas is regarded as a potential candidate for a future energy economy. The change towards new energy systems with hydrogen gas as an energy carrier will have an immense impact on society. Thus, an integrate part of current research and development must be the inclusion of the new technology into public education. By means of a model bioreactor for light-dependent (photobiological) production of hydrogen gas with green algae, we try to serve this goal in biological education. Various simple photo-bioreactor types (closed batch, open batch) were analyzed for their capability to produce hydrogen under different conditions. The focus laid on functionality and simplicity rather than on high efficiency. Easy-to-handle systems that can be used in the classroom are presented. In a more sophisticated version a proton exchange membrane (PEM-) fuel cell was connected to a continuous gas flow tube bioreactor. We developed a software interface, designed to read light intensity, temperature and power generation by the bioreactor and the connected fuel cell, respectively. Thus, this bioreactor is specially aimed at integrative teaching in natural science and computer technology at middle and high school level.