Top 5 Artificial Photosynthesis Technology Companies
The main benefit of artificial photosynthesis is to produce a hydrogen fuel that will be energy efficient and carbon neutral. It will be a renewable source of energy which can be used for transportation. It will not add any greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Here is the list of the top 5 artificial photosynthesis technology companies.
1. Toshiba
Toshiba Corporation is considered one of the best leading
companies supporting energy production projects. The company
has developed an artificial photosynthesis technology that converts energy into
carbon compounds from carbon dioxide at an efficiency of 1.5%, the highest
level yet recorded3. Sunlight converts the carbon dioxide and water into carbon
monoxide, a source for production of methanol, which can be used as a
substitute for gasoline and as a feedstock in the manufacture of diverse
products, including adhesives, medicines and PET bottles.
Toshiba introduced the technology at the 2014 International
Conference on Artificial Photosynthesis (ICARP2014) on 26 November, at the
Awaji Yumebutai International Conference Center in Japan.
The basic working mechanism.
Mechanism of
Artificial Photosynthesis Technology (Courtesy-Business Wire)
2. Panasonic
The company
has developed an artificial photosynthesis system which converts carbon dioxide
(CO2) to organic materials by illuminating with sunlight at a world's top
efficiency*1 of 0.2%. The efficiency is on a comparable level with real plants
used for biomass energy. The key to the system is the application of a nitride
semiconductor which makes the system simple and efficient. This development
will be a foundation for the realization of a system for capturing and
converting wasted carbon dioxide from incinerators, power plants or industrial
activities.
This development was partially presented at 19th
International Conference on the Conversion and Storage of Solar Energy held on
Pasadena, United States on July 30, 2012.
The basic working mechanism.
The
first-generation artificial photosynthesis, with its four main steps.
The second-generation PBS that produces methane.
3. Peidong Yang Group
Yang and his team
tested his system with a different type of bacteria. The method is the same,
except instead of electrons, the bacteria use molecular hydrogen from water
molecules to reduce carbon dioxide and create methane, the primary component of
natural gas. This process is projected to have an impressive conversion efficiency
of 10%, which is much higher than the conversion efficiency in natural leaves.
After more than ten years of
research and experimentation, Peidong Yang, a chemist at UC Berkeley,
successfully created the first photosynthetic biohybrid system (PBS) in April
2015.
The basic working mechanism.
The second-generation
PBS that produces methane.
4. NEDO
NEDO stands for New Energy and Industrial Technology
Development Organization, which is the main sponsor of the project. ARPChem is group
research project introduced by Japan Technological Research Association. It’s Japan
Technological Research Association of Artificial Photosynthetic Chemical
Process. This technology works based upon water splitting photocatalysts,
photoelectrochemical devices, large-scale reactor panels, product gas
transportation, H2/O2 gas separation devices and safety measures against
explosion are included as the research objectives. The project was published in
July 2018.
The basic working mechanism.
Schematic diagram of
ARPChem
A schematic drawing of our overall
water photo-splitting pilot plant.
5. Xinchen Wang Group
Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have shown great promise for CO2 capture and storage. However, the operation of chemical redox functions of framework substances and organic CO2-trapping entities which are spatially linked together to catalyse CO2 conversion has had much less attention. Reported herein is a cobalt-containing zeolitic imidazole framework (Co-ZIF-9) which serves as a robust MOF catalyst to reduce CO2 by cooperating with a ruthenium-based photosensitizer.
The catalytic turnover number of Co-ZIF-9 was about 450 within 2.5 hours under mild reaction conditions, while still keeping its original reactivity during prolonged operation.
Even though artificial
photosynthesis technology is in its early stages and cannot yet be used in
large-scale plants, it has a substantial prospective to reduce global water
demand and substantiate clean energy systems by producing power and hydrogen
from photonic energy directly.
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