Top 5 Artificial Photosynthesis Technology Companies

 

Image courtesy - DAILY SCIENCE

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 first-generation artificial photosynthesis, with its four main steps.

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.