Prof. ZHANG Yiheng affiliated with CAS Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, and his co-workers in the USA, have developed an enzyme cocktail containing more than 15 enzymes which can produce hydrogen from both glucose and xylose of corn stover. A commercial cellulase cocktail was used to hydrolyze biomass including cellulose and hemicellulose to glucose and xylose, respectively.. This method could produce nearly 12 moles of hydrogen from one glucose and 10 moles of hydrogen from one xylose by using enzyme cocktails, which are three-times of the yield from hydrogen-producing microorganisms, and hydrogen production efficiency was 54 mmole of hydrogen per L per hour.

CAS news release, April 9, 2015