System and Method of Generating Hydrogen Gas

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022194786-A1
Application number	US-202117558516-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 21, 2021
Priority date	Dec 21, 2020
Publication date	Jun 23, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method of generating hydrogen gas includes providing a colony of sulfur-reducing bacteria and a colony of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria. The colonies can be submerged in a body of water. The colony of sulfur-reducing bacteria can be used to convert at least a portion of sulfates present in the body of water to hydrogen sulfide. The colony of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria can be used to convert the hydrogen sulfide to sulfuric acid. The sulfuric acid can react with manganese to produce hydrogen gas and manganese sulfate.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of generating hydrogen gas, comprising:
providing a colony of sulfur-reducing bacteria and a colony of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria, wherein the colonies are submerged in a body of water; using the colony of sulfur-reducing bacteria, converting at least a portion of sulfates present in the body of water to hydrogen sulfide; using the colony of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria, converting the hydrogen sulfide to sulfuric acid; and reacting the sulfuric acid with manganese to produce hydrogen gas and manganese sulfate.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the colonies are in or on a housing submerged in the body of water.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the housing comprises a sulfur-reducing compartment and a sulfur-oxidizing compartment, wherein the colony of sulfur-reducing bacteria is in the form of a film on an interior surface of the sulfur-reducing compartment, and wherein the colony of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria is in the form of a film on an interior surface of the sulfur-oxidizing compartment.

4 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising flowing water from the body of water into the sulfur-reducing compartment and flowing water from the sulfur-reducing compartment into the sulfur-oxidizing compartment.

5 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the housing further comprises a reaction chamber, wherein the method further comprises flowing water and the sulfuric acid from the sulfur-oxidizing compartment into the reaction chamber, wherein the sulfuric acid is reacted with the manganese in the reaction chamber.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the manganese is in the form of a manganese nodule originating on a seafloor, and wherein the method further comprises collecting the manganese nodule from the seafloor and placing the manganese nodule in the reaction chamber.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the manganese nodule is collected using a robotic collector.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the robotic collector comprises an optical sensor to detect the manganese nodule on the seafloor, wherein the method further comprises detecting the manganese nodule based on a characteristic comprising size, shape, orientation, texture, cluster density, or a combination thereof.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the body of water is an ocean and wherein the colonies are submerged at a depth within about 10 meters of a seafloor of the ocean.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the sulfur-reducing bacteria convert the sulfates to the hydrogen sulfide through an aerobic sulfate reduction pathway.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the sulfur-reducing bacteria comprise Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas spp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Vibrio spp., Vibrio natriegens , or a combination thereof.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the sulfur-oxidizing bacteria comprise neutrophilic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria and acidophilic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the neutrophilic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria comprise Thiotrix, Thiomonas, Halothiobacillus , or a combination thereof, and wherein the acidophilic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria comprise Acidothiobacillus thiooxidans, Acidothiobacillus ferrooxidans , or a combination thereof.

14 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing the hydrogen gas or using the hydrogen gas to power a hydrogen fuel cell generator to generate electricity.

15 . A system for generating hydrogen gas, comprising:
a housing submerged or submergible in a body of water; a colony of sulfur-reducing bacteria in or on the housing to convert sulfates in the body of water to hydrogen sulfide; a colony of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria in or on the housing to convert the hydrogen sulfide to sulfuric acid; and a reaction chamber at least partially enclosed by the housing to react the sulfuric acid with manganese to produce hydrogen gas and manganese sulfate.

16 . The system of claim 15 , further comprising a robotic collector to collect a manganese nodule from a seafloor and place the manganese nodule in the reaction chamber.

17 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the robotic collector comprises an optical sensor to detect the manganese nodule on the seafloor based on a characteristic comprising size, shape, orientation, texture, cluster density, or a combination thereof.

18 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the housing comprises a sulfur-reducing compartment and a sulfur-oxidizing compartment, wherein the colony of sulfur-reducing bacteria is in the form of a film on an interior surface of the sulfur-reducing compartment, and wherein the colony of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria is in the form of a film on an interior surface of the sulfur-oxidizing compartment.

19 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the sulfur-reducing bacteria convert the sulfates to the hydrogen sulfide through an aerobic sulfate reduction pathway, and wherein the sulfur-reducing bacteria comprise Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas spp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Vibrio spp., Vibrio natriegens , or a combination thereof.

20 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the sulfur-oxidizing bacteria comprise neutrophilic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria and acidophilic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria, wherein the neutrophilic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria comprise Thiotrix, Thiomonas, Halothiobacillus , or a combination thereof, and wherein the acidophilic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria comprise Acidothiobacillus thiooxidans, Acidothiobacillus ferrooxidans , or a combination thereof.

Assignees

• Raytheon Bbn Technologies Corp

Inventors

• Rosenthal Benjamin Jacob
• Rogers Miles
• Scott Helen

Classifications

• Y02T90/40

  Application of hydrogen technology to transportation, e.g. using fuel cells · CPC title

• C12P3/00 Primary

  Preparation of elements or inorganic compounds except carbon dioxide {(recovery of carbon dioxides as by-products C12F3/02)} · CPC title

• C12M23/34

  Internal compartments or partitions · CPC title

• C12M21/04

  for producing gas, e.g. biogas (digesters for manure with production of biogas A01C3/028, biological treatment of water, waste water or sewage C02F3/00, C02F11/02, preparation of natural gas or syngas C10L3/06, C10L3/10) · CPC title

• B63G8/08

  Propulsion ({schnorkels B63G8/36;} nuclear propulsion B63H21/18; submerged exhausting apparatus F01N13/12) · CPC title