Team:SJTang/Sustainable

1. The team incorporated feedback from relevant SDG stakeholders into their work.

We have interviewed some entrepreneurs and scientists specialized in clean energy production, learning more about the developments of clean energy and their works as well as receiving feedback from them. Based on those feedbacks, we changed and improved our project, incorporating their feedback into our work.

Figure.1Interviewing Prof. Sheng from Tongji University.

1.1 Interview with Professor Sheng, Tongji University

We had the opportunity to discuss a series of issues involved in the hydrogen production industry, including high cost for raw materials, metals transformations and catalyzing / technology limitations of PEM membrane / relative low practical efficiency / the hydrogen refuelling station is incompatible with gasoline refuelling station / necessity to build new and designated facilities. Prof. Sheng also gave us advice on how can our project be linked with downstream components such as fuel cells, she also mentioned that during biological hydrogen production, carbon monoxide and sulfides may interfere with fuel cell operation, so that we should avoid producing these substances.

1.2 Interview with professor Yunjun Yu, Huazhong University of Science and Technology

Prof. Yu gave us advice on the biological hydrogen production method:
- Optimize the incubating system.
- Solve oxygen sensitive problems related to bacterial incubation.
- Pay more attention to hydrogen gas collection and storage.
- Consider and select carefully the organic substrate.
- Change chassis from bacteria to algae.
- Select more innovative catalyst instead of the known ones.

1.3 Interview with Mr. Yushi Chen, China Institute for Science and Technology Policy
at Tsinghua University

It is with great honour for us to interview Mr. Yushi Chen, visiting scholar at China Institute for Science and Technology Policy, former researcher of the United Nations High-level Group on Secretary-General Digital Cooperation. Mr. Chen majors in environmental finance. Through our discussion, we gained a well-rounded understanding of the role that biohydrogen plays in the sustainable energy market.

Mr Chen told us that the main constraints of the hydrogen economy are the low yield and high cost of clean hydrogen. At present, microbial hydrogen production technology is quite cutting-edge, but its issue still lies in efficiency. It is best to form specific solutions like hydrogen based on the petrochemical industry. At present, the hydrogen economy is mainly supported by the petrochemical industry. It will form a certain competitive relationship with the power economy. The hydrogen energy industry has a long cycle, especially in clean hydrogen. Hence, Chen advised us that though what we are trying to do is undoubtedly valuable and worthwhile, but it is also crucial to keep in mind that such innovation has a long cycle, and we have to try to keep it cheap and make it fast.

Figure.2Interviewing Mr. Chen from China Institute for Science and Technology Policy.

1.4 Discussion with Bluepha Automation Team

We have consulted with Siyuan Liu, head of automation at Beijing Bluepha Biotechnology Co. Ltd. Liu works on developing the production-ready system to digitalize the fermentation workflow at Bluepha; we interviewed him to review and evaluate our work on hardware from a professional's point of view. Liu affirmed our work. He told us that in Bluepha's fermentation laboratory, the host system is connected with a lower PLC system in the fermentation tank to control the valves and collect data from the sensors, which is very similar to our hardware's communication mechanism. This shows that our system framework is robust and widely used among production-scale environments.

For reuse and iteration by future iGEMer, it is suggested to create technical documentation to record details about our prototype. Liu also emphasized that students with a background in electrical engineering should be looped into developing such devices.

In terms of future improvements, it is suggested that we can try to further integrate the design by reducing the number of components produced by a third party. Moreover, Liu suggests that future iteration should focus on complete automation, making no need for manual intervention throughout the process.

Figure.3Our assembled hardware.

Figure.4Consulting with Mr. Liu, head of automation at Bluepha.

2. Potential long-term social, environmental, and economic impacts of our project.

SDG7. Affordable and Clean Energy

7.1 By 2030, ensure universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services.

Our project satisfies SDG7.1 by using microbes to convert chemical energy from organic matter into chemical energy in hydrogen gas by using bacteria. The cost of natural produce hydrogen is relatively low compared to that yielded by other methods because the bacteria can feed on waste materials or even survive relying on sunlight. The anaerobic chamber and the container used for raising bacteria can be recycled and reused. Also, the tax cut and subsidy policies implemented by governments can further decrease the price of hydrogen energy, making it more reliable.

7.2 By 2030, increase the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix substantially.

According to the senior researcher of the energy blockchain laboratory, the current green hydrogen energy lacks efficiency compared to other energy production methods. It is too rudimentary for the current market. By improving efficiency, green hydrogen energy has great potential to expand its share in the global energy mix.

7.b By 2030, expand infrastructure and upgrade technology for supplying modern and sustainable energy services for all in developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small island developing States, and land-locked developing countries, per their respective programs of support.

It is considered throughout the design and implementation phase of our project. We aim to meet the demand of developing communities by carefully calibrating our product's cost and working conditions. Also, by discussing with the head of automation from Bluepha, our hydrogen collector and analyzer prototype are certainly reliable and relatively accurate. Therefore, the safety issues and quality of the hydrogen gas can be ensured for future use, enabling it the potential to be mass-produced.

SDG12. Responsible Consumption and Production

12.2 By 2030, achieve sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources.
12.4 By 2020, achieve the environmentally sound management of chemicals and all wastes throughout their life cycle, in accordance with agreed international frameworks, and significantly reduce their release to air, water and soil in order to minimize their adverse impacts on human health and the environment.
12.5 By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse.
12.8 By 2030, ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and awareness for
sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature.

The steam-methane reforming method of producing hydrogen is commonly used by required extremely high temperatures, about 700 to 1000 degrees Celsius, so it is hazardous and condition-demanding, having negative impacts on our natural environment. For the water electrolysis method, today's grid electricity is not the ideal source of electricity for electrolysis because most of the electricity is generated using technologies that result in greenhouse gas emissions and are energy-intensive. Also, the electrolysis devices used for electrolysis hydrogen production is itself emission-intensive during the production phase and at the end of its life cycle, compounding pollution. Our work is a direct response to SDG 12. By allowing the engineered strain to utilize waste (e.g., crude glycerol) as energy input, our solution can be a promising alternative for resource recycling, excluding the adverse effects of harmful chemicals and high initial energy inputs.

SDG13. Climate Action

13.3 Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning.

Awareness

We have designed questionnaires and publicized them on various social media, reaching out to different people to find out about their awareness of hydrogen energy. There are 300 people in total who responded to our questions. Here are some of the questions in our questionnaire:

11. There are different views toward the development of the hydrogen energy industry. What's your opinion? (multiple choices)
- Developing hydrogen energy is the general trend of energy transformation
- Developing hydrogen energy is a strategic choice for most countries in the world
- The development of the hydrogen energy industry propels China's social and economic development
- Hydrogen energy is expected to become an important starting point for China's carbon emission reduction strategy
- The prospect of the hydrogen energy industry is not clear
- I'm not sure

12. Do you think hydrogen should be promoted?
- It is very necessary and conducive to environmental protection
- It depends
- Not really

15. Our team SJTang now uses microbial fermentation to produce hydrogen, which owns advantages in terms of cost and availability. What is your attitude?
- Sounds good. We need to constantly develop new methods to improve the utilization of hydrogen energy
- It has nothing to do with me. I don't care
- I think it's interesting, but I'm worried about cost and safety

Figure.5Excerpt of the survey results.

Figure.6Excerpt of the survey results.

Results

About half of the people have some knowledge about clean energy, and about 16% of people don’t understand or care about clean energy. About 40% haven’t used clean energy till now. Only 15% of them have used hydrogen as an energy source before. As for hydrogen energy, many people have the awareness that hydrogen energy is clean and efficient, but there is still 23% of people who cannot illustrate the advantages of hydrogen energy. Most(about 60% people) know that hydrogen can be yielded by electrolysis of water, but only 37% of people know the method of biological hydrogen production. More than half of the people commented that developing hydrogen energy is the general trend of energy transformation and is expected to become an important starting point for China’s carbon emission reduction strategy. About 54% of people think hydrogen is very necessary and conducive to environmental protection. Still, there are 43% of them think the popularization of hydrogen energy depends on other factors, such as technology developments and social policies. Moreover, 62% of people think we need to constantly develop new methods to improve the utilization of hydrogen energy. However, there are 31% worry about the cost and safety.

Figure.7Education activity taking place.

Figure.8Education activity taking place.

Figure.9Education activity taking place.