Tailor-made enzyme for the production of green hydrogen

A “wild” idea: three scientists with complete freedom. This is what the “Wildcard” funding program of the Carl Zeiss Foundation stands for. The ENERGASE project is one of five bold basic research ideas newly selected for funding. In this interview, Professor Hajo Kries, project coordinator and researcher at the Institute of Biochemistry (IBC) at the University of Stuttgart, explains the idea behind it.

Professor Kries, what “wild idea” are you pursuing with ENERGASE?

We want to lay the foundations for producing hydrogen from biomass on an industrial scale. This approach has not yet been successful. To this end, we want to build a novel, robust, and efficient enzyme that does not exist in nature. We need it as a catalyst to enable microorganisms to efficiently produce green hydrogen.

Why is green hydrogen so important?

It is a key element in the energy transition. We need hydrogen in heavy industry, aviation, fertilizer production, and energy storage, among others. We hope that biotechnological processes will allow us to produce it not only sustainably but also cost-effectively. Biomass is a readily available energy source, and—if we harness its potential effectively—we can develop a competitive alternative to fossil fuel–based processes, thereby advancing the decarbonization of the economy. 

Why have efforts to produce sustainable hydrogen from biomass not yet been successful?

At the core of the process is an enzyme known as hydrogenase. It occurs in microorganisms and can either produce hydrogen or catalyze its breakdown. It is a highly efficient catalyst but is unfortunately very sensitive to oxygen and has an unstable metal core. Making hydrogenase suitable for practical use is a huge challenge that many scientists around the world are working on.

How do you want to solve the problem?

We are combining our expertise in biochemistry and theoretical and inorganic chemistry to purposefully design a new enzyme, Energase, in the laboratory. The challenge is to achieve oxygen tolerance without compromising catalytic efficiency. That is why we are moving away from natural models and turning to computer-aided simulations of enzyme structures, AI-assisted protein design, and automated enzyme screening.

The ENERGASE project (Engineering a better-than-nature enzymatic mechanism for biophydrogen production) is funded by the Carl Zeiss Foundation for two years with a grant of 900,000 euros. The project is coordinated by Prof. Hajo Kries (Institute of Biochemistry, University of Stuttgart) in collaboration with Prof. Johannes Kästner (Institute for Theoretical Chemistry, University of Stuttgart) and Prof. Moritz Kühnel (Institute of Chemistry, University of Hohenheim).

The Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung’s mission is to create an open environment for scientific breakthroughs. As a partner of excellence in science, it supports basic research as well as applied sciences in the STEM subject areas (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). Founded in 1889 by the physicist and mathematician Ernst Abbe, the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung is one of the oldest and biggest private science funding institutions in Germany. It is the sole owner of Carl Zeiss AG and SCHOTT AG. Its projects are financed from the dividend distributions of the two foundation companies.