Investigate nitrogenase gene cluster functions in bacteria to fix nitrogen and generate hydrogen

Australia’s agriculture industry uses 4.9 million tonnes of fertiliser per annum. Approximately 1.5 million tonnes of pure ammonia, made using fossil fuel derived hydrogen via the Haber Bosch process, is required to make most of these fertilisers. The production of ammonia-based fertilisers today is therefore one of the most energy intensive processes on the planet with the food production responsible for ~25% of global emissions. The price of fertiliser is directly linked to natural gas prices, which have increased dramatically globally in past year. We need solutions to reduce our reliance on synthetic fertiliser generated from fossil fuels and find new ways to make ‘green’ ammonia-based fertiliser products that are low-cost; and can also be done ‘on-the-farm’ to reduce other costs associated with transport and storage.

HydGene Renewables is a start-up with core IP and expertise in Synthetic Biology. We have developed a synthetic biology ‘whole cell biocatalyst’ platform using sugars from biomass waste residues, such as agricultural and forestry waste, to produce green hydrogen. The hydrogen is produced on site and on demand using a scalable modular cartridge approach, eliminating the complexity and costs to get hydrogen to the end user.
Using a similar system, HydGene have now identified novel ammonia production pathways. The PhD student will contribute to the building and testing of these new engineered strains for biological production of ammonia using sugars from biomass residue; and contribute to the techno-economic analysis for delivery of a biologically generated nitrogen rich fertiliser product ‘on the farm’.