Breakthrough hydrogen production from plant sources

"Even more appealing, this reaction occurs at low temperatures, generating hydrogen energy that is greater than the chemical energy stored in xylose and the polyphosphate. This results in an energy efficiency of more than 100 percent - a net energy gain. That means that low-temperature waste heat can be used to produce high-quality chemical energy hydrogen for the first time. Other processes that convert sugar into biofuels such as ethanol and butanol always have energy efficiencies of less than 100 percent, resulting in an energy penalty."

Whoah...

It doesn't look like biomass was actually used to produce the hydrogen but rather pure xylose:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.201300766

I suspect much more research will be needed before a practical system using biomass as a fuel source directly is available. Still, the nearly quantitative yield of hydrogen from an abundant source is encouraging.