NewNergy

NewNergy discusses the latest inventions, innovations and breakthroughs in the energy & environmental sciences.

Solar Breakthrough: Water to Hydrogen with 60% Efficiency

Posted on Monday, March 8, 2010 posted by posted by Mak @ 7:53 PM

British scientists say they've achieved a breakthrough, figuring out how to extract hydrogen from water with an unheard-of 60% efficiency using solar energy. The secret sauce is nanotechnology, in the form of nanoclusters of indium phosphide encrusted on a gold electrode. Using this, they can turn sunlight into that hotshot hydrogen fuel, clean-burning and as energetic as a swift kick in the ass.

“Hydrofill” - A Portable Fuel Cell System

Posted on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 posted by posted by Mak @ 2:35 AM

Horizon fuel cell technologies, a Singapore based company recently unveiled “Hydrofill,” their latest innovations in electronic gadget technologies during the Consumer Electronic Show 2010 (CES) which was held in Las Vegas, Nevada.“Hydrofill” is a portable fuel cell system designed towards charging electronic gadgets through a process extracting hydrogen through water. The entire process is clean and quick as the process of extracting hydrogen through water only results in production of water vapour.

The hydrogen which is obtained from water is then stored in special cartridges which fits in a pocket sized minipak. A range of devices like Ipods, mobile phones, GPS systems to camera rechargeable batteries can be charged through these minipak which houses a USB port. This device can be used on the go or away from electric sockets thus providing great convenience towards the consumers.

The only drawback which arises out of this invention is the non-refillable nature of the cartridges. This is the only area which needs to be worked at if the company needs to make a mark in off-grid power driven green industry. Priced at around $150, the MiniPak will be made available by April this year.

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Labels: batteries, fuel-cells, hydrogen

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POSCO Aims to Halt CO2 via Hydrogen Steelmaking

Posted on Monday, December 7, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 4:48 AM

South Korea's POSCO (005490.KS) plans to eventually halt carbon emissions by switching to a hydrogen-based steelmaking process from 2021, company officials said.

Currently, iron ore is melted in a furnace using super-heated air from burning coal. In addition to this fuel role, coal is also used as a critical component in steel production because the carbon from burning coal captures oxygen from the molten iron ore, emitting carbon dioxide in the process.

POSCO hopes to switch from carbon to hydrogen gas to capture oxygen, a step that results in water produced as a byproduct instead of planet-warming carbon dioxide.

POSCO officials said the steelmaker is considering supplying hydrogen gas from its "SMART" nuclear reactors. It is looking at participating in a consortium for developing small or medium-sized nuclear reactors.

The steelmaker, however, has not yet decided which energy resources they will use instead of coal as fuel to heat the furnace.

Under the mid-term plan through 2020, the steelmaker will introduce breakthrough new process technology for carbon dioxide reduction.

In addition to steelmaking process changes, POSCO is looking for new business opportunities in low-carbon green growth areas, for instance, stationary fuel cells and synthetic natural gas.

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Labels: co2, coal, environment, hydrogen

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US Company Acquires Patents to A Breakthrough Hydrogen Battery Technology

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 4:24 AM

ERRA Incorporated, San Antonio, TX, USA has acquired all rights and patents to a breakthrough battery technology to be marketed as the YESS (that's "Your Energy Storage Solution") Battery from ERRA, Inc.

It appears the company is planning on launching its own electric car and has decided to re-invent the battery, specifically the nickel hydrogen (NiH2) cell similar to those used in satellites for the past 40 years. They say they have "acquired all rights and patents to a breakthrough battery technology" whose properties are said to include the ability to charge in 15 minutes, be cycled thousands of times and require no maintenance. With a cost said to be similar to lead acid and an energy density equivalent to lithium ion, ERRA believes it has a battery that will "largely displace" other chemistries. If it does manage to successfully maneuver the path from press statement to actual product, be prepared to see the YESS debut in the chassis of a refurbished Solectria Sunrise (specifically, this one). Company CEO Jim Hogarth played a part in the development of that car through his role at Boston Edison in the '90s and has never forgotten its promise of better efficiency through the use of lightweight materials. That presentation may be sooner rather than later as it is being reported that the company could be ready for production within nine months.

Labels: batteries, energy, hydrogen, technology

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Harnessing the Power of Plasma for Hydrogen Storage

Posted on Tuesday, October 27, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 11:38 PM

Plasma is like a gas, but many of its atoms have been stripped of an electron or two. These positively charged atoms swim about in a crackling-hot sea of negatively charged loose electrons, making plasmas great electrical conductors.

Kong, technical lead for plasma processing at INL, has built a career of putting plasma to work. He's using it to mass-produce nanoparticles, a project that in August received $1 million in federal stimulus funding. He's also employing plasma to find ways to store hydrogen efficiently, and he'll soon start a project using plasma to convert natural gas, coal and heavy oil to gasoline and diesel.

Kong is also working with a large multinational chemical company to find better ways to store hydrogen.

Simply putting hydrogen in a tank to power a car or appliance is difficult, because the element is a gas at all but extremely low temperatures (its boiling point is -253 degrees Celsius). Tanks holding enough low-density hydrogen gas to power anything would have to be very large, in many cases prohibitively so. Hydrogen could be liquefied — either by compression or cooling — to bring tank size down, but this would require a great deal of energy and raise safety concerns, as elemental hydrogen is very reactive. Chemical storage — in which hydrogen is locked into more complex molecules, then released later after exposure to heat and/or catalysts — strikes many scientists as more practical. But current technologies for making such chemical hydrides are complicated and energy-intensive. Kong is using plasma in an attempt to revolutionize the production process.

The current method of making these complex chemical hydrides is a 13-step process.What they are working on is potentially a one- to two-step process.Eliminating so many steps involves tricky, difficult and unstable reactions, and Kong and his team are still working out the details.

To know about the technology click here

Labels: efficiency, energy, hydrogen, technology

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Hydrogen-powered Mobile Phone Chargers

Posted on Wednesday, October 7, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 9:53 PM

Scientists from Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute recently unveiled a charger powered by hydrogen.According to the scientists, the device can recharge a mobile phone battery in two hours without being plugged.Tsau Fanghei of the research team says they “hope the hydrogen-powered device can replace current mobile phone recharge systems in 2012.”Fanghei says the team will continue to improve the new technology until it is ready for use. This research is part of Taiwan’s efforts to become a major player in the global hydrogen fuel cell industry, and to lower its energy import rate that is currently at 98%.

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New Powerful Laser System Could Create Fusion Energy from Waste?

Posted on Monday, June 15, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 11:46 PM

Scientists at the Lawrence Livermore Lab are putting the finishing touches on the world's most powerful laser system known as NIF (National Ignition Facility). In about 18 months, physicists will conduct a highly-publicized test to create fusion energy from water. It is part of a project designed to take the world beyond nuclear energy. But if it succeeds, the system could do more than create energy in a new way. It might actually rid the world of leftover nuclear waste in the process.

The NIF team will fire nearly 200 individual laser beams generated by an accelerator the size of a football field. The beams converge on a single target chamber containing a capsule of hydrogen. The hope is to compress it, and creating a subatomic reaction called fusion, ultimately igniting a controlled version of the same thermo-nuclear combustion that takes place on the sun.

As hydrogen is compressed, it releases particles called neutrons, which can penetrate the nucleus of another atom. So now we could take nuclear waste and use those neutrons to bust it up, get energy and remove the waste.

full article here

Labels: energy, hydrogen, inventions, nuclear, waste

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Zero Emissions Hydrogen Power Plant - The Next Step In Renewable Energy?

Posted on Tuesday, May 19, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 4:01 AM

Jetstream Wind, Inc.,NM, USA, a developer of breakthrough energy technology hits another milestone in the renewable energy industry. The highly anticipated fully sustainable 10 MW (megawatt) hydrogen power plant safely provides emissions-free electricity and creates 99.999% ultra-high purity hydrogen and oxygen in both liquid and gaseous forms for distribution and sales.

To date, both liquid hydrogen and firm power for the electrical grid are predominantly derived from natural gas and coal, adding a tremendous amount of toxic emissions to the environment. The importance of this dual-purpose plant is in its distinct ability to reliably create and distribute enough clean energy to provide as many as 6000 homes with electricity, while capturing, storing and producing pure oxygen and hydrogen in both liquid and gaseous forms for secondary markets. Significant potential industrial benefactors of the pure hydrogen and oxygen technology include the auto, medical, aerospace and fueling sectors, among countless others.

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Labels: energy, environment, hydrogen

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Brewing Biohydrogen from Beer, Food Waste

Posted on Thursday, April 23, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 11:02 PM

With all the recent news about sustainable biofuel projects – including huge investments by some of our petroleum giants into non-food ethanol – it was interesting to note last month’s unique side-step by a Japanese brewery and a South American oil company. No, they won’t make beer you can either drink or pour in your gas tank. But Sapporo Breweries Ltd. and Brazil’s state-run oil producer, Petrobras, will execute a trial – beginning as early as September – to make hydrogen gas from sugar cane waste and other farm leftovers. They will use a technology developed by Sapporo to make “biohydrogen” from food waste with fermentation methods derived from brewing beer.

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Labels: hydrogen, waste

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Nanotechnology Catalysts for Commercially Viable Hydrogen Fuel Cells?

Posted on Wednesday, April 15, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 12:28 AM

Canadian research team has now demonstrated that it is possible to significantly increase the catalytic site density of iron-based non-precious metal catalysts (NPMCs) to levels that were not thought possible before. The problem that this work resolves is that of the low activity of NPMCs compared to platinum-based catalysts. The best of these new NPMCs is more than 30 times more active compared to the previous best reported activity for NPMCs, and about 100 times more active than the majority of other NPMCs. Furthermore, their activity has reached about 1/10th the volumetric activity of state-of-the-art platinum-based catalysts (about 50 wt % platinum on carbon), which is the 2010 NPMC activity target set by the U.S. Department of Energy.

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Labels: efficiency, fuel-cells, hydrogen

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New Device Makes Green Power from Water & Air

Posted on Monday, April 13, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 5:04 AM

Jack Robertson, a Portland retiree, reckoning a viable formula to produce hydrogen energy and green fertilizer by combining water, wind and air.He calls it a hydrogen hub.

A hydrogen hub would be a power plant that uses water and air to produce a form of ammonia, then burns the ammonia to yield hydrogen energy.Robertson says his invention would trim the need for gas- and coal-fired power plants that contribute to global warming. He envisions a new sustainable industry springing up at abandoned aluminum plants or the former Trojan nuclear plant in Rainier, Ore.

full article here

Labels: energy, hydrogen, water, wind

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Historic Patents For Bio-hydrogen & Algal Oil Production

Posted on Wednesday, April 1, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 8:51 PM

Sustainable Green Technologies , a start-up company in Escondido, California, announced that it has four patents pending with the USPTO which cover commercial bio-hydrogen generation from waste streams and enhanced green algal oil production. The patents cover two unique microorganisms, SGT-06 and SGT-T4, a proprietary bio-reactor process for increased hydrogen production, and a method for increasing algal oil production. The waste streams include bio-diesel refinery waste, brewery malt waste and office paper waste. With this proprietary biotechnology portfolio, SGT will develop industrial scale bio-energy systems which will convert waste streams into bio-hydrogen, and with a coupled fuel cell turn the bio-hydrogen into on site energy in the form of electricity and heat. In addition, they provide a truly innovative solution of converting system byproducts into algae oils. This breakthrough technology supports the U.S. Advanced Energy Initiative - which seeks to diversify the U.S. energy portfolio and to reduce dependence on foreign oil.

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Labels: biodiesel, energy, hydrogen, waste

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Solar Powered, Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Airship

Posted on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 8:44 PM

The Pentagon intends to spend $400 million to develop a giant blimp which will reach an altitude of 65,000 feet and remain airborne for 10 years. The dirigible will be filled with helium and powered by an innovative system that uses solar panels to recharge hydrogen fuel cells. Werner J.A. Dahm, chief scientist for the Air Force describing the proposed unmanned airship as a cross between a satellite and a spy plane. The aircraft will provide intricate radar surveillance of the vehicles, planes and even people below.The project is supposed to reflect a shift in Pentagon planning that is more about the intelligence and surveillance operations, and less about expensive high-tech weapons.

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Labels: fuel-cells, hydrogen, inventions, solar

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Hydrogen from cellulosic material using multilpe enzymes - ORNL

Posted on Monday, February 16, 2009 posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 9:04 PM

Tomorrow's fuel-cell vehicles may be powered by enzymes that consume cellulose from woodchips or grass and exhale hydrogen. Researchers at Virginia Tech, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and the University of Georgia have produced hydrogen gas pure enough to power a fuel cell by mixing 14 enzymes, one coenzyme, cellulosic materials from nonfood sources, and water heated to about 90 degrees (32 C).

The group announced three advances from their "one pot" process: 1) a novel combination of enzymes, 2) an increased hydrogen generation rate -- to as fast as natural hydrogen fermentation, and 3) a chemical energy output greater than the chemical energy stored in sugars – the highest hydrogen yield reported from cellulosic materials.

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Labels: biofuels, biomass, cellulose, hydrogen

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A New Catalyst For Efficient Hydrogen Fuel

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 8:06 PM

A novel catalyst developed at MIT laboratory, one that takes inspiration from the photosynthetic pathways within plant cells to split water into H2 and O2, allowing the H2 to be used as fuel.Artificial oxygen evolving complexes (OECs) tend to be highly unstable, so labs concentrate on making them last longer with exotic and costly materials. This not only pushes up the financial costs, it also makes it harder to push electrons into them, lowering efficiency.

Nature, on the other hand, uses a simple inorganic redox core that self-assembles from water. It's unstable, so plants repair and replace their OECs every 30 minutes or so, and that's what Nocera's artificial OEC does too. Instead of Mn and Ca, it uses Co and Pi, works in sea water, dirty water, or a glass of water, and repairs itself spontaneously!When coupled with more widespread solar panels and more efficient fuel cells, Nocera believes that this CoPi catalyst would provide a household's daily fuel needs from 8 liters of water.

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Labels: energy, fuel-cells, hydrogen, inventions

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Photocatalysis for Green Future ?

Posted on Tuesday, January 20, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 9:10 PM

Photocatalysis is an innovative means of producing hydrogen from water using sunlight – and possibly turning carbon dioxide into methanol, as Tom Shelley reports. Success with that idea would solve, at one blow, both the problem of what to do with sequestered CO2 from burning fossil fuels and the problem of replacing them with a replacement ‘green’ fuels.

The basic process involves photons of light striking a very thin layer of semiconductor, typically only one micron thick, which produces electrons and holes – the same principle as that used in a photovoltaic cell. In a photocatalytic cell, however, the electrons combine with hydrogen ions in water at the cathode surface to produce hydrogen gas molecules, whereas the holes interact with water molecules at the anode surface, in order to produce oxygen and hydrogen ions, which have to be able to migrate through the material to the cathode. The cells can be made planar, as is the case with photovoltaic cells, or as particles, dispersed in water.
Whereas it is quite easy to make a device that produces small amounts of hydrogen, producing larger amounts has so far defeated many expert minds.

The key points are,

* New materials offer the possibility that photocatalytic conversion of water to hydrogen for fuel can be accomplished using a much wider part of the solar spectrum than at present

* The ideal material has not yet been found, but progress is being made and there are many more material combinations to try

* Photocatalytic destruction of organic pollutants and organisms is already a proven commercial technology, using ultra violet light, but can also be accomplished using sunlight

* There is also the possibility of using photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide to methanol

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Labels: energy, fuel, hydrogen

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Can a car run on water?

Posted on Monday, January 19, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 9:14 PM

A local inventor says he has figured out how to boost a car’s fuel efficiency by using water; experts say laws of physics are against him.Inventor Rob Juliano stands in front of a customer’s engine that’s been outfitted with an electrolysis-based hydrogen gas pump he’s developed. The system uses power from the car battery to break down water into its gaseous components, which are then pumped into the engine with the goal of improving fuel efficiency.

Hydrogen is being pursued as a fuel by car manufacturers.Honda earlier this year debuted its FCX Clarity, a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle powered by an electric motor. BMW has developed a car that can use either gasoline or hydrogen to power a traditional motor.Juliano, however, is peddling something a bit different. Through his company — UnitedH2O.com — builds and installs electrolytic hydrogen generators. They are small, footlong canisters that use electricity from a car battery to break water into its gaseous components, hydrogen and oxygen.

The gases are then funneled into the engine, where — due to the combustive nature of hydrogen — it is used to help drive an engine’s pistons. The process means less gasoline is injected into the piston cylinders, hence the car can travel farther on less gas, thereby increasing the car’s fuel efficiency. In other words, Juliano says cars with his system get more miles per gallon.Lincoln City resident Linda Young, who paid roughly $1,100 to have Juliano install the system, says her gas mileage has increased nearly 65 percent.

But Hydrogen can be used as a fuel, but to create it onboard a vehicle with electricity from a battery, which is charged by an alternator, which is turned by an engine, which is powered by gas, constitutes a perpetual motion machine, says Robert Paasch, the Boeing professor of mechanical design at Oregon State University’s School of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering.According to the first law of thermodynamics, which states energy can neither be created nor destroyed, the car as a perpetual motion machine is an impossibility, Paasch said. It takes more energy to create hydrogen from water than you get in return when burning the hydrogen in the engine, he said.

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Renewable hydrogen from the fermentation of energy crops

Posted on Friday, January 9, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 8:55 PM

Researchers in Aberdeen have claimed a break-through in producing hydrogen from ethanol that can be produced from the fermentation of energy crops.They said the process uses a catalyst system that produces hydrogen that is clean enough for use in fuel cells.

The scientists from the University of Aberdeen suggested their new process could lead to energy crops being used to generate electricity via fuel cell systems - rather than through relatively inefficient combustion systems.

The catalyst is made of very small nanoparticles of metals deposited on larger nanoparticles of a support called cerium oxide which is also used in catalytic converters in cars.At present the generation of hydrogen needed to power a mid-size fuel cell can be achieved using 1 Kg of this catalyst.

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Ethanol from yeast fermentation:A Breakthrough for hydrogen power

Posted on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 8:39 PM

A team of scientists, led by a professor from the University of Aberdeen, have achieved a leap forward in the process of using hydrogen to provide clean electricity.Using a catalyst, they have converted ethanol fermented from biofuels into hydrogen.

The process developed by scientists in Aberdeen to produce hydrogen for fuel cells from biofuels starts with fermentation.Crops are fermented using yeast, producing ethanol and water.Then a catalyst made using the metals rhodium and palladium is added to the ethanol and water, at temperatures of about 500C.This converts the ethanol and water into hydrogen and carbon dioxide.

Although this has been done before, it had never been effective as it had never been achieved without producing waste products, such as carbon monoxide, which is poisonous. It took the team of scientists from across the world, led by Prof Idriss, more than ten years to hone the technique.The hydrogen could be used to power fuel cells, which can provide clean electricity for vehicles, homes and even large buildings.

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Labels: electricity, ethanol, fuel-cells, hydrogen

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650 Miles on One Tank of Liquid Hydrogen

Posted on Thursday, June 19, 2008 posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 11:21 AM

Scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have revealed that they have driven a car 650 miles on one tank of liquid hydrogen. In a recent test, the team installed a super-insulated hydrogen gas tank in a standard Prius hybrid that was able to keep a full load of the liquid without evaporating for six days, setting a new world record.

The 300-pound tank removes a lot of obstacles to the development of hydrogen-powered cars. Current versions, such as the fleet of hydrogen-electric Toyota Prius’s used by various city governments across Southern California, run on compressed hydrogen gas, and have a limited range of around 80 miles between fill-ups. Even a fairly modest three-gallon tank fills the entire trunk of a Prius, but still only allows a range of around 200 miles, not really enough to compete with gasoline-only vehicles. One way to overcome this limitation is by using liquid hydrogen, which takes up around a third of the volume of compressed gas. However, it is much more difficult to handle, mainly because it must be kept at very low temperatures (around -420oF) and extremely high pressure to prevent it from evaporating as the engine heats up.

Labels: autos, hydrogen, inventions

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Toyota’s Fuel Cell Breakthrough in FCHV-Adv Doubles Range

Posted on posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 11:16 AM

Toyota has announced what it claims is a major breakthrough in fuel cell technology, with a new prototype that is capable of more than doubling the range of previous fuel cell vehicles.

The Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle – Advanced (or FCHV-Adv) has a range of 510miles on a single 156-litre tank of Hydrogen – the company’s previous-generation FCHV could only extract 205miles from its 148-litre tank. More important, from the point of view of corporate honour, the FCHV-Adv has double the claim range of the Honda FCX Clarity.

The dramatic extension in range has been achieved by improving the performance of the fuel cell, improving regenerative braking which feeds a battery-hybrid system and reducing the amount of power consumed by auxiliary systems.

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Labels: autos, fuel-cells, hydrogen

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Wind-to-hydrogen Project about to get Started in North Dakota

Posted on posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 11:02 AM

Sen. Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat will fill up a hydrogen-powered pickup "and hopefully drive off." Dorgan will be a featured dignitary at the dedication of a $2 million wind-to-hydrogen plant near Minot that he worked to fund over the past three years.

"This is really kind of a breakthrough project, using the wind to produce hydrogen," Dorgan said. "It's an exciting conclusion for me to see this project take shape."

Dorgan said the plant, which is about the size of a garage, uses intermittent power from wind turbines to produce and store hydrogen fuel without creating pollution.

The project is a collaboration of Bismarck-based Basin Electric Power Cooperative, the University of North Dakota's Energy and Environmental Research Center, North Dakota State University's North Central Research Center and other partners. Basin spokesman Daryl Hill said the project is a first for North Dakota.

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Plasma Enhanced Melter from InEnTec to Produce Clean Syngas

Posted on posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 1:26 AM

In a major sustainability milestone for the industry, InEnTec Chemical LLC yesterday announced it successfully completed demonstration of its mobile Plasma Enhanced Melter for four of the world's largest chemical companies to produce ultra clean, hydrogen rich synthesis gas (referred to as "syngas") from chemical residuals that would normally be treated as hazardous waste and incinerated. This follows a recent announcement by Dow Corning to adopt InEnTec Chemical's technology for application at its Midland Michigan plant.

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Hydrogen Car Gets 650 Miles Per Tank

Posted on Thursday, June 12, 2008 posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 10:09 PM

Source: Breakthrough Hydrogen Car Gets 650 Miles Per Tank

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SRNL Microspheres Could Impact Fuel, Gasoline, Hydrogen Distribution

Posted on posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 10:04 PM

The Savannah Research National Laboratory have created a multipurpose new material, composed of tiny glass bubbles, which behaves both like a fluid and a solid. Researchers at Savannah Research National Laboratory (SRNL) preface the news release for their impactful glass microsphere breakthrough, with a riddle. "What looks like a fertilized egg, flows like water, gets stuffed with catalysts and exotic nanostructures and may have the potential of making the current retail gasoline infrastructure compatible with hydrogen-based vehicles of the future – not to mention also contributing to arenas such as nuclear proliferation and global warming?"The spheres measure a scant 2-100 microns in diameter. This puts them at smaller than the width of a human hair. The key asset of the spheres are tiny pores which adorn their surface. These pores can be controlled by processing to measure from 100 to 3,000 Angstroms and they form full tunnels between the inner and outer wall, through which chemicals of controlled sizes can pass.A major application of the new material is gas streaming filtering. By adjusting the porosity, the material will act as a filter, absorbing one type of gas and letting the others pass.

Most promising yet, the microballoons can have their mechanical properties tweaked to act like a fluid, including flowing along pipes. This means that current gas distribution infrastructures could be modified to transport solid hydrogen, with little change. This in turn would amount in savings of money and effort spent. The hardy little microballoons are also easily recycled and reused, thanks to their strength. Toyota is sponsoring the SRNL to bring the technology to market to help it with its hydrogen vehicles.

Source: Toyota, Medical Schools Back Revolutionary New Microspheres

Labels: energy-distribution, gasoline, hydrogen

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Videos of Algae to Oil, Biodiesel, Hydrogen & Ethanol

Posted on Monday, May 5, 2008 posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 7:54 PM

A collection of videos and video links regarding the turning of algae into oil, hydrogen, ethanol and other useful fuels

From this peswiki page here

Labels: biofuels, ethanol, hydrogen

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Chemists at UCLA Design Crystals for Applications in Clean Energy

Posted on Friday, April 20, 2007 posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 1:47 PM

Chemists at UCLA Design the Least Dense Crystals Known to Man for Applications in Clean Energy

13 Apr 2007

Chemists at UCLA have designed new organic structures for the storage of voluminous amounts of gases for use in alternative energy technologies.

The research, to be published on April 13 in the journal Science, demonstrates how the design principles of reticular chemistry have been used to create three-dimensional covalent organic frameworks, which have high thermal stability, high surface areas and extremely low densities.

The covalent organic frameworks, or COFs (pronounced "coffs"), one of these new classes of materials, are the first crystalline porous organic networks...Some of the biggest energy & environment challenges have been finding ways to store hydrogen for use as a fuel, to use methane as an alternative fuel, and to capture and store carbon dioxide from power plant smokestacks. The research team believes COFs are uniquely suited for all these applications because of their functional flexibility and their extremely light weight and high porosity.

Read the full report from here @ Technology News Daily

Labels: co2, hydrogen, methane, research

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£4.2 Million Research Programme into Hydrogen as an Alternative Energy Source

Posted on posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 1:12 PM

£4.2 Million Research Programme into Hydrogen as an Alternative Energy Source
20 April 2007

Provider: Fuel Cell Today

It has been announced that Imperial College, London has received £4.2 million in grant money to look at using solar energy to produce cost effective hydrogen.

The programme will develop biological and chemical solar driven processes to develop renewable and cost effective methods of producing hydrogen to operate fuel cells.

The College’s Energy Futures Lab receives the funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

Read the full report from here @ Fuel Cell Today

Labels: fuel-cells, hydrogen

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Millennium Cell and Jadoo Power to Develop Mobile Medical Power Source for U.S. Air Force

Posted on Thursday, March 29, 2007 posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 10:07 PM

Millennium Cell and Jadoo Power Awarded Program to Develop Mobile Medical Power Source for U.S. Air Force

March 29, 2007, Press release

~ Fuel cell based power source to demonstrate extended military medical airlift capabilities ~

EATONTOWN, N.J. - Millennium Cell Inc. (NASDAQ: MCEL), a leading developer of hydrogen battery technology, today announced that it has been awarded a contract with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (“AFRL”) to develop with its partner Jadoo Power a 300 watt power system that provides 12 hours of runtime for use as a long endurance power supply for U.S. Air Force aeromedical evacuation flights. The combination of Jadoo Power’s fuel cells and N-Stor interface technology with Millennium Cell’s Hydrogen on Demand® fuel technology creates a power system which can address critical power source needs that cannot be achieved with traditional battery technologies. The program will culminate in the fourth quarter of 2007 with a demonstration of a fuel cell system capable of powering the Air Force’s Patient Support Pallet, which is designed to improve the survivability of soldiers being evacuated from the battlefield to advanced medical facilities.

Jadoo Power has been a licensee of Millennium Cell’s technology since February 2006. The two companies are actively developing Hydrogen on Demand® fuel canisters for use with Jadoo Power’s N-Gen Fuel Cell Power units and XRT Extended Runtime accessories for emergency response and other industrial and military uses. The XRT uses six metal hydride canisters for hydrogen fuel storage today, which weigh approximately 30 total pounds. With the new chemical hydride-based fuel canister jointly developed by Millennium Cell, the XRT is expected to deliver the same runtime with approximately half the fuel canister weight.

Millennium Cell is currently engaged on multiple programs with AFRL focused on the development of products which utilize Millennium Cell’s technology for a wide range of applications including soldier power and unmanned aerial vehicles.

“We are very pleased to get the opportunity to work on a system that has the potential to save lives by extending the mobile medical capabilities of the U.S. military,” said Adam Briggs, President. “This mission critical requirement effectively illustrates an application for which fuel cell systems deliver a significant value.”

About Millennium Cell

Millennium Cell develops hydrogen battery technology through a patented chemical process that safely stores and delivers hydrogen energy to power portable devices. The borohydride-based technology can be scaled to fit any application requiring high energy density for a long run time in a compact space. The Company is working with market partners to meet demand for its patented process in four areas: military, medical, industrial and consumer electronics. For more information, visit http://millenniumcell.com.

About Jadoo Power

www.jadoopower.com

Jadoo Power is a market-focused company that develops and sells next-generation, portable energy storage and power generation products. Jadoo Power is a leading commercial supplier of fuel cell products to the portable power space. Jadoo Power is financed by MDV, Venrock Associates and Sinclair Ventures, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements:

This press release may include statements that are not historical facts and are considered ``forward-looking” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements reflect Millennium Cell’s current views about future events and financial performance and are subject to risks. Forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as “believe,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “on target” and similar expressions identifying forward-looking statements. Investors should not rely on forward-looking statements because they are subject to a variety of risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside of our control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from Millennium Cell’s expectations, and Millennium Cell expressly does not undertake any duty to update forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, the following: (i) the cost and timing of development and market acceptance of Millennium Cell’s hydrogen fuel storage and delivery system; (ii) the cost and commercial availability of the quantities of raw materials required by the hydrogen fuel storage and delivery systems; (iii) competition from current, improving and alternative power technologies; (iv) Millennium Cell’s ability to raise capital at the times, in the amounts and at the costs and terms that are acceptable to fund the development and commercialization of its hydrogen fuel storage and delivery system and its business plan; (v) Millennium Cell’s ability to protect its intellectual property; (vi) Millennium Cell’s ability to achieve budgeted revenue and expense amounts; (vii) Millennium Cell’s ability to generate revenues from the sale or license of, or provision of services related to, its technology; (viii) Millennium Cell’s ability to form strategic alliances or partnerships to help promote our technology and achieve market acceptance; (ix) Millennium Cell’s ability to generate design, engineering or management services revenue opportunities in the hydrogen generation or fuel cell markets; (x) Millennium Cell’s ability to secure government funding of its research and development and technology demonstration projects; and (xi) other factors discussed under the caption “Investment Considerations” in Millennium Cell’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005.

Contacts
MBS Value Partners
Betsy Brod, 212-750-5800

Labels: batteries, fuel-cells, hydrogen

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