NewNergy

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.

More from here - Breakthrough Hydrogen Car Gets 650 Miles Per Tank

Labels: autos, hydrogen, inventions

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.

More from here

Labels: autos, fuel-cells, hydrogen

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.

More from here - Wind-to-hydrogen project about to get started

Labels: hydrogen, wind

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.

More from here

Labels: hydrogen, waste

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.

Source: Breakthrough Hydrogen Car Gets 650 Miles Per Tank

Labels: autos, hydrogen

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

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

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

£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

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