NewNergy

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

‘Bacteria batteries’ For Energy Storage

Posted on Thursday, October 8, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 2:26 AM

Scientists at Pennsylvania State University are pioneering a method whereby electrical energy is stored as methane, which can then be burned to release power when it’s needed. The system’s active ‘ingredients’ are a combination of tiny microbes and CO2. Placed under an electrical current – for example from an off-grid renewable power source such as wind or solar – the microbes convert the CO2 into methane. Professor Bruce Logan, head of the research team, explains that they work in a similar way to the natural process found in marshes.

The initial carbon dioxide needed for the chemical reaction could even come from industrial sources: “CO2 is soluble in water, so the gas stream could be bubbled or transferred” in pipes from factories, for example. The ‘battery’ is designed to work as a closed loop, capturing and reusing the CO2 that’s released when the methane is burned. The energy conversion is about 80%, Logan claims, but admits that “a lot more research into scaling up these systems is needed” before commercial viability could be assessed.

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Labels: co2, energy, methane

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New Online Greenhouse Gas Calculator to Measure & Manage Vehicle Fleet Emissions

Posted on Tuesday, May 26, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 2:52 AM

Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and NAFA Fleet Management Association (NAFA) released a new online calculator for fleet managers to measure their greenhouse gas emissions as a first step in creating "greener" vehicle fleets.This tool that enables fleets to track their progress in reducing emissions over time.Recognizing that it is difficult to capture the complete data required by more advanced calculation methods, the Fleet Emissions Tool is designed to minimize data entry needs for fleets while retaining accuracy.

The Fleet Emissions Tool estimates total fleet greenhouse gas emissions from fuel consumption data. This data is directly used to calculate emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), which accounts for about 95% of greenhouse gas from vehicles. Emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are estimated based on their prominence among greenhouse gas from transportation source.

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Labels: co2, greenhouse-gases, methane

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Microwave Technology : A Process of Making Energy from Waste

Posted on Friday, May 8, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 4:55 AM

A demonstration of microwave technology converting industrial waste and difficult-to-process natural resources into diesel, methane, carbon ash and other reusable hydrocarbons was run this week (4th May) by Global Resource Corp. The commercial prototype of the company's system, Patriot-1, is microwave technology that has an automated engineering process to provide a highly energy efficient, emission free way to convert a wide range of materials into energy.

The demonstration, conducted at the companys's research facility, transformed large amounts of scrap tires into diesel fuel, methane, pentane, butane, propane as well as combustible gases, and carbon ash. Patriot-1's technology can process other materials for the purpose of unlocking energy including; shale rock, tar sands, bituminous coal, heavy oil as well as the environmental hazards associated with municipal waste, tanker sludge, waste oil and dredged materials.

To address the economic viability for waste treatment, the technology will maintain an energy efficiency of 1:50, a ratio at which a wide range of materials become commercially viable to convert to energy regardless of commodity costs.

Labels: diesel, efficiency, energy, fuel, methane, technology, waste

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'Green' Rice Could Help With Climate Change Fight ?

Posted on Sunday, May 3, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 11:30 PM

Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives' Rice Department's recent research has been aimed at developing rice varieties that emit less methane and carbon dioxide, the key gases contributing to global warming.The photosynthesis of the newly developed plants would emit fewer greenhouse gases. A study to develop other strains to reduce carbon dioxide during harvesting is also under way.

Mr Prasert, director general of the department said, if the research was successful, new rice strains would be offered to Thai farmers. They would produce plants with smaller phloems - the plants' food-conducting tissues.DNA data which is now used for improving new rice strains has shortened the process from 10 years to five or six years. However, a senior researcher at the Rice Department's Bureau of Rice Research and Development said, there was a shortage of new-generation researchers and his office now had only about 20 people working in the area.

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Labels: climate-change, co2, greenhouse-gases, methane

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Bacteria Turns Excess Clean Energy Into Methane for Storage

Posted on Monday, April 6, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 1:55 AM

Scientists at Pennsylvania State University have discovered a solution to the problem of reliable storage for alternative energy: a bacteria that can convert electricity to methane when combined with CO2.Any surplus power from wind, solar, or tidal sources is fed into the bacteria and combined with CO2 from the atmosphere to create methane for storage. Methane is a clean-burning gas and 80% of energy fed into the process was retained at the end.Scientists note that using a bacteria instead of a high-cost catalyst is a promising development that could lead to the process’s implementation in just a few years.

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Labels: alternative-energy, co2, energy, methane

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Fish Oil Diet Could Reduce Greenhouse Gases From Cow Farts

Posted on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 9:21 PM

Irish scientists have discovered that adding just a small amount of fish oil to the diet of cattle can vastly reduce the amount of methane produced by, ahem…cow farts. Climate scientists have long known that, pound for pound, methane is 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at trapping the suns rays, making it a highly potent greenhouse gas.Now the team, from University College Dublin (UCD), have figured out that including just 2 percent fish oil in the bovine diet can drastically reduce flatulence, largely due to the omega 3 fatty acids in the oil. In fact, in an experiment with three cows, methane output was cut by a remarkable 21 percent.

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Labels: climate-change, greenhouse-gases, methane

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US Scientists Say Burning Ice Could Provide Green Fossil Fuel

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 8:54 PM

US Scientists have revealed how natural gas locked up in frozen water crystals could provide massive amounts of energy, and claim that it could even be totally emissions-free. To the naked eye, clathrate hydrate (CH) looks like everyday ice but, as well as being partly made of water, the molecules are also organised into “cages”, which trap individual molecules of methane.Remarkably, a new method of extracting the methane and ’swapping’ it with carbon dioxide could turn the substance into a revolutionary carbon-neutral fossil fuel.

Labels: co2, energy, fossil-fuels, methane

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A New Breakthrough in Biogas Treatment

Posted on Sunday, March 8, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 8:40 PM

Membrane Technology and Research, Inc. has just won a $70,000 grant to study the use of a low cost process to remove toxins from the methane generated by anaerobic digesters. The process is based on a new family of polymeric membranes with unique permeability/selectivity characteristics. Phase I will consist of improving the membrane’s performance and capability for reproduction. If that’s successful, Phase II will test a demo model in the lab and in the field.

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Labels: biogas, methane

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Solar Nanotube - Making Fuel From CO2

Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 8:28 PM

Developments in Nanotechnology continue apace, and a new invention using nanotubes promises an eco-friendly approach to both consume CO2 and produce useful fuel as a bi-product.The device was created at Pennsylvania State University and it's an innovative development of existing tech that uses titanium dioxide nanoparticles and ultraviolet light to convert CO2.When a group of the nanotubes are exposed to sunlight, CO2 and water vapor, the solar energy converts the gasses into a mix of organic compounds like methane, ethane and propane. The process works at a rate as fast as 160 microliters an hour per gram of nanotubes, and that's twenty times faster than previous attempts to convert CO2 in this manner.

Labels: co2, fuel, inventions, methane

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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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Purdue, city and county, industries join to turn waste into power

Posted on Tuesday, March 27, 2007 posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 11:48 AM

Purdue, city and county, industries join to turn waste into power

Giles Clark, 13 March 2007

by Susan A. Steeves

Planners and scientists from Purdue, central Indiana's Clinton County and city of Frankfort, and industries Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) and Indiana Clean Energy LLC (ICE) are joining forces to use waste to produce methane for conversion to electricity. Two separate facilities will be built — one for industrial waste conversion and another for hog waste — with the goal of having plants in operation by spring 2008.

Read the full report here @ Biofuel Review

Labels: industrial-waste, methane, waste

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