The technical name for a fuel cell is an electrochemical energy conversion device. A fuel cell converts the chemicals hydrogen and oxygen into water, and in the process it produces electricity. Other electrochemical devices that are in use these days and for many decades is the well-known battery. The distinguishing difference between a simple battery and a fuel cell is that all the chemicals are stored inside the battery. The battery in turn converts those chemicals into electricity but in due course it “goes dead” as the chemicals are used up and at times you can either throw it away or recharge it.

Then again with a fuel cell, chemicals continually flow into the cell so as long as there is a flow of chemicals into the cell; the electricity flows out of the fuel cell. Combustion engines the gasoline engine burn fuels and batteries converted chemical energy back into electrical energy when needed. However, fuel cells should do both tasks more efficiently.

Simply put the construction and materials in a fuel cell release electrons from the hydrogen gas creating electricity and the waste product after the electricity is used to power an electrical device is water, formed with the negative hydrogen and the oxygen.This reaction in a single fuel cell produces only about 0.7 volts. To get this voltage up to a reasonable level, several separate fuel cells must be combined to form a fuel-cell stack.

However one major problem with using hydrogen is that it is cannot be stored easily for consumer use. Among the other alternatives, it could be natural gas, propane, and methanol gas. The main objective of using fuel cell technology is pollution reduction. Fuel cell is also very efficient; 80% of the fuel use in these cells is converted into usable energy as compared to only 20% for a gasoline powered engine and about 30% overall for a battery powered electric vehicle.

Evidently there is no question that the fuel cell holds greater promise for the future. However, the fuel cell technology must still gather all the pieces of finding the right ‘fuel’ source that is both easy to store and deliver to the consumer, efficiency of the vehicle using fuel cells, and the cost for the total package.

The Original Post is Located Here: A Basic Overview Of Fuel Cell Technology

Biogas is created in landfills. When organic matter such as compost or natural waste is buried without oxygen, it starts to create a gas. This is biogas and it can be contained and used to produce energy. A landfill that is properly designed will produce biogas for several years. This gas is released into the earth’s atmosphere, so it just makes sense that harnessing it and making use of it would be a better solution. As far as natural resources go, this might be one of the best.

For the most part biogas is made up of carbon dioxide and methane. However, quite often there are also varying quantities of hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and various other natural gases. Special wells have to be drilled in order to properly get biogas out of a landfill. It is a much more efficient way of capturing all of the gas. At this time there is a train in Sweden that is currently powered by biogas. The use of sewage and cow waste is the primary fuel source for that train. It has been determined that biogas has virtually no trace of toxic emissions in comparison with fossil fuels.

There are several great benefits to using biogas as fuel. Not only does it produce much needed energy but it also eliminates all of the organic waste in landfills by giving it a purpose. This in turn also improves conditions in landfills regarding insects and the reduction of pathogens. Reducing the amount of methane in the earth’s atmosphere is also a good idea which biogas helps with as well. Those that are interested in the benefits of biogas should do the necessary research in order to understand it better. As consumers and members of this earth, we all must do our part to make an educated choice.

There are a handful of disadvantages associated with biogas as well. The actual product value of biogas is incredibly low, which does not necessarily make it economically feasible. The process that is required to obtain biogas can also be quite expensive since special wells must be drilled. There is also reason to believe that some of the gases in biogas are corrosive to metal. This can be a problem because metal is a major component of automobile engines. Weighing the benefits and disadvantages is necessary in order to conclude if biogas will work for you.

The Original Post is Located Here: Biogas

Biogas is created during the breaking down of organic waste inside a landfill. It is called anaerobic digestion. Organic matter such as plant life releases the gas after it has been buried without any oxygen for awhile. A landfill will actually generate biogas for many years after the organic waste has been buried. This gas has been proven to be effective in producing energy that can be used to power cars. There are now landfills designed just for the purpose of creating biogas.

Biogas is actually made up of several different types of gases. The two primary gases found in biogas are carbon dioxide and methane. Along with that can be various traces of oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen. The biogas does have to be put through a cleaning process before it can be used. Once it is ready though it could possibly power everything from cars to businesses. It can even be used for cooking.

Collecting biogas from the landfill is a pretty large task. It involves the use of gas wells which have to be drilled to properly obtain the biogas. The cost involved in this can be quite substantial which may be one of the downfalls to the use of this fuel source. Sweden is currently running a train solely on biogas between the cities Linkoeping and Vaestervik. The biogas used in the train is derived primarily from the waste of cattle and sewage. It certainly is interesting to see how waste can be made into something viable and useful.

Biogas certainly has other great attributes. It has far less carbon dioxide than diesel and gasoline. The emissions do not contain any of the same toxins and fossil fuels. If it could be obtained easier then perhaps it would be useful to the general public. However, even the best resources will have disadvantages. There are many pollutants that can be found in the burning of biogas which makes it an environmental risk. There is also a really high risk of bacteria because the management of it can be very sensitive. Production of biogas is not a simple process at all. The hard work involved does make biogas rather difficult to obtain.

Biogas simply is not common enough for public consumption at this point. Perhaps with more time and work it could become something that would be a great option that would also help the earth. Biogas remains a fantastic option that is still better than fossil fuels.

The Original Post is Located Here: The Use Of Biogas

But SOFCs have had a flaw – the integrity of the seals within and between power-producing units. “The seal problem is the biggest problem for commercialization of solid oxide fuel cells,” said Peizhen (Kathy) Lu, assistant professor of materials science and engineering at Virginia Tech.

So she has invented a solution.

Composed of ceramic materials that can operate at temperatures as high as 1,800 degrees F (1,000 C), SOFCs use high temperature to separate oxygen ions from air. The ions pass through a crystal lattice and oxidize a fuel– usually a hydrocarbon. The chemical reaction produces electrons, which flow through an external circuit, creating electricity.

To produce enough energy for a particular application, SOFC modules are stacked together. Each module has air on one side and a fuel on the other side and produces electrons. Many modules are stacked together to produce enough power for specific applications. Each module’s compartments must be sealed, and there must be seals between the modules in a stack so that air and fuel do not leak or mix, resulting in a loss of efficiency or internal combustion.

Lu has invented a new glass that can be used to seal the modules and the stack. The self-healing seal glass will provide strength and long-term stability to the stack, she said.

The U.S. Department of Energy has funded Lu’s SOFC and solid oxide elecrolyzer cell research to the tune of $365,000 so far. “For solid oxide fuel cells to run, we need to have a fuel. Hydrogen is the cleanest fuel you can ever have since the by-product is water. However, there is no abundant source of hydrogen and it has to be made. The solid oxide elecrolyzer cell process for splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen is one very desirable way of doing it,” Lu said.

“Our interest is to work on the critical material problems to enable power generation and hydrogen production in large quantity and low cost,” said Lu, whose expertise includes material design and material synthesis and processing.

“The invented glass seal materials are free of barium oxide, calcium oxide, magnesia, and alkali oxides, and in addition contain almost imperceptibly low amounts of boron oxide,” said Mike Miller senior licensing manager with Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties. “This is important because the seals must be both mechanically and chemically compatible with the different oxide and metallic cell components as they are repeatedly cycled between room and operating temperatures,” said Miller.

An article relevant to her research, which appeared in the Oct. 6, 2008 issue of the Journal of Applied Physics is “Network structure and thermal stability study of high temperature seal glass,” by Lu and Virginia Tech materials science and engineering doctoral student M. K. Mahapatra of Egra, Purba Medinipur, India.

Virginia Tech. New Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Seal Could Help Bring Efficient Energy Technology To Market. ScienceDaily

The Original Post is Located Here: New Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Seal Could Help Bring Efficient Energy Technology To Market

3-D rendering of H2O molecules

Now, a unique approach developed by Prof. David Milstein and colleagues of the Weizmann Institute’s Organic Chemistry Department, provides important steps in overcoming this challenge. During this work, the team demonstrated a new mode of bond generation between oxygen atoms and even defined the mechanism by which it takes place. In fact, it is the generation of oxygen gas by the formation of a bond between two oxygen atoms originating from water molecules that proves to be the bottleneck in the water splitting process. Their results have recently been published in Science.

Nature, by taking a different path, has evolved a very efficient process: photosynthesis – carried out by plants – the source of all oxygen on Earth. Although there has been significant progress towards the understanding of photosynthesis, just how this system functions remains unclear; vast worldwide efforts have been devoted to the development of artificial photosynthetic systems based on metal complexes that serve as catalysts, with little success. (A catalyst is a substance that is able to increase the rate of a chemical reaction without getting used up.)

The new approach that the Weizmann team has recently devised is divided into a sequence of reactions, which leads to the liberation of hydrogen and oxygen in consecutive thermal- and light-driven steps, mediated by a unique ingredient – a special metal complex that Milstein’s team designed in previous studies. Moreover, the one that they designed – a metal complex of the element ruthenium – is a ‘smart’ complex in which the metal center and the organic part attached to it cooperate in the cleavage of the water molecule.

The team found that upon mixing this complex with water the bonds between the hydrogen and oxygen atoms break, with one hydrogen atom ending up binding to its organic part, while the remaining hydrogen and oxygen atoms (OH group) bind to its metal center.

This modified version of the complex provides the basis for the next stage of the process: the ‘heat stage.’ When the water solution is heated to 100 degrees C, hydrogen gas is released from the complex – a potential source of clean fuel – and another OH group is added to the metal center.

‘But the most interesting part is the third ‘light stage,’’ says Milstein. ‘When we exposed this third complex to light at room temperature, not only was oxygen gas produced, but the metal complex also reverted back to its original state, which could be recycled for use in further reactions.’

These results are even more remarkable considering that the generation of a bond between two oxygen atoms promoted by a man-made metal complex is a very rare event, and it has been unclear how it can take place. Yet Milstein and his team have also succeeded in identifying an unprecedented mechanism for such a process. Additional experiments have indicated that during the third stage, light provides the energy required to cause the two OH groups to get together to form hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), which quickly breaks up into oxygen and water. ‘Because hydrogen peroxide is considered a relatively unstable molecule, scientists have always disregarded this step, deeming it implausible; but we have shown otherwise,’ says Milstein. Moreover, the team has provided evidence showing that the bond between the two oxygen atoms is generated within a single molecule – not between oxygen atoms residing on separate molecules, as commonly believed – and it comes from a single metal center.

Discovery of an efficient artificial catalyst for the sunlight-driven splitting of water into oxygen and hydrogen is a major goal of renewable clean energy research. So far, Milstein’s team has demonstrated a mechanism for the formation of hydrogen and oxygen from water, without the need for sacrificial chemical agents, through individual steps, using light. For their next study, they plan to combine these stages to create an efficient catalytic system, bringing those in the field of alternative energy an important step closer to realizing this goal.

Participating in the research were former postdoctoral student Stephan Kohl, Ph.D. student Leonid Schwartsburd and technician Yehoshoa Ben-David all of the Organic Chemistry Department, together with staff scientists Lev Weiner, Leonid Konstantinovski, Linda Shimon and Mark Iron of the Chemical Research Support Department.

Prof. David Milstein’s research is supported by the Mary and Tom Beck-Canadian Center for Alternative Energy Research; and the Helen and Martin Kimmel Center for Molecular Design. Prof. Milstein is the incumbent of the Israel Matz Professorial Chair of Organic Chemistry.

By: ScienceDaily.com

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The Original Post is Located Here: New Way To Split Water Into Hydrogen And Oxygen Developed

One-thirtieth of an ounce of a newly developed zinc-oxide crystal has enough surface area to cover an entire football field

A crystal riddled with tiny pores has the highest surface area of any material in the world, according to the University of Michigan chemists who created the material, which is detailed in the latest issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

One-thirtieth of an ounce of the zinc-oxide crystal has enough surface area to cover an entire football field. Scientists say this labyrinthine material could eventually store hydrogen for cars or pull planet-warming carbon dioxide out of the air.

“It’s a crystalline material like salt, or sugar,” said Adam Matzger, the University of Michigan chemist who created the material. “Looking at it you would never know that it is filled with empty space, that it’s full of these holes.”

Each pore is tiny, only a nanometer or two in size, just large enough for two hydrogen atoms, bonded to each other, to slip into a pore and bounce around like a rubber ball.

The secret is in the bounce. It’s not instantaneous. Each time a hydrogen molecule hits the wall the hydrogen sticks for a fraction of a second, the product of what’s known as the London dispersion force.

Hydrogen molecules are almost always electrically neutral, with two negatively charged electrons flying around two positively charged protons. Every once in a while, however, both electrons end up on the same side of the molecule, giving the first lightest element a slight electrical charge, just enough for the gas to stick to the wall for a slice of a second. Then the electrons zoom away, and the hydrogen molecule bounces away.

The bond between the hydrogen and the wall doesn’t last long, but it’s long enough to reduce the pressure inside the container, one of the key stumbling blocks for a hydrogen-based economy.

Today, hydrogen has to be stored at very high pressures, very low temperatures, or a combination of the two, all of which takes a great deal of energy. In fact, it requires much more energy than the hydrogen itself has and that’s one reason why hydrogen-based cars aren’t feasible today.

The new material makes a hydrogen economy more feasible than it was before, but don’t expect to pull up to a hydrogen filling station any time soon. Even with the new material, the hydrogen gas has to be stored at about -195 degrees C.

The good news is that the porous crystals are easy to create. Dumping white zinc salts into an environmentally-friendly solvent and drying the resulting crystals with a vacuum is all it takes to create the pore-filled crystals.

More walls means more chances for the hydrogen to find, and stick to, a wall, which is why scientists have worked to develop materials with higher and higher surface areas.

As expected, the Michigan material hold more hydrogen than any other material. Unexpectedly, the material didn’t hold as much as the scientists initially calculated. More walls means more hydrogen, but, it turns out, only up to a point.

“We showed that the material with the highest surface does not necessarily have the highest hydrogen storage,” said Matzger.

The new material absorbs other materials, like carbon dioxide or methane, as well. Expanding the size of the pores from a couple of nanometers to a few nanometers lets larger gases like carbon dioxide or methane into the pores and the same London dispersion forces help hold it in place.

Chemistry professor Joseph Hupp of Northwestern University, a “friendly competitor” of Matzger’s, says that high surface area material are especially difficult to work with.

“Gasses like hydrogen are really challenging to work with because they can’t be condense into liquids at reasonable temperatures,” said Hupp, who describes the work at “terrific.”

“It illustrates the principle that you can pull CO2 out of the air or store hydrogen.”

Matzger’s next step is to continue to refine his material so the pores are even smaller than they are right now, making the material hold even more hydrogen, carbon dioxide or methane, at lower temperature and pressures. Both Matzger and Hupp say that until materials can store more cost-efficiently however, a hydrogen-based economy is still years away.

By Eric Bland
© 2009 Discovery Channel

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The Original Post is Located Here: Nanocluster acts as hydrogen super sponge

Clean Hydrogen Power

Don’t get too attached to gas powered vehicles. A new hydrogen fuel station, the first of its kind on the East coast, opened for business, Monday.

Drivers in the United States spend more than $25 billion annually on oil from foreign countries. Now new hydrogen stations in South Carolina could eliminate the U.S.’s dependency and help the environment.

The fueling station at Sage Mill Industrial Park is the first of its kind within thousands of miles, but it will soon have lots of company as officials unveiled the start of the South Carolina “Hydrogen Freeway.”

“We are helping to start the United States on getting off of foreign oil, because there are people in other countries who don’t like us very much and want to hurt us and we’re sending them billions of dollars every year,” says South Carolina Speaker of the House, Bobby Harrell.

State leaders say the plan is to connect South Carolina to California with a stretch of hydrogen stations.

With hydrogen powered cars on the roads, the United States is closer to energy independence while helping the environment at the same time.

“A hydrogen fuel cell only puts out water and a little bit of heat and that’s all you have,” says Shannon Baxter-Clemmons of the South Carolina Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Alliance.

Hydrogen powered vehicles would completely eliminate pollution caused by exhaust from cars, but it does have its drawbacks. Currently, there are only a handful of hydrogen fuel stations in the country and just as few vehicles. Supporters of hydrogen are telling critics to give it time.

“There aren’t a lot of hydrogen fueling stations today just like there weren’t a lot of railroad tracks when the railroads started, but we are on the cutting edge of making those things happen,” said Harrell

Harrell says, as hydrogen use expands, so will South Carolina’s economy. He says hydrogen will boost business growth and incomes.

Currently, you can only lease hydrogen powered vehicles from certain automakers.

Officials expect the first mass production of hydrogen powered vehicles to roll off the assembly line by 2015. By 2020, they say fueling stations will be as common as gas stations.
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The Original Post is Located Here: South Carolina gets hydrogen power