If you've been waiting for a breakthrough in hydrogen fuels

[baldheadeddork]

...this could be it.

CHICAGO (AFP) - US researchers have developed a method of producing hydrogen gas from biodegradable organic material, potentially providing an abundant source of this clean-burning fuel, according to a study released Monday.
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The technology offers a way to cheaply and efficiently generate hydrogen gas from readily available and renewable biomass such as cellulose or glucose, and could be used for powering vehicles, making fertilizer and treating drinking water.

The method used by engineers at Pennsylvania State University however combines electron-generating bacteria and a small electrical charge in a microbial fuel cell to produce hydrogen gas.

Microbial fuel cells work through the action of bacteria which can pass electrons to an anode. The electrons flow from the anode through a wire to the cathode producing an electric current. In the process, the bacteria consume organic matter in the biomass material.

An external jolt of electricity helps generate hydrogen gas at the cathode.

In the past, the process, which is known as electrohydrogenesis, has had poor efficiency rates and low hydrogen yields.

But the researchers at Pennsylvania State University were able to get around these problems by chemically modifying elements of the reactor.

In laboratory experiments, their reactor generated hydrogen gas at nearly 99 percent of the theoretical maximum yield using aetic acid, a common dead-end product of glucose fermentation.

"This process produces 288 percent more energy in hydrogen than the electrical energy that is added in the process," said Bruce Logan, a professor of environmental engineering at Penn State.

The technology is economically viable now, which gives hydrogen an edge over another alternative biofuel which is grabbing more headlines, Logan said.

That is huge. The biggest drawback to developing hydrogen as a fuel has been the massive amounts of electricity needed to release hydrogen from water. There would also be a conflict between using water as a source for fuel and meeting the growing demand for drinking water, or handling the waste brine that would be created by using seawater. If extracting hydrogen from biomass is as efficient as these tests indicate, that changes the game entirely.

Keep an eye on this.

[Headmanbrewing]

I've been waiting.  Hopefully this can be utilized in a reasonable time frame, not some 20 years from now.

[Squareman357]

That does sound very promising.  288% gain in energy over that require to fuel the process is amazing.  Color me stupid, but what kind of "biomass" are they using to reclaim the hydrogen from?

[baldheadeddork]

That does sound very promising.  288% gain in energy over that require to fuel the process is amazing.  Color me stupid, but what kind of "biomass" are they using to reclaim the hydrogen from?

They said cellulose and glucose in the article, which would primarily mean grain and fruits or their byproducts, but they said that was an example. If you can use this with all biomass products, that means everything that decomposes.

[Mac]

Dam, this could be the energy breakthrough we need to change the world.

[RexRider]

Fingers crossed, but not holding my breath just yet...  

[chornbe]

They said cellulose and glucose in the article, which would primarily mean grain and fruits or their byproducts, but they said that was an example. If you can use this with all biomass products, that means everything that decomposes.

SOYLENT GREEN IS MADE OF PEOPLE!!!

[traveler]

Certainly does sound intriguing. Hope something comes of it, and soon. But, I wonder if big oil is already trying to buy, or already own the rights to it. They have for a long time invested heavily in other forms of alternative energies, yet oil/gas remains the base energy for the planet. Just wondering.

[shah269]

Certainly does sound intriguing. Hope something comes of it, and soon. But, I wonder if big oil is already trying to buy, or already own the rights to it. They have for a long time invested heavily in other forms of alternative energies, yet oil/gas remains the base energy for the planet. Just wondering.

The black helecopters will be at your home shortly to pick you up and carry you off on an all expence paid vacation to GITMO.

[highside]

How much energy is spent to contain and grow or acquire the necessary biomass?

[jed]

Hmmm,  "electron-generating bacteria and a small electrical charge in a microbial fuel cell to produce hydrogen gas."

bacteria and microbial fuel cells lead me to think that in the short term this ain't going to be scalable.  And besides this kinda reminds me of the pod thingys that people were farmed in from the Matrix....

Still holding out for high effiicency solar:

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/31/2034239

Renewable Energy Access is reporting that a consortium led by researchers at the University of Delaware has achieved 42.8% efficiency with a silicon solar cell. The method uses lower concentration (factor of 20 magnification) than the previous record holder (40.7% efficiency) so that it may have a broader range of applications, since tolerances for pointing the device will be larger. They are now partnering with DuPont to build engineering and manufacturing prototypes. They expect to be in production in 2010. On a roof, such cells would require less than half the surface area to produce the same amount of power as today's standard solar panels, which have an efficiency of about 17%."

Whatever wins the race has got to be scalable, simple to maintain, durable, and require minimum operator intervention.

[2wTraveler]

This may be a silly uneducated question...If the byproduct of Hydrogen fuel powered vehicles is water. Do they plan on each vehicle trapping its waste water in some sort of onboard tank, or will it just pour into the atmosphere like a gasonline engines exhaust? I am more concerned about having to ride my motorcycle on a soaking wet highway all the time due to these alternate fuels vehicles....just a thought.

[shah269]

How much energy is spent to contain and grow or acquire the necessary biomass?

Ah I live in the north east and man there is bio freaking mass all over the dam place!
Freaking grass cutting and fallen leaves. Ok it's not huge but I'm sure that and all the unused parts from corn and grane production would help?
As for the exhaust being water, well it would be pure H20....so I guess you could collect it? But it wouldn't be huge masses of water on the streets. But the major issue wouldn't be the water but the ice that would cover our roads!
So i guess we would all have to ride around on BMW GS's with spiked tires! Woo hoo!

[baldheadeddork]

How much energy is spent to contain and grow or acquire the necessary biomass?

Depends on how many subsidies you can get attached to it, and how much of it is grown in an early primary state....

But seriously, the cool thing about gathering any energy from biomass is that it works great with the stuff we throw away now. You could use crop scraps, garbage...in addition to high cellulose crops like switch grass that don't require a lot of fertilizer and are perennials, which further cuts down on the amount of fuel needed to grow them.

[jed]

This may be a silly uneducated question...If the byproduct of Hydrogen fuel powered vehicles is water. Do they plan on each vehicle trapping its waste water in some sort of onboard tank, or will it just pour into the atmosphere like a gasonline engines exhaust? I am more concerned about having to ride my motorcycle on a soaking wet highway all the time due to these alternate fuels vehicles....just a thought.

Prolly released as vapor, much like the water produced internal combustion engines.

With the exception of using pure H or natural gas I'm seeing one thing in common with all the alternative energy solutions.  They all produce electricity.  Electricity needs to be stored in batteries.  Me thinks it would be a good time to do Due Dillegance in battery manufacturing techniques, storage capacity, environmental impacts, longevity, etc., and small up and coming companies that are pushing the envelope.

No mater what source wins the green war the juice is going into batteries of some sort.

[baldheadeddork]

Hmmm,  "electron-generating bacteria and a small electrical charge in a microbial fuel cell to produce hydrogen gas."

bacteria and microbial fuel cells lead me to think that in the short term this ain't going to be scalable.  And besides this kinda reminds me of the pod thingys that people were farmed in from the Matrix....

I think you've got a point. It is hard to see something like this taking the place of something like an oil refinery or a large electrical powerplant. If for no other reason, simply transporting the biomass materials to one central point would remove a lot of the efficiency.

But what about using thousands of small facilities using this at the local collection points for biomass, either to generate hydrogen as a vehicle fuel for local distribution or to fuel small generating stations that would plug into the grid?

[Mac]

I agree, battery tech is way behind the rest. Lithium ion is the best as of now, but it only is about 4 to 5 times as efficient as lead acid.

[jed]

I think you've got a point. It is hard to see something like this taking the place of something like an oil refinery or a large electrical powerplant. If for no other reason, simply transporting the biomass materials to one central point would remove a lot of the efficiency.

But what about using thousands of small facilities using this at the local collection points for biomass, either to generate hydrogen as a vehicle fuel for local distribution or to fuel small generating stations that would plug into the grid?

If this could be scaled to run with minimum user supervision (no lab coat and PHD required) at farms, landfills, or even households I think this would be a great alternative.  I don't think would win the majority of the market share but it could easily supplant existing H extraction processes and reduce the cost of bulk H which would in turn lower the entry barrier to H based fuel technologies.

I wonder if each microbial fuel cell needs to be wired in or if they are autonomous entities that intermingle with the biomass supply.

Did they say how long it takes to yield X grams of H from Y grams of biomass?  I wonder if the stuff has to ferment before being sparked.

[kurtw]

http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=110648&org=NSF&from=news

[veefer800canuck]

I'm still holding out for one of these: