Scientists from Ohio University have come across a way to harvest large amounts of cheap hydrogen from a rather unlikely source: urine. Apparently, plucking hydrogen atoms from urine is much easier than getting it from water.
Gerardine Botte, one of the Ohio University professors actively developing this "pee power" technology, attributes this difference to urea, a cleaner of diesel emissions and major component of urine. A molecule of urea is composed of four hydrogen atoms and two nitrogen atoms. Applying an electric current using a special nickel electrode causes those hydrogen atoms to pop right off. The trick is that it requires about 97 percent less electricity to release the hydrogen from the urea molecules than from a water molecule--specifically 0.037 volt for urine versus 1.23 volts for water.
Imagine a future where fuel cell vehicles get 90 miles per gallon (of pee) and farms generate their own power from livestock waste. That future could be here sooner than you think. Botte currently has a working small-scale prototype that generates up to 500 milliwatts of power, and she plans to have large-scale examples up and running in about six months.
I imagine this will probably change the nature of stopping for a fill-up during a long road trip.
(Via Discovery News)
The Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell takes part in the Hydrogen Road Tour.
(Credit: GM)Electric cars have been getting plenty of buzz lately, but the development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is still going strong. The California Fuel Cell Partnership, along with Powertech Labs, National Hydrogen Association, and U.S. Fuel Cell Council, will seek to regain the spotlight with a road trip to demonstrate the practicality of these vehicles.
The road tour route runs up the West Coast, from Chula Vista to Vancouver.
(Credit: California Fuel Cell Partnership)Twelve fuel cell cars from seven automakers will drive from Chula Vista, in Southern California, up to Vancouver, Canada, a trip of 1,700 miles. Vancouver was chosen for the destination because it will play host to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, where a fleet of fuel cell buses will provide transportation.
Fuel cell cars that will be making the trip include the Chevy Equinox Fuel Cell, Mercedes F-Cell, Honda FCX Clarity, Hyundai Tucson FCEV, Kia Borrego FCEV, Nissan X-Trail, Toyota FCHV-adv Highlander, and Volkswagen HyMotion. The cars, which have ranges of 200 to over 500 miles, will be relying on a mobile refueling station for their hydrogen needs.
The tour starts on May 26 in Chula Vista, and ends on June 3 in Vancouver. Stops have been scheduled along the route so the public can get a chance to see these cars. Check the Hydrogen Road Tour '09 Web site to see if there's an event near you.
Among the many other problems with the latest James Bond film Quantum of Solace, I was particularly struck with its seemingly careless stance on technology.
The latest Bond flick does get those bloody stares right. But what happened to the cutting-edge gadgets?
(Credit: Sony Pictures)While I know they're just movies, the Bond franchise films--like Ian Fleming's novels--have always been geopolitical snapshots of the time in which they were made.
According to this movie, the British are pinning their hopes on skillful driving and fisticuffs to get the job done, while those dabbling in high-tech solutions to solve world problems are off-the-mark.
As in Casino Royale, there is no Q. Apparently, in this Bond's world, MI6 does not arm its agents with insight and tools from teams of high-tech experts. The few gadgets used are pitifully unimaginative. (CNET News readers wrote in better gadget ideas.)
In Quantum of Solace, Bond has a cell phone he can use to call MI6 and give the name of a potential villain he's met. MI6 can look up the name and send a photo of the guy to Bond's cell phone to confirm it's the same guy. Guess what? I, too, can call a friend, have them look up a name, background, and photo; and have the info sent to my cell phone. So can millions of teenagers.
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World's first Honda FCX Clarity customers
(Credit: American Honda, Susan Goldman)The first Honda FCX Clarity customers Ron Yerxa, center, and wife Annette Ballester received a ceremonial key to their Honda hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicle at Honda of Santa Monica on Friday.
Honda announced that the zero-emissions vehicle would be available for 36-month leases only, beginning in late summer. Initial availability is limited to the Southern California and Japanese markets. Availability is expected to expand as hydrogen fueling stations become more widespread.
Volkswagen showed off its fourth generation fuel cell research vehicle in San Francisco, making its North American debut. This vehicle, built into Volkswagen's new Tiguan crossover model, uses hydrogen to create electricity, providing power for the car's electric drive motor. It also has a lithium ion battery pack for extra electricity storage, and gets the gasoline equivalent of 42-to-62 miles per gallon. A Volkswagen spokesman predicted a consumer version in 7 years to 10 years, when a hydrogen refueling infrastructure is built up.
Click here for photos of the Volkswagen HyMotion fuel cell vehicle.
The $150,000 Scorpion would produce hydrogen as it drives.
(Credit: Ronn Motor Company)
A Texas company is offering a glimpse of a high-end hydrogen-gasoline sportscar it hopes to sell by the fall.
Rather than using fuel cells to power an electric motor, the Scorpion from Ronn Motor Company would have an internal combustion engine burning both gasoline and hydrogen, achieving 40 highway miles per gallon.
Unlike with a hydrogen fuel cell car, the Scorpion's "hydrogen on demand" system wouldn't require a high-pressure hydrogen storage tank. Nor would a driver need to find and fill up at a hydrogen fueling station.
Instead, electricity from the Scorpion's alternator sends an electric charge through the water in a storage tank, fracturing molecules and releasing hydrogen, which is injected into the motor, explained Ronn Maxwell, CEO of Ronn Motor in Horseshoe Bay, Texas.
"This means that as we're driving down the road, we're producing hydrogen in real time, and blending it with gasoline at a ratio of 30 to 40 percent," he said.
The hydrogen-gasoline hybrid technology comes from Hydrorunner.
"We are still using gasoline, but we're gonna be using 40 percent less," Maxwell said. "The hydrogen cleans up the emissions. It actually consumes carbon. It's not the perfect car, not electric, but it is something that'll work right now."
Ronn Motor showed off a working prototype of the Scorpion, sans body, Tuesday in downtown Austin.
The hydrogen internal combustion engine can achieve between 30 to 50 percent greater efficiency over standard gasoline cars, Maxwell added. Under the hood is a 2009 Acura 3.5 Vtech motor with 280-horsepower stock, or 450-horsepower with a twin turbo option. The car has a 6-speed manual transmission.
Ronn Motor has taken several orders so far and has plans to build 200 Scorpions this year, eventually ramping up to 500, Maxwell said. He believes his will be the first company to market a passenger car with a hydrogen-on-demand system, which gearheads already tinker with in private garages and which are available for the trucking industry.
Maxwell is targeting the sort of automotive aficionados who might collect Lamborghinis, Ferraris, or an electric Tesla, but said he wants to create a sedan next. It remains to be seen whether Ronn Motor will succeed in delivering its roadster to customers by October as planned.
The company's stock was listed on the Pink Sheets May 29.
Meanwhile, building the necessary fueling infrastructure remains just one of the barriers to wider adoption of hydrogen fuel cell cars, which primarily reside in the garages of a wealthy and famous few.
The company showed off the Scorpion, without its shell, on Tuesday in Austin, Tex.
(Credit: Ronn Motor Company)
(Credit:
Samsung)
Samsung has developed a new kind of cell phone battery that's powered by water and is aiming to bring it to market by 2010.
Here's how it works: When the handset is switched on, reaction between metal and water in the phone produce hydrogen gas. This is then channeled to the fuel cell, where it reacts with oxygen in the air to generate power.
Samsung says the new battery could last for up to 10 hours. Based on four hours of use daily on average, the hydrogen cartridge would have to be replaced about every five days.
The next development would be to eliminate the hydrogen cartridge altogether and to rely only on water. While all that sounds promising, we guess it'll be hard to persuade people to adopt it en masse. After all, we've been trying to keep our phones away from water.
(Source: Crave Asia)
Tests show minimal emissions from BMW's hydrogen car.
BMW showed off a hydrogen-powered 7-series sedan at the 2008 SAE World Congress in Detroit that actually emits less carbon monoxide than are found in the air around it. This means the engine breaks down or converts the carbon monoxide it takes in. The emissions tests, run by Argonne Laboratories, also show a similar reduction in nonmethane organic gases. The vehicle's other emissions are all so low that standard automobile emissions testing wouldn't have detected them.
This particular demonstration vehicle uses a 6-liter combustion engine that uses hydrogen as fuel, burning it in the cylinders and, according to BMW, delivering performance on par with a standard gas-powered 7-series. Most hydrogen cars from other automakers use fuel cells to generate electricity. Currently, BMW has been handing its Hydrogen 7 sedan, a car with a dual-fuel hydrogen and gas system, over to various celebrities and decision influencers, such as J.D. Power III. But the new demonstration vehicle only uses hydrogen for fuel. BMW doesn't consider the car a prototype, and won't be building more on the same scale as the Hydrogen 7.
BMW's Hydrogen 7 car runs on gas and hydrogen.
(Credit: BMW)Correction: a portable battery pack Horizon is working on with another manufacturer will run on the liquid fuel ethanol.
The personal computer was famously derided as a "toy" when it entered the computing world. Some companies in the hydrogen fuel cell industry are counting on toys to make the much-ballyhooed hydrogen economy a reality, if on a small scale.
Horizon Fuel Cells is one of a handful of companies that make such toys and educational products, including the H-racer, a toy car that runs on a small fuel cell. A fueling station uses a small solar panel or power outlet to convert water to hydrogen gas, which is then put on-board to power the car.
But that's just the beginning of the company's grand plans, said Horizon Fuel Cells Vice President Taras Wankewycz.
In the fall, it will be releasing a portable back-up power supply called the HydroPak which runs on solid fuel cartridges and water. (See CNET blogger Peter Glaskowsky's description and take on it.)
The company also has signed a deal with another manufacturer to make a fuel cell portable power pack under the manufacturer's name, Wankewycz said. It will run on the liquid fuel ethanol. Another company, MTI Micro, is making a methanol-powered fuel cell charger for portable electronics, which are due next year.
In addition, Horizon Fuel Cells has signed a deal with toymaker Corgi, which intends to use fuel cells for remote-controlled toys, a more challenging technical hurdle than the H-racer, which is undergoing an update to a new version, Wankewycz said. From a performance point of view, Corgi's toy power pack needs almost no time to charge.
So why is the business of toys and portable power packs--basically niche markets--important to the overall fuel cell industry? Because people can actually buy them.
Expensive government-funded research projects have been trying to displace the internal combustion engine for years with some technical progress, but hydrogen cars are still many many years away.
General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner went on 60 Minutes years ago to say that fuel cells are the future because GM can make them profitably. In the meantime, Toyota came out with a niche product, the Prius, using hybrid technology that bridges today's fuel reality with better environmental performance.
Here's another good reason Horizon Fuel Cells' business plan is compelling: the toy and educational business is profitable. That allows the company, which expects to be profitable this year, to fund research in more demanding applications, like boats, bikes, forklifts, and other light vehicles.
Along the way, young people get a notion that there are technology alternatives to fossil fuels, even if they have a ways to go before seeing a hydrogen fueling station.
"There's a movement in clean tech education," said Wankewycz, who I saw while he was in Boston for a conference of the National Science Teachers Association. "(Toys) are a way to get connected to future technology rather than through text books."
He also believes that toys can be a disruptive technology, surprising people who have been in the field for years.
"Toys are serious business but nobody took it seriously. It's an industry that's led by scientists, who are serious people," he said. "It's a gradual evolution. We're just creating the industry piece by piece."
Not yet ready for prime time
(Credit: GM)Which came first? Hydrogen fuel-cell cars or hydrogen filling stations? The answer depends on who you ask. General Motors yesterday called for a "collective resolve" to address the problem of infrastructure to support fuel-cell powered cars. Speaking at the National Hydrogen Association's annual meeting, GM's R&D honcho Larry Burns said that the situation with regard to fuel-cell cars had "now reached a point where the energy industry and governments must pick up their pace so we can continue to advance in a timely manner."
The other problem--which Burns failed to mention-- is the lack of actual vehicles to make use of said infrastructure. While GM and Honda have committed to putting a handful of fuel-cell vehicles on the road this year, it hardly constitutes justification for the $12 billion investment that GM and Shell anticipate it will cost to bring hydrogen access to 70 percent of the U.S. population. And without the economies of scale that comes from mass production, hydrogen cars such as the Honda Clarity and the Chevy Equinox continue to be expensive showpieces. Expect the holdups on the hydrogen highway to continue as the automakers, energy companies, and the public sector work out who is going to come up with the necessary investment for making the technology a widespread reality.
