Breakthrough in hydrogen fuel production

[knocker]

Breakthrough in hydrogen fuel production could revolutionize alternative energy market

New method is environmentally friendly and inexpensive

A team of Virginia Tech researchers has discovered a way to extract large quantities of hydrogen from any plant, a breakthrough that has the potential to bring a low-cost, environmentally friendly fuel source to the world.

"Our new process could help end our dependence on fossil fuels," said Y.H. Percival Zhang, an associate professor of biological systems engineering in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Engineering "Hydrogen is one of the most important biofuels of the future."

Zhang and his team have succeeded in using xylose, the most abundant simple plant sugar, to produce a large quantity of hydrogen that previously was attainable only in theory. Zhang's method can be performed using any source of biomass.

The discovery is a featured editor's choice in an online version of the chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie, International Edition.

This new environmentally friendly method of producing hydrogen utilizes renewable natural resources, releases almost no zero greenhouse gasses, and does not require costly or heavy metals. Previous methods to produce hydrogen are expensive and create greenhouse gases.

The U.S. Department of Energy says that hydrogen fuel has the potential to dramatically reduce reliance of fossil fuels and automobile manufactures are aggressively trying to develop vehicles that run on hydrogen fuel cells. Unlike gas-powered engines that spew out pollutants, the only byproduct of hydrogen fuel is water. Zhang's discovery opens the door to an inexpensive, renewable source of hydrogen.

Jonathan R. Mielenz, group leader of the bioscience and technology biosciences division at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, who is familiar with Zhang's work but not affiliated with this project, said this discovery has the potential to have a major impact on alternative energy production.

"The key to this exciting development is that Zhang is using the second most prevalent sugar in plants to produce this hydrogen," he said. "This amounts to a significant additional benefit to hydrogen production and it reduces the overall cost of producing hydrogen from biomass."

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/vt-bih040313.php

[Mr_Pessimistic]

once hydrogen becomes the norm (thats a big if), water being the waste product, and water vapor being the biggest 'trapper' of heat, i can imagine the next concern by the 'green' brigade will not be much different from the current one!

 

the fact is, that the planet will always be here and always recover, it is us that needs to adapt to the conditions, not try to change them. simples.

[Gray-Wolf]

Dear dear SI, you're not getting it are you?

[full_frontal_occlusion]

once hydrogen becomes the norm (thats a big if), water being the waste product, and water vapor being the biggest 'trapper' of heat, i can imagine the next concern by the 'green' brigade will not be much different from the current one!

 

the fact is, that the planet will always be here and always recover, it is us that needs to adapt to the conditions, not try to change them. simples.

R.O.F.L.M.A.O.

When the sun goes down,

 

Water vapour condenses out and ends up as a drop in the ocean. Literally and metaphorically.

If we were to suddenly switch from producing the same mass of globally produced CO₂ to H₂O, then it would take around 10,000,000 years to increase the volume of water on the planet by less than 0.01%.

 

[Bobby]

How much fossil fuels is it going to take to grow all these plants? How efficient is the process? How much will the hydrogen cost to produce? In how large quantities can it be produced? How much fossil fuels will it take to build the whole hydrogen infrastructure? There's no free lunch. I'll believe it when I see it when it comes to all these apparent energy breakthroughs.

 

Hydrogen isn't an energy source like fossil fuels, it has to be produced. You need to get much more energy out than you put in for it be of any significance as with fossil fuels. For example if it costs 2 units of energy to produce 1 unit of hydrogen energy then it's a useless novelty.

Edited May 2, 2013 by Bobby