[ExI] Novel technique for cheap and abundant hydrogen

[Eugen Leitl]

On Mon, Nov 12, 2007 at 10:40:49PM -0600, Damien Broderick wrote:

> CHICAGO: A new method of producing hydrogen gas 
> from biodegradable organic material has been 

That doesn't inspire confidence.

> developed, potentially providing an abundant source of clean-burning fuel.

What's wrong with making hydrogen from methane,
and once PV is cheap enough, water electrolysis?
 
> The technology offers a way to cheaply and 
> efficiently generate hydrogen from readily 
> available and renewable biomass such as cellulose

If you have cellulose, I would rather make hexane
from that.
 
> or glucose, and could be used for powering 
> vehicles, making fertiliser and treating drinking water.

What's wrong with electricity?
 
> Public transport systems
> 
> Numerous public transportation systems are moving 
> toward hydrogen-powered engines as an alternative 

Uh, that's bullshit.

> to gasoline, but most hydrogen today is generated 
> from non-renewable fossil fuels such as natural gas.

There's an awful lot of methane around, and hydrogen
fuel cells are considerably more efficient than ICEs.
 
> The new method developed by engineers at 
> Pennsylvania State University in University Park, 
> U.S., combines electron-generating bacteria and a 

More bullshit. You'll burn most of your energy for
bacteria metabolism.

> small electrical charge in a microbial fuel cell to produce hydrogen gas.

Can about stop reading at that point.
 
> 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 environmental 
> engineers Shaoan Cheng and Bruce Logan were able 
> to get around these problems by chemically modifying elements of the reactor.
> 
> Economically viable now
> 
> Their study appears in the U.S. Proceedings of 
> the National Academy of Sciences.
> 
> In laboratory experiments, their reactor 
> generated hydrogen gas at nearly 99 per cent of 
> the theoretical maximum yield using aetic acid, a 
> common dead-end product of glucose fermentation.

You can also make hydrogen from worthless greenbacks.
It's only slightly more expensive that oxidizing your
fuel into low-energy acetic acid, which is even more
energy-intensive to destill than bioethanol.
 
> "This process produces 288 per cent more energy 
> in hydrogen than the electrical energy that is 
> added in the process," said Logan.

Ahahahahaha. Mighty 288%, using such low-quality input
as electricity. Ohmigosh.
 
> The technology is economically viable now, which 
> gives hydrogen an edge over another alternative 
> biofuel, which is grabbing more headlines. "The 
> energy focus is currently on ethanol as a fuel, 

Of course bioethanol is only in the public debate
due to crooks (agrolobby) and ignorants.

> but economical ethanol from cellulose is 10 years 
> down the road," said Logan. "First you need to 
> break cellulose down to sugars and then bacteria can convert them to ethanol."

Yeahyeahyeah. Where I have I heard that before.
 
> One of the immediate applications for this 
> technology is to supply the fuel for electric 
> fuel cell vehicles – but it could also be used to 
> convert wood chips into hydrogen to create fertiliser, said the researchers.

And a mighty strong fertilizer it is.

-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
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