New discovery may be breakthrough for hydrogen cars- Green H2 from Corn

[Peace Piper]

Virginia Tech professor Percival Zhang (right) and recent doctoral graduate Joe Rollin. Credit: Virginia Tech

Phys.org April 6, 2015

A team of Virginia Tech researchers has discovered a way to create hydrogen fuel using a biological method that greatly reduces the time and money it takes to produce the zero-emissions fuel. This method uses abundantly available corn stover - the stalks, cobs, and husks - to produce the hydrogen.

The team's new findings, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could help speed the widespread arrival of the hydrogen-powered vehicles in a way that is inexpensive and has extremely low carbon emissions.

"This means we have demonstrated the most important step toward a hydrogen economy - producing distributed and affordable green hydrogen from local biomass resources," said Percival Zhang, a professor in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering, which is in both the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Engineering.

The team already has received significant funding for the next step of the project, which is to scale up production to a demonstration size.

"Although it is difficult to predict cost at this point, this work represents a revolutionary approach that offers many new advantages," said Lonnie O. Ingram, director of the Florida Center for Renewable Chemicals and Fuels at the University of Florida, who is familiar with the work but not associated with the team. "These researchers have certainly broadened the scope of our thinking about metabolism and how it plays into the future of alternative energy production."

snip

..."We believe this exciting technology has the potential to enable the widespread use of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles around the world and displace fossil fuels," Rollin said.

Full Article: http://phys.org/news/2015-04-discove...ogen-cars.html

The R&D has barely begun. Hydrogen is already price compatible with gas, in most cases. Except the US doesn't have to buy it from the middle east.

[Zippyjuan]

Great. Now we can turn our food supply into fuel. What will we eat?

Ethanol is also produced from corn and also not economically viable (and it drove up the price for corn and food).

"This means we have demonstrated the most important step toward a hydrogen economy - producing distributed and affordable green hydrogen from local biomass resources,"

"Although it is difficult to predict cost at this point, this work represents a revolutionary approach that offers many new advantages,"

It will be cheap but we have no idea what it may cost.

It also means that the biomass is not allowed to break down and re-nourish the ground which will require more use of fertilizers (usually produced from petroleum) to replace those nutrients in the soil.

[Dr.3D]

Great. Now we can turn our food supply into fuel. What will we eat?

Ethanol is also produced from corn and also not economically viable (and it drove up the price for corn and food).





It will be cheap but we have no idea what it may cost.

It also means that the biomass is not allowed to break down and re-nourish the ground which will require more use of fertilizers (usually produced from petroleum) to replace those nutrients in the soil.

I agree, it's not wise to burn food as a source of fuel.

[Danke]

Great. Now we can turn our food supply into fuel. What will we eat?

Ethanol is also produced from corn and also not economically viable (and it drove up the price for corn and food).





It will be cheap but we have no idea what it may cost.

It also means that the biomass is not allowed to break down and re-nourish the ground which will require more use of fertilizers (usually produced from petroleum) to replace those nutrients in the soil.

Poop.

[Thor]

Great. Now we can turn our food supply into fuel. What will we eat?

Ethanol is also produced from corn and also not economically viable (and it drove up the price for corn and food).





It will be cheap but we have no idea what it may cost.

It also means that the biomass is not allowed to break down and re-nourish the ground which will require more use of fertilizers (usually produced from petroleum) to replace those nutrients in the soil.

I don't know about you, but I do not eat:

This method uses abundantly available corn stover - the stalks, cobs, and husks - to produce the hydrogen.

I prefer to pop the corn kernels... non GMO of course.

There is the answer, we turn all the GMO corn stover (and kernels for that matter) into fuel...

And since the process it uses biomass, maybe it could use ... switchgrass (LOL), or even hemp, instead of corn...

You are negative in everything you post, eh?

[Peace Piper]

Poop.

is one thing the US still has in abundance.

This New Hyundai Car Runs On The Poop Of California Residents, And The Fuel Is Free

With hydrogen supplied by Orange County's sewage treatment plant and paid for by the car manufacturer, a new fuel cell vehicle is actually hitting the market in Los Angeles.



A new car from Hyundai runs on a fuel that has a truly endless supply: human poop.

Hydrogen created from sewage at a waste treatment plant in Orange County, California, will power fuel cells in the Hyundai Tuscon, available for leasing later this spring in a limited area around Los Angeles.

Right now, there are only about 10 hydrogen fuel pumps in the entire state, and most are supplied with hydrogen that’s made from natural gas. But the Orange County Sanitation District is testing out new technology that can make hydrogen cheaply by processing solid waste and feeding it to microbes that turn it into methane. The fuel will be pumped to local stations, making it possible for Hyundai to put its car on the streets....

MORE: http://www.fastcoexist.com/3027144/t...e-fuel-is-free

****************

A poo-powered car? Scientists at UC Irvine are turning sewage into hydrogen
By Peter Braun — February 21, 2014

Automotive industry analysts are presently hotly debating what will power cars in the future, be it gasoline, diesel, or electricity. It turns out, though, the answer might just be poo.

So what the heck are we talking about? Well, scientists at University of California Irvine have developed a system for turning sewage into pure hydrogen gas. And the timing couldn’t be better, as Hyundai is set to release its fuel-cell-powered Tucson in California in the next month. In fact, this miracle is taking place just a hop skip and a jump down the road from Hyundai’s United States headquarters in Fountain Valley.

How does poo power work? Well, the basics of it go a little like this: take all of the horrible unmentionable things that people flush down their toilets every day, filter out the iPhones, syringes, socks, lost wedding rings, and most of the water. Then put the rest of the horrid brew into an airless tank, which is appetizingly called a “digester”.

In the digester the “biosolids” are devoured by microbes which release methane and carbon dioxide. Most of the methane is burned to operate the plant. However, some of it is piped off into a “tri-generation” fuel-cell.

This fuel-cell is where the stinky magic happens. The complete details of the tri-generation fuel-cell haven’t been revealed, but the end result is that methane is converted into heat, electricity and hydrogen, as well as, presumably, carbon...

Continue: http://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/po...wage-hydrogen/