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English (en)European Commission Research Star Projects Hydrogen: vector for clean energy Hydrogen: vector for clean energy

 

 

 

 

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It is common knowledge that an alternative to fossil fuels must be found. The search is on for a clean energy source and it looks like hydrogen could be the answer. However most of the hydrogen we use today comes from fossil fuels. It is the production method of the hydrogen that is the deciding factor as to whether the fuel is environmentally friendly or not. A European project has now developed a way to produce hydrogen from some of the greenest raw materials available: water and sunlight.

 

 

Video in QuickTime format: de en es fr it pt ru (30 MB)

 

Anthanasios Konstandopoulos (Director of the APT Lab, CPERI) is the head of the European project Hydrosol. The goal of the project is to produce hydrogen from exclusively renewable resources. Dr. Konstandopoulos is an expert in catalytic converters for car engines and has used his knowledge of this technology to produce hydrogen using a green method.

 

Hydrogen is the most abundant element on the Earth. The problem is that hydrogen is a very reactive atom, so it is hard to find as a free element. The most appropriate source of hydrogen is water. However the water molecule is one of the most stable molecule structures. It is therefore very difficult to break it up into hydrogen and oxygen.

 

These technical challenges have already been overcome. The hydrosol device was developed in Greece together with partners in Britain, Denmark and Germany. It uses the thermal content of solar energy to split the water molecule. The solar reactor is a ceramic body with many channels coated with a nano-material, through which water vapour flows. A set of mirrors is used to concentrate the solar energy, increasing the temperature in the reactor. With an efficiency of about 70%, the water vapour is converted into hydrogen. It is a wonderfully simple setup, a reactor with no moving parts.

 

The isolated hydrogen gas is then of great value to the automobile industry, but can also be used for many other devices (for example fuel cells, PCs, or as a battery). In the BMW Hydrogen 7 automobile the hydrogen is burnt in a modified internal combustion engine. The driver can switch between the petrol tank and the hydrogen tank. The required infrastructure to support the use of hydrogen as a fuel is gradually being developed. In Berlin, Germany, there are two hydrogen filling stations open to the public.

 

Hydrogen has a high potential to help us with the problem of global warming. The aim for this application of hydrogen is to replace carbon-based fuels, fossil fuels. If this can be achieved, the advantages will be clear: when driving a fuel cell car the only substance to come out of the exhaust pipe is water.

 

 

 

Documentation

 

Hydrosol project web site

Hydrosol wins a Descartes prize!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See also

 

More Star Projects and other Success Stories in the Information Centre

 

 

Futuris, the European research programme - on Euronews. The video on this page was prepared in collaboration with Euronews for the Futuris programme.

 

TV Link Europe - contacts for professionals

 

Contact

 

Patrick Vittet-Philippe

Press and Information Officer,

Directorate-General for Research,

European Commission

Tel : +32 2 296 90 56

Email: Patrick Vittet-Philippe

[gkoump]

Enlarge image

Zero-emmission transport system Forget cars fuelled by alcohol and vegetable oil. Before long, you might be able to run your car with nothing more than water in its fuel tank. It would be the ultimate zero-emissions vehicle.

While water, plain old H2O, is not at first sight an obvious power source, it has a key virtue: it is an abundant source of hydrogen, the element widely touted as the green fuel of the future. If that hydrogen could be liberated on demand, it would overcome many of the obstacles that till now have prevented the dream of a hydrogen-powered car becoming reality. Producing hydrogen by conventional industrial means is expensive, inefficient and often polluting. Then there are the problems of storing and transporting hydrogen. The pressure tanks required to hold usable quantities of the fuel are heavy and cumbersome, which restricts the car's performance and range.

Tareq Abu-Hamed, now at the University of Minnesota, and colleagues at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, have devised a scheme that gets round these problems. By reacting water with the element boron, their system produces hydrogen that can be burnt in an internal combustion engine or fed to a fuel cell to generate electricity. "The aim is to produce the hydrogen on-board at a rate matching the demand of the car engine," says Abu-Hamed. "We want to use the boron to save transporting and storing the hydrogen." The only by-product is boron oxide, which can be removed from the car, turned back into boron, and used again. What's more, Abu-Hamed envisages doing this in a solar-powered plant that is completely emission-free.

Simple chemistryThe team calculates that a car would have to carry just 18 kilograms of boron and 45 litres of water to produce 5 kilograms of hydrogen, which has the same energy content as a 40-litre tank of conventional fuel. An Israeli company has begun designing a prototype engine that works in the same way, and the Japanese company Samsung has built a prototype scooter based on a similar idea.

The hydrogen-on-demand approach is based on some simple high-school chemistry. Elements like sodium and potassium are well known for their violent reactions with water, tearing hydrogen from its stable union with oxygen. Boron does the same, but at a more manageable pace. It requires no special containment, and atom for atom it's a light material. When all the boron is used up, the boron oxide that remains can be reprocessed and recycled.

Abu-Hamed and his team are not the first to investigate hydrogen-on-demand vehicles. The car giant DaimlerChrysler built a concept vehicle called Natrium (after the Latin word for sodium, from which the element's Na symbol is drawn), which used slightly more sophisticated chemistry to generate its hydrogen. Instead of pure water as the source of the gas, it used a solution of the hydrogen-heavy compound sodium borohydride. When passed over a precious-metal catalyst such as ruthenium, the compound reacts with water to liberate hydrogen that can be fed to a fuel cell. It was enough to give the Natrium a top speed of 130 kilometres per hour and a respectable range of 500 kilometres, but DaimlerChrysler axed the project in 2003 because of difficulties in providing the necessary infrastructure to support the car in an efficient, environmentally friendly way.

Engineuity, an Israeli start-up company run by Amnon Yogev, a former Weizmann Institute scientist, is working on a similar strategy, but using the reaction between aluminium wire and water to generate hydrogen. In Engineuity's design, the tip of the metal wire is ignited and dipped into water to begin splitting the water molecules. The liberated hydrogen is piped into the engine alongside the resulting steam, where it is mixed with air and burnt. Engineuity is looking for investors to pay for a prototype, and claims it will be able to commercialise its idea "in a few years' time". The US company PowerBall Technologies envisages a hydrogen-on-demand engine containing plastic balls filled with sodium hydride powder that are split to dump the contents into water, where it reacts to produce hydrogen.

Abu-Hamed says the generation of hydrogen for his team's engine would be regulated by controlling the flow of water into a series of tanks containing powdered boron. To kick-start the reaction, the water has to be supplied as vapour heated to several hundred degrees, so the car will still require some start-up power, possibly from a battery. Once the engine is running, the heat generated by the highly exothermic oxidation reaction between boron and water could be used to warm the incoming water, Abu-Hamed says. Alternatively, small amounts of hydrogen could be diverted from the engine and stored for use as the start-up fuel. Water produced when the hydrogen is burnt in an internal combustion engine or reacted in a fuel cell could be captured and cycled back to the vehicle's tank, making the whole on-board system truly zero-emission.

Hydrogen-on-demand, whether from water or another source, could address two of the big problems still holding back the wider use of hydrogen as a vehicle fuel: how to store the flammable gas, and how to transport it safely. Today's hydrogen-fuelled cars rely on stocks of gas produced in centralised plants and distributed via refuelling stations in either liquefied or compressed form. Neither is ideal. The liquefaction process eats up to 40 per cent of the energy content of the stored hydrogen, while the energy density of the gas, even when compressed, is so low it is hard to see how it can ever be used to fuel a normal car.

"Hydrogen-on-demand does not need costly infrastructure and makes cars safer"Hydrogen-on-demand would not only remove the need for costly hydrogen pipelines and distribution infrastructure, it would also make hydrogen vehicles safer. "The theoretical advantage of on-board generation is that you don't have to muck about with hydrogen storage," says Mike Millikin, who monitors developments in alternative fuels for the Green Car Congress website. A car that doesn't need to carry tanks of flammable, volatile liquid or compressed gas would be much less vulnerable in an accident. "It also potentially offsets the requirements for building up a massive hydrogen production and distribution infrastructure," Millikin says.

There is a potentially polluting step that has to be tackled. "You'll need an infrastructure to produce and distribute whatever the key elements of the generation system might be," Millikin warns. While Abu-Hamed's scheme still requires a distribution network and reprocessing plant, he has devised an ingenious plan that will allow the spent boron oxide to be converted back to metallic boron in a pollution-free process that uses only solar energy (see Diagram). Heating the oxide with magnesium powder recovers the boron, leaving magnesium oxide as a by-product. The magnesium oxide can then be recycled by first reacting it with chlorine gas to produce magnesium chloride, from which the magnesium metal and chlorine can then be recovered by electrolysis.

Solar sourceThe energy to drive these processes would ultimately come from the sun. The team calculates that a system of mirrors could concentrate enough sunlight to produce electricity from solar cells with an efficiency of 35 per cent. Overall, they say, their system could convert solar energy into work by the car's engine with an efficiency of 11 per cent, similar to today's petrol engines.

Experts are sceptical that we'll be seeing cars running on water any time soon. "It's not the kind of thing you're going to see appearing in a car in five or even ten years' time," says Jim Skea, research director at the UK Energy Research Centre in London. For example, DaimlerChrysler is now focusing its efforts on cars running on compressed hydrogen because filling stations that supply it already exist in some places.

Proponents of cars that run on water are banking that long term the idea will win out. Engineuity's Yogev claims the running costs will be comparable to those of today's petrol engines and expects to have a prototype built within three years.

My other car runs on water? Don't bet against it.

 

 

From issue 2562 of New Scientist magazine, 01 August 2006, page 35-37

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There are 32 comments on 6 pages

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Next | Most Recent | See all

VIEW THREAD >>The World Needs Water Based Fuels.

By Charles L. Stone

 

Tue Jan 01 15:26:21 GMT 2008

 

New ideas travel slowly through a vested interest environment. Keep the faith that you are headed in the right direction. Checkout our new WEB site [waterfueledsystems.net]. We created the 85/15 concept for alcohol fuels in 1978 (California Assembly Bill AB1401). We advised Brazil in their efforts. "big oil" is so well financially, they will throw millions to knock you out. Hang in there, you are heroes for trying - one of us will make it over the hill. The world needs all forms of water based fuels (hydrogen, water, methanol, and ethanol).

REPORT | REPLY

 

 

VIEW THREAD >>Hail Hydrogen, Hameed And Re-hovet For The Development

By Hemendra Umiashanker Mehta

 

Sun Jan 06 05:34:38 GMT 2008

 

A non-polluting vehicle is the demand od the day. An ecellent attempt will surely bear results.

 

Our ancient literature suggests that a human being, just standing on hos right thumb of the right leg, and rotating himself at speed will genarate energy so much so that he can travel any where in the universe! Quite rdiculous, but needs considerationbecause a human body worth 100 kgs rotating on edge of thumb i.e. Less than 2-5 sq.mm in the earth' magnetic field canmake one antigravitititional !

 

:Like boron, aluminium can be used as i have noticed a huge explosion dueto Aluminium/NaOh shock combination. Silane or polysilanes with a little caustic also generate Hydrogen explosively.

 

Or the silly idea, but you know FOOLS RUSH IN WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD-IN.

 

AGAIN THANKS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF TOMORROW.

 

H.u.mEHTA

REPORT | REPLY

 

 

VIEW THREAD >>Hydrogen On Demand

By Cheryl Ashburn

 

Thu Jan 10 04:17:31 GMT 2008

 

http://easywatercar.com/2books.htm?hop=gray26#IRS

 

This website claims to be able to teach anyone to put a hydrogen generator in a car and make either a hydrogen assist or 100% hydrogen car.

 

???

REPORT | REPLY

 

 

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[gkoump]

cna με καλυψες απολυτα, οπως παντα η ελλαδα στα σοβαρα θεματα τελευταια και βαζει και εμποδια και στις μακακιες πρωτη. εμας σαν τεχνικους δεν μας ενδιαφερουν τα συμφεροντα των πετρελαιαδων αλλα το περιβαλλον, η ελλαδα κλπ.

γιαυτο προτεινα να κανουμε συλλογο η και πολιτικο κομμα, ωστε ολοι μαζι να κανουμε πραξη αυτα. εγω μονος ατομικα κανω οσα μπορω.

να προσθεσω και οσα δεν διδιασκονται στα ελληνικα πολυτεχνεια, ο εφευρετης μηχανικοσ διεσελ, το εφταξε αρχικα να καιει φυτικα λαδια, μετα πηγανε στο πετρελαιο, τι ειρωνια.

[tech_junky]

Βιομάζα από τα δάση.

 

Μια πηγή ενέργειας που ελάχιστα συζητείται είναι η βιομάζα από τη νεκρή ύλη των δασών. Δηλ. ξερά κλαριά, πευκοβελόνες, ξερά φυτά, κλπ. Είναι γνωστό ότι αν η νεκρή αυτή ύλη μπορούσε να καθαριστεί σε κάποιο βαθμό, τότε και το δάσος θα αναζωογονείτο, και οι φωτιές το καλοκαίρι θα ήταν λιγότερες, αλλά και η εξάπλωσή τους πολύ πιο αργή. Και φυσικά, αυτή η νεκρή ύλη θα μπορούσε να χρησιμεύσει για την παραγωγή ενέργειας.

 

Φυσικά, αυτή η εκμετάλλευση δεν είναι κι ότι πιο εύκολο. Προϋποθέτει στρατιές ξυλοκόπων καθώς και μεταφορικά μέσα (και άρα κατανάλωση υγρών καυσίμων) για συγκέντρωση της βιομάζας σε σταθμούς παραγωγής ενέργειας. Χρειάζεται μελέτη για να δούμε αν υπάρχει ενεργειακό περίσσευμα από μια τέτοια εκμετάλλευση, αλλά ακόμα κι αν δεν υπάρχει, το κέρδος από την προστασία των δασών και το περιβαλλοντικό όφελος ίσως αξίζει τον κόπο.

 

Ξέρω ότι αρκετοί δασολόγοι είναι αντίθετοι με μια τέτοια δραστηριότητα λόγω διατάραξης της δασικής ισορροπίας, όμως νομίζω πως οι φωτιές κάθε χρόνο προκαλούν πολύ μεγαλύτερη διατάραξη. Ακόμα, αν η συλλογή της βιομάζας μπορούσε να γίνει με πιο οικολογικά μέσα (π.χ. χρήση μεταφορικών ζώων αντί μηχανημάτων) θα αύξανε το περιβαλλοντικό όφελος αλλά και το ενεργειακό ισοζύγιο.

 

Θα ήθελα να ρωτήσω αν υπάρχει κάποιος συνάδελφος που να έχει ασχοληθεί με τη γενικότερη ιδέα της ενεργειακής εκμετάλλευσης των δασών.

[Τεσλα]

http://beinsa.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15:2009-01-09-20-58-54&catid=3:forgotten&Itemid=13

Βουλγαροσ !!! |||

[CostasV]

Τι έκανε αυτός ο Βούλγαρος ; (!)