A new type of hybrid battery/fuel cell employing liquid lithium provides operation in three modes. (1) In a fuel cell mode it will take in gaseous fuel and air to produce electricity. (2) In the battery mode a higher electrical output can be sustained during the time that the reaction converting liquid lithium to bulk lithium hydride can be maintained. (3) In the electrolysis mode the device employs electric power and steam to produce hydrogen and oxygen.
Hydrogen infrastructure
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Technology
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Background: Biomass contains cellulose wrapped in a recalcitrant lignin and hemicellulose sheath that must be chemically and/or physically disrupted in a pretreatment step. One of the most common pretreatments involves exposure of the biomass to dilute acid at elevated temperatures. Usually sulfuric acid is employed (rather than nitric or hydrochloric acid) because of its low cost. However pretreatment expenditures are large even when sulfuric acid is used because substantial quantities of acid are required neutralization and disposal costs are significant and containment costs are high.
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Background: Hydrogen-based fuel cells have emerged as an attractive alternative technology for fossil fuel as a primary source of energy. The production purification transport storage and conversion of hydrogen as an everyday consumer commodity still require necessary infrastructure and technological advancement. Separation technology is critical to the deployment of hydrogen as a source of energy since the purity of hydrogen supplied to fuel cells affects their performance and longevity and therefore their economic viability.
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ObjectiveTechnology
Hydrogen gas is considered to be the ideal fuel for combating environmental degradation. However the biggest obstacle to hydrogen replacing petroleum as the world\'s primary source of energy is the high cost of cleanly producing this gas. The most cost-effective current method for producing H2 is to use nuclear energy -- but that has environmental issues. Likewise using solar power is not cost-effective and using wind power is limited to a few regions. To address this challenge researchers at the University of California Berkeley have developed a photosynthetic method for producing H2.
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ObjectiveTechnology
Background: Thermodynamically a specific voltage is required to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. In practice the actual potential required to oxidize water is greater than the thermodynamic potential. The additional energy requirement or overpotential is dependent on the catalyst used and the electrode materials used in the reaction chamber.
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Background: Developing catalysts that effectively split water into its elements is critical to storing renewable energy in a practical way. wind and solar energy for example can be harnessed for electrolysis and then stored as the resulting hydrogen gas. Another green technology – fuel cells – works in the opposite direction by consuming oxygen. However a substantial amount of energy traditionally has been required to drive such reactions – more than theoretically predicted. Efforts to reduce this ‘overpotential’ using specialized mixed-metal anodes and cathodes have been frustrated.
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Hydrogen is a clean and environmentally-friendly energy carrier. A major obstacle for the development of hydrogen powered vehicles is the lack of safe light weight and energy efficient means for on-board hydrogen storage. Ammonia borane (AB) is a promising hydrogen storage material for vehicles powered by fuel cells. A fuel cell is a device that converts the chemical energy from a fuel into electricity. Hydrogen is released from AB via thermal decomposition; however this process produces excessive heat and unfavorable byproducts.
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Background:Magnetic field effects in electrochemical systems arise through transport and kinetic effects of paramagnetic reactants products or intermediates. Researchers at the UI have shown that magnetic composite modified electrodes where the magnetic field is supplied by ferromagnetic microparticles without an external field can provide substantial improvements to a large variety of electrochemical systems.Technology Description:This technology is a solid state hydrogen storage material that has been demonstrated to improve the kinetics of electron transfer in an electrode.
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Background: Hydrogen sensing is a critical component of safety necessary to address widespread public perception of the hazards of the production storage transportation and use of hydrogen in proposed future automobiles and in various other applications. The present invention meets the need for a nanoscale hydrogen sensor. Technology Description: Boise State University has invented a small hydrogen gas sensor with greater sensitivity than sensors currently available.
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Technology
Market Summary: Hydrogen fuel is currently considered a potential replacement for today\'s fossil fuels due to its abundance and efficiency. Additionally it produces no emissions and offers the potential to be renewable. If hydrogen were to replace oil the demand would equal ~40% of the total energy demand in the U.S. The development of effective stable and selective WOCs is highly important for the production of alternative fuels such as hydrogen and other carbon neutral fuels.