Bacteria extract hydrogen at over 90% efficiency

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Apokalipse

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By Humphrey Cheung
Pittsburgh (PA) - Penn State University researcher Bruce Logan and his team have developed a unique method of harnessing hydrogen gas. By creating a type of controlled microbial soup out of materials straight from a salad bar, a bacteria-induced chemical reaction takes place, ultimately resulting in large quantities of hydrogen gas. But just how much hydrogen is produced? The numbers dwarf other methods of producing hydrogen making this a very promising solution.

bio_hydrogen_fuel.jpg
Researchers have designed a microbial electrolysis cell in which bacteria break up acetic acid (a product of plant waste fermentation) to produce hydrogen gas with a very small electrical input from an outside source. Hydrogen can then be used for fuel cells or as a fuel additive in vehicles that now run on natural gas. Credit: Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation.



The team began working with various mixtures for the soup. Over time they discovered that by changing the temperature, altering the ratio of water to the source materials, even adding a small amount of electricity, they were able to achieve efficiencies in excess of 90%. Using straight vinegar, for example, a 91% efficiency was achieved. Other materials provide 68% efficiency for raw, un-pretreated cellulose, 82% for lactic acid and acetic acid--both byproducts from normal fermentation. Glucose lags furthest behind, being only 64% efficient.

How does it work? Tiny bacteria sit in the soup along with a granulated graphite anode, a carbon with platinum cathode, and an off-the-shelf anion exchange membrane. The bacteria consume the soup material, such as acetic acid. In the process they release electrons and protons, even generating up to 0.3 volts. When an additional 0.2 volts are applied from an external source, hydrogen gas bubbles begin to form. These eventually collect and bubble up to the surface where they're pumped off and captured in a storage vessle.


Powerful return from input energy
The process produces 288% more energy than the electricity required to extract it. Compared to water hydrolysis, for example, which is only 50% to 70% efficient making it require more input energy than the extracted hydrogen yields, this process is far more desirable. It can be shown that even using enough of the harnessed energy to sustain the reaction, 144% more energy is produced. This makes the microbial soup solution a real application for energy generation.


Clean energy
Best of all, it's clean energy. When hydrogen is burned, the waste exhaust is comprised only of water vapor and heat. No greenhouse gases are produced at all. And any vehicle which can run on natural gas today can be converted to run on hydrogen. The issues of high pressure hydrogen storage, and the large amount of overnight loss, still remain however.


Farm benefits
The researchers indicate another possible use for these kinds of microbial cells is for manufacturing fertilizer. Instead of using current methods, which involve trucking in fertilizer made in factories, very large farms could begin using microbial cells. They would take wood chips processed through a common practice used today, along with nitrogen from the air, to produce ammonia or nitric acid. These can both be used as sources of fertilizer, or as feed material to make ammonium nitrate, sulfate or phosphate.

The research team has filed a patent for their discovery. Their work was funded by the National Science Foundation, as well as Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
 
Now all we have to do is wait for the oil companies to erase everyone's memory of this ever happening.
 
I saw platinum up there, did they take into account the vast amount of energy used to get that platinum from miles under the earth, process it, buy it for thousands and thousands of pounds??
 
Where did you see platinum. And i would guess its probably not a very large amount if it is used. Heck we could just confiscated all the rappers jewelry and have enough platinum to fuel the world for the next 100 years.
 
I saw platinum up there, did they take into account the vast amount of energy used to get that platinum from miles under the earth, process it, buy it for thousands and thousands of pounds??

What would you rather have no money or no earth?
 
Now all we have to do is wait for the oil companies to erase everyone's memory of this ever happening.

And So the mighty Oil gods became unhappy, and smote these "clean air/clean fuel" demons from their site!

death to the oil companies! how many alternitive fuel ideas and working models have been swept under the run before? what happened to full electric cars? what happened to running sugar based cars? *one man in virginia even has a car that runs on coolade! and is better on that than nearly all hybrids to date* and what, if anything, have we gained from technology? I used to ownd a VW Bug... got 40-60 mpg. most hybrids are 35-40. that bug? 1969... 40 years old!. anyways, off my rant... I pray that the oil companies don't kill this one as well
 
what happened to full electric cars?
You mean what didn't happen?

The answer to that is: good batteries.

Electric cars still need to get their energy from somewhere.

Though I do like electric engines. They're much more efficient at converting electrical energy into kinetic energy than piston engines are at converting chemical energy into kinetic energy.

piston engines are I think around 20% efficient on average. Most of the energy is lost to heat, sound, friction.

But with electrical motors, there is much less friction (only one moving part needed for the motor itself), and good ones are usually over 90% efficient.

Maybe if people were able to harness zero point energy, we could use that.
 
i say we pop a flux capacitor into all the new production cars and see what happens. Im betting an increase in fuel economy by over 9000%.
 
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