Hydrogen Fuel Forums

Hydrogen Generation & Storage Made Easy with Nano-Technology

Fuels like gasoline, based on hydrocarbon, create pollution and carbon footprint. Hydrogen has been claimed to be a good alternative to replace fossil fuel since the 1970s. But hydrogen's potential has not been realized even partially mainly because of storage and commercial production difficulties. There have been research being done on renewable energy sources like hydrogen for quite some years. Recently, breakthrough research has been successful in creating a new method for storing hydrogen. View Comments

14MAR

Ramanathan’s Work on Solid-Oxide Fuel Cells

A team of researchers at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences that is headed by Sriram Ramanathan is working on developing fuel cells. If Ramanathan is to be believed, the solid-oxide fuel cells the visionary and specialist in the field is making along with other scientists, will become a highly sought after technology in days to come. How will solid-oxide fuel cells be generated? The solid-oxide fuel cells that are capable of replacing fossil fuel with pollution less fuel are generated with the use of the plentiful fuel resources and low operating temperatures, along with some material that is of low cost, and some other small devices. View Comments

21SEP

Hydrogen-Powered Personal Helicopter

A personal helicopter weighing just 230 lb created sizzling news when it flew on hydrogen with zero emission. With an ability to carry payloads up to 800 lbs, this pocket Hercules can fly for 90 minutes. Fitted with easy controls, this reaches a speed of 100 knots thanks to a pair of small yet powerful motors mounted on it. Two common and easily available things - Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and a catalyst - combined to bring about a milestone in personal aviation history with attention to the environmental issues as well!Avimech has combined these two to power engine in to an innovative machine. View Comments

29JUN

New Process to Boost Hydrogen Fuel Cell Usage

A new process is being tested by chemical engineers of Purdue University to get high hydrogen production at fuel-cell temperature-level with no catalyst use. This is full of promise for vehicles powered by hydrogen and other portable electronic items like dig-cams, medical diagnostic devices, defibrillators, cell phones and notebook computers. The research funded by US Department of Energy is ushering in a new process.View Comments

04MAY

New Platinum Could Mean Cheaper, More Efficient Fuel Cells

Fuel cells are clean and green cells. They work without polluting the environment. Fuel cells are electrochemical devices that transform the chemical energy of a fuel into electricity generating water as a by-product. Fuel cells are most used in space flights but they can be best utilized in electric vehicles to reduce air pollution. Fuel powered electric vehicles are better than battery operated EVs as far as efficiency and faster refueling is concerned. View Comments

04MAY

Hydrogen Gas Production Doubled with New Super Bacterium

Hydrogen gas is today used primarily for manufacturing chemicals, but a bright future is predicted for it as avehicle fuel in combination with fuel cells. In order to produce hydrogen gas in a way that is climate neutral, bacteria are added to forestry or household waste, using a method similar to biogas production. One problem with this production method is that hydrogen exchange is low, i.e. the raw materials generate little hydrogen gas. Now, for the first time, researchers have studied a newly discovered bacterium that produces twice as much hydrogen gas as the bacteria currently used. The results show how, when and why the bacterium can perform its excellent work and increase the possibilities of competitive biological production of hydrogen gas. View Comments

23MAR

Water into Hydrogen Fuel with Waste Energy

With each passing day, scientists are coming out with unique solutions to lessen our dependence on fossil fuels. They are now thinking of turning stray forms of energy such as noise or random vibrations from the environment into useful form of energy. They want to use piezoelectric effect for such purposes. Some materials produce electricity while undergoing mechanical stress. This is known as piezoelectric effect. Small piezoelectric crystals can come up with enough voltage to create a spark which can be utilized to ignite gas. View Comments

26FEB

Honda Solar Hydrogen Station Introduced to Green Car Market

Honda finally unveiled their new solar hydrogen solar station and all signs point to a dramatic success. The station is smaller than previous models and enables an electric car owner to refill their fuel cell overnight. The unit should easily fit into a homeowners’ garage taking up significantly less space than previous models. The older model required a compressor and electrolyzer for it to be operational. One of the reasons the units were so big was because of the compressor that was required to run the unit. Not only that, the compressor was also the reason that the units were so expensive to produce and purchase.View Comments

15FEB

The East Coast is About to Become the Hydrogen Highway

Everyone is excited about hydrogen cars, but there is always the challenge of how they are going to fill up. Most cars are restricted by the distance that they can travel on a full tank and nothing more. Few places, especially on the East Coast, offer a refueling station to allow the cars to travel any further. If the hydrogen highway plan comes to fruition, that will finally change.View Comments

04FEB

Riversimple Fuel Cell Car Project Continues to Plod Along

People are getting more and more excited about green automobiles, so it was kind of surprising to see such a neutral reaction to the Fuel Cell Car by Riversimple. While this project has a very interesting slant from other cars that we have seen in this niche, it was met with a very lukewarm reception and things have not really heated up on in yet. However, the Riversimple Fuel Cell Car continues on and will hopefully be available for release in the next few years.View Comments

03DEC

New Hydrogen Storage Method

Hydrogen is an extremely environment friendly fuel as when it burns it releases only water vapor into the atmosphere, but the problem is that it is not easy to store it because it needs to be stored like other compressed gases. A new solid may solve the problem. A nonreactive noble gas called xenon combined with hydrogen and other massive pressure gives rise to a solid that can be later used to storehydrogen fuel. The research paper is published in the November 22, 2009, advanced online publication ofNature Chemistry. The discovery initiates a new line of materials that which could render impetus to new hydrogen technologies. View Comments

23NOV

High-Temp Hydrogen Source from Algae

Hydrogen is a strong contender to the generation-next clean and green fuel. Scientists are always trying to eliminate or minimize its drawbacks and maximize its benefits. They want to get rid of the intensive, high-energy process used when we need hydrogen as fuel. Because this process poses hurdle in the progress of hydrogen as clean and reliable alternative fuel. Scientists from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory are looking towards the wonder known as photosynthesis for some answers. Photosynthesis is the process from which plants generate energy and food in the presence of sunlight. Scientists think that photosynthesis might help providing answers so that we can utilize hydrogen as a fuel. View Comments

22OCT

Fuel Cell Powered UAV Completes 23-hour Flight

Surveillance and communication are the lifeline of the armed forces. These days they are utilizing small UAVs for naval missions. If the armed forces are using electric UAVs, they have the additional advantage. Electric UAVs can’t be detected from the ground. The Ion Tiger has just demonstrated the likelihood of a long endurance missions with an electric UAV. Naval forces can get a larger cruise range. Naval forces can reduce the number of daily launches and landings too. This increases the capability and yet naval crew can save on the time and effort fronts. View Comments

11OCT

Adding Lithium to Hydgrogen Could Improve Production

In our energy deprived world scientists are trying to find out various elements, alloys and substances that can provide clean and green energy along with meeting our energy demands. This quest has led them to superconductors. Superconductor materials have no electrical resistance. This property paves way for electrons to travel through them freely. Superconductor materials also carry large amounts of electrical current for long periods of time without losing energy as heat. Scientists are of the view that metallic hydrogen can prove to be a high-temperature superconductor. View Comments

23SEP

Students to Sail Hydrogen Powered Boat

A group of bright young Rensselaer students will soon take up the Hudson River, but with a difference. They are using a boat driven by clean and green hydrogen fuel. Their boat is the 22-foot New Clermont looked after by a three member crew. It is fitted with a pair of 2.2-kilowatt fuel cell units. View Comments

10SEP

New Hope for Hydrogen Storage

It seems simple but if put it into practice then we can develop real potential for hydrogen fuels. A new method of “recycling” hydrogen-containing fuel materials could pave the way for commercially viable hydrogen-based vehicles. An article published in world’s leading chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie, makes a claim about recycling hydrogen-containing fuel materials. Los Alamos National Laboratory andUniversity of Alabama researchers working within the U.S. Department of Energy’s Chemical Hydrogen Storage Center of Excellence express a noteworthy progress in hydrogen storage science. View Comments

21AUG

First Hydrogen Power Plant in Italy

Italy has come up with world’s first hydrogen power plant. This power plant is situated in Fusina, near Venice in the Veneto region of Italy. Enel is constructing this power plant producing no undesirable greenhouse gases. It is Italy’s largest power company with a track record of fifty million power and gas customers. Enel is procuring hydrogen from an accompanying production from Polimeri Europa's petrochemical plant. This hydrogen will be brought to the establishment by especially built pipelines. Polimeri produces a wide range of petrochemical products, and its ethylene-cracking process will be responsible for the hydrogen feedstock. This hydrogen power plant will be operational in 2010. It will provide power to 20,000 households. View Comments

16AUG

Digital Combustion Simulation

When researchers arrive at a particular after lots of experimentation they already have used up lots of resources in terms of money, man, material and time. Now scientists are trying to arrive at a result by simulating the experiments on computers and thus saving on lots of resources. A team of researchers from ETH Zurich are creating simulated autoignition with the help of a supercomputer equipped with 65,000 processors. This could lead to better models and reduction in cost of conducting actual experiments. View Comments

12AUG

New Advances in Hydrogen Fuel Catalysts

Hydrogen has great potential as a fuel of future because it is an environmentally clean energy fuel and save us from the undesirable side effects of greenhouse gases. Before becoming it a fuel of the masses we need necessary infrastructure to store it and move it. We will also need fuel cells on economical scale. To make hydrogen as a popular alternative fuel some engineers are working on storage factor of hydrogen fuel. They don’t want compressed hydrogen into a tank. They want to store hydrogen fuel into a large molecule. When we want hydrogen out of the molecule we will need a catalyst. Now, researchers have new details about one such catalyst. View Comments

22JUL

Hydrogen From Waste Materials

Environmentalists are continuously searching for green and clean fuel. Until now they have been putting a lot of energy and talent into hydrogen fuels because when hydrogen is burned, the only emission it makes is water vapor. So it is a great advantage that burning of hydrogen doesn’t produce carbon dioxide. Clearly, hydrogen is less of a pollutant in the air because it emits little tail pipe pollution. Engineers at the University of Leeds are working on a project keeping hydrogen in mind. They are developing an energy efficient, environmental-friendly hydrogen production system but with a difference. They are trying to extract hydrogen from waste materials. These materials can be vegetable oil or the glycerol by-product of bio-diesel. They are aspiring for the high purity hydrogen-based fuel that could be utilized for large-scale power production. They are also developing hydrogen cells for laptops or other gadgets. A grant of over £400k has been awarded to the University by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) within a consortium of 12 institutions known as SUPERGEN Sustainable Hydrogen Delivery.

New Hydrogen Powered Urban Car by Riversimple

A new hydrogen car was unveiled in London, UK by Riversimple. This Riversimple Urban Car (RUC) is powered by fuel cells. These fuels cells combine hydrogen with oxygen from the air to release energy. What comes out from the exhaust pipe is not toxic fumes but water. Even using hydrogen fuel from source to car’s fuel tank, its carbon emissions for urban driving are only 30 grams/km. The weight of this hydrogen car is 772 pounds. You can travel 186 miles on just 2.2 pounds of liquid hydrogen. The Riversimple Urban Car is powered by a cheap, 6-kilowatt fuel. The car's top speed is 50 miles per hour (80.4672 kilometres per hour). It can be accelerated from 0 to 30 mph (48 km/h) in 5.5 seconds.

25MAY

Hydrogen Powered Street Cleaner

We are hearing about many inventions and discoveries in the alternative energy sector. But we don't get to read about many 'actual' finished products doing their work in real world. What we know is many models being tested in laboratories. But here we are seeing Bucher CityCat H2, the world's first municipal utility vehicle powered by fuel cells, made its debut last week in Basel, Switzerland. This street-cleaning CityCat will be doing her work on an eighteen months trial basis. It will be a matter of study that how this vehicle nicknamed as Bucher CityCat H2 be helpful in reducing air pollution than traditional diesel engines. Empa and the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) have, in collaboration with Bucher Schoerling, Proton Motor, BRUSA Elektronik AG und Messer Schweiz, developed a hydrogen powered municipal street cleaning vehicle that was unveiled to the public on 14th May 2009 in Basel. What do you think?

30APR

Improving Performance of Solar Nanotubes

Akira Fujishima, thirty-five years ago, discovered the electrochemical properties of titanium dioxide. He showed that titanium dioxide functioned as a photocatalyst. It produced hydrogen gas from water, electricity and sunlight. Scientists are quite hopeful regarding the qualities of Titania (or titanium dioxide). This is also known as white pigment. It’s used in many products be it paint, toothpastes or sunscreen lotions. Researchers have been exploring different ways to optimize the process started by Akira Fujishima. They want to develop a commercially viable technology that transforms cheap sunlight into hydrogen, a pollution-free fuel that can be stored and shipped. What do you think?

22APR

Splitting Water Into Hydrogen And Oxygen

We often want to imitate nature for near perfect results. But sometimes it just remains a desire. In its quest for green and clean energy mankind is searching for that magical method that can split water into hydrogen and oxygen. Nature performs this task wonderfully through the process of photosynthesis. Man is still facing challenges in duplicating that process in the laboratory. If we are able to split water into oxygen and hydrogen in the presence of sunlight we will be able to harness the potential of hydrogen as a clean and green fuel. Till date man-made systems are quite inefficient, time consuming, money consuming and often require additional use of chemical agents. 

21APR

New Sponge-like Gas Storage Material

Environmentalists, common man, scientists, politicians, everyone want to breathe fresh and clean air and leave this earth in a better shape for next generation. Environmentalists and scientists are working to make this planet a better place to live. Hydrogen driven vehicles are a small step towards that goal. But the main hurdle to produce hydrogen vehicles on a mass scale is that they can’t store much fuel. Researchers at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and Arizona State Universityhave developed a sponge-like material, a new metal-organic framework that has a record breaking surface area. This kind of material can be very useful for many industrial applications such as catalysis, separation, and gas storage.

20APR

Breakthrough to Advance Hydrogen Car Production

One of the main hurdles in the field of hydrogen car research is the development of a good fueling system. Professor Issam Mudawar along with his research team has developed a hydrogen storage system that would allow a car tank to be filled in five minutes and you can drive on that fuel for 300 miles.

23MAR

Understanding How Water Molecules Split

Plants produce energy with the help of photosynthesis. One of the important steps of photosynthesis is splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen and release of energy in this process. Scientists are trying to duplicate this process in the laboratory for the production of energy i.e.hydrogen fuel. Hydrogen fuel is a clean and green alternative fuel. Now researchers are observing single oxygen atoms hopping on a metal oxide slab, glowing brighter here and dimmer there. This very process is helping chemists to understand how water splits into oxygen and hydrogen in a better way. This process is increasing the understanding of the chemical reaction that had previously only been talked about. This reaction will assist us in future to generate hydrogen fuel from water or to clean contaminated water. 

16MAR

Eco-Friendly Fuels at I-5 Rest Stops

Common man and policy makers both are increasingly being made aware of the importance of clean and green fuels in near future. The governors of 3 states have come forward with a plan to transform Interstate 5 from a freeway dotted by gasoline burners to a sanctuary for eco-friendly cars and trucks. The people chalking out this plan are Marty Brown, Gregoire's legislative liaison, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski. 

05MAR

New Hydrogen Purification Method

This feeling is making inroads into many hearts and minds that we need clean and green fuel. Hydrogen is the simplest element known to us. Its atom contains just one proton. It is also lighter than air and doesn’t exist alone on this planet. It is always found in combination with other elements. People see hydrogen as an alternative fuel but it has its own drawbacks. One of the biggest hurdles in hydrogen fuel is its purification. It can act as fuel for fuel cells but present methods of purification are not so efficient and effective. 

21FEB

Hydrogen Fuel From Non-food Sources

Tomorrow our vehicles may derive power by enzymes. These enzymes may originate from the cellulose of woodchips or grass and instead of emitting poisonous gases they will exhale hydrogen. We know that when hydrogen is burned, the only emission it makes is water vapor, so a key benefit of hydrogen fuel is that when burned, carbon dioxide (CO2) is not produced. Clearly, hydrogen is less of a pollutant in the air because it omits little tail pipe pollution. Hydrogen also has the potential to run a fuel-cell engine with better effectiveness over an internal combustion engine. 

DEC

New Method for Realizing Hydrogen Potential

Hydrogen-powered fuel cells hold enormous promise as a power source for future generations. Hydrogen is the simplest element known to humans. Each atom of hydrogen has only one proton. It is also the most abundant gas in the universe. Hydrogen has a unique property. It carries the highest energy content of any common fuel by weight (about three times more than gasoline), but interestingly it has the lowest energy content by volume (about four times less than gasoline). Hydrogen is the lightest element, and it is a gas at normal temperature and pressure. Hydrogen is not a widely used fuel today but it has great potential as an energy carrier in the future. Hydrogen can be produced from a variety of sources (water, fossil fuels, and biomass) and is a byproduct of other chemical processes. What do you think?

03OCT

University Team Helps Nissan Unveil its Green Future

We all are familiar with the reality of fossil fuels, their side effects, soaring prices and their impact on common man who cares to drive an automobile. A Sunderland University team is working tirelessly to create a hydrogen powered car. It will be a significant step forward in developing a mass produced green vehicle. It is named as Nissan Almera. Under the leadership of Dirk Kok, from the Institute of Automotive and Manufacturing Advanced Practice (AMAP), the university research team, has adapted a Nissan Almera that will lead Nissan to its green vehicle. The vehicle will not emit poisonous fumes from its exhaust but water. What do you think?

25SEP

Viability Of Hydrogen Transportation Markets

When we keep talking about alternative fuels hydrogen often gets the center stage. It may well be the future fuel for vehicles. But it often faces the chicken or egg dilemma. Suppose you have hydrogen driven vehicle but where are you suppose to pull up and refuel your vehicle? Will hydrogen gasoline stations be enough in number and strategically located to inspire confidence among the consumers to buy such vehicles?

SEP

Energy From Hydrogen-Producing Bacteria

Today we all are feeling the need of growing green. We have already put the various resources of planet earth on risk and some of the resources will not last for our great-great grandchildren for future use. So it’s better that we start mending our ways. Scientists from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and North Carolina State University (NC State) are in the process of developing new green technology that could lead to production of hydrogen from nitrogen-fixing bacteria. ARS inventors Paul Bishop and Telisa Loveless and NC State inventors Jonathan Olson and José Bruno-Bárcena developed the patent-pending technology. Bishop first demonstrated novel aspects of bacterial nitrogen-fixing more than two decades ago.

MAY

Harvesting Hydrogen from Farm Waste

The National Research Council of Canada's Biotechnology Research Institute has begun research and development of a process that will extract hydrogen from organic waste materials like fermentable feedstock and manure. The materials are processed to hydrogen by dark and photofermentation. The goal is to "come up with biosystems that could be grouped into a multiple-stage process to capture almost all the hydrogen from the primary feedstock". One dairy farm in Ontario is already producing power from manure using an anaerobic digester. 

11SEP

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Bicycles

Several companies in the past have showcased their plans to use hydrogen fuel cell technology to power a bicycle. Recently, Chinese company Pearl Hydrogen became the latest company to showcase the idea, at a recent technology convention in Shanghaimart. The 20" wheel prototype weighs 32kg and is powered by a PEM fuel cell and brushless electric motor. The top speed is 25km/hour and the 600L twin cylinder fuel cells have a maximum range of 100km. Some trial orders have already been placed for 20,000 Yuan (about US$2,650). The company is optimistic that their hydrogen bike will be successful enough to begin mass producing bikes for the mainstream Chinese market, for a more affordable 4,000 Yuan (US$530). There are no current plans to ship the fuel cell bicycles overseas.

21NOV

BMW Hydrogen 7 Production

BMW has announced the start of production of the new BMW Hydrogen 7, the world's first hydrogen-powered luxury saloon car. Destined to make its first public appearance on 28 November at the Los Angeles Motor Show, the Hydrogen 7 will be built in limited numbers and offered to selected users in 2007. The BMW Hydrogen 7 is based on the existing 7 Series and comes equipped with an internal combustion engine capable of running on liquid hydrogen or petrol. In hydrogen mode the car emits nothing more than water vapor. Powered by a 260hp 12-cylinder engine, the Hydrogen 7 accelerates from zero to 62mph in 9.5 seconds before going on to an electronically limited 143mph top speed. 

06OCT

Hydrogen Energy Economy Investment in Europe

A Joint Technology Initiative (JTI) has been proposed by 48 leading industry stakeholders on the eve of the European Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology Platform (HFP) annual assembly and exhibition in Brussels. It is hoped that this new initiative will produce new advances in the development and implementation of hydrogen fuel cell technology in Europe. $5 Billion Euros is being proposed as an investment effort to increase national energy security, the environment, and Europe's market competitiveness. The initiative is designed for the funding of hydrogen vehicles and infrastructure, hydrogen energy supplies, fuel cells for hea, power and the technology markets.

05OCT

Hydrogen Electrolyzer Award

Popular Mechanics magazine has awarded GE Global Research (of the General Electric Company) its 2006 Breakthrough Award. The award was given in recognition of GE's development of an advanced hydrogen electrolyzer. The Electrolyzer has the potential to lower the cost of producing hydrogen energy through the water electrolysis process. High-tech plastic parts are used in place of metal parts to lower the cost of producing high performance electrodes, which improves the technology's market competitiveness. This technology has the potential to build a better future by improving lives and expanding knowledge. 

30SEP

Future Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars

Forget ethanol or biodiesel. The next big thing in automotive fuel may very well be hydrogen. Automakers rapidly are closing in on making hydrogen fuel cell vehicles an everyday fact of life, with several test models set to debut over the next few years. Hydrogen fuel cells to power vehicles is desirable, experts say, because hydrogen is a renewable fuel that can be used to create electricity to run cars. A chemical reaction between oxygen and hydrogen produces the electric power, and when pure hydrogen is used, the only emission from the tailpipe is harmless water vapor.

Cenergie Hydrogen Fuel Cell Research

According to a recent report by the UK Energy Research Centre, Britain faces an energy generating capacity shortfall of 7-16 gigawatts by 2015. We are not alone: the American shortfall between projected energy supply and demand by 2020 will be nearly 50 percent. Meanwhile, climate change is a real and present danger and a decline in oil production is on the horizon. 

13SEP

Hydrogen Powered Bus in Winnipeg

Winnipeg is showcasing it's latest technology innovation, an energy-efficient hydrogen powered bus. Unfortunately this vehicle cost too much money to make it practical for use in the short-term future. The only emissions produced by the bus are water. The bus is worth between $1 and $2 million, according to Manitoba's hydrogen specialist Bob Parsons, and is a big improvement on earlier versions of the hybrid. "It's the only one of its kind that exists in the world at this time," said Parsons