New discovery may be breakthrough for hydrogen cars- Green H2 from Corn
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.
Virginia Tech professor Percival Zhang (right) and recent doctoral graduate Joe Rollin. Credit: Virginia Tech
"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....
..."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.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-04-discovery-breakthrough-hydrogen-cars.html
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The R&D has barely begun. If Obama/Chu hadn't cut the funding in 2009...
= new reply since forum marked as read
The R&D has barely begun. If Obama/Chu hadn't cut the funding in 2009...
Good think they did, it's a double loser-- loser on the corn ethanol side and loser again on the hydrogen side.
Shit, this one takes the cake.
when I realized that heavy weights hanging from gears is about the cleanest, greenest source of energy you can imagine. Never mind the hydrogen economy, it's time to get behind the heavy-weights-dangling-from-a-chain economy. It doesn't even require filling stations. Just pull over to the side of the road and pull your weights back up. This could revolutionize everything!
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in case you didn't notice)
I had to give the OP the benefit of the doubt and read the article and the comments and follow the links.
http://phys.org/news/2015-04-discovery-breakthrough-hydrogen-cars.html
In one of the comments was this: http://www.solarhydrogentrends.com/ They're right around the corner from me. Pretty interesting claims that they're making. Hmmmm.
ANYWAY....
This idea of using corn stover, or waste, is a loser right out of the gate. First, modern corn production is not particularly sustainable. It uses tons of fossil fuel for equipment, fertilizers, water transport, etc., and if you process the stover rather than compost it back into the soil, you are ruining the soil and it takes additional resources to restore it.
In other words, any proposed benefit is offset by the consequences of the practice.
I LOVE scientists for what they do, these scientists work in a bubble, never stepped a foot in on a corn field, it's all looking at a narrow set of circumstances and proving something can be done.
I love, even more, environmental scientists who are able to look at what these theoretical scientists do and put it into context.
CONTEXT.
This scheme will not ever be commercially practical, but the headline tells us that it may be a breakthrough for.... wait for it.... CARS!
They've ruined their own credibility with that leap.
I feel sorry for the science dudes in the pic, they don't think their little experiments are ever going to fuel cars.
The science might lead to further developments that might work well in waste to hydrogen plants at some scale, but not every day cars for you and me.
Read with skepticism and care. Keep an open mind, but pay attention to the details and context!
