Domestic Fuel

Researchers at Virginia Tech have found a way to extract hydrogen from any plant, a breakthrough touted as possibly bringing a low-cost, environmentally friendly fuel source to the world.

“Our new process could help end our dependence on fossil fuels,” said Y.H. Percival Zhang, an associate professor of biological systems engineering in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Engineering. “Hydrogen is one of the most important biofuels of the future.”

This new environmentally friendly method of producing hydrogen utilizes renewable natural resources, releases almost no greenhouse gasses, and does not require costly or heavy metals. Previous methods to produce hydrogen are expensive and create greenhouse gases.

Zhang’s process could hit markets within three years, a marketplace that could be at least $1 trillion just in the United States.

You can read more about it in the journal Angewandte Chemie, International Edition.

Researchers at a Swedish university might have come up with a way to turn ash from burned garbage into hydrogen. Lund University reports a scientist there has a thesis that says the process could produce 20 billion litres of hydrogen gas a year, enough to power 11,000 homes.

“The ash can be used as a resource through recovery of hydrogen gas instead of being allowed to be released into the air as at present. Our ash deposits are like a goldmine”, said Aamir Ilyas, Doctor of Water Resources Engineering at Lund University and the developer of the technique. Refuse incineration is a widespread practice in Europe.

It is the heavy, grit-like bottom ash that is used. In combustion, a lighter fly ash is also formed. The bottom ash remains in quarantine, in the open air, at the site for up to six months to prevent leaching of environmentally harmful metals and the risk of hydrogen gas being formed, since accumulation of hydrogen during indoor storage can result in explosion.

Ilyas adds this will keep a lot of ash out of landfills.

Hydrogenics Corporation has announced that a Hydrogenics electrolysis-based hydrogen fueling station has been officially opened in Turkey in the presence of Kadir Tobass, Mayor of Istanbul, as well as interested members of the public. The fueling station is located at Golden Horn, the historic inlet of the Bosphorus straight, and can fuel up to 65 kilograms per day of hydrogen at 350 bar. The station is for both land and sea transportation applications where Hydrogenics’ 8kW fuel cells can be used.

“We are very pleased to see the high level of interest shown by the Turkish government in hydrogen technology as a future fuel,” said Daryl Wilson, Hydrogenics President and CEO. “This first hydrogen fueling station in Turkey demonstrates Hydrogenics’ ability to respond to the increasing demand for hydrogen fueling stations across Europe. Our ability to deliver a complete offering addressing quality, safety and economic requirements further validates Hydrogenics as the company with the expertise to manufacture and install hydrogen fueling stations wherever needed.”

The station was financed by the International Centre for Hydrogen Energy Technologies (ICHET), a project of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). ICHET was founded in Istanbul in 2004 and is supported by the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources. ICHET seeks to initiate projects in the developing world that establish or enhance hydrogen production.

Plug Power has been selected for a $2.5 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The monies will be used to modify electric tow tractor ground equipment to function with GenDrive hydrogen fuel cells in airport applications. As part of a three-year program, 15 tow tractors will be deployed at FedEx Express airport hub locations in Memphis, Tennessee and Oakland, California. FedEx will test the hydrogen fuel cell technology to study productively, efficiency and the environmental benefits of using hydrogen. FedEx Freight has used GenDrive fuel cells in its Springfield, Missouri facility since 2009.

“FedEx continually works toward goals to increase vehicle efficiencies and reduce emissions in big and small ways that are sustainable and long-lasting,” said Russell Musgrove, Managing Director with FedEx Express. “Plug Power’s plan to develop and deploy fuel cell-powered baggage tow tractors aligns with our commitment to continually research and test technologies that will help us connect the world in responsible and resourceful ways.”

Studies are being conducted that will determine if hydrogen fuel cells can serve as replacements for lead-acid batteries. Early indications, say Plug Power, that customers using hydrogen fuel cells have experienced significant improvements in productivity and operational efficiencies in running their large distribution centers and manufacturing operations. The next step is to trial hydrogen fuel cells in other business aspects including use in fleet vehicles and refrigerated trailer operations.

“Ground support equipment is a natural fit for our GenDrive product, and this project allows us to take our prior expertise in the area and further develop it for future commercialization,” said Andy Marsh, CEO at Plug Power. “FedEx has been a valuable collaborator for Plug Power in the past and we look forward to continuing our positive work with them as the company evaluates additional markets.”

What do you do when you’ve got a frustrating case of insomnia? You read books about energy. Okay, maybe not something you would do but it always keeps me good and entertained. Last night I read the DoShort, “Sustainable Transport Fuels Business Brief,” by David Thorpe in less than two hours. That is part of the sell – learn about a topic in 90 minutes or less. This is a brillant concept lads.

So what did I learn? I got a briefing on research, development and deployment of sustainable fuels around the world. The DoShort kicked off with a brief overview of the history of transportation fuels, relevant legislation, and the role of emissions reduction in determining the sustainable viability of a future fuel.

Next were a series of briefs on various types of fuels beginning with biofuels. The discussion included current technologies and technologies to watch, feedstocks, infrastructure, partnerships, pros and cons and opportunities and challenges. This same type of format was used in the brief sections about electric vehicles, hydrogen vehicles, fuel cells, and a fuel I’d never heard of called hydrazine hydrate. There is even a concept car developed by Daihatsu. Who knew?

Much of the brief was focused on biofuels, since today they are the primary source of alternative fuels for the transportation sector (when specifically discussing fleets, the leading fuel is propane autogas). Here was an interesting tidbit I picked up: according to the IEA Bioenergy Implementing Agreement there are at least 67 local, regional or global initiatives to develop sustainability criteria and standards for biofuels.  (And if you’ve been reading this blog for the past six years you notice that biofuels, and currently the Renewable Fuels Standard, are constantly under attack). The most significant initiatives are: The Global Bioenergy Partnership, The Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels, International Organization for Standardization, and the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification System.

While I have encyclopedic volumes of energy info stuck in my head, I got most of it reading many good, but dense books that took hours. What I’ve also known is that most people don’t have the time, nor interest, in reading all of these books. That’s why I do it for you and why I now consider these DoShorts such a winner – the reader of “Sustainable Transport Fuels Business Brief ” can sit down at a meeting and can impress the boss with a working knowledge of transportation fuels, in 90 minutes or less.

The 2013 Clean Energy Challenge, funded by the Clean Energy Trust, has kicked off with more than $300,000 in cash prizes waiting to be won. Researchers, students and entrepreneurs with transformative clean tech business ideas based in the Midwest, are encouraged to submit their businesses and concepts through the Clean Energy Exchange.

The Clean Energy Challenge is a two-track competition for projects in different stages of development. The Early Stage Challenge is for clean tech projects with fully-developed business plans and established start-up companies. The Student Challenge is for students in eight-state Midwest region who have a great idea, and need assistance in developing a clean energy business.

“The very best clean technology innovations are being developed in the Midwest and the Challenge ensures that those ideas are presented to the venture capitalists, businesses and investors who can bring them to market,” said Amy Francetic, executive director of the Clean Energy Trust. “The cash prizes and commercialization support kick start Clean Energy Challenge Finalists, which have all gone on to receive significant venture and federal funding.”

Applications are encouraged from Midwest entrepreneurs working in: Energy Storage; Hydrogen & Fuel Cells; Geothermal; BioEnergy; Solar Technologies; Wind Energy; Water-Energy Nexus; Recycling and Remediation; Energy Efficiency; Building Materials; Energy Management; Smart-Grid; Next Generation Transportation; and Manufacturing Efficiency.

Finalists will receive mentoring from the Clean Energy Trust in preparation for the Challenge finals taking place in Chicago on April 4, 2013. The judging panel is comprised of nationally renowned investors and clean technology business leaders. The application deadline is December 3, 2012. Complete rules and eligibility for the Challenge are available at www.cleanenergytrust.org.

FuelCell Energy is calling for support of a bill that would improve the infrastructure for fuel cells and hydrogen. The Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Infrastructure for America Act was introduced by U.S. Congressman John B. Larson and U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal. The goal of the legislation is to accelerate the adoption of stationary fuel cell power and generation and hydrogen energy infrastructure. In addition, the bill would also help support domestic manufacturing of the fuel cell industry.

Earlier this week, Congressman Larson and Senator Blumenthal along with U.S. Congressman Chris Murphy visited the Torrington, Connecticut production facility of FuelCell Energy where the legislation was announced.

“The kind of work being done here at FuelCell Energy to provide highly efficient on-site power generation is exactly the kind of work we should be seeing more of to help move us to a stronger future,” said Congressman Larson. “I look forward to continuing my work with the delegation to improve federal incentives for this sustainable, American technology. It’s good for our economy here in Connecticut and for the energy security of the Nation.”

The Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Infrastructure for America Act creates a tiered investment tax credit (ITC) to reward highly efficient stationary fuel cell power plants utilizing a combined heat and power (CHP) configuration. There is already a tax credit in place that provides 30 percent tax credit for stationary fuel cell power plants operating with at least a 30 percent efficiency. The new piece of legislation would increase the tax credit to 40 percent for fuel cell power plants achieving at least 60 percent efficiency. It also increases the tax credit even higher to 50 percent for fuel cell power plants achieving at least 70 percent efficiency.

“Fuel cell technology and energy can create jobs and enhance our state economy as well as free America from dependence on foreign oil — a huge win-win for everyone,” Senator Blumenthal added. “I am proud to introduce this bill modeled on Congressman Larson’s measure, which promises major benefits to Connecticut companies, helping to make our state the fuel cell capital of the world.”

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney is rolling out his energy plan with the goal to “achieve North American energy independence by 2020 and establish America as an energy superpower in the 21st century.”

With a strong emphasis on opening up and developing more domestic sources for petroleum, the Romney plan does include a small mention of renewable sources and one line that is very welcome to ethanol supporters: Support increased market penetration and competition among energy sources by maintaining the RFS and eliminating regulatory barriers to a diversification of the electrical grid, fuel system, or vehicle fleet.

“We applaud Governor Romney’s commitment to domestic renewable fuels and his recognition of the importance of the RFS,” said Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Bob Dinneen. “By working to remove barriers to market access for renewable fuels, as Governor Romney suggests, America can help spur an economic recovery while securing our energy future. We look forward to hearing more details of Governor Romney’s energy ideas as the campaign continues.”

Romney’s plan also calls for ensuring “that policies for expanding energy development apply broadly to energy sources,from oil and gas exploration, to coal mining, to the siting of wind, solar, hydroelectric, and other renewable energy facilities.” The candidate will be making a speech about his energy policy in New Mexico today.

Indiana University biologist James McKinlay has received the Early Career Research Program award from the Department of Energy (DOE). Along with honor, the award comes with $750,000 that will help McKinlay, who is an assistant professor in the Department of Biology, continue to research how microbes might work together to produce hydrogen gas biofuels.

While others are researching better biofuels with microbes, McKinley said most are focusing on engineering single species that can perform all the necessary tasks needed to produce biofuels.

“Coordinating all these tasks in a single microbe can be challenging and can lead to undesired traits like the inefficient use of the food source,” explained McKinley. “But in nature, diverse microbes often work together to use food sources like plant-derived lignin and cellulose that resist degradation. The idea here is to create a similar cooperative relationship in the lab where each microbe supplies the other with a nutrient required for survival.”

McKinlay is attempting to decipher how metabolisms of two microbes interact, evolve together to improve nutrient transfer and discover how to optimize microbes to create a tailor-made mixture. When taken together, the result would be the economical production of hydrogen gas and other biofuels from renewable resources.

“We’re taking a lesson from nature that multiple microbial species help each other to thrive on food sources such as plant residues that those same species could not use if on their own,” continued McKinlay. “We already know that mixtures of specialized microbes can sometimes outperform a single engineered strain for producing chemicals of value to society.”

With the ultimate strategy of enhancing biofuels production, McKinlay is executing the idea to develop a co-culture of a photosynthetic bacteria and a fermentative microbe that uses sugar and energy from sunlight to produce hydrogen gas.

During a bipartisan briefing on Capitol Hill, researchers from six institutions advocated that adopting a national Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) would be a positive step for America. Renewable fuels, they said, will be cleaner, cheaper and “Made in America”. This consensus by the group of researchers was met after conducting an extensive series of peer-reviewed LCFS studies. The research will be published in The Energy Policy Journal’s special issue on Low Carbon Fuel Policy over the next several months.

“A national Low Carbon Fuel Standard is a promising framework to help solve the transportation energy challenges that have eluded us for several decades,” said Dr. Daniel Sperling, director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Davis, one of the participating institutions of the National Low Carbon Fuel Standard Project. “Technologically, an LCFS is very doable. And it can help us address the complex choices with conventional oil, shale gas, oil sands, biofuels, and electric vehicles.”

The way that a LCFS would work is through setting a common target for carbon intensity, which would reduce the amount of carbon in transportation fuels. Energy companies would have to meet the carbon intensity level but could individually decide how to meet that goal. Companies could explore such things as biofuels or hydrogen fuels. In addition, companies could buy and sell carbon credits from companies producing low-carbon fuels.

Dr. Jonathan Rubin, professor of Economics at the University of Maine said, “An LCFS encourages innovation and diversity by harnessing market forces. “These reports provide practical policy recommendations, and are designed to inject scientific information into the national conversation on a Low Carbon Fuel Standard.”

Yet not everyone agrees that an LCFS would be a positive move for the country. The Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) has publicly come out against any national LCFS policies citing other studies that found such a move would cost millions of Americans to lose jobs, double gasoline prices and raise greenhouse gas emissions.
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Researchers at Michigan State University (MSU) are using the power of microbes from agricultural waste to create ethanol and hydrogen for fuel cells. The technology was developed by MSU microbiologist Gemma Reguera, who created bioelectrochemical systems known as microbial electrolysis cells or MECs. The process uses bacteria to break down and ferment ag waste into ethanol. The process produces 20 times more energy than existing methods.

According to communication from MSU, the process is unique because it uses a second bacterium. When added to the mix, it removes all waste fermentation byproducts or nonethanol materials, while generating electricity. The results of the research were recently published by Reguera along with co-author and graduate student Allison Spears, in Environmental Science and Technology. 

The research is important because in lab tests have significantly improved energy recovery from corn stover, a budding feedstock for biofuel production, that today hovers around 3.5 percent. However, Reguera’s process averages 35-40 percent energy recovery after factoring in the energy required during the pretreatment phase. What might be even more promising about the platform is that the significant energy recovery is just from the fermentation process.

“This is because the fermentative bacterium was carefully selected to degrade and ferment agricultural wastes into ethanol efficiently and to produce byproducts that could be metabolized by the electricity-producing bacterium,” explained Reguera.
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What might be a good use of food waste? Hydrogen. Researchers from the University of Birmingham in the UK are creating bioenergy in the form of hydrogen for use an an alternative to gasoline. Researchers note that in a country like Brazil that is converting sugarcane to ethanol it may not be sustainable in the long-term. The reason is because the process generates carbon dioxide and agricultural waste. The advantage of creating hydrogen is that it can use the waste generated by the production of other products and it is sustainable and emission free.

Professor Lynne Macaskie, Professor of Applied Microbiology at the University of Birmingham, gave a presentation on the hydrogen research during a collaborative workshop in São Paulo on May 14, 2012. “Fuel cells need clean energy to run them. If you provide bacteria with a supply of sugary waste from, for example, chocolate production, the bacteria can produce hydrogen. At the moment manufacturers pay to dispose of waste but with our technique they could convert it to clean electricity instead.”

According to Macaskie, the research shows a huge potential for biohydrogen as a fuel for the future. “Biohydrogen could even be made from the wastes from bioethanol production – two biofuels for the price of one,” he said. “More work from focused teams, however, is needed, as agricultural wastes are tougher for bacteria to digest.”

The event was organized by O Conselho de Reitores das Universidades Estaduais de São Paulo (CRUESP) and the FAPESP bioenergy programme (FAPESP-BIOEN). Participants came from the University of Birmingham, the University of Nottingham, the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), the University of São Paulo, and São Paulo State University (UNESP).

MapMuse has released updated interactive Alternative Fuel Locator Maps that identify where consumers can fill up with alternative fuels. The maps feature stations that sell biodiesel, E85, propane, compressed natural gas (CNG), hydrogen, liquified natural gas (LNG), liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and electric charging stations. For accuracy, the data used to identified the alternative fueling stations was verified by the Alternative Fuels & Advanced Vehicles Data Center.

“In the green age we live in, it’d be negligent of us not to have these maps available on our site,” says Michael Pilon, owner of MapMuse. “There are more people driving alt fuel vehicles than ever before, which means there are more people looking for places to refuel.”

It is estimated there are over 800,000 alternative fuel vehicles on U.S. roads in 2009 and has risen steadily over the past few years. For these drivers, the alternative fuel maps not only gives them station locations but also directions, access restrictions, blend types, payment methods accepted, and web links. An iPhone app version is expected to be released in the next few months.

Combined, there are more than 3,000 verified stations on the list. Pilon said accuracy is extremely important to his company; he doesn’t want a consumer driving up to a station with an empty tank only to discover the station doesn’t exist.  Station owners are encouraged to submit their information for consideration.

A breakthrough by chemists at the University of California-Berkeley could have a profound impact on the growing market for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

In an article appearing this week in the journal Science, UC Berkeley chemists show how to construct a catalyst composed only of edges and demonstrate that it can catalyze the production of hydrogen from water as readily as the edges and defects in regular catalysts.

At the moment, creating these catalysts in the lab is not cheaper than using traditional catalysts, but efforts by Chang and others to simplify the process and create materials with billions of active sites on a ridged wafer much like a Ruffles potato chip could allow cheaper, commercially viable fuel cell catalysts.

Read more from Berkeley news service.

The 2011 Florida Energy Summit has been moved to October 26-28 in Orlando, Florida. The official announcement came today from the Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam who made the announcement during a visit to the Florida Solar Energy Center in Cocoa where he learned about the research and development of energy technologies to advanced the production of hydrogen, fuel cell, solar energy and biomass.

“The Florida Energy Summit will advance the expansion of the production of renewable energy in Florida by bringing together leaders in energy development, agriculture production, government, academic research, technology and finance,” said Commissioner Putnam. “By taking a more comprehensive look at prospective energy resources, we will gain a better understanding of Florida’s energy potential to not only capture, but also capitalize on the rich resources available.”

The Florida Energy Summit replaces the Farm to Fuel Summit, and will be hosted by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (DACS). The change in focus came from the 2011 Legislative Session where they transferred the responsibilities of the Florida Energy and Climate Commission to DACS and thus creating the Department’s Office of Energy. The new summit will broaden the energy focus from “biofuels” to all forms of renewable energy.

Information about the Florida Energy Summit can be found at www.floridaenergysummit.com.