[Bioconversion] Charcoal Fuel Cell

[Jeff Davis]

Dear Pete and all,

I wonder if a small simple version would power the fan in Tom's Woodgas
Stove?

Jeff




> Thanx, Jeff.  I'll follow this breakthrough with interest.
> Pete
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: bioconversion-bounces at listserv.repp.org
> [mailto:bioconversion-bounces at listserv.repp.org]On Behalf Of Jeff Davis
> Sent: Wednesday, June 14, 2006 22:12
> To: bioconversion at listserv.repp.org
> Subject: [Bioconversion] Charcoal Fuel Cell
>
>
> Dear List,
>
>
>
> University of Hawai'i researcher Michael Antal has developed a working
> fuel cell that uses charcoal as its fuel and operates at bread-baking
> temperatures.
> The Antal system, which he calls an aqueous alkali biocarbon fuel cell, is
> unlike other fuel cell technology both in that it uses a renewable fuel
> and that it does not require particularly high temperatures.
> Renewable energy is the watchword in the modern energy debate, an effort
> pushed in large part by high global oil prices and the perception that
> global political instability threatens the availability of fuel.
> Gov. Linda Lingle is backing a package of bills in the Legislature that
> includes strong support for renewables, and President Bush has been on the
> stump in recent weeks on behalf of energy initiatives that include
> hydrogen fuel cell cars, solar power, wind research, and more.
> Most research today focuses on cells fueled with hydrogen, which must be
> manufactured- in many cases from fossil fuels.
> But "this is effectively a battery that uses charcoal to make
> electricity," Antal said.
> The technology has attracted interest from around the world, said Dick
> Cox, director of the university's Office of Technology Transfer and
> Economic Development.
> "I think it's a tremendous innovation," Cox said. His office will license
> the technology to independent companies, which would pay Antal and the
> university for the use of the system.
> Antal's cell operates at about 400 degrees Fahrenheit. By contrast, a
> carbon cell developed by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
> operates at 1,500 degrees.
> "People have been building hydrogen fuel cells for over a century. Our
> purpose is to awaken people to the fact that there are new things out
> there. We need to think outside the box," Antal said.
> The key to his cell's operation is the very chemically reactive property
> of charcoal, which has a large surface area and burns at relatively low
> temperatures, he said.
> Antal said he imagines industrial applications would be most appropriate
> for the fuel cell, but figures it might be capable of running an
> automobile. Antal's former associate, University of Tokyo researcher
> Kazuhiro Mochidzuki, said the system appears most appropriate for
> mid-sized power generation stations.
> "Power generation by carbon fuel cell should not be in so big scale. The
> dispersed power system that does not require big generators is suitable
> for the carbon fuel cell," Mochidzuki said via e-mail.
> Right now, his lab at the University of Hawai'i is fine-tuning the design,
> and looking for companies that would finance the development of a
> commercial charcoal fuel cell. Mochidzuki said there are still technical
> issues to be resolved.
> "Carbon fuel cell is one of the promising technologies to obtain power
> from charcoal at a high efficiency. It can be said that the carbon fuel
> cell is an important technology to promote the sustainable biomass energy
> system," he said. However, "there are a number of problems to be solved
> against its practical use of carbon fuel cell, even if it theoretically
> has a good potential."
> The carbon cell functions something like a car battery. It has an anode
> and cathode positive- and negative-charged terminals in a liquid solution,
> and if you put an electrical load - like a light bulb - between them,
> electrical current flows from one to the other. But that's where the
> similarity ends.
> In Antal's cell, the electrolyte is alkaline potassium hydroxide, not
> sulphuric acid. It is kept under pressure to prevent it from boiling away
> at 400 degrees. The negative terminal, or cathode, which acts as a
> catalyst, is made of nickel and silver or platinum.
> The positive terminal, or anode, is a porous ceramic column filled with
> charcoal powder. A piston keeps it pressurized, and serves at the
> attachment point for the electrical connection.
> In operation, hydroxide ions in the electrolyte attack the carbon,
> creating carbon dioxide and water. The process releases energy.
> The cell is fed air to provide the process with new oxygen, and it vents
> carbon dioxide.
> The charcoal does not burn in the sense of a campfire burning. The
> reaction occurs entirely within the liquid of the fuel cell.
> While fossil-fuel cells also produce carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas,
> charcoal represents a sustainable source of fuel, since the living plants
> that produce the charcoal get their carbon by removing carbon dioxide from
> the atmosphere.
> Antal said that water-based or aqueous fuel cells have a considerable
> history. A hydrogen-based aqueous fuel cell was used in the first Apollo
> space mission.
> While his charcoal fuel cell works as it is, Antal said it needs to be
> more efficient, and his team is now fine tuning it - working with
> different catalysts, different electrolyte strengths and other changes.
> They also need to figure out how to continuously feed charcoal fuel to the
> system.
> "Handling of solid fuel, such as charcoal, is not easy. If we want to feed
> charcoal into the cell continuously, we have to solve the problem how it
> can be fed. This is one of the biggest problems of solid fuel," Mochidzuki
> said.
> Antal, who holds the University of Hawai'i's Coral Industries Chair of
> Renewable Energy Resources, is a longtime advocate of charcoal. Another of
> his projects is a flash carbonization reactor, which converts biomass like
> macadamia nut shells, wood and grass into charcoal. That charcoal can be
> used to cook food, as a filter or, in tandem with the new fuel cell, as a
> source of electricity.
>
>
>
> Link below:
>
> http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060226/NEWS11/602260346/1001
>
>
> Jeff
>
>
>
> --
> Jeff Davis
>
> Some where 20 miles south of Lake Erie, USA
> _______________________________________________
> Bioconversion mailing list
> Bioconversion at listserv.repp.org
> http://listserv.repp.org/mailman/listinfo/bioconversion
>
>


-- 
Jeff Davis

Some where 20 miles south of Lake Erie, USA