Methanol fuel cells the latest in portable power
by Mark Rutherford
February 22, 2009 6:00 AM PST
A German company has introduced a "wearable" fuel cell that usesdirect methanol fuel cell technology, doing away with the weightymechanical components usually associated with generation of electricalpower.
Based on an award-winning unipolar stack technology design, the Jenny600S delivers 25 watts of power for up to 20 hours at a time,according to the company Smart Fuel Cell (SFC).
SFC fuel cells took top honors in the U.S. Department of Defense'sWearable Power Competition last October against stiff competition froma host of big-name competitors. But it's not the only game: companieslike UtraCell and Jadoo Power also offer a range of portable fuel celloptions to military customers.
The Jenny uses replaceable liquid methanol fuel cartridges and can beworn by soldiers in a vest, where it instantly kicks in from standbymode to automatically recharge batteries when needed. It workssilently in both vertical and horizontal positions, according to SFC.It can also be left in a hands-off mode to automatically power upequipment in the field. The company estimates that the unit couldreduce the weight of the batteries that soldiers must carry on certainmissions by up to 70 percent.
And the SFC system uses nonpressurized methanol, which has been giventhe seal of approval in tests by Army Research Lab and Natick SoldierCenter, according to SFC. Low pressure gives it a leg up, in terms ofsafety over pressurized gases like hydrogen, propane, or butane.
It's not available to civilians yet, but look for systems like this toshake out in the near future. Mark Rutherford is a West Coast-based freelance writer. He is amember of the CNET Blog Network, and is not an employee of CNET. Emailhim at markr@milapp.com
Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13639_3-10169022-42.html
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
New freely accessible nanotechnology and nanoscience publications archive
New freely accessible nanotechnology and nanoscience publications archive
Research at the nanoscale has the potential to solve many fundamental scientific problems and lead to new developments in different disciplines and application areas such as medicine, electronics, energy, and the environment. Successful outcomes to such research will have a measurable impact on the future well-being of our global society; however this can only be achieved through improving access to information and opportunities for international collaboration. The ICPCNanoNet project is one such initiative in this framework. Funded by the EU under FP7 for four years from June 2008, it provides:
an electronic archive of nanoscience publications that is freely accessible to researchers around the globe;
an electronic database of nanoscience organizations and networks in ICPC;
links to nanoscience researchers and stakeholders across the globe;
annual reports on nanoscience developments in eight ICPC regions: Africa, Caribbean, Pacific, Asia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA), Latin America, Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPC), Western Balkan Countries (WBC);
online networking tools (forums, workshops);
annual workshops, one in each of EU, China, India, and Russia, which will also be webcast to facilitate greater access.
The project brings together partners from the EU, China, India and Russia and aims to provide wider access to published nanoscience and nanotechnology research and opportunities for collaboration between scientists in the EU and International Cooperation Partner Countries. This will be achieved through the creation of an open access electronic archive of nanoscience publications and tools to facilitate networking between scientists in different world regions.
The project builds on previous initiatives including Nanoforum (www.nanoforum.org) which provides information on nanoscience and technology in the EU; EuroIndiaNet (http://www2.spi.pt/euroindianet/) which promoted stronger collaboration between EU and Indian nanoscientists and technologists, and NanoforumEULA (www.mesaplus.utwente.nl/nanoforumeula/) which promotes stronger collaboration between EU and Latin American nanoscientists and technologists.
ICPCNanoNet is coordinated by the Institute of Nanotechnology (UK) and includes Sociedade Portuguesa de Inovação (Portugal), St Petersburg Electrotechnical University (Russia), Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (India), Chinese Society of Micro-Nano Technology (China), MERIT, Universiteit Maastricht (Netherlands), and Malsch TechnoValuation (Netherlands).
To register your interest in ICPCNanoNet please contact the project coordinator:
Dr Mark Morrison
Institute of Nanotechnology
mark.morrison@nano.org.uk
Tel. +44 (0)141 303 8444.
or register on the project websites: www.ICPC-nanonet.org (main project website) and www.nanoarchive.org (electronic archive).
Source: ICPCNanoNet
Research at the nanoscale has the potential to solve many fundamental scientific problems and lead to new developments in different disciplines and application areas such as medicine, electronics, energy, and the environment. Successful outcomes to such research will have a measurable impact on the future well-being of our global society; however this can only be achieved through improving access to information and opportunities for international collaboration. The ICPCNanoNet project is one such initiative in this framework. Funded by the EU under FP7 for four years from June 2008, it provides:
an electronic archive of nanoscience publications that is freely accessible to researchers around the globe;
an electronic database of nanoscience organizations and networks in ICPC;
links to nanoscience researchers and stakeholders across the globe;
annual reports on nanoscience developments in eight ICPC regions: Africa, Caribbean, Pacific, Asia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA), Latin America, Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPC), Western Balkan Countries (WBC);
online networking tools (forums, workshops);
annual workshops, one in each of EU, China, India, and Russia, which will also be webcast to facilitate greater access.
The project brings together partners from the EU, China, India and Russia and aims to provide wider access to published nanoscience and nanotechnology research and opportunities for collaboration between scientists in the EU and International Cooperation Partner Countries. This will be achieved through the creation of an open access electronic archive of nanoscience publications and tools to facilitate networking between scientists in different world regions.
The project builds on previous initiatives including Nanoforum (www.nanoforum.org) which provides information on nanoscience and technology in the EU; EuroIndiaNet (http://www2.spi.pt/euroindianet/) which promoted stronger collaboration between EU and Indian nanoscientists and technologists, and NanoforumEULA (www.mesaplus.utwente.nl/nanoforumeula/) which promotes stronger collaboration between EU and Latin American nanoscientists and technologists.
ICPCNanoNet is coordinated by the Institute of Nanotechnology (UK) and includes Sociedade Portuguesa de Inovação (Portugal), St Petersburg Electrotechnical University (Russia), Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (India), Chinese Society of Micro-Nano Technology (China), MERIT, Universiteit Maastricht (Netherlands), and Malsch TechnoValuation (Netherlands).
To register your interest in ICPCNanoNet please contact the project coordinator:
Dr Mark Morrison
Institute of Nanotechnology
mark.morrison@nano.org.uk
Tel. +44 (0)141 303 8444.
or register on the project websites: www.ICPC-nanonet.org (main project website) and www.nanoarchive.org (electronic archive).
Source: ICPCNanoNet
Sunday, February 1, 2009
New catalyst paves the path for ethanol-powered fuel cells
(Nanowerk News) A team of scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Delaware and Yeshiva University, has developed a new catalyst that could make ethanol-powered fuel cells feasible. The highly efficient catalyst performs two crucial, and previously unreachable steps needed to oxidize ethanol and produce clean energy in fuel cell reactions. Their results are published online in the January 25, 2009 edition of Nature Materials.
Like batteries that never die, hydrogen fuel cells convert hydrogen and oxygen into water and, as part of the process, produce electricity. However, efficient production, storage, and transport of hydrogen for fuel cell use is not easily achieved. As an alternative, researchers are studying the incorporation of hydrogen-rich compounds, for example, the use of liquid ethanol in a system called a direct ethanol fuel cell. READ MORE...
Like batteries that never die, hydrogen fuel cells convert hydrogen and oxygen into water and, as part of the process, produce electricity. However, efficient production, storage, and transport of hydrogen for fuel cell use is not easily achieved. As an alternative, researchers are studying the incorporation of hydrogen-rich compounds, for example, the use of liquid ethanol in a system called a direct ethanol fuel cell. READ MORE...
World's highest drug levels entering India stream
Jan. 26, 2009By Margie Mason, AP Medical Writer Patancheru, India (AP)—When researchers analyzed vials of treated wastewater taken from a plant where about 90 Indian drug factories dump their residues, they were shocked. Enough of a single, powerful antibiotic was being spewed into one stream each day to treat every person in a city of 90,000.
And it wasn't just ciprofloxacin being detected. The supposedly cleaned water was a floating medicine cabinet—a soup of 21 different active pharmaceutical ingredients, used in generics for treatment of hypertension, heart disease, chronic liver ailments, depression, gonorrhea, ulcers and other ailments. Half of the drugs measured at the highest levels of pharmaceuticals ever detected in the environment, researchers say. READ MORE...
AP National Writer Martha Mendoza contributed to this report from California.
SOURCE: The Associated Press.
And it wasn't just ciprofloxacin being detected. The supposedly cleaned water was a floating medicine cabinet—a soup of 21 different active pharmaceutical ingredients, used in generics for treatment of hypertension, heart disease, chronic liver ailments, depression, gonorrhea, ulcers and other ailments. Half of the drugs measured at the highest levels of pharmaceuticals ever detected in the environment, researchers say. READ MORE...
AP National Writer Martha Mendoza contributed to this report from California.
SOURCE: The Associated Press.
UN declares 2011 as International Year of Chemistry
UN declares 2011 as International Year of Chemistry
New York, Paris, 30 December 2008 - The 63rd General Assembly of the United
Nations has adopted a resolution proclaiming 2011 as International Year of Chemistry,
placing UNESCO and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC)
at the helm of the event.
Ethiopia submitted the U.N. resolution calling for the Year, which will celebrate
the achievements of chemistry and its contributions to the well-being of humanity. The
Year will also draw attention to the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable
Development 2005-2014. National and international activities carried out during 2011
will emphasize the importance of chemistry in sustaining natural resources.
Chemistry is fundamental to our understanding of the world and the cosmos.
Moreover, molecular transformations are central to the production of food, medicines,
fuel, and countless manufactured and extracted products. Through the Year, the world
will celebrate the art and science of chemistry, and its essential contributions to
knowledge, to environmental protection and to economic development.
“The International Year of Chemistry will give a global boost to chemical science
in which our life and our future are grounded. We hope to increase the public
appreciation and understanding of chemistry, increase young people’s interest in science,
and generate enthusiasm for the creative future of chemistry,” declared the President of
the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), Professor Jung-Il Jin. READ MORE...
Source: IUPAC/UNESCO release, 30 Dec 2008
Thursday, December 25, 2008
'India will have to reduce energy consumption by 20%’
CHENNAI: Some sections view the current economic meltdown as a direct fall-out of consumption exceeding money supply. Power policy makers of the
country seem to have stuck on the analogy to caution energy con-sumption in urban India.
“In fact, we need to expand energy con-sumption in this country, mainly to the two-thirds of our population who have scarce or no access to electricity, and non-biomass fuels,” said Planning Commission principal adviser (energy) Surya P Sethi. India’s per capita consumption of power is 20% the world average, 4% that of the US, and 28% that of China. “To achieve a desirable human development index growth, the pres-ent power consumers will have to cut their usage by 20%, by which growth may come down by a percentage point or two”. Speaking at the panel discussion on sustainable electricity in India, at Pan IIT, an IIT alumni conference, at the Indian institute of technology Madras on Saturday, he said the situation was potentially explosive unless we invest talent, technology and innovation in equitable allocation of basic resources like energy, water and land.To achieve 20% energy conservation we need to increase the energy efficiency of our appli-ances by 20%, he said. READ MORE...
Source: The Economic Times
country seem to have stuck on the analogy to caution energy con-sumption in urban India.
“In fact, we need to expand energy con-sumption in this country, mainly to the two-thirds of our population who have scarce or no access to electricity, and non-biomass fuels,” said Planning Commission principal adviser (energy) Surya P Sethi. India’s per capita consumption of power is 20% the world average, 4% that of the US, and 28% that of China. “To achieve a desirable human development index growth, the pres-ent power consumers will have to cut their usage by 20%, by which growth may come down by a percentage point or two”. Speaking at the panel discussion on sustainable electricity in India, at Pan IIT, an IIT alumni conference, at the Indian institute of technology Madras on Saturday, he said the situation was potentially explosive unless we invest talent, technology and innovation in equitable allocation of basic resources like energy, water and land.To achieve 20% energy conservation we need to increase the energy efficiency of our appli-ances by 20%, he said. READ MORE...
Source: The Economic Times
Low-cost fuel cells a step closer
Low-cost fuel cells a step closer Chinese researchers develop a nickel catalyst
by Helen Tunnicliffe
A GROUP OF scientists from Wuhan University in China have developed a hydrogen fuel cell using a nickel-based catalyst and an alkaline electrolyte, which they believe is a viable alternative to expensive platinum catalysts and acidic electrolytes currently in use.
Shanfu Lu, Jing Pan, Aibin Huang, Lin Zhuang and Juntao Lu developed an alkaline electrolyte - the polymer quaternary ammonium polysulphone – which can conduct hydrogen ions. They used silver for the positive electrode and chromium-decorated nickel for the negative electrode.
“The surface electronic structure of nickel has been tuned to suppress selectively the surface oxidative passivation with retained activity toward hydrogen oxidation,” states the abstract.
In other words, the chromium has changed the surface electronic structure of the nickel to prevent it from being oxidised (which would otherwise reduce its effectiveness) while still allowing the catalysis of the reaction of hydrogen ions which produces the electrical current.
Most hydrogen fuel cells in use today are acidic and corrode metals. Most research has, therefore, concentrated on catalysts made from precious metals, usually platinum, which are stable in acidic conditions. However, their high cost has prevented a greater uptake of the technology. The scientists believe their discovery to be an important advance in fuel cell technology.
The paper was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Source: tcetoday, Friday 26 December 2008
by Helen Tunnicliffe
A GROUP OF scientists from Wuhan University in China have developed a hydrogen fuel cell using a nickel-based catalyst and an alkaline electrolyte, which they believe is a viable alternative to expensive platinum catalysts and acidic electrolytes currently in use.
Shanfu Lu, Jing Pan, Aibin Huang, Lin Zhuang and Juntao Lu developed an alkaline electrolyte - the polymer quaternary ammonium polysulphone – which can conduct hydrogen ions. They used silver for the positive electrode and chromium-decorated nickel for the negative electrode.
“The surface electronic structure of nickel has been tuned to suppress selectively the surface oxidative passivation with retained activity toward hydrogen oxidation,” states the abstract.
In other words, the chromium has changed the surface electronic structure of the nickel to prevent it from being oxidised (which would otherwise reduce its effectiveness) while still allowing the catalysis of the reaction of hydrogen ions which produces the electrical current.
Most hydrogen fuel cells in use today are acidic and corrode metals. Most research has, therefore, concentrated on catalysts made from precious metals, usually platinum, which are stable in acidic conditions. However, their high cost has prevented a greater uptake of the technology. The scientists believe their discovery to be an important advance in fuel cell technology.
The paper was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Source: tcetoday, Friday 26 December 2008
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