Progress Without Borders

It’s always nice to start your day with some uplifting news. It turns out some researchers from Penn State that have been trying to increase the efficiency of hydrogen production using bacteria that feed on biomass (plant matter, food scraps, etc.) have recently made a headline-grabbing breakthrough:

In laboratory experiments, their reactor generated hydrogen gas at
nearly 99 percent of the theoretical maximum yield using aetic acid, a
common dead-end product of glucose fermentation.

“This process produces 288 percent more energy in hydrogen than the
electrical energy that is added in the process,” said Bruce Logan, a
professor of environmental engineering at Penn State.

Can you imagine filling your gas tank with the leftovers from your picnic (assuming you had mostly vegetables)? The best part is that this is not another one of those greenwashing stories á la “we can power a car on hydrogen but it’ll take another 20 years” variety; according to one of the team members, the technology is available today.

“The technology is economically viable now, which gives hydrogen an edge
over another alternative biofuel which is grabbing more headlines”,
Logan said.

“The energy focus is currently on ethanol as a fuel, but economical
ethanol from cellulose is 10 years down the road,” said Logan.

Pretty wonderful news. Let’s hope that enough information about the process gets out so people can start tinkering with this technology, and we won’t have to wait for the auto industry to investigate.

Tags: TheFutureHasArrived //