GE: Fuel cell startup could spark a revolution. New FC uses Stainless Steel instead of Platinum

[nationalize the fed]

July 22, 2014 Source: General Electric

There’s more than one way to get energy out of natural gas. For decades, one of the most promising methods – and also most difficult to pull off ‑ has been the fuel cell.

A fuel cell works like a battery, using a simple chemical reaction to provide energy. In fuel cells, this reaction involves hydrogen molecules abundant in natural gas and oxygen from ordinary air...

...But scientists in GE (NYSE: GE) labs recently cracked an important conundrum involving one iteration of the technology called solid oxide fuel cell, or SOFC. The breakthrough allowed the company to start building a new pilot fuel cell manufacturing and development facility in upstate New York. The resulting technology could soon start producing electricity around the world.

The new system’s power generation efficiency can reach an unprecedented 65 percent. Overall efficiency can grow to 95 percent when the system is configured to capture waste heat produced by the process. The basic configuration of the system can generate between 1 to 10 megawatts of power. Unlike other systems, the new fuel cell is using stainless steel in place of platinum and rare metals.
more: http://www.pennenergy.com/articles/pennenergy/2014/07/the-new-power-generation-fuel-cell-startup-could-spark-a-revolution.html

[liberal N proud]

1. Will it ever make it mainstream?

Another cool technology that will feel the pressures from the fossil fuel industry to keep it from becoming popular.

[PoliticAverse]

6. Natural gas is a fossil fuel. n/t

[leftyohiolib]

2. take that ,china

[Nitram]

5. China already hacked the technology

and has almost finished building a gigantic factory to produce them.

[leftyohiolib]

8. as i said take that, china .lol

china sounds like republican paradise

[Hoppy]

3. The oil companies will buy it out, just like they did with the 90 mpg carburetor.

My uncle told me about that carburetor and he said the oil companies bought out the factory and shut it down.

[wilt the stilt]

4. This is GE not some small guy

If it works GE will go to market with this.

[n2doc]

7. There is abundant Hydrogen in water, too

One just has to use solar to obtain it. Natural gas is so 2000's.

[nationalize the fed]

9. Abundant is right! There are 22 LITRES of hydrogen in 1 TABLESPOON of water

Take that, frackers

[happyslug]

12. And you have to heat that water to 2500 Celsius to get that Hydrogen

Given that hydrogen is the smallest atom, leakage rates from tanks holding Hydrogen is 1% per DAY (This is through the WALLS of the container not any gaps or holes).

the leakage rate of liquid hydrogen is roughly 100 times that of JP-4 fuel, 50 times that of water, and 10 times that of liquid nitrogen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_safety#Leaks

In simple terms, you have to produce the Hydrogen and then use it. Some storage is possible, but sooner or later it will all leak out.

Thus you have to have a way to produce the Hydrogen and then compress it into Liquid form and you have to do this almost daily. Direct use of whatever energy you are using to obtain the Hydrogen may be more cost effective. i.e. an electric car, instead of electricity being used to make the hydrogen to propel a car.

To get that energy from that teaspoon of water requires way more energy then you can use when you "burn" that hydrogen back into water. That is the problem, where do we get energy FROM, not how to store it for later use.

[happyslug]

10. Hydrogen from Natural gas is easier to obain

Water is the product of an inherently strong chemical bond, thus takes a lot of energy to break apart (Steam is water vapor, you need more power then to produce steam to get hydrogen).

On the other hand Natural Gas is a Carbon based collection of atoms, thus much weaker and easier to remove Hydrogen atoms from.

When splitting the Water Compound you are dealing with at least 550 degree Celsius (1000 degrees Fahrenheit), but requires the use of catalysts (Please note the 550 degree method is experimental, most system requires temperatures of 1000 degree Celsius). Most of the Catalysts are obtained from natural gas, thus the reports of production of system that use lower temperatures then 2500, tend to be Natural Gas bases systems.

Water only breaks down into Hydrogen and Oxygen by itself at 2500 degree CELSIUS.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_splitting

http://www.hydrogen.energy.gov/production.html

You can get hydrogen from Natural Gas at about

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_production

[n2doc]

11. Water breaks down into H2 and CO in the presence of glassy carbon at ~1300 Celsius

I do this routinely in my lab. CO can be converted to a large number of things, including synthetic oils and gas. Water Can be split at room temperature using hydrolysis, releasing no carbon in the process. People have demonstrated methods of converting water to H2 and O2 directly using solar powered catalysts.

Using Natural gas as a source just ads to the issue of greenhouse gas production, not to mention all of the environmental problems associated with fracking.

[eppur_se_muova]

13. You mean electrolysis, not hydrolysis.

It is best to think of H2 as an exchange currency for energy. Energy in lots of other forms can be converted to H2, and H2 can be used to produce other forms of energy. It's just hard to store -- so get the exchange transaction over with as soon as possible.

[n2doc]

14. You are correct, of course n/t