Beyond batteries: (methanol) fuel cells are the future

[jpak]

http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/tech/BC9BF4B617AF6C80CC2574900077C923

Whether you're talking on a cellphone, listening to tunes on a media player or typing on a notebook, it's a good bet that the device's battery won't last as long as you'd like. However, that will change over the next few years, as fuel cells designed to power mobile gear start to become common.

In particular, direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) will deliver as much as 10 hours of power using a thimbleful of methanol — that's two to three times the life of current laptop batteries. Better still, when a fuel cell runs out of power, you don't have to find an AC outlet and wait for a battery to recharge. Rather than taking the plug-and-wait approach, you'll either refill the tank from a larger canister or simply insert a new, full reservoir. You can run your mobile gear as long as you have methanol to satisfy the fuel cell's thirst.

For the past decade, fuel cells have seemed to be tantalisingly close to commercialisation, but they never quite made it to market. Finally, they really do appear ready, with several major manufacturers of batteries, fuel cells and mobile devices saying that 2009 will be the start of the fuel-cell era.

This could change how we think about mobility, freeing us from the tyranny of short-lived batteries and the need to find an electric outlet. In other words: Road warriors, rejoice! You have nothing to lose but your batteries.

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[rurallib]

1. methanol - is that like Ripple?

could a bottle of Ripple run my computer?

[MercutioATC]

2. Bartender! A shot of Patron for me and one for my cellphone!

[phantom power]

6. Methanol is wood alcohol. Not to be confused with ethanol that we drink.

Methanol is the stuff that can blind you, among other things.

[Trillo]

3. Are all fuel cells catalytic? nt

[Nederland]

4. I wonder

If this technology could be applied to cars as well. I don't see why not...

[oldhippie]

5. Direct Methanol fuel cells are already commercially available .....

I've been working with a German company in Munich for the last two years developing a 250W version of their commercially successful 65W direct methanol fuel cell. They have already sold thousands of units to the European RV market and the yachting market. They are very stable, the reaction runs at a relatively low temp of about 60 deg C and there is a lot of energy density in methanol. (Very roughly 1 KWHr per liter, give or take, out of our system.)

See link below:

http://www.efoy.de/index.php?lang=en

[kristopher]

7. What are they doing for the PEM?

Last I've heard, there is not yet a substitute for platinum in fuel cells suitable for automobiles?

Has that changed or is this just getting around that by focusing on something so small scale that it becomes affordable on a per unit basis?

[ElectricGrid]

8. What does it take to create Methanol?

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. Turning a cow loose in the corn field?