|
Richard D. Masters,
ICHC |
A hundred years from now, people are going to look back to
the days before we discovered and commercialized the secret of hydrogen storage in carbon and
say,
"Why didn't they think of that sooner? It seems so simple, now!
It was so cheap! It was so easy! And it ended the reign of
fossil fuel forever!" |
| USA BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY
BNL July 23, 2004 |
 |
In the late 1990s, scientists discovered
that adding, or “doping,” a small amount of titanium to sodium aluminum hydride,
a hydrogen storage compound (also known as sodium alanate), allows it to reversibly
release and re-absorb hydrogen. In a sense, the titanium acts like a molecular
“key,” a crucial component that facilitates |
| hydrogen absorption and allows the
reaction to proceed more rapidly. Until now, however, the nature of that reaction was not
well understood. ...The known hydrides are impractical for fuel cells,
which require lightweight materials with high storage capacities, because they are quite
heavy and have relatively low storage capacities (less than five percent hydrogen by
weight). However, they have more potential than compressed hydrogen gas or liquid
hydrogen, which pose explosion and freezing risks. |
| MASSACHUSETTS
CAMBRIDGE-MIT INSTITUTE
BBC
July 8, 2004 |
| PROMISE
OF MASSIVE HYDROGEN STORAGE IN CARBON MOVES A STEP CLOSER |
 |
Method Developed to Spin Nanotube
"Yarn" Jo Twist
The technique has been developed in the last six months by a UK
team led by Professor Alan Windle at the Cambridge-MIT Institute (CMI). ...The spinning
process happens in furnace equipment which has been specially built at Cambridge
University's Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy. |
|
|
MASSACHUSETTS TIAX
US DEPT OF ENERGY
Boston Business Journal |
June 14, 2004
|
Tiax Signs $1.5M
Hydrogen Storage Research Contract
Compressed hydrogen tanks take up too much space on vehicles,
leading to the project. ...Tiax will evaluate four ways of storing the substance:
compressed hydrogen, metal hydride, carbon-based materials and chemical hydrogen storage.
The team will compare life-cycle costs, energy efficiency and environmental impact. |
In one of the highly porous metal-organic frameworks synthesized by Yaghi's group in 2001,
91% of the crystal volume is calculated to be open space. The large orange spheres are
included to emphasize the size of the cavities. Image by
Nathaniel Rosi. |
Crystal
Breaks Surface Area Record!
Researchers in the US have made a novel chemical
structure (below) that has the largest internal surface area ever observed in an ordered
material. Omar Yaghi at the University of Michigan and co-workers at Michigan and Arizona
State University fabricated a new porous metal-organic framework with an estimated surface
area of 4500 metres squared per gram - nearly 5 times larger than the previous record. The
structure can bind large quantities of gas and could be used in a variety of applications
including gas storage and catalysis.
Physics Web February
4, 2004 |
 The
structure of MOF-177 (only 1 BTB is shown and H atoms have been omitted). ZnO4 tetrahedra
are shown in blue and O and C atoms are shown as red and black spheres, respectively.
(image credit: H Chae et al. 2004 Nature 427 523) |
MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, ANN ARBOR
US DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Crain Communications |
May 13, 2004 |
Two University of Michigan
Research Teams to Share $5M Hydrogen Research Initiative Grant Sherri Begin
UM research group led by chemistry professors Omar Yaghi and Adam Matzger has created
metal-organic framework materials to maximize surface area. One gram of the metal-organic
framework has the surface area of a football field. By modifying the materials in various
ways, the team found it was possible to store more hydrogen molecules in a small area
without the use of high or low pressure or temperatures.
|
| PENNSYLVANIA US DEPT OF ENERGY AIR PRODUCTS |
June 7, 2004 |
Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham Tours Hydrogen Storage and
Dispensing Equipment at Air Products U.S.
Newswire
"President Bush recognizes that a hydrogen economy has the long-term potential
to deliver greater energy independence by reducing America's dependence on foreign sources
of energy," Energy Secretary Abraham said. "It offers immense environmental
benefits that current energy technologies cannot meet. This multi-million dollar
commitment to research is a down payment on a more energy and environmentally secure
future." |
| COLORADO NATIONAL
RENEWABLE ENERGY LAB |
April 28, 2004 |
Hydrogen Effort Taps Golden Energy
Lab Denver Post
[Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham], who visited the National Renewable Energy
Laboratory campus, announced that three "Centers of Excellence" have been chosen
by his department to receive more than $150 million in hydrogen-storage research projects.
The Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratory and NREL - with the help of
universities, research institutes and businesses - will lead the way in exploring new,
efficient ways to store hydrogen, Abraham said. |
NEW MEXICO LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LAB
INTEMATIX US BORAX
PACIFIC NORTHWEST NATIONAL LAB
ROHM AND HAAS
MILLENNIUM CELL
PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES
April 28, 2004 |
Hydrogen Project
Goes to Lab Los
Alamos Monitor
The partners will work in parallel to improve current technologies and to develop
entirely new chemical storage concepts. LANL and PNNL have assembled scientists in
chemistry, electrochemistry, and catalysis, along with key companies with experience and
expertise, to bring together a diverse set of capabilities in science and engineering.
These include chemists from the Pennsylvania State University, University of Alabama,
University of California at Davis, the University of California, Los Angeles, the
University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Washington; fuel cell experts from
Millennium Cell, and Intematix; and chemical industry leaders US Borax and Rohm and Haas,
who will provide vital manufacturing, engineering and assessment capabilities. LANL and
PNNL bring expertise in theory, modeling, experimentation and engineering to the
mix. LANL Wins US$40
Million Hydrogen Research Grant
New Mexico Business Weekly Albuquerque,
New Mexico
Los Alamos National Laboratory in northern New Mexico will be getting a five-year,
$25 to $40 million grant to conduct exploratory research on how to store hydrogen, U.S.
Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said Wednesday. ...The project will look at ways to use
hydrogen as a fuel source so the U.S. can decrease its dependency on foreign oil. |
| UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION |
April 23. 2004 |
DOT Approves Metal Hydride
Hydrogen Storage SolarAccess.com
Although DOT has granted previous shipping exemptions for specific metal hydride products,
this new exemption is unique in several ways according to TOHS: It authorizes the
manufacture, mark, sale, and use of metal hydride hydrogen storage systems applicable to
the family of portable canisters currently under development at TOHS, allowing hydrogen
storage capacity up to 1300 standard liters. |
NEW CLATHRATE HYDRATE "ICE"
HOLDS 5.3% HYDROGEN
Compound Could Make Hydrogen
Fuel Storage More Efficient
Steve Koppes University of Chicago
Chronicle January
22, 2004
 "We can make kilograms.
 We
are leading the world in BN
[boron nitride]
nanotube production."
Professor Ying Chen, Nanotube
Program Leader
Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering
Australian National University
Powder with the Power
to Transform the World
Richard Macey Sydney
Morning Herald November
17, 2003
In his Canberra laboratory, research
physicist Dr Ying Chen churns what looks like nothing more than dull, grey powder. But far
more precious than gold, the powder, says Dr Chen, will change the world. He believes it
will open the way for making everything from hydrogen-powered cars and the next generation
of jetliners to wafer-thin televisions and powerful computers so small you can slip them
into your pocket. And, he says, the energy-efficient technology will help curb
the world's craving for power.
 ...Until about five years ago all nanotubes
were carbon. Then it was found that with lasers at extremely high temperatures they could
also be made in boron nitride. However, the process was expensive, producing just grams at
a time. But Chen's team has won an international race to revolutionise the process,
discovering how to make them with technology long used by miners to crush rock. Instead of
rock, the ANU "crushes" boron in nitrogen gas. more
|
| WASHINGTON NEAH POWER |
PBS
October 20,
2003 |
Hydrogen Power
If development goes as planned, the company's
fuel cells could provide up to eight hours of power for a laptop computer within the next
three years. |
 |
Hydrogen Storage in
Wind Turbine Towers
R. Kottensatte and J. Cotrell
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
September 2003 |
A hydrogen tower designed with a storage capacity
of 940 kg adds an additional $83,000 to the cost of the wind turbine tower and offers
storage at a rate of $88/kg. Although these premiums are significant, the pressure vessel
model in this paper predicts storage that is 3.3 times more expensive than storage in a
hydrogen tower.
A qualitative explanation for this tremendous cost saving is that the
wind turbine tower is a very long, slender tube, which approaches the ideal geometry for a
pressure vessel. The primary cost of an ideal vessel is associated with the long walls.
Hydrogen towers result in major savings because it is very inexpensive to reinforce the
walls of a conventional tower if the storage pressure is below the crossover pressure. |
HYDROGEN
STORAGE: Perfecting Porosity
Jessica Gorman Science News June 23, 2003
 |
CHBC NOTE: As U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer
Abraham (left) looks on, President George Bush discusses hydrogen storage technology with
Robert Stempel, former chairman of General Motors and now chairman of Energy
 Conversion Devices,
manufacturer of Ovonics solid hydride storage systems for hydrogen fuel.
Note the placard by the hydrogen-powered scooter: "Ovonics.
Go sooner. Solid hydrogen can fuel internal combustion engines (ICE) now."
Hydrogen
Economy Pioneer to Help Make State of the Union Goal a Reality
Energy Conversion Devices February 11, 2003
|
Enhanced: Molecular Fuel Tanks
Michael D. Ward Science
Magazine May 16, 2003
Rocks in
your Gas Tank!
Experiments onboard the International Space Station
could accelerate the drive toward a hydrogen-based economy.
Dr. Tony Phillips and Steve Price NASA April 17, 2003
A Tiny Leap Forward:
Nanotech May Revive Japan's Industry
Business Week April 14, 2003
Iijima's research on fuel
cells for phones and laptops is now being applied to a bigger challenge: a low-cost fuel
cell for cars. The fuel cells in today's prototype cars typically use an expensive
platinum catalyst -- one reason that the fuel cell accounts for about half of the car's
total cost. "If we can develop a nanohorn version, this could be a very big
market," says Iijima. Toyota Motor Corp., meanwhile, has another idea up its sleeve.
In collaboration with Nagoya's Shinohara, it is braiding nanotubes into ropes for storing
hydrogen in fuel-cell cars.
Ringing an isometric graphic of a carbon nanohorn are
an NEC fuel cell mobile phone (lower right), NEC fuel cell battery (lower left) and a NEC
fuel cell laptop (upper left) - all powered by ground-breaking hydrogen storage in
nanohorns.
|
NEC Tries to Grab the
Fuel Cell Market
by the Carbon Nanohorns
by Paul Kallender Small
Times March 25, 2003
Twelve years after NEC
Corp.'s Sumio Iijima discovered the carbon nanotube, the company's fuel cells –
powered by a variant called the carbon nanohorn – are getting ready to power portable
devices. Yoshimi Kubo, senior manager of NEC Fundamental Research Labs' Nanotube
Technology Center, said the fuel cells will start shipping for laptops in 2004 and cell
phones in 2005.
In a demonstration at a nanotech conference in Japan late last month,
Kubo showed mockups of a fuel cell that ran an NEC laptop and a smaller fuel cell that
operated an NEC mobile phone. The 400-gram, 12-volt notebook fuel cell was still about the
size of the computer's display, but had no problem providing the 18 watts necessary to
boot the laptop. The mobile phone fuel cell can already provide the 3 watts needed for
Japan's 3G phones, he said.
NEC's methanol-fueled polymer electrolyte cells, using 100-nanometer
nanohorn clumps dusted with platinum catalyst particles, can theoretically achieve up to
10 times the power density of lithium ion batteries. Next year, NEC will produce
methanol-fueled power cells the same weight as lithium ion batteries that will run for
about 16 hours, he said. more
|
QUANTUM Awarded
Contract to Develop and Supply
Hydrogen Storage Systems For Suzuki September 23, 2002
TOYOTA EXPLORING CARBON-BASED
HYDROGEN STORAGE
A Tiny Leap
Forward: Nanotech May Revive Japan's Industry
Business Week April 14, 2003
Iijima's research on fuel cells for phones and laptops is now being
applied to a bigger challenge: a low-cost fuel cell for cars. The fuel cells in today's
prototype cars typically use an expensive platinum catalyst -- one reason that the fuel
cell accounts for about half of the car's total cost. "If we can develop a nanohorn
version, this could be a very big market," says Iijima. Toyota Motor Corp.,
meanwhile, has another idea up its sleeve. In collaboration with Nagoya's Shinohara, it is
braiding nanotubes into ropes for storing hydrogen in fuel-cell cars.
- Landmark development for
nanotube hydrogen storage?
Unusually Long
'Buckytubes' Grown at Duke
Duke University chemists have developed a method of
growing one-atom-thick cylinders of carbon, called "nanotubes," 100 times longer
than usual, while maintaining a soda-straw straightness with controllable orientation.
Duke University
April 22, 2003
NOTE: Storage of hydrogen in carbon nanotubes is
regarded as perhaps the most tantalizing prospect for a hydrogen-based transportation
system. Some researchers have claimed nanotubes are theoretically capable of storing
enough hydrogen in a normal-size tank to give a vehicle a range of thousands of miles.
Nothing close to this has yet been demonstrated, but even if nanotube storage is only
perfected to the point of providing the equivalent range of gasoline, the hydrogen economy
would reap huge benefits in safety (small scale laboratory tests have indicated that some
types of nanotubes would not release hydrogen in tank-rupture accidents) and light weight,
likely far superior to metal hydride storage.
- Titanium Disulfide Nanotubes and Hydrogen Storage
Kevin McCue Chemistry.org May 2, 2003
- Hydrogen
Storage Still the Factor
James Armend The Car Connection
April 28, 2003
- Nanotech
News at NanoAPEX
|
September 2002 |
Hydrogen
Storage for Aircraft Applications Overview
NASA Anthony J. Colozza,
Analex Corporation
Hydrogen is a very high energy density element that holds much
promise as a potential fuel for aircraft. The energy density of hydrogen, which is around
120 MJ/kg, is more than double that of most conventional fuels (for example natural gas:
43 MJ/kg and gasoline 44.4 MJ/kg). The main issue with using hydrogen in aircraft is its
very low density. At ambient conditions 1 liter of hydrogen contains only 10.7 KJ of
energy. Even in its liquid state the volumetric energy density of hydrogen (8.4 MJ/liter )
is less then half that of other fuels (natural gas 17.8 MJ/liter, gasoline 31.1 MJ/liter).
Storing a sufficient amount of it for use in most applications requires a large volume.
Therefore, in order to make it practical for aircraft applications, the storage method
utilized must increase the density of hydrogen. |
 NANOMIX: Nanotech by the Numbers
by Peter Fairley MIT Technology Review September
2002
In his cramped cubicle at Nanomix, a
nanotechnology company in Emeryville, CA, just across the bay from San Francisco,
theoretical physicist Seung-Hoon Jhi peers at a computer model of a hydrogen fuel tank,
carefully tracking the movement of individual molecules. As he raises the temperature of a
simulated sheet of boron and nitrogen atoms from a frigid 50 Kelvin to a slightly less
chilly 80 Kelvin, he watches the reaction of a handful of hydrogen molecules dotting its
surface. The boron nitride sheet undulates, yet the hydrogen molecules hold fast.
It’s an encouraging sign in a virtual experiment that may have just saved weeks or
months of painstaking experimental testing in Nanomix’s effort to develop more
efficient hydrogen storage materials for fuel cell cars. more
|
EnerTech Capital
Announces Investment in California
Nanotechnology Company September 18, 2002
Nanomix Inc.
Secures $9 Million in Series B Funding Led By Apax Partners and
Sevin Rosen Funds September 16, 2002
Nanotubes Could
Reduce CO2 Emissions September 16, 2002
|
"A New Technology for Hydrogen Storage"
Jeff D. Wyatt Covalent Materials (now
Nanomix)
November 7, 2001 Address to the CHBC Fall Meeting
Nanotubes in Fuel Tanks
and Nanohorns in Fuel Cells |
PowerPoint
RealVideo
RealAudio
Windows Audio
(Play the audio or
video alongside the PowerPoint!)
Get
RealPlayer |
 An
Interview with Jeff Wyatt
Nanomix's Director of Business Development
Part 1
Part 2
by Bill Moore EV World August 17, 2002 |
Japan's Mitsui to
BuildPlant to Mass-ProduceCarbon Nanotubes
Mitsui & Company
(in Japanese)
|
"We have already received inquiries from some
major carmakers."
Mitsui Spokesman
Mitsui to Build Carbon Nanotube
Mass-Output Plant
Japan Today/Reuters December 27, 2001
Mitsui & Co Ltd, Japan's largest trading house, said on Thursday it would build the
world's first plant for mass-production of carbon nanotubes, cutting-edge material for use
in various industries. Carbon nanotubes, cylindrical structures about 100,000 times
thinner than a human hair and made of carbon atoms, are expected to be used in such
products as cars, flat televisions and fuel cells in the future. "Our subsidiary
Carbon Nanotech Research Institute (CNRI) has developed new mass-production technology
that will allow us to set the selling price at one-tenth of the currently lowest price
offered by another company," a Mitsui spokesman said.
Construction of the
120-ton-a-year plant is slated to begin in Tokyo's city of Akishima in April 2002, with
test operations to begin in September. - Asia Pulse/COMTEX
Mitsui to Establish Companies
Engaging in R&D
and Eventual Production of Nanotechnology Materials
Mitsui & Company
June 19, 2001
NOTE: Mitsui & Company may be unknown to many Western
readers. Mitsui is yet another large international energy player positioning itself
to participate in - or dominate - the hydrogen economy that will come about as a response
to worldwide oil depletion, urban air pollution, and global warming. Driven by the
promise of attractive efficiencies inherent in hydrogen technologies, the lack of domestic
petroleum resources, and a desperate search for a way out of a national recession,
Japanese conglomerates are building the commercial infrastructure for lucrative national
and global market opportunities accelerated by closely coordinated government planning,
incentives and regulation.
Mitsui & Company ENERGY GROUP:
Japan Australia LNG (MIMI) Pty., Ltd. (Australia)
Mitsui Oil Exploration Co., Ltd. (Japan)
Wandoo Oil Development Co., Ltd. (Japan)
Mitsui Oil & Gas Co., Ltd. (Japan)
Arcadia Petroleum Ltd. (U.K.)
Mobil Unique (Vietnam) Co., Ltd. (Vietnam)
Jiangyin Changjiang Petrochem. Storage & Transportation Co., Ltd. (China)
Mitsui Oil (Asia) Pte. Ltd. (Singapore)
Sakhalin Energy Investment Company, Ltd. (Russia)
Mittwell Energy Resources Pty., Ltd. (Australia) |
Japanese Discovery
of Nanohorns
Leads to ImprovedFuel Cell Electrode
NEC, JST, IRI
Develop Tiny Fuel Cell for Mobile Terminals Using Nanotechnology
- AsiaBizTech/Nikkei August
31, 2001
New ABI Study
Sees Increasing Competition In Global Portable Fuel Cell Markets Starting In High-End
Wireless Applications
Allied Business Intelligence
January 8, 2002 |
New
Hydrogen Tank Moves Fuel Cell Vehicles Closer to Reality
by Ed Garsten - AP July 30, 2002
Mazda
Announces Fuel Cell Technology Breakthrough
Auto Asia Magazine March 21, 2002
Mazda appears to have made an important breakthrough in fuel cell
technology, developing a magnesium titanium alloy that can absorb more than three times
the hydrogen as the hydrogen-absorbing alloy currently used in fuel cell vehicles. |
Mazda, Toyota
Power Ahead in Fuel Cell Research
March 21, 2002
3 MINUTE FILL: 10,000 PSI H2!!
RANGE OF
H2-POWERED VEHICLES
TO EXCEED THAT OF GASOLINE |
 |
QUANTUM's
TriShield10 10,000-psi Hydrogen Storage Tank First to Certify To International Standards
More Than Doubles Operating Time of Fuel Cells
PRNewswire February 27,
2002 |
"This is a significant achievement and milestone in the advancement of hydrogen
storage for fuel cell applications. In less than one year, QUANTUM
designed a lightweight, polymer-lined advanced composite 10,000-psi hydrogen tank, capable
of accepting a fast fill in less than three minutes, completed EIHP-based validation
testing and commenced product commercialization. This technology provides QUANTUM a
strong, strategic and competitive advantage. Specifically, at 10,000-psi hydrogen storage
pressure, the operating time for a power generator is more than double compared to that of
a conventional storage tank at 3,600-psi. Likewise, the range of an equivalent 90-HP
compact fuel cell vehicle would also be increased, and essentially surpass typical
gasoline range."
-- Alan Niedzwiecki
President
and Chief Operating Officer of QUANTUM |
Quantum and
Hyundai Sign Agreement to Jointly Develop Fuel Cell And Alternative Fuel Vehicles for
World Markets April 2, 2002
MILLENNIUM CELL
Clean Fuel From
Soap?
Technology to Safely Produce Clean Hydrogen Fuel
by Paul Eng
ABC December 14, 2001
Thunder Road
by Matthew Goldstein - SmartMoney December 12, 2001
See also The Millennium Cell Programs
RealAudio with Powerpoint
Chip Harpster, Jr., Millennium Cell
CHBC Spring 2001 Meeting at Bechtel, San Francisco
Millennium
Cell Hydrogen on Demand Fuel System
Powers New DaimlerChrysler Mini Van
Robert Dempsey
Vice President, Engineering Texaco Energy Systems, Inc.
TEXACO'S PATH
TO HYDROGEN
Robert Dempsey Quicktime Video
--
Get Quicktime --
Powerpoint Presentation to
accompany video
October 31, 2000
Texaco and Energy Conversion
Devices, Inc.
Form Hydrogen Storage Joint Venture
Texaco Energy Systems Inc. (TESI) and Energy Conversion Devices,
Inc. today announced the formation of Texaco Ovonic Hydrogen Systems L.L.C., a 50-50 joint
venture to further develop and advance the commercialization of ECD's technology to store
hydrogen in metal hydrides.
October 16, 2000
ChevronTexaco
Merger Will Pursue ECD's Advanced Energy Technologies
June 15, 2000
"Texaco, like many of our competitors that once narrowly defined themselves as oil
companies, is strategically investing in partnerships and joint ventures whose sole
objective is to commercialize technologies that just 20 years ago we brushed off as a weak
threat to our industry.
"In my hand is the potential solution to one of the trickiest
hurdles between us and a hydrogen economy: A stable, cost effective and rechargeable
means of storing and transporting hydrogen."
Peter I. Bijur, Chairman and CEO, Texaco
An Introduction to Energy Conversion Devices:
 The Company and its Technologies
by Jay Reynolds October 11, 2000
Order 157-page reprint
Also see: A Fuel Cell Primer - The Promise and Pitfalls
by Tom Koppel and Jay Reynolds Order
30-page reprint
-- Both Received a Five-Star Rating from Motley Fool -- |
"Watching an oil company making an investment
into hydrogen-storage technology is a telling sign of the industry's direction toward
cleaner fuels."
-- Christine Farkas, Merrill Lynch & Co
Texaco Funding Backs Hydrogen As Fuel-Cell Power Source
- DowJones 5/3/2000
|
 |
"The hydrogen
economy is here.
Technological change
- if you do not adapt -
will destroy you.
Disruptive technology is not disruptive
- it is constructive technology."
Stan Ovshinsky, President and CEO
Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. |
Stan and Iris Ovshinsky |
Winter Meeting of the California Hydrogen Business Council February 5, 2001 |
Stempel Bounces Back as No. 3
Guy
at Fast-Growing Technology Firm
by James V. Higgins - The
Detroit News February 11, 2001
There stood Robert C. Stempel, former chairman of
General Motors Corp. and potential zillionaire, armed with a light pointer and guiding a
visitor fluidly through a formal slide presentation. An impressive performance, the sort
of thing we've seen him do over the years at Pontiac and Chevrolet division events, in
interviews, innumerable news conferences and stockholder meetings. But this was different.
Before, Stempel was in his big-corporate guise: a big fish in the immense ocean of GM. The
company he's talking about today, Energy Conversion Devices
Inc. of Troy, had sales of about $24 million in its 2000 fiscal year. That
figure probably doesn't even register with GM, where we've always suspected that the
smallest unit of currency is $50 million or so. ECD is small, but seemingly on a steep
growth path. Sales were up 34 percent in the quarter that ended on Sept. 30. The company
says it is making steady progress in commercializing a series of new technologies and
materials pioneered over several decades by founder Stanford R. Ovshinsky. "Last year
was a good turnaround year for us," says Stempel, now the ECD chairman. "We're
commercializing what's been here for years, really." more
|
Breakthrough in
Advanced Hydrogen Storage |
| QUANTUM Technologies, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of IMPCO
Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: IMCO), announced today that Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratories (LLNL) was awarded the prestigious Technology Innovation Award by the
Hydrogen Technical Advisory Panel (HTAP) for achieving a breakthrough in advanced hydrogen
storage technology as a collaborative effort with QUANTUM and ATK Thiokol Propulsion, an
operating company of Alliant Techsystems (NYSE: ATK). HTAP was established by Congress to review U.S.
Department of Energy programs and to be an advisory committee to the Secretary of Energy.
In August 2000, a team of scientists from QUANTUM, LLNL, and Thiokol successfully
hydroburst-tested a high performance prototype hydrogen storage cylinder designed for Fuel
Cell Vehicle applications (FCVs) and achieved a performance record of 11.3% hydrogen
storage by weight at 5,000 psig (350 Bar). Once commercialized, this breakthrough in
technology extends the range of fuel cell vehicles to the equivalent of gasoline vehicles.
HTAP singled out the work of this team
for the significant advances of this project toward the development of high cycle-life
energy storage systems for various applications including zero emission vehicles, pushing
the envelope for lightweight compressed hydrogen storage tanks, and developing products
for commercial use.
"DOE has been funding and
reviewing hydrogen production, storage, and distribution programs since the early 1990's,
and now, by virtue of this award, it is evident that the HTAP recognizes the strides made
in direct on-board hydrogen storage that are cost-effective, durable, and safe for
automotive use," according to Dr. Neel Sirosh, Director of QUANTUM's Advanced Fuel
Storage Group.
"We are now translating this
innovative technology into fully validated commercial products for our automotive OEM
customers" said Dr. Sirosh. QUANTUM's TriShield hydrogen storage tanks are uniquely
designed and manufactured with a one-piece permeation-resistant seamless liner, a
high-performance carbon composite over-wrap for strength, and a proprietary, tough
impact-resistant shell. The tank is designed to meet all applicable regulatory standards
and OEM-specific validation tests.
- IMPCO/Canadian Newswire May 14, 2001 |
QUANTUM Supplies
New Gaseous Fuel Injectors
and Controller To DaimlerChrylser for Concept Vehicle |
Hydrogen
Storage
Joint Venture Unveiled
February 6, 2001
Process Engineering |
"By
combining our respective strengths in manufacturing, research, development and energy
provision, we believe we can create a storage system that is more effective than anything
that exists today."
Jean-Rene Marcoux, CEO of Hydro-Quebec CapiTech |
| Shell Hydrogen, Hydro-Quebec (HQ) and
Gesellschaft fur Elektrometallurgie (GfE) are to establish a joint venture to develop,
manufacture and market hydrogen storage products. ...Shell Hydrogen, HQ and GfE are
pursuing commercial discussions regarding the proposed venture, which would involve the
development of the storage media through to the sale of hydride-based storage materials
and devices. The companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding late last year. The
partners are convinced that metal hydrides will provide the best means of safely and
reliably storing hydrogen. Metal hydrides work by 'trapping' the hydrogen inside a metal
alloy; the storage is particularly safe because the hydrogen atoms are bonded to the
metal. |
 The Economist (UK) web
site links to the
California Hydrogen Business Council in a Significant Article on Hydrogen Storage
Space-Age Soot
"In order to power tomorrow’s cars,
researchers are scrambling to exploit the hydrogen-absorbing properties of carbon."
December 11 - 17, 1999 |
Enthusiasm for the use of hydrogen as a fuel is growing by the day. The main reason is the
pace of innovation in fuel cells, which are, in essence, batteries that use hydrogen to
produce electrical energy efficiently, and without generating air pollution or greenhouse
gases. There is one thorny question, however, that hydrogen enthusiasts have yet to answer
satisfactorily: how exactly will this miracle fuel be stored? Hydrogen, after all, is a
gas at room temperature, and is also flammable. Some experts argue that physical storage,
as a compressed gas or in liquefied form, is the best solution. Others advocate chemical
storage of hydrogen, in such fuels as methanol or cleaner petrol. Both approaches would
require expensive investments in fuel infrastructure.
But there is another storage medium that could avoid these
complications: carbon. A growing number of scientists now believe that carbon structures,
called nanotubes and nanofibres, could provide a clean and efficient way to store
hydrogen. This has unleashed a breathless and, at times, acrimonious race among scientists
to find the most efficient structure for hydrogen storage, a competition that was on
display a few days ago at a conference of the Materials Research Society (MRS) in Boston.
....In recent years, however, scientists have discovered that carbon
exists in several rather more unusual forms: as football-shaped molecules (consisting of
60 carbon atoms) known as “buckyballs”, and as related structures known as
nanotubes and nanofibres.
....Nobody really knows why carbon nanomaterials are good at storing
hydrogen. Michael Heben of America’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a pioneer
in the field, believes that it is something to do with the structure of the
nanomaterials’ surfaces. Molecules of the gas seem to fit into pores in these
surfaces, though exactly why they prefer some pores over others is unclear.
Last year, [Nelly Rodrigeuz] reported that her group had synthesised a
nanofibre material capable of storing 65% of its own weight of hydrogen. Her results met
with widespread scepticism, for she has refused to reveal exactly how she synthesised the
material. She and Terry Baker, her husband and collaborator at Northeastern University,
insist that they need to keep the process secret for commercial reasons.
Other experts, many of whom turned up to the MRS conference last week,
have been openly critical of the Northeastern researchers, who stayed away. But their
remarkable claims have lit a fire under their rivals. In the months since, researchers
have reported a series of advances. Seung Mi Lee of South Korea’s Kunsan University
and her team announced a nanotube material at the conference that, they claimed, could
store more than 14% of its own weight of hydrogen. Rivals from Singapore’s National
University claimed to have achieved nearly 20% by doping nanotubes with lithium, though
only at high temperatures. And a group from the Chinese Academy of Sciences claims to have
achieved 10-13% using nanofibres.
Dr Rodriguez and Dr Baker remain unbowed. They insist that their
results are reproducible, and that corporate clients who have tested their materials
(under a vow of silence) have been satisfied. Part of their secret, they say, is in the
catalyst that they use to grow their carbon nanofibre. |
Novel 600 atom torus designed by computer simulation.
The structure of this all carbon torus was optimized using an "order N"
tight-binding formalism. The colors indicate the relative charge "on" each atom.
Green denotes neutral charge, red indicated electron enhanced (more negative) atoms and
yellow atoms are electron depleted (more positive in charge). Note that the five membered
rings are all electron enriched.
For details see J. K. Johnson et al., Physical
Review B, 50, 17575-17582 (1994). |
Tiny Molecules Called Nanotubes
Have Scientists Dreaming Big
10/11/1999
In this computer-driven world, a new technology that might make
computers even smaller and more powerful than today's will always garner attention. But in
the case of nanotubes -- tiny, tube-shaped carbon molecules discovered in 1991 --
startling electronic properties are only one source of wonderment.
Karl
Johnson, for instance, knows he can amaze his chemical engineering students at the
University of Pittsburgh by discussing nanotubes' hydrogen storage capabilities. Imagine,
he tells them, that you pump as much hydrogen gas into a container as it will hold. How
can you get more hydrogen in? By adding a bunch of nanotubes.
The idea of making space for more hydrogen by adding solid material
is counterintuitive, Johnson admits. But you have to understand that hydrogen gas is very
dilute and that nanotubes have an uncanny ability to adsorb hydrogen -- that is, to
collect hydrogen on their surfaces. Adsorbed hydrogen, he explained, can be more densely
packed than is possible by compressing hydrogen gas. Nanotubes thus might find use as a
storage medium for cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells.
by Byron Spice Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette |
A Hydrogen Filter from Nanotubes
2/1/1999
American Physical Society |
Effective Hydrogen Storage
In Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes
At Room Temperature
November 5, 1999 Science Magazine |
Because the SWNTs can be
easily produced and show reproducible and modestly high hydrogen uptake at room
temperature, they show promise as an effective hydrogen storage material.
|
Research by C. Liu,
Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, (and others) reports "We
measured the H2 storage capacity of SWNTs synthesized by a hydrogen
arc-discharge method, with a relatively large sample quantity (about
500 mg) at ambient temperature under a modestly high pressure.
A H2 uptake of 4.2 weight %, which corresponds to
a H/C atom ratio of 0.52, was obtained by these SWNTs with an estimated
purity of 50 weight %. Also, ~80% of the adsorbed H2 can be
released at room temperature. These results indicate that SWNTs are highly
promising for H2 adsorption even at room temperature." |
July 2, 1999
Latest Research in Nanotube Hydrogen
Storage Promises "Near Future"
Storage Capacity
Superior to Liquid Hydrogen,
Inherent Safety Exceeding Other Fuels
|
High H2 Uptake by Alkali-Doped Carbon Nanotubes
Under Ambient Pressure and Moderate Temperatures
P. Chen, X. Wu, J. Lin, L. Tan
Physics Department, National University of Singapore |
The H2 uptake can achieve 20 weight % for Li-doped CNT at 653 K, or 14 weight % for K-doped CNT at room temperature. These
values correspond to ~160 (for
Li-doped CNT) or 112 kg of H2/m3 (for K-doped CNT), respectively, and are comparable
to those of gasoline and diesel.
...Although K-doped carbon samples can absorb H2 at lower temperature than Li-doped samples,
Li-doped carbon materials are chemically more stable than K-doped carbon materials. They can maintain H2 uptake capability even after being
heated in air at 373 K for hours,
and no flame resulted even when the samples were exposed to air at 673 K after H2
had been absorbed.
Science Magazine |
 |
Pyrolysis Technique Produces
Patterned Carbon Nanotube Arrays
September 8, 1999 |
Researchers at Australia’s CSIRO’s Division of Molecular Science
(Melbourne) have developed a technology for producing patterned, aligned carbon nanotubes.
...The new technique forms micropatterns of aligned carbon nanotubes by
pyrolysis of organic-metal complexes containing both the metal catalyst and carbon source
required for the nanotube growth. The pyrolysis of iron (II) phthalocyanine under Ar/H2 at
800-1000C, for example, produces large arrays of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes on
various substrates, including quartz-glass plates, from which substrate-free films can be
produced by simply immersing the nanotube-deposited quartz plates in an acidic solution.
by Paul Mortensen Photonics Online |
HYDROGEN STORAGE 2 1
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