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Layered Graphene Sheets Could Be A Promising Hydrogen Storage Material

17 March 2010

A graphene-oxide framework (GOF), formed of layers of graphene connected by boron-carboxylic “pillars.” GOFs such as this one are just beginning to be explored as a potential storage medium for hydrogen and other gases. Credit: NIST. Click to enlarge.

Graphene—carbon formed into sheets a single atom thick—now appears to be a promising base material for capturing hydrogen, according to recent research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Pennsylvania. The findings suggest stacks of graphene layers could potentially store hydrogen safely for use in fuel cells and other applications.

Graphene has become something of a celebrity material in recent years due to its conductive, thermal and optical properties, which could make it useful in a range of sensors and semiconductor devices. The material does not store hydrogen well in its original form, according to a team of scientists studying it at the NIST Center for Neutron Research. However, if oxidized graphene sheets are stacked atop one another, connected by molecules that both link the layers to one another and maintain space between them, the resulting graphene-oxide framework (GOF) can accumulate hydrogen in greater quantities.

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Urban CO2 Domes May Enhance May Increase Ozone and PM, With Accompanying Increase in Mortality

17 March 2010

While the existence of higher CO₂ levels overs cities—CO₂ domes—has been known for more than a decade, their effects on local air pollution has up to now not been explored. In a new study published online 10 March in the ACS journal Environmental Science and Technology, however, Stanford University professor Mark Jacobson finds that local CO₂ emissions in isolation may increase local ozone and particulate matter.

Although the health impacts of such changes are uncertain, he notes, they are of concern. His study estimates that local CO₂ emissions may increase premature mortality by 50-100 and 300-1,000/year in California and the US, respectively.

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UK TSB Awards £1.1M to Develop New Platinum-Based Catalyst Layers for Fuel Cells

17 March 2010

A £1.1-million (US$1.7-million) project aimed at creating new platinum-based catalyst layer designs for hydrogen fuel cells has been awarded funding by the UK Technology Strategy Board (TSB).

Johnson Matthey Fuel Cells Ltd is leading the NECLASS project (Nano-Engineered Catalyst Layers and Sub-Structures), and together with partners Qudos Technology Ltd, Teer Coatings Ltd and Thomas Swan & Co. Ltd, is developing novel micro-and nano-structured materials with the goal of enabling a significantly increased oxygen reduction mass activity of platinum within the fuel cell catalyst layers.

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Borealis Nepol PP Aids BMW’s Lower Weight Dashboard

16 March 2010

The Nepol GB215HP-based dashboard carrier for the latest 7 Series is up to 20% lighter. Click to enlarge.

Borealis’ Nepol GB215HP, a tailor-made long glass fibre polypropylene (LGF-PP), is the material behind BMW’s development of an up to 20% lighter, single material dashboard carrier solution for its 7 Series models. The lightweight carrier supports BMW’s drive to simplify production and lower costs while improving its vehicles’ fuel efficiency.

Nepol GB215HP from Borealis, a leading provider of chemical and plastic solutions, is the only LGF-PP compatible with BMW’s automated integral foam injection technology, known as SGI. SGI enables BMW to produce lightweight parts which exhibit the same performance profile as compact material and heavier parts.

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UK Consortium to Develop Carbon-Efficient Pyrolysis Biofuel Blendstock for Transport Sector

16 March 2010

The Carbon Trust has created a consortium of British businesses led by Axion Energy, a division of the Axion Group, to pioneer the development of an advanced, commercially viable pyrolysis process to turn municipal and wood waste into transport biofuel. The objective is to process waste biomass to produce a greener and cheaper alternative to existing biofuels at mass scale to blend with fossil fuels.

The Carbon Trust is investing £7 million (US$10.6 million) over 3-4 years into the consortium using funding from the Department for Transport and the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). The consortium, which comprises Axion Energy, Catal International Ltd, CARE Ltd and Aquafuel Research Ltd, includes complementary technical capabilities spanning the complete pyrolysis-to-fuel supply chain.

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Sanyo Installs Two Solar Parking Lots for Bikes and Provides 100 Hybrid Bikes in Tokyo

16 March 2010

Bicycle parking lot in Sakurashinmachi, Setagaya, where Sanyo’s Smart Energy System “Solar Parking Lot” is installed. Top-right shows the box containing the lithium-ion battery systems and battery chargers. Click to enlarge.

Sanyo Electric has completed installation of two Solar Parking Lots for hybrid bikes, incorporating solar panels and lithium-ion battery systems, and also provided 100 electric hybrid “eneloop bikes”, in Setagaya, Tokyo Japan. Each Solar Parking Lot holds 40 eneloop bikes. The power generated from the solar panels installed on the roof is stored to be used to recharge the electric hybrid bicycle batteries and illuminate the parking lot lights. Sanyo is using its new Standard Battery System for Power Storage announced in November 2009 in the system. (Earlier post.)

For each of the bicycle parking lots operated by the city of Setagaya at Keio Line Sakurajosui Station and Tokyu Den-en Toshi Line Sakurashinmachi Station, HIT (Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin-layer) solar panels (approximate 46 m², 7.56 kW) are installed on the roof to generate sufficient power to recharge the batteries of a total of 100 eneloop bike units and illuminate the LED parking lot lights.

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Researchers Show New Piezeoelectrochemical Effect Can Scavenge Energy Wastes Such as Noise or Vibration to Generate Hydrogen Via Water Splitting

16 March 2010

H₂ and O₂ are produced by deforming a ZnO fiber or BaTiO₃ dendrite in water via oxidation-reduction reactions. Credit: ACS, Hong et al. Click to enlarge.

Materials scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have discovered a phenomenon—the direct conversion of mechanical energy to chemical energy—which they termed the piezoelectrochemical (PZEC) effect. They then applied the PZEC effect to generate hydrogen and oxygen via direct water splitting.

Their study, they write in a paper published online 2 March in ACS’ Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, provides a simple and cost-effective technology that may generate hydrogen fuels by scavenging energy wastes such as noise or stray vibrations from the environment.

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New Self-Assembled Silicon-Carbon Nanocomposite Anodes for Li-ion Batteries Offer More Than 5X The Reversible Capacity of Graphite Anodes

15 March 2010

This scanning electron micrograph shows carbon-coated silicon nanoparticles on the surface of the composite granules used to form the new anode. Source: Georgia Tech. Click to enlarge.

Researchers have developed a new high-performance anode structure for lithium-ion batteries based on silicon-carbon nanocomposite materials. Produced via large-scale hierarchical bottom-up assembly, the material contains rigid and robust silicon spheres with irregular channels for rapid access of Li ions into the particle bulk.

The large silicon volume changes on lithium ion insertion and extraction—which can cause structural problems leading to rapid capacity loss—are accommodated by the particle’s internal porosity. The researchers have shown reversible capacities more than five times higher than that of the state-of-the-art graphite anodes (1,950 mAh g^-1) and stable performance. The synthesis process is simple, low-cost, safe and broadly applicable, they say, providing new avenues for the rational engineering of electrode materials with enhanced conductivity and power.

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CFX Battery Changes Name to Contour Energy Systems, Entering Market with High Power Lithium Carbon Flouride Primary Batteries; Next-Generation Secondary Batteries Under Development

15 March 2010

Comparison of gravimetric and volumetric energy densities for four different types of 2016 coin cells. The Li/CF_x battery affords a significant improvement over both primary lithium and alkaline batteries. Source: Contour. Click to enlarge.

Contour Energy Systems, a spinoff of the collaboration between CalTech and CNRS, the French National Center for Scientific Research, is emerging from stealth mode with advancements in new fluorine-based battery chemistries, nanomaterials science and manufacturing processes for lithium-ion energy storage systems. The company was formerly known as CFX Battery.

The company plans initially to commercialize advanced primary battery systems in multiple form factors (coin, cell, film or prismatic), targeting a wide range of portable power applications spanning the transportation, government and defense, medical, industrial, portable electronics and specialty application markets. The company is targeting an accelerated time-to-market for next-generation rechargeable (secondary) batteries that will also benefit from its battery chemistries and materials.

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Study Finds That High Volatility Fuels or Blendstocks Could Help Avoid Some of the Problems of Low Temperature Combustion

15 March 2010

Increased fuel volatility could play an important role in enabling future engines to employ early direct-injection, LTC (low-temperature combustion) operating modes, according to a new study by researchers at San Francisco State University and Sandia National Laboratory. A paper on the work was published online 3 March in the ACS journal Energy & Fuels.

LTC covers a number of approaches designed to reduce engine-out emissions of NO_x and PM. Early direct injection—which can produce a near-homogeneous charge if injection occurs early enough in the compression stroke to enable vaporization and in-cylinder premixing prior to combustion near top-dead center (TDC)—is one such.

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Osage Bio Energy: Winter Barley Ethanol as Advanced Biofuel for RFS-2

15 March 2010

by Bill Cooke

OBE seeks to use all of the barley grain for ethanol and co-products. Click to enlarge.

Osage Bio Energy (OBE) is a Virginia-based company that will use regional grain, primarily winter barley, to produce ethanol and high value co-products for East Coast markets via a fairly conventional pathway of converting starch to sugar, followed by fermentation. OBE will launch its first facility, Appomattox Bio Energy (ABE), in Hopewell, VA in July 2010 and plans to be at full production (65 million gallons/year) by the end of the year.

Although the starch-to-ethanol pathway is similar to that used for corn ethanol, based upon initial calculations from Drexel University, OBE’s winter barley ethanol has the potential to meet the criteria of an Advanced Biofuel as defined by the Renewable Fuel Standard-2 (RFS-2) and the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA 2007). An advanced biofuel has a carbon footprint that is 50% or less of conventional gasoline and OBE plans to start the certification process by Q4 2010. OBE believes they will be one of the first commercial-scale renewable fuel producers to petition for an advanced biofuel designation from the EPA.

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AIST Researchers Devise Catalysts To Boost Yield of Renewable Diesel from Hydrotreatment of Jatropha Oil

14 March 2010

Effect of different catalysts with jat/cat weight ratio = 10. The platinum-rhenium catalyst showed the highest conversion, along with high selectivity for C₁₈. Credit: ACS, Murata et al. Click to enlarge.

Researchers at Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) have devised rhenium-modified catalysts that significantly increase the yield of diesel-type alkanes (C₁₅-C₁₈) from the hydrotreatment of jatropha oil under conditions of higher jatropha-to-catalyst weight ratios. A paper on their work was published online 10 March in the ACS journal Energy & Fuels.

The direct hydrotreatment of triglycerides (i.e., vegetable oils) to produce renewable, drop-in hydrocarbon molecules for use in liquid fuels can be performed using existing technology in petroleum refineries, where hydrotreatment is used, among other applications, to remove sulfur from petroleum feedstocks. Applied to triglycerides, hydrotreatment can produce straight chain alkanes ranging from n-C₁₅-C₁₈. The products have a high cetane number (above 98), compared to a petroleum diesel cetane number of around 50.

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