More Efficient Hydrogen Production Through Ultrasonics

3 March 2006

GreenShift Corporation announced its formation of General Ultrasonics Corporation, a development stage company that owns patented technologies that use ultrasonic energies to enhance physical and chemical reactions including more efficient steam reformation to produce hydrogen.

GreenShift claims that its technology, acquired in its recent acquisition of H2 Energy Solutions, can reduce the temperatures required for the standard steam methane reforming by 25%, and even greater gains compared to partial oxidation processes (POX).

In standard SMR and POX processes, the reformation reaction is catalyzed chemically. The General Ultrasonics process leverages mechanical processes to generate ultrasonic energies that in turn catalyze the reformation reaction at lower temperatures, according to GreenShift.

General Ultrasonics’ reformation process was designed to produce hydrogen out of a variety of hydrogen-containing feedstocks. Initial testing on General Ultrasonics’ prototypes demonstrates that on-demand hydrogen production is achievable with the technology, according to GreenShift.

Acoustical energy has been shown to enhance mass transfer across a variety of filtration membranes under pressure or concentration driving forces.

Dr. Paul Erickson at UC Davis’ Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering has been researching the topic for a number of years, and has just published a paper—“Statistical Validation and an Empirical Model of Hydrogen Production Enhancement found by Utilizing a Controlled Acoustic Field in the Steam-Reforming Process”—in the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy.

Erickson found that a controlled sound field can produce enhancement of hydrogen production in a steam-reforming process.

Resources:

• “Statistical Validation and an Empirical Model of Hydrogen Production Enhancement found by Utilizing a Controlled Acoustic Field in the Steam-Reforming Process”; Erickson P. A.; (2006) International Journal Of Hydrogen Energy

• “Enhancing Hydrogen Production for Fuel Cell Vehicles by Superposition of Acoustic Fields on the Reformer: A Preliminary Study”; Erickson, Paul A., and Vernon P. Roan (2004); SAE Technical Paper Series, SAE 2003 World Congress and Exposition, 2003-01-0806, pp. 1-7.