UOP Renewable Jet Fuel From Camelina Powers KLM Demo Flight
23 November 2009
UOP LLC used its renewable jet fuel process technology (earlier post) to convert oil from camelina, an inedible plant, to renewable jet fuel for a biofuel demonstration flight by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. (Earlier post.)
The flight, which took place today at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, is the first green jet fuel demonstration flight in Europe and the first test flight to carry a select group of observers. One engine of a Boeing 747 was powered by a fuel mixture consisting of a 50/50 mix of the green jet fuel and traditional petroleum-derived jet fuel.
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Researchers Discover New Family of Pressure-Induced Materials Which Could Boost New Hydrogen Storage Technologies
23 November 2009
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| The structure of the new material, Xe(H2)7. Freely rotating hydrogen molecules (red dumbbells) surround xenon atoms (yellow). Credit: Nature Chemistry. Click to enlarge. |
Scientists at the Carnegie Institution have found for the first time that high pressure can be used to make a unique hydrogen-storage material. The discovery paves the way for an entirely new way to approach the hydrogen-storage problem. The paper was published online 22 November in the journal Nature Chemistry.
The researchers found that the normally unreactive noble gas xenon combines with molecular hydrogen (H2) under pressure to form a previously unknown solid with unusual bonding chemistry. The experiments are the first time these elements have been combined to form a stable compound. The discovery debuts a new family of materials, which could boost new hydrogen technologies.
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Scientists Argue For Rate-Based GHG Target In Addition to Cumulative Budget: Cap and Rate
23 November 2009
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| The rationale for focusing on rate. The darker shading represents model simulations with the best-estimate climate sensitivity (3 °C). The lighter shading shows the range for the 68% cumulative probability interval for climate sensitivity from the literature (2.0–4.9 °C). Credit: Nature Reports CLimate Change. Click to enlarge. |
In a new paper in Nature Reports Climate Change, Steffen Kallbekken, Nathan Rive, Glen P. Peters and Jan S. Fuglestvedt from CICERO Center for International Climate and Environmental Research – Oslo argue for the addition of a rate-based greenhouse gas emissions target in addition to a cumulative emissions target.
A warming rate of more than 0.2 °C per decade is intolerable if the earth’s ecosystems are to adapt, according to The German Advisory Council on Global Change. CICERO scientists adopted this rate and calculated that in order not to exceed it, cumulative emissions in the period 2010–2030 must not exceed approximately 190 gigatonnes of carbon (GtC).
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Researchers Develop Method to Enhance Capacitance of Carbon Nanotube Electrodes for Supercapacitors
22 November 2009
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| Carbon nanotubes with controllably induced extrinsic defects could serve as supercapacitor electrodes with enhanced charge and energy storage capacity (inset: a magnified view of a single carbon nanotube). Source: UCSD. Click to enlarge. |
University of California San Diego researchers have developed a method to enhance the capacitance of carbon nanotube (CNT) electrode-based electrochemical capacitors by controllably incorporating extrinsic defects into the CNTs. The result is an increase in the magnitude of both the pseudocapacitance and double-layer capacitance by as much as 50% and 200%, respectively, compared to untreated electrodes.
The work, published 5 November in the journal Applied Physics Letters, could result in improved charge storage capacity and energy density for electrochemical capacitors.
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ARB Report Finds Reflective Glazing to Meet Cool Cars Regulation Will Not Impact Certain Portable Devices
22 November 2009
The California Air Resources Board (ARB) has published a report evaluating the potential electromagnetic interference on certain portable devices such as cell phones, global positioning systems (GPS) and ankle monitoring bracelets due to automotive reflective glazing as required under the “Cool Car” regulation . (Earlier post.)
The results indicate that there are no effects from reflective glazing, and thus the Cool Cars regulation, on monitoring ankle bracelets or cell phone usage in an urban environment. Effects on GPS navigation units were observed, but these were completely eliminated by placing the device or an external antenna within a “deletion window”—a relatively small section of the windshield manufactured without the reflective material.
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Researchers Develop Solid-State, Rechargeable Lithium-Air Battery; Potential to Exceed 1,000 Wh/kg
21 November 2009
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| Sample UDRI solid-state, rechargeable lithium-air batteries, and Dr. Binod Kumar. Click to enlarge. |
Engineers at the University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) have developed a solid-state, rechargeable lithium-air battery. When fully developed, the battery could exceed specific energies of 1,000 Wh/kg in practical applications, the researchers wrote in a paper published online 13 November in the Journal of the Electrochemical Society.
The cell comprises a Li metal anode, a highly Li-ion conductive solid electrolyte membrane laminate fabricated from glass–ceramic (GC) and polymer–ceramic materials, and a solid-state composite air cathode prepared from high surface area carbon and ionically conducting GC powder.
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Hyperion Unveils Design of its Small Modular Nuclear Reactor, the Hyperion Power Module
21 November 2009
At the recent Annual Winter Conference of the American Nuclear Society in Washington, and simultaneously at the “Powering Toward 2020” conference in London, England, Hyperion Power Generation Inc. revealed the design for the first version of its Hyperion Power Module (HPM), a small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) that it intends to have licensed and manufactured at facilities in the United States, Europe, and Asia.
The HPM is a compact (approx. 1.5m wide x 2.5m tall), sealed and self-contained, simple-to-operate nuclear power reactor, euphemistically referred to by the company as a “fission battery”. Over its 7-10 year operational life, the HPM will deliver 70 MW of thermal energy, or approximately 25 MWe. Each module will cost $50 million; initial deliveries, slated to begin in the second half of 2013, are being scheduled, the company says.
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EPA Reports Fifth Consecutive Annual Increase in US New Vehicle Fuel Economy; Up 9% Since 2004, Back to Levels of Early 1980s
20 November 2009
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| Adjusted CO2 emissions and adjusted fuel economy by model year. Source: EPA. Click to enlarge. |
For the fifth consecutive year, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is reporting an increase in new vehicle fuel efficiency with a corresponding decrease in average carbon dioxide emissions for new US cars and light duty trucks. This marks the first time that data for CO2 emissions are included in the annual report, Light-Duty Automotive Technology, Carbon Dioxide Emissions, and Fuel Economy Trends: 1975 through 2009.
For 2008, the last year for which EPA has final data from automakers, the average fuel economy value was 21.0 mpg US (11.2 L/100km). EPA projects a small improvement in 2009, based on pre-model year sales estimates provided to EPA by automakers, to 21.1 mpg (11.1 L/100km). The projected fleetwide average real world MY2009 light-duty vehicle CO2 emissions level is 422 grams per mile (g/mi); the fleetwide average MY2008 value is 424 g/mi.
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Delft Researchers Create New Metabolic Pathway in Yeast to Boost Ethanol Yield from Biomass Waste
20 November 2009
Researchers from Delft University of Technology have engineered the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to increase ethanol yield from biomass waste by eliminating production of glycerol (glycerol production is essential to reoxidize NADH produced in biosynthetic processes), reoxidizing NADH instead by the reduction of acetic acid to ethanol. A paper on their work was published online 13 November in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
Significant amounts of acetic acid are released upon hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass—a pre-treatment for fermentation—and, in fact, acetic acid is studied as an inhibitor of yeast metabolism in lignocellulosic hydrolysates, the authors note. This new metabolic engineering strategy is thus a triple win, says principal researcher Jack Pronk: “no glycerol formation, higher ethanol yields and consumption of toxic acetate”.
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Study Concludes That Class 8 Truck Fuel Consumption Could Be Reduced By Up to 50% By 2017 Using Existing and Emerging Technologies; Current Payback Requirements Could Forestall Implementation
20 November 2009
A new study released today by the Northeast States Center for a Clean Air Future (NESCCAF) and the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) found that fuel consumption of Class 8 trucks and the resultant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can be reduced up to 50% with the adoption of current and developing technologies and new operational measures by 2017.
However, the study also concluded that given the current short payback period for investment demanded by the trucking industry, a number of the technologies that could enable such savings would not be adopted, absent regulation or a longer payback period.
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Russia Moves To Rein In Gas Flaring, Mandating 95% Gas Capture by 2012; Signals About-Face On Climate Change
19 November 2009
by Jack Rosebro
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| A view of Russian gas flaring based on satellite observations. Source: US NOAA and the World Bank-led Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership. (Video) Click to enlarge. |
The Russian government has ordered oil companies to take steps to
capture up to 95% of the natural gases associated with petroleum
extraction, in a bid to recover the “billions of rubles” worth of
natural gas that is emitted into the atmosphere every year via gas
flaring, according to the Kremlin.
During his 12 November address to the Russian parliament, President
Dmitry Medvedev presented gas flaring as one of the country’s more
egregious examples of wasted energy resources. “The government has
discussed the issue on many occasions, and has promised to put an end
to this disgrace. We really do need to take quick and decisive action,
and no objections from the [oil] production companies should be
accepted”, Medvedev stated.
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