Spanish Chemists Investigate Hydrogen Production From Bio-Oils.

[NNadir]

The article is entitled, "Hydrogen Production by Steam Reforming of Bio-Oil Using Coprecipitated Ni-Al Catalysts. Acetic Acid as a
Model Compound."

Here is the abstract:

"Catalytic steam reforming of bio-oil is a promising process for hydrogen production from biomass. Bio-oil is a complex mixture of a large number of compounds (acids, aldehydes, alcohols,
and ketones, among other compounds), and acetic acid has been selected as a model compound. The experimental work has been conducted in a fluidized-bed reactor. Noncatalytic steam
reforming of acetic acid has been performed from 450 °C to 700 °C. For catalytic experiments,coprecipitated Ni-Al catalysts, some promoted with lanthanum, have been selected, because of
their high mechanical strength and suitable performance in biomass steam gasification. The presence of the catalyst, its reduction, promotion with lanthanum, and the influence of space velocity on gas yields have been analyzed at 650 °C. Catalytic experiments show a significant increase in total gas, H2, and CO2 yields, whereas CH4 and C2 yields decrease, when compared with those from noncatalytic experiments. Gas yields obtained in the catalytic process present a
shift from the noncatalytic process to equilibrium gas yields. Promotion with lanthanum does not increase the H2 yield achieved with the Ni-Al catalyst. Simple first-order kinetic equations
have been proposed for the formation of H2 and CO2 and the disappearance of CH4 and C2."

Although hydrogen is a poor fuel for many applications, including transportation, access to hydrogen allows chemists to make carbon compounds that would represent very useful fuels for just about every imaginable purpose.

Please note that not bio-oils are suitable for making things like "biodiesel." Many of these oils have transient stability, many are corrosive and many do not burn very well directly.

[Dimsdale]

1. Reference, please. n/t.

[NNadir]

2. Whoops, It's from the upcoming issue of "Energy and Fuels"

http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/abstract.cgi/enfuem/asap/abs/ef049718g.html

[Botany]

3. It does not have to be ...........

"Although hydrogen is a poor fuel for many applications, including transportation"......



:bounce:

[HysteryDiagnosis]

4. Although hydrogen is a poor fuel for many applications

Not hardly.


www.zapworld.com




www.fuelcellstore.com
Fuel Cell Store is the nexus of the fuel cell industry. We provide the market place where fuel cell stack, component, and hydrogen storage manufacturers come together with consumers.

Within our site you will find the widest array of fuel cell products from around the globe. If your requirements are for demonstration, portable, or stationary fuel cells, the FuelCellStore can help you determine the best system to meet your needs.

www.CH2BC.org

[NNadir]

5. To each his own. I'd never put my family in that thing.

Hydrogen's extremely low critical temperature (one of the lowest known), it's low energy density, even when liquefied (at great energy expense), it's extremely low viscosity, and it's diffusion/effusion rate (the highest known) all point to it being an undesirable fuel on safety grounds.

The only thing that recommends hydrogen is that its combustion product (or more properly, to include fuel cells, its reaction product with oxygen) is water. However the environmental impact of hydrogen is not a function of how it is used but of how it is made. The system for making hydrogen explored in this paper would have a relatively low environmental impact when compared to coal, for instance, and a relatively high environmental impact when compared to a nuclear reactor.

I do hope that technologies like these will come into wide use, my enthusiasm for nuclear energy notwithstanding. On the other hand, I hope that any hydrogen produced through such technology will be used wisely. Wise use, imo, does not include its use in cars traveling at high speeds.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

6. Hydrogen stored in gel form.....not explosive, not dangerous,

not a bad idea.

http://www.millenniumcell.com/technology/index.html

http://www.millenniumcell.com/technology/finalche.rm
The Hydrogen on Demand™ system releases the hydrogen stored in sodium borohydride solutions by passing the liquid through a chamber containing a proprietary catalyst. The hydrogen is liberated in the reaction:
NaBH4 + 2 H2O —› NaBO2 + 4 H2 + Heat
cat——

The only other reaction product, sodium metaborate (analogous to borax), is water-soluble and environmentally benign. The sodium metaborate can either be disposed of or recycled as the starting material for the generation of new sodium borohydride.

[NNadir]

8. Borohydrides have been advanced since the 1970's. They don't work.

Like all other forms of hydrogen storage - and thousands of them have been proposed - they add mass. Adding mass to transportation fuels decreases the efficiency. In the case of sodium borohydride, NaBH4, 89.3% of the weight of the fuel is represented by sodium and boron. That's a lot of weight to drag around for the dubious advantage of having water as an exhaust gas.

All hydrocarbons are hydrogen equivalent fuels. All are available by synthetic means via hydrogen intermediates and either carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide as the source of carbon. If one insists on using a fuel cell - and this may be desirable under certain circumstances - I suppose it could be done using an in line reformer to regenerate hydrogen from the intermediate hydrocarbon in situ, but I expect that this would have a negative cost effect on the system as a whole. It's probably better simply to burn the fuel directly.

Very clean synthetic hydrocarbon fuels are available wherever hydrogen is available. I always talk up the one which I regard as spectacular in almost all of its physical, chemical and environmental properties: DME, dimethyl ether.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

9. Point taken, I don't know where this is on the map right now, however

I hope they have ironed out the bugs experienced thus far.....

http://www.fuelcelltoday.com/FuelCellToday/IndustryInformation/IndustryInformationExternal/IndustryInformationDisplayArticle/0,1588,374,00.html

Chrysler Develops Fuel Cell Van Using Novel Hydrogen Storage Technology

12 Dec 2001

Author: Mark Cropper, Fuel Cell Today

Description: On 11 December 2001 the Chrysler side of DaimlerChrysler AG revealed that it had developed a fuel cell concept vehicle with a novel fuel storage system.

The Natrium prototype minivan combines a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cell with hydrogen storage technology based on borax, a common ingredient in many laundry detergents. The system promises to overcome one of the main problems associated with the development of fuel cell vehicles.

"The most important unresolved issue with fuel cell vehicles is not the fuel cell -- it's the fuel", explains Thomas Moore, head of Chrysler's Liberty research and development group, in a 11 December statement.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

7. Does not include its use in cars traveling at high speeds.

*
Mercedes-Benz A-Class cars with fuel cell drive set new milestone on the way to marketable zero-emission vehicles
*
Fuel cell technology development to be further advanced in practical tests
*
From 2003 on, the first of a total of 60 vehicles will be deployed in international cooperative ventures in small fleets in Europe, the USA, Japan and Singapore

The world's first vehicles from a fleet of fuel-cell-driven cars, introduced today at DaimlerChrysler corporate headquarters in Stuttgart-Möhringen, have been christened "F-Cell". They are fuel-cell-powered Mercedes-Benz A-Class cars which are going to be put to the practical test by customers in Europe and the USA in international cooperative ventures beginning in 2003. The development of this technology will now be furthered mainly in practical operation involving extensive field testing.


http://www.automobilemag.com/news/news_17/

DaimlerChrysler to provide hydrogen-powered buses for Beijing in trial

AFX News Limited - May 26, 2004

DaimlerChrysler AG said it has signed an agreement with China's Ministry of Science and Technology to provide three hydrogen- powered Mercedes Benz buses for trial use in Beijing.