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NEW
TECHNOLOGIES |
Hydrogen
from Methanol
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Inventor Chuin-Tih Yeh of National Tsing Hua University
of Taiwan, has been granted a US Patent No 7,459,000
on December 2, 2008 for his invention of low temperature
reforming process for production of hydrogen from methanol.
The present invention relates to a method of hydrogen
gas production from reforming of methanol at low temperatures.
The fuel cell is a prosperous technology in progress.
It can efficiently transform chemical energy in fuel
into electricity in an environment-friendly manner.
Amongst fuel cells under development, hydrogen fuel
cell is pre-eminent because it can be operated at a
low temperature of 200° C or less. However, hydrogen
is inconvenient to store and transport. These shortcomings
can be technically overcome by using hydrocarbons as
source outer primary fuel and transformed it into hydrogen-rich
gas (HRG) on board of fuel cell application.
A hydrogen production process with high hydrogen yield
at a low temperature is described. First, an aqueous
methanol solution with water/ methanol molar ratio between
about 0.75 and about 2.5 is pre-mixed with oxygen in
an oxygen/methanol molar ratio not greater than about
0.5. The mixture is then directed to pass through an
activated supported gold catalyst undergoing an oxidative
steam reforming of methanol to generate a hydrogen-rich
gas with CO content less than 1% at a low reaction temperature
(TR>150° C.). Gold particles on active supported
gold catalysts have been dispersed to a size of 6 nm
or less. The oxidative steam reforming of methanol may
generate more than 2 moles of hydrogen for each mole
of methanol consumed.
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(USPTO) |
Plants
Help Cool Planet |
Researchers from University of Bristol, say that by
carefully selecting varieties of food crops to cultivate,
much of Europe and North America could be cooled by
up to 1°C during the summer growing season. This
is equivalent to an annual global cooling of over 0.1°C,
almost 20% of the total global temperature increase
since the Industrial Revolution.
The growing of crops already produces a cooling of the
climate because they reflect more sunlight back into
space, compared with natural vegetation. Different varieties
of the same crop vary significantly in their solar reflectivity
(called ‘albedo’), so selecting varieties
that are more reflective will enhance this cooling effect.
Since arable agriculture is a global industry, such
cooling could be extensive.
Dr Andy Ridgwel, leader of research team, said “We
have evaluated the effect of our approach in a global
climate model. By choosing from among current crop
varieties, our best estimate for how much reflectivity
might be increased leads us to predict that summer-time
temperatures could be reduced by more than 1°C
throughout much of central North America and mid-latitude
Eurasia. Ultimately, further regional cooling of the
climate could be made through selective breeding or
genetic modification to optimise crop plant albedo.”
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(University of Bristol, Jan 16, 2009) |
Purifiying
Diesel Exhaust
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Riso National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, the
Technical University of Benmark, and Department of Medical
Engineering, are participating in a new four year project
to develop an effective method for purifying flue gases,
especially exhaust gases from diesel engines.
Existing solutions to air pollution require the installation
of particulate filters and either an SCR catalyst (Selective
Catalytic Reduction) a NOx absorber or recirculation
of the exhaust gas. This leads to additional expenditure
when modifying diesel vehicles to be less polluting.
Electrochemical flue gas purification has a number of
advantages over existing filters, making it attractive
to target this research at the car industry. Purification
of carbon particles, toxic nitrogen oxides (NOx) and
unburned hydrocarbons from the exhaust can all happen
in the same filter unit. This method is advantageous
that it is not necessary to add other substances to
the fuel. In addition, the filter can be produced without
the use of precious metals.
The purification of exhaust gas will, therefore, be
conducted independently of the engine operation. This
technology could lead to significant fuel savings compared
with leading alternative technologies.
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(ScienceDaily,
Feb 9, 2009)
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