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Science Forum Index » Energy - Hydrogen Forum » Hydrogen extraction using Al and Gallium catalysts.
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| Pluto |
 Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2007 4:04 pm |
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Gallium and aluminum tigers in your tank?
http://www.insidegreentech.com/node/1205
May 23, 2007 - Exclusive
By Dallas Kachan, inside greentech.
An Indiana startup called AlGalCo is to commercialize a Purdue University
research development that extracts hydrogen from water using aluminum and
gallium as catalysts.
Researchers say the process could provide hydrogen-on-demand for fuel cells
or internal combustion engines, with the possibility of replacing gasoline.
The method makes it unnecessary to store or transport hydrogen-two major
challenges in creating a hydrogen economy, said Jerry Woodall, a professor
of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue who first invented the
process while working as a researcher in the semiconductor industry in 1967.
"The hydrogen is generated on demand, so you only produce as much as you
need when you need it," said Woodall, who presented research findings
detailing how the system works during a recent energy symposium at Purdue.
The technology could be used to drive small internal combustion engines in
various applications, including portable emergency generators, lawn mowers
and chain saws. The process could, in theory, also be used to replace
gasoline for cars and trucks, he said.
Hydrogen is generated when water is added to pellets of the alloy, which is
made of aluminum and a metal called gallium. The researchers have shown how
hydrogen is produced when water is added to a small tank containing the
pellets.
The oxygen and hydrogen contained in water split, releasing hydrogen in the
process.
The gallium is critical to the process because it hinders the formation of a
skin normally created on aluminum's surface after oxidation. This skin
usually prevents oxygen from reacting with aluminum, acting as a barrier.
Preventing the skin's formation allows the reaction to continue until all of
the aluminum is used.
The Purdue Research Foundation holds title to the primary patent, but
AlGalCo LLC, a self-funded company according to co-founder and CEO Kurt
Koehler, has received a license for the exclusive right to commercialize the
process. Koehler told Inside Greentech it is in the midst of testing a
second prototype, the results of which should hopefully be ready for release
in early September of this year.
Woodall says it was by accident that he discovered the process while working
as a researcher in the semiconductor industry.
In order for the technology to be economically competitive with gasoline,
Woodall says the cost of recycling aluminum oxide must be reduced.
"Right now it costs more than $1 a pound to buy aluminum, and, at that
price, you can't deliver a product at the equivalent of $3 per gallon of
gasoline," Woodall said. |
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| Damon Hill |
| Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2007 4:11 pm |
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Guest
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"Pluto" <silver@silver.com> wrote in
news:f5p7es$mal$1@mawar.singnet.com.sg:
Quote: Gallium and aluminum tigers in your tank?
http://www.insidegreentech.com/node/1205
May 23, 2007 - Exclusive
By Dallas Kachan, inside greentech.
An Indiana startup called AlGalCo is to commercialize a Purdue
University research development that extracts hydrogen from water
using aluminum and gallium as catalysts.
As "catalysts"? Sounds like the aluminum is the primary energy
source, and it's just a complicated means to liberate hydrogen
with a significant volume of waste material (aluminum oxide?) to
be recycled at what energy cost?
--Damon, looking for the elegant solution, but not seeing it |
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