Graphene-based Fuel Cell Membrane Could Extract Hydrogen Directly from Air
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3236299/posts
Most people think that when they think of hydrogen production they think of electrolists.
However ? There is a much easier way and cheaper way to produce hydrogen from steam in a process called Gasification.
Check out a website called All Power Labs.
Much of the infrastructure for the production of hydrogen can be created from gascifiers and biomass.
A electric generator, or Internal Combustion Engines can be ran off of a gasifier.
During WWII most of the Scandinavian countries used gascifiers to run their cars, trucks, busses.
H2Gen in Alexandria had a pallet-sized Hydrogen Generation Module (sold to Air Liquide in 2009) to produce hydrogen on site from natural gas - Just drop the pallet with a forklift, hook up a gas line and electricity. Other reformers can be made to convert other common fuels into hydrogen for fuel cells (gasoline, diesel, ethanol, propane). It could allow for rapid and scalable roll out of fueling capacity.
This process emits some pollution, but the net for natural gas conversion is supposedly about half the total emissions of burning the equivalent of gasoline, so it is still an air quality improvement for urban environments.
You can also deliver hydrogen from trucks to storage tanks, to really clean up the air in geographically disadvantaged places like Los Angeles or Mexico City.
I don’t know the hard economics of what is lowest cost, the relative performance advantages, or the importance of the safety issues; but the logistics of standing up a fueling infrastructure for hydrogen is quite feasible.