Posted on 06/25/2009 10:29:46 AM PDT by neverdem
Here's a case for which solving an energy problem could ease a challenging environmental problem as well. Researchers have discovered that carbonized chicken feathers could provide an inexpensive, environmentally friendly way to store hydrogen fuel for future motor vehicles. If the concept is proven--and perhaps a bigger if, accepted by the automobile industry--it could go a long way toward helping to dispose of the 2.7 billion kilograms of chicken feathers generated each year by commercial poultry operations.
Hydrogen is a leading alternative fuel for vehicles. The byproducts of its combustion are nonpolluting, and its source--water--is superabundant. One hitch is the amount of energy required to manufacture it, and another is storing enough of it onboard to give vehicles a cruising range that approaches that of gasoline or diesel fuel. Hydrogen has proven notoriously difficult to store in sufficient quantities without placing it under enormous pressure, something that greatly adds to the weight of a vehicle and adds a serious explosion hazard. The best idea so far has been carbon nanotubes--microscopic structures that can pack away large quantities of hydrogen at normal pressure within a relatively small space. But a storage tank made of the nanotubes would cost millions of dollars.
Now a team at the University of Delaware, Newark, says it has an unlikely candidate: chicken feathers. It turns out that the feathers, which are made of keratin--the same protein in fingernails and beaks--comprise strong, hollow tubes. The team, led by chemical engineer Richard Wool, had been investigating the feathers' potential for improving the performance of electronic microcircuits. The air inside the tubes helps to speed electrons along the printed wiring, but the feathers weren't stiff enough to hold the circuit boards together very well. So the team tried a heating technique to strengthen the bonds between the carbon atoms in the keratin.
As the team reported today at the 13th Annual Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference in College Park, Maryland, carbonizing the feathers gave them a strength approaching that of the nanotubes. They could also store up to 1.7% of their weight as hydrogen, about as much as carbon nanotubes could store. Moreover, the feathers cost virtually nothing to produce. "They're a nuisance commodity," says Wool.
The researchers estimate that a hydrogen-storage tank using the carbonized feathers would cost only about $200 when mass-produced. It's a major step forward, but the U.S. Department of Energy has set a target capacity for hydrogen-storage techniques of 6% of weight, so the carbonized feathers need improvement. Still, Wool is confident that the goal can be achieved. "There are all kinds of next steps," he says.
Even if hydrogen doesn't become the next primary transportation fuel, finding a safer and economical way to store the gas would still be of great value, says chemical engineer John Dorgan of the Colorado School of Mines in Golden. Hydrogen has several important nontransportation uses, he explains, such as a cooling medium in electricity generation. So the innovative storage technique developed by Wool and his team could be much less hazardous than pressurized tanks. In addition, he says, "it simply makes sense to use renewable materials to build the renewable energy infrastructure."
Soon the only car choice Americans will have will be the Government Motors Chicken McHydrogen car.
Think Hindenberg.
>the Government Motors Chicken McHydrogen car.
“Would you like fries with that?”
Guard your pillows, mother!
Hitch? More like a nearly unsurmountable obstacle, unless you build a bunch of nukes to generate the electricity required to split water.
Not if PETArdation can help it.
I don't think any motor fuel would pose a significantly higher explosion risk than gasoline. That is the reason gasoline is such a good motor fuel: it packs a high energy content.
BTW, hydrogen is just an energy storage medium.
So, if the chicken feathers are used to store hydrogen, and it explodes, would that be poultry in motion?
Which is why hydrogen is just another energy storage medium.
Personally, I'm intrigued with the concept of hydraulic/diesel hybrids with accumulators.
This is not my field, but I think this is incorrect. Gasoline stores a great deal of energy: it is an excellent fuel. However, I think gasoline does not readily explode. I've heard of problems on Hollywood sets where a car is sent over a cliff, with the expectation that it will explode in a fireball at the bottom. Nope. They have to rig all kinds of devices to turn the car into a firebomb, because a quantity of liquid gasoline is very combustable, but is not generally explosive.
Hydrogen, on the other hand, does not burn slowly. Once your quantity of gaseous hydrogen starts to burn, it's time to start running!
I think these people have chicken feathers in their brains (do we really have enough ‘chicken feathers’ to power America, even if this is prove a viable technology. NO).
Don't bet on it.
“Think Hindenberg.”
It didn’t explode, it just burned.
It will be called the Coop de Ville.
We’ll then need vehicles with chicken Mclugnuts.
CO2 can cool stuff too-without blowing everything up.
impractical (as the coming wave of politician tar-and-featherings is going to drive the price of chicken feathers too high)
That isn't the reason its a good engine fuel (motors are electric) It's used because it's relatively cheap. 95% of that energy goes out the exhaust, wasted. Ethanol is a better engine fuel. (and electricity is a better motor fuel)
Eggsactly!
(Chicken Mclugnuts.... LOL...)
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