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Portable Fuel Cell Technology

Posted by Hemos on from the small-clean-almost-as-good-as-fusion dept.

Quite a number of people have been writing about the announcement from Motorola concerning their new fuel cell. The new approach is an innovative one. They are using methanol, wood fuel alcohol, in a patented approach. Power claims are "twenty hours for laptops" and a month for cell phones - and it's small enough and light enough that it could simply replace a battery. I'd love to have something that could do that - better than the maybe-an-hour-and-a-half with my Vaio.

4 of 286 comments (clear)

  1. Pot-powered laptops! by MAXOMENOS · · Score: 5

    Now, if the government would just let us start converting cannibis into methanol again, we could run our laptops for days off of pot.

    This might seem trite, but there's a serious side here. If Motorola &C can turn this technology into one capable of -- cheaply -- running, say, an automobile -- then demand for methanol is going to go up. WAY up. Right now we easily produce enough cellulose (in the form of corn cobs, wheat stalks, &c) to meet our present demand. Once we run cars off the stuff though, we may need to look for other supplies of cellulose...and cannibis farming will probably be the cheapest solution.

    It's pure speculation, but interesting to think about, nonne?

    --
    Finding God in a Dog
  2. Blind Drunk: Why Methanol Makes You Blind and Mad. by ralphclark · · Score: 5

    Fortunately for those of us who like a drink, the human body is quite efficient at metabolizing ethanol. The first step involves partial oxidation of the ethanol into the equivalent aldehyde ethanal (CH3CHO). This is removed by further enzymic reactions eventually culminating in carbon dioxide and water as waste products.

    As it is chemically similar to ethanol, methanol is initially acted upon by the same enzymes, partially oxidizing it to form the equivalent aldyhyde methanal (CH2O). That's the IUPAC name for it; you may be more familiar with the "trivial" name formaldehyde.

    So if you drink wood alcohol you get formaldehyde as a metabolite byproduct. Now, anyone who has done biology at school will at some point have seen preserved specimens of animal tissue floating in a jar of liquid. That liquid is formaldehyde.

    It's used for specimen preservation because it pickles animal tissue, toughening it in the process. As it's readily absorbed by (and quickly reacts with) soft tissues, it helps to preserve delicate structures that would break up in most other cheap preserving media.

    Unfortunately two notable soft tissue structures in the human body are the retina and the brain.

    So, to summarize: the reason why wood alcohol causes blindness and insanity is that the metabolic byproduct, formaldehyde, literally pickles the brain and retina. Cool, eh?

    Since the congeners present in most alcoholic beverages include a small amount of methanol, if you're a heavy enough drinker you will obtain the same tissue deterioration to some extent. Though your liver will probably pack up first. And you'll be too pissed to notice anyway.

    Cheers!

    Consciousness is not what it thinks it is
    Thought exists only as an abstraction

  3. The wonders of fuel cells by hamjudo · · Score: 5
    If everything works right, the fuel cell will consume 3 oxygen molecules for every 2 molecules of methanol and it will produce 2 molecules of carbon dioxide and 2 molecules of water. It is lighter than batteries because you don't count the weight of the oxygen.

    Your laptop will produce visible steam when the humidity is high enough. Don't try to use it in a closed box, it will suffocate.

    The methanol fuel is toxic, but the by-products aren't. see the EPA's chemical summary This isn't much different from batteries which are generally also toxic.

    The methanol must be very pure, or the fuel cell will stop working.

    Making methanol is a lot easier than making batteries, so it should be a lot cheaper eventually. Safe packaging and purity requirements will make it more expensive at first.

  4. Three companies doing house/car/electronics cells by salsbury · · Score: 5
    There are now (finally!) companies addressing all three levels of fuel-cell use.

    Ballard Power Systems (BLDP) is doing stationary fuel cells for homes, and for cars. Plug Power (PLUG) is doing cells for homes, and Manhattan Scientifics (MHTXE) is currently developing these micro-fuel cells which Motorola and others will probably be licensing.

    If you're interested in fuel cells, check out those companies, and also check out my fuel cells mailing list. Info is available on how to subscribe at http://reality.sculptors.com/lists.html