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Fuel-Cell Power With Methanol
foaty writes: "It has been reported that Japanese electronics companies have developed prototypes for fuel-cell batteries that can power the smallest of electronic devices for long periods of time, and they only need refueling, not recharging! See the article at FutureEnergies.com." That article links to this piece at ZDNet; what's interesting is that instead of hydrogen, this article talks instead mostly about methanol-based fuel cells.
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This isn't some new miracle pulled out of the hat by the Japanese. For example, an MIT Technology Review article on some American work on a methanol fuel cell is here. A whole bibliography on recent Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFCs) work is here.
Hemos posted methanol portable fuel-cells almost a year ago to the week - made by Motorola.
I'm a 2000 man.
Didn't /. already do a story on methane fuel cells for electronic devices some time ago? Let's have a story about how you can use methane with Beowulf clusters, dammit!
Actually, the "common" name for methanol is "wood alcohol". "Rubbing alcohol" generally refers to isopropyl alcohol. Methanol is actually fairly toxic and I don't think you'd want it routinely rubbed into your skin...
Did you ever take any chemistry classes? It is used as a solvent, grease remover and makes a large part of cooking/technical alcohol. Methanol is pretty harmless unless you drink it. Of course, breathing a saturated atmosphere of metanol is dangerous, but then there couldn't be much more than a few millilitres in an electronic device.
There is also the environmental aspect. Methanol can be made from wood, so the net CO2 pollution is 0. I'd rather have a spill of some alcohol than undegradable heavy metals.
Whenever fuel cells are discussed on slashdot, someone is always quick to point out the dangers, without properly realizing that common household cleaners come in larger quantities, and are just as toxic, or even more so.
Also, nobody thinks twice about handling cans of hairspray or lighter fluid which are thin, pressurized containers with extremely flammable contents. Or for that matter, Lithium batteries which contain very aggressive chemicals.
Of course, taking these things on planes may require some sort of safety standard.
In case you don't know what inhaled methanol will do to you, expect liver failure, blindness and brain damage.
I think you overreact a bit. If you spill a few millilitres of methanol and inhale the vapour, you're not going to come to harm, as long as you mop it up and ventilate the area. Also, you'd need to inhale a very large amount to get liver failure and brain damage. These symtoms are usually caused by ingestion.
I for one prefer a nice safe, Ni-Cad or Lithium-Hydride battery, but then I'm pretty health conscious.
As a chemist, I very much hope that was sarcasm. Cadmium is a cumulative poison (like lead but worse) which can cause lung and kidney damage.
Lithium Hydride reacts very violently on contact with water to produce Hydrogen and clouds of hot Lithium Hydroxide solution vapour, which are highly irritating to the respiratory system, and generally not very nice.
One has to take these things in perspective, and methanol fuel cells are no more dangerous that any other type of battery.
The defintion of an fuel cell is a cell generating
electrical power by using "semi-permable Membranen" (don't know the exact english words).
There is no need for hydrogene, methanol also works, but it is a quite more difficult. I already saw a methanol fuel cell here in Freiburg, Germany some years ago, so the idea is not that new, only that someone may have indutrial useable products soon.
On the other hand you are also right. When using gas or other materials, you normaly first split hydrogene out of them. But the idea of an methanol cell is that you have something liquid, not gas-form, and can put it directly in the fuel cell. (What the reseach is searching is the same for ethanol, but that seems not be reached yet)
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:-P
I've seen so many companies/labs/etc... with prototype portable personal fuel cells for running electronics over the past 5 years
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Hydrogen gas 3x the energy of gasoline but takes too much space. Methanol has slightly less energy than gasoline but has comparable space requirement and able to use in fuel cell. What you want to look for is ROOM TEMPERATURE fuel cell which hydrogen can readily do (although is optimum at 60-70'C. Methanol with platinum catalyst need to be heated up above boiling point. For laptop this probably not a problem because we can finally put that heat from the microprocessor to good use.
The discharge/charge cycle in a battery changes the molecular structure of the battery. The process is not entirely reversible, eventually, over enough cycles the battery material deterioates, and the battery performance degrades.
The process by which a fuel cell works is all 'one way', and unlikely to be degraded in the above way.
From what I was able to gather from the article, it seems that only very, very small amounts of methanol will actually be used in cells. As such, I don't think you'll actually have enough fuel there to cause much of a safety/security hazard. There are quite a few different materials in common use that are quite unsafe and/or explosive in much larger quantities.
Keep in mind that 'safety' and 'security' concerns should deal primarily with 'accidental' hazards, not purposeful exploits which the technologies themselves cannot prevent. Take for example a standard Dell laptop with a front loadable battery and modular drive that can have a second battery inserted. What if a extension battery were purchased then had the Li core removed, replaced with an explosive of some sort and inserted into the expansion slot. The cursory examinations that laptops are subject to in most security conscious situations (airports, court rooms, etc.) involve simply turning it on - well, if a standard battery is installed next to the explosive, this test will pass. Voila, you've breached security purposefully. Not only that, but an X-ray of the laptop will likely show only the same thing as if an actual extension battery were installed. The image (as seen by an X-ray) of an explosive and Li battery is likely very similar.
Don't forget: the companies that are developing these technologies don't have morons working for them (by-and-large). If Sony, NEC and Toshiba are all pursuing this technology, I'm sure a few intelligent people have already brought up the possible security/safety hazards in the device's most typical usage venues. Additionally, the article mentions a targeted consumer release date of this technology as 2005 which makes this:
somewhat irrelevant. Who knows what conditions will dictate in 2005? I certainly do not!The interesting thing about this device is its incredibly small size.
Emphasis on the word little. It has about as much flammable liquid, and heat output, as a full zippo lighter.
Unless you can make a molotov cocktail out of a zipplo lighter, you're not going to be able to do much with these fuel cells either.
Now 20+ fuel cells all taped together, that's a bit different. However, the units would be sealed, so you'd have to put fuses into each, which breaks the integretity of the system, and the methanol evaporates before it gets a chance to ignite.
The other thing here is that methanol burns much cooler than the kerosene/sterno/whatever you're putting into a molotov cocktail. Therefore, its destructive power and fire hazard level is much less than the before mentioned Zippo full of butane, which burns much hotter.
-When going for broke, go for Ithaca!
Methanol is only poisonous if you chug a few ounces of it. That's why they put it in denatured rubbing alcohol. You can't suffer any harm from inhaling a few milliliters of the stuff.
Also, its not explosive. Alcohol WILL NOT EXPLODE. It just burns. It's not as volatile as gasoline. The fire danger is much less than if you carry a lighter in your pocket.
If you don't understand any of my sayings, come to me in private and I shall take you in my German mouth.
I used to use methanol in an ultrasonic cleaner to remove crud from instrument parts. After the sonic bath, I would use a spray bottle of methanol to hose the deposit dissolved alcohol from the parts. I have gotten quite a bit of it on my hands and it did not make me go blind or even so much as get dizzy. I worked in a well ventilated room and neither drank or deliberately inhaled the stuff. It's toxic if you drink it or inhale a boatload of it.
A few drops on your hand will NOT make one go blind. Gasoline is more dangerous than this stuff.
BTW I sense some flames coming so I will point out the ultrasonic cleaner was NOT filled with methanol. The tub held water as usual and the parts were put in a little tupperware dish of methanol. The tupperware dish was covered and THEN put into the cleaner. Once the parts were cleaned and rinsed with fresh methanol, they were allowed to drip dry and then baked out in a lab oven.
You really would'nt want to drink Isopropyl any way. It has it's share of bad effects. They do, however use wood alcohol for cleaning of the skin, especially for injecting medication using a syringe. It really works well for killing bacteria.
Medis's cell also runs on ethanol. See here:t or yid=270
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