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Microreactors Change Propane into Hydrogen
Roland Piquepaille writes "Microreactors have already been used for on-site reforming of fuels, such as methanol or propane, to produce hydrogen to be used in fuel cells. Now, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) have designed very efficient ceramic microreactors to do this task. The scientists say that their microreactors are much better than other fuel reformer systems. They are now trying to reform gasoline and diesel, which are more widely distributed than propane. Does this mean that one day we'll be able to go to a gas station to refill the fuel cells powering our laptops? Probably not before a while, but read more for additional details, references and a picture of a prototype."
Oh, it's a Roland P article, of course....
The last time I checked with NASA, the shuttle didn't run on Premium Unleaded, so I think that shoots down your whole "hydrogen will never be a fuel source" comment.
Let's also consider that in the entire bredth of human history, it wasn't until the last century that petrolium caught on as a fuel source. Oddly enough right around the time that the technology came about to take advantage of it. So it's not that "hydrogen has never been a fuel source", cause crazy ass comments like that make me want to grind your nose against a nuclear reactor and ask you questions like how many of these did the Romans build. No, the point is that until recently we have not been able to take advantage of hydrogen on a wide scale, and indeed the technology is still in it's early stages.
Oh, and talk about non-viable energy sources, calculate how many food crops would have to be diverted exclusively to bio-fuel purposes to run the US alone for more than a year.