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Microbes Churn Out Hydrogen at Record Rate
FiReaNGeL writes to mention that Penn State Researchers have improved on their original microbial electrolysis cell design bringing the resulting system up to better than 80 percent efficiency when considering all energy inputs and outputs. "By tweaking their design, improving conditions for the bacteria, and adding a small jolt of electricity, they increased the hydrogen yield to a new record for this type of system. 'We achieved the highest hydrogen yields ever obtained with this approach from different sources of organic matter, such as yields of 91 percent using vinegar (acetic acid) and 68 percent using cellulose,' said Logan. In certain configurations, nearly all of the hydrogen contained in the molecules of source material converted to usable hydrogen gas, an efficiency that could eventually open the door to bacterial hydrogen production on a larger scale."
This reminds me a lot of some Asimov books. So, are we getting there ?
Why compress it?...http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/newsRelease.php?id=3273
"Most materials today absorb only 7 to 8 percent of hydrogen by weight, and only at cryogenic [extremely low] temperatures. Our materials absorb hydrogen up to 14 percent by weight at room temperature"
I wonder what the actual efficiency is if you take into account sequestering the CO2. It should be feasible since you have to sequester the hydrogen anyway and the CO2 is produced in the reactor, that is, fixed infrastructure, rather than in the eventual fuel consuming entity.
Hell, how much net CO2 could you pull out of the atmosphere with an un fertilized acre of land and a reactor thats producing the hydrogen/electricity needed to fuel the entire endeavor? How does it compare to the real efficiency of current solar cells (after taking into account manufacturing costs/outputs)?
Realities just a bunch of bits.
Just a thought here, but once this system reached a one-to-one ratio with our current fossil-fuel usage, it may only take a single asshat to engineer and deploy a virus capable of crippling an entire country.
Somehow, I doubt a city/state/country-wide quarantine on vehicles (and other devices) using such a system would be a trivial task.
8==8 Bones 8==8
If we can manipulate microbes to produce hydrogen in record amounts, can we manipulate some that take IN CO2 in impacting amounts as well?
Regarding the tag...what ever happened to that guy?
Max.