I worked in one of the labs at Los Alamos mentioned in the press release for about 18 months ending one year ago. If there is one thing I learned while working there it was this: be skeptical of fuel cell press releases (and probably any press release).
Methanol is potentially really nice, but has always had problems with power density. It also requires a lot more platinum than hydrogen fuel cells to run efficiently.
Some assorted comments: 1. ethanol is not likely to be used in fuel cells unless there is a breakthrough. 2. I helped with "Air breather" fuel cells a little in my work. However, these were hydrogen fuel cells and not methanol. It looks like a company is trying to commercialize it since I left (Air breather technology) That link also has a super-simplified but accurate diagram of how a hydrogen fuel cell works. 3. You will not drive a fuel cell car for a very long time as long as gas is $1.25/gallon. 4. It wouldn't be economical to produce methanol from biomass. It will be made from natural gas. This would still leave us with a lot of CO2 emissions.
Wait to see a working prototype before you get excited about ANY fuel cell announcement. The "air breather" hydrogen fuel cell works, but is still very expensive for the power you get. This cost will of course come down, but maybe not as much as other power sources (like lithium rechargables). I can tell you, the little details of making fuel cells work can be excruciating.
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I worked in one of the labs at Los Alamos mentioned in the press release for about 18 months ending one year ago. If there is one thing I learned while working there it was this: be skeptical of fuel cell press releases (and probably any press release).
Methanol is potentially really nice, but has always had problems with power density. It also requires a lot more platinum than hydrogen fuel cells to run efficiently.
Some assorted comments:
1. ethanol is not likely to be used in fuel cells unless there is a breakthrough.
2. I helped with "Air breather" fuel cells a little in my work. However, these were hydrogen fuel cells and not methanol. It looks like a company is trying to commercialize it since I left (Air breather technology)
That link also has a super-simplified but accurate diagram of how a hydrogen fuel cell works.
3. You will not drive a fuel cell car for a very long time as long as gas is $1.25/gallon.
4. It wouldn't be economical to produce methanol from biomass. It will be made from natural gas. This would still leave us with a lot of CO2 emissions.
Wait to see a working prototype before you get excited about ANY fuel cell announcement. The "air breather" hydrogen fuel cell works, but is still very expensive for the power you get. This cost will of course come down, but maybe not as much as other power sources (like lithium rechargables). I can tell you, the little details of making fuel cells work can be excruciating.
Course... You still gotta have a woman back in the kitchen to fix the stuff.