2011-02-21

Cella Energy -- Synthetic Hydrogen Fuel

Energy from hydrogen can be harnessed by burning the gas or combining it with oxygen in a fuel cell to produce electricity.

But current methods of storing hydrogen are expensive and not very safe.

To get round this, scientists from the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, near Oxford, University College London and Oxford University have found a way of densely packing hydrogen into tiny beads that can be poured or pumped like a liquid.

Stephen Volker, of Cellar Energy, which is developing the technology, told Gizmag: ‘We have developed micro-beads that can be used in an existing gasoline or petrol vehicle to replace oil-based fuels.

How it works: Cella Energy is optimistic that drivers will not need to modify their cars in order to use the fuel

Collected from: Relief at the pumps: Revolutionary hydrogen fuel could cost just 90p per GALLON (and it will run in existing cars) | Mail Online

Safe, low-cost hydrogen storage

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Vehicles – Hydrogen fuels for vehicles you can pump like regular gasoline at room temperature and pressure, safer to use than gasoline or diesel but with zero carbon emissions.

Fuel additives that could allow a regular vehicle to meet the Euro 6 emission standards with minimal modifications

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Features:

low-pressure
safe
ambient temperatures
rapid desorption of hydrogen
pure hydrogen
can be handled safely in the open air

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Benefits:

increases revenue for customer
fast introduction into market
saves money and time on packaging
end customer can travel further without refuelling

Collected from: Cella Energy - Home

Pure hydrogen solution, how it would work in a vehicle

Cella can manufacture the materials in the form of micron-sized beads. This makes it possible to move the beads like a fluid.

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The beads are stored in a fuel tank, which does not need to contain high pressures or be heated and cooled, therefore it can be a simple lightweight plastic tank of complex shape similar to that used in current vehicles. The hydride beads are then pumped to a hot cell where waste heat from the engine exhaust is used to drive the hydrogen into a small buffer volume. The hydrogen buffer is maintained at a pressure suitable for the internal combustion engine ICE or fuel cell and which is sufficient in volume to be able to restart the vehicle. Once the hydride has been heated and the hydrogen driven off, the waste beads are stored in another lightweight plastic tank.