ON Fuel Cells & Hydrogen

Hydrogen Blog

I have referenced biological hydrogen generators in Puss & Boots as being the main source of this gas for the highly efficient fuel cells in their time. I extrapolated this occurrence from my reading about microbiology and my direct experience with using the power of these “simple” single-celled organisms to perform difficult tasks.

I worked with a brilliant microbiologist on a trial of my method of cleaning hydrocarbon-contaminated soil in an old rail yard being turned into a Yuppy- paradise development.

We were able to take soil contaminated with 2,000 parts per million of hydrocarbons down to less than 50 ppm in 45 minutes using a soil-washing method with a rich mix of bacteria-enhanced water. The water was then recycled in a tank and we added more oxygen, nutrients and nitrogen as needed until the little bugs were raring to go again.

I learned during this trial that microbes can apparently share their learned or altered DNA, and so a whole culture in an environment as I had in my tank, can learn to eat new foods...

Now to Puss & Boots:
You will have noted, O Happy Readers that I have hydrogen fuel cell-powered machines all throughout the story, and that local bioreactors are everywhere (i.e. Molly’s cabin). This is because that the microbes that emit hydrogen are with us, and have been so for over 500 million years (pre-Pre-Cambrian).

Read below...
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“Researchers in Oregon State University's Department of Bioengineering are spearheading efforts to develop sustained production of hydrogen fuel by harnessing photosynthetic microbes that use solar energy to split water molecules and make hydrogen.

OSU professors Roger Ely and Frank Chaplen were notified this week that they are receiving $900,000 over the next three years from a U.S. Department of Energy grant to bolster their efforts.

Hydrogen as a fuel source is a hot topic - hydrogen fuel is clean and energy-rich. Fossil fuels such as gasoline or coal generate greenhouse gasses, but burning hydrogen as fuel produces only water. To make hydrogen fuel takes energy, and current methods typically manufacture hydrogen from fossil fuels. To produce hydrogen fuel without emitting greenhouse gasses, a renewable form of energy would need to be used - from the sun, wind or from a biological process.

The technology to do this is not yet fully developed, but Ely and Chaplen hope to change this.

The two bioengineering researchers - who are faculty in both the College of Agricultural Sciences and the College of Engineering - are especially interested in the hydrogen-generating potential of a large group of photosynthetic microorganisms called cyanobacteria. These bacteria, formerly known as blue-green algae, naturally generate energy from sunlight and, under certain conditions, can make hydrogen rather than sugars.

Ely says cyanobacteria may be a perfect living source for a safe, efficient, and economical production of hydrogen for fuel.

"Imagine an ideal energy device," said Ely. "It wouldn't burn fossil fuels, and it wouldn't pollute. It would be made of low-cost, non-toxic materials, would run on the power of the sun, and would be safe, clean and economical.

"Nature has been conducting research and development on solar energy capture for about 3½ billion years and can teach us much," he said. "From looking to nature, we already know three key things: visible light constitutes most of the energy reaching the Earth; we know how organisms capture it; and we know how they convert it into chemical energy."

But the researchers must overcome a major hurdle: In natural systems, during photosynthesis, cyanobacteria stop making hydrogen when oxygen is present. "In the organism we are studying, oxygen interferes with the production of hydrogen by 'gumming up the works,' so to speak," explained Ely.

With the grant, Ely and Chaplen hope to develop, via "metabolic engineering," oxygen-tolerant strains of cyanobacteria that can produce hydrogen continuously in the light. After developing sun-harnessing, hydrogen-producing strains, the plan is to grow them by the millions in systems that could also store the generated hydrogen and, using fuel cells, convert it into electricity on demand. They call these proposed systems "solar bio-hydrogen energy systems."

"These systems can be designed to be relatively simple and economical, and could serve as decentralized sources of clean electrical energy," said Ely. "The process will have one input, sunlight, and two outputs, electricity and heat," he said. "It will be safe, will operate at relatively low temperatures, and could be made in a range of sizes - from home to industry scale - from abundant, inexpensive materials, mostly from carbon and silica."

"I want to make oil obsolete," said Ely. "As I like to say, the Stone Age didn't end because we ran out of rocks. We can do better."
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As I say, I think I extrapolate from the present to the future pretty good...
Jack

Modern Major Funny!

This was spotted by my sharp-eyed daughter, Clay.

"Jim C. Hines, author of Goblin Quest, has just written lyrics to go with the Gilbert and Sullivan perennial 'Modern Major General' AND he's released them under a Creative Commons license."

I am the Very Model of a Modern SF Novelist
http://jimhines.livejournal.com/382703.html

Go there for a real hoot!

Boer War Scout in The Transvaal in 1901

Here we are now in the Transvaal in 1901, scouting and guiding the 300 or so men of the Irish Transvaal Brigade as they partake of yet another opportunity to fight the Bloody British...

APPROPIATE FOR THE FOURTH, DON’T YOU THINK?

“IN FLANDER’S FIELDS”
By
Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae
Canadian Army Doctor
1872 - 1918.

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In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw the sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Boer War Scout

From the Irish Transvaal Brigade circa 1901

The ITB was made up of some 300 Irish miners from the Transvaal gold fields (the real reason for the British fighting the Boers) and included about 30 Irish immigrants from Chicago. These latter boyos got to South Africa by volunteering as Red Cross ambulance drivers, then exchanging their arm bands for Mausers when they could cross the battle lines. Anything for a chance to shoot at the Brits!

I am portraying a Boer Scout with the ITB at a reenactment at the Potomac Celtic Festival in Leesburg, Virginia earlier this month. My horse's name is Molly, BTW.

JOHN RINGO SHOWS HIS CLASS

A minor brouhaha erupted in the blog-verse when someone posted an attack on John Ringo, a Mil Sci-Fi author whom I admire. Here is a guy who can type 1,000 words an hour and can think them orders of magnitude faster. He has several dozen titles in print through Baen and more seem to be on the way.

Anyway the first blogger was apparently pretty vicious in displaying his dislike for one of John’s series. I don’t know whether the person was a liberal, but I’ll bet you Swiss Credits to greasy Chin chopsticks (as Puss would say) that he/she/it was. John is a guy who would not only help you bury your bodies but also show you the best place to do it; however he is not liked among the Quiche Crowd or by the pink team – thus the reason for my surmise. This initial nastiness was followed by another blogger defending John, but in a back-handed way and that person is the origin of the phrase, “OH JOHN RINGO NO!”

Go to http://www.cafepress.com/ohjohnringono for the rest of the story about John’s class way of handling this. Note also that Captain Tamara Long, USAF was married, and had a child. Her married name was Long-Archuleta. She died in 2003 in Afghanistan when her chopper crashed on a mission to medi-evac two Afghani girls.

Tamara showed her class as well…

Mission Accomplished! (So far anyway...)

Well, P & B is now a real book and is up on Amazon.com. The price is now decent too. So what are you waiting for?

Go on and buy it!