Nov

30

Solid State Lithium Air Battery Might Be a Breakthrough

November 30, 2009 | 6 Comments

Binod Kumar, leader of the University of Dayton Research Institute has published in the 2010 Issue 1 of the Journal of the Electrochemical Society that the group has developed the first solid-state, rechargeable lithium-air battery.  Kumar is calling this a breakthrough designed to address the fire and explosion risk of other lithium rechargeable batteries and [...]

Nov

27

The List for Thanks

November 27, 2009 | 3 Comments

With a little thought there is quite a list of things to be thankful for even when staying on the topic of energy and fuels. There is the physics of the universe and all its marvels, the exchange between energy and matter, reactions that release energy and the amazing array of chemicals that can store [...]

Nov

25

Attacking Oil

November 25, 2009 | 1 Comment

In laboratory experiments to be reported in the journal Chemosphere, University of Utah engineer and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Andy Hong demonstrated that “pressure-assisted ozonation and sand filtration” effectively removes oil droplets dispersed in water, indicating it could be used to prevent oil sheen from wastewater discharged into coastal waters. First, the focus [...]

Nov

24

A Method to Get Natural Gas to Transportable Methanol

November 24, 2009 | 3 Comments

A lot of natural gas is lost, burned off or simply too remote to get to market.  Several efforts have made press releases, but most are non-scalable or not cost effective.  Yet, the lure of so much fuel and energy in remote natural gas is a strong enticement. A catalyst manufactured by the American chemist [...]

Nov

23

Algae That Produces Hydrogen Gas

November 23, 2009 | 6 Comments

Barry Bruce, a professor of biochemistry and cellular and molecular biology leads a team at UT Knoxville that has found the inner machinery of photosynthesis can be isolated from certain algae and, when coupled with a platinum catalyst, is able to produce a steady supply of hydrogen when exposed to light. So far researchers have [...]

Nov

20

US Team Sets Uranium Fuel Energy Release Record

November 20, 2009 | 8 Comments

Idaho National Laboratory (INL) scientists are working with Babcock and Wilcox Inc., General Atomics, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory to establish standards and procedures for the manufacture of commercial-scale new uranium fuels.  The team has set a new world record with next-generation particle fuel (aka fuel pellets) for use in high temperature gas reactors (HTGRs). [...]

Nov

19

Progress On the Path to Harvesting Heat

November 19, 2009 | 2 Comments

Starting from scratch, without trying to improve existing technology MIT’s Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering Peter Hagelstein and graduate student Dennis Wu aimed to find how close realistic technology could come to achieving the theoretical limits for the efficiency of harvesting waste heat energy. Hagelstein says, “There’s a gold mine in waste heat, if you [...]

Nov

18

By Force or a Lure Will You Drive an Electric Car?

November 18, 2009 | 2 Comments

Monday Nov. 16 saw The Electrification Coalition in Washington D.C. to persuade the government to pull the financial levers for an electric car revolution.  The coalition seeks a goal made with 75% of light duty vehicles to be electric powered by 2040.  The group’s forecast is their goal would essentially end imported oil and improve [...]

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