Splitting Water to Store Solar Energy
September 30th, 2009,Alternative Energy eNewsletter (RSS feed)
Solar Energy Storage MIT professor Daniel Nocera earlier worked on a catalysts that can divide water molecules which can be utilized to store energy. Daniel Nocera has established a company named as Sun Catalytix to give his dreams a concrete shape. His company is backed by venture capital firm Polaris Ventures. Nocera is known as a “huge centralized energy person.” When he thought about the problems faced by developed and developing world then formed the view that the solution to energy problem lies in cheap energy generation. Sun Catalytix is working on an advanced system that will use low-cost solar panels to produce hydrogen. This hydrogen will then be stored and used to produce electricity in a fuel cell.
The star of Sun Catalytix’s technology is a cobalt phosphate catalyst. Nocera pointed out that cobalt phosphate is more efficient at splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen than other catalysts. Its USP is this catalyst will work under ambient temperatures and with a wide range of water quality. His laboratory has got water samples from the Charles River in Boston and it worked well. Many commercial electrolyzers are available in the market that split water to make hydrogen. But their main drawbacks are they are costly and they need lots of energy to run. Nocera’s Sun Catalytix is testing an electroylzer, built around the catalyst that can be produced using cheap PVC plastic. The crux of the matter is to exploit solar panels to power the electrolyzer to produce hydrogen. This hydrogen would be stored in tanks. Whenever the need arises, the stored hydrogen would be put through a fuel cell.
According to Nocera three liters of water a day could power a home, or a fuel cell car in the “legacy world,” or developed countries. These countries hold a record of high consumption of electricity. But if we consider the case of developing countries where people don’t have much energy to use three liters would make a world of a difference. Three liters would fulfill the power needs of many people. He is talking about the future scenario of the world, “The solution, assuming the legacy world does the right thing (and uses energy efficiently), to this problem for the future is attacking the non-legacy world and they don’t have any money. That’s the challenge.”
Nocera declares his enthusiasm to the world, “This technology is moving really fast. We’re already at the engineering prototype design. I’m hiring no scientists–I’m just having a massive engineering effort right now. Within two years, we want to have a totally working kilowatt system.” Nocera attended the EmTech conference on emerging technologies last week, and said that engineers are now working on a model design for the system. His company has also roped in Art Goldstein as Chairman who was the retired CEO of water desalination company Ionics.
Researchers are currently trying to minimize the size of the large-scale systems as happened during the evolution of computers. But shrinking of size will not shrink the costs of production. Nocera didn’t see much evolution as far as batteries are concerned but he is quite optimistic regarding fuel cells. “What you need in my opinion is to start with a blank piece of paper and start inventing. Don’t take what’s there and try to reengineer it.”
For the full commercialization of this product common consumer has to wait for eight or ten years. They have to tie many loose ends such as hydrogen storage, cheaper solar panels, and cheaper fuel cells.
Solar Energy Storage MIT professor Daniel Nocera earlier worked on a catalysts that can divide water molecules which can be utilized to store energy. Daniel Nocera has established a company named as Sun Catalytix to give his dreams a concrete shape. His company is backed by venture capital firm Polaris Ventures. Nocera is known as a “huge centralized energy person.” When he thought about the problems faced by developed and developing world then formed the view that the solution to energy problem lies in cheap energy generation. Sun Catalytix is working on an advanced system that will use low-cost solar panels to produce hydrogen. This hydrogen will then be stored and used to produce electricity in a fuel cell.
The star of Sun Catalytix’s technology is a cobalt phosphate catalyst. Nocera pointed out that cobalt phosphate is more efficient at splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen than other catalysts. Its USP is this catalyst will work under ambient temperatures and with a wide range of water quality. His laboratory has got water samples from the Charles River in Boston and it worked well. Many commercial electrolyzers are available in the market that split water to make hydrogen. But their main drawbacks are they are costly and they need lots of energy to run. Nocera’s Sun Catalytix is testing an electroylzer, built around the catalyst that can be produced using cheap PVC plastic. The crux of the matter is to exploit solar panels to power the electrolyzer to produce hydrogen. This hydrogen would be stored in tanks. Whenever the need arises, the stored hydrogen would be put through a fuel cell.
According to Nocera three liters of water a day could power a home, or a fuel cell car in the “legacy world,” or developed countries. These countries hold a record of high consumption of electricity. But if we consider the case of developing countries where people don’t have much energy to use three liters would make a world of a difference. Three liters would fulfill the power needs of many people. He is talking about the future scenario of the world, “The solution, assuming the legacy world does the right thing (and uses energy efficiently), to this problem for the future is attacking the non-legacy world and they don’t have any money. That’s the challenge.”
Nocera declares his enthusiasm to the world, “This technology is moving really fast. We’re already at the engineering prototype design. I’m hiring no scientists–I’m just having a massive engineering effort right now. Within two years, we want to have a totally working kilowatt system.” Nocera attended the EmTech conference on emerging technologies last week, and said that engineers are now working on a model design for the system. His company has also roped in Art Goldstein as Chairman who was the retired CEO of water desalination company Ionics.
Researchers are currently trying to minimize the size of the large-scale systems as happened during the evolution of computers. But shrinking of size will not shrink the costs of production. Nocera didn’t see much evolution as far as batteries are concerned but he is quite optimistic regarding fuel cells. “What you need in my opinion is to start with a blank piece of paper and start inventing. Don’t take what’s there and try to reengineer it.”
For the full commercialization of this product common consumer has to wait for eight or ten years. They have to tie many loose ends such as hydrogen storage, cheaper solar panels, and cheaper fuel cells.
Tags: Biofuels, Energy, Environment, Hydrogen, Solar, Transportation, Wind, |
Views: 49
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jim Martin on -
The article does not say much about the system for splitting water. Does the sun need to shine directly on the catalyst? Or does the system just need the heat, and the sun is an available heat source? How does the efficiency compare to PV electricity used for electrical splitting of water? While gaseous hydrogen from splitting water is useful, it is not a final product for most applications. Storing gaseous hydrogen would require large tanks. Liquefying the hydrogen would take energy, and storing liquid hydrogen would lead to losses from heat leaks.
An interesting system could be to use output hydrogen and carbon dioxide to make methane, ethane, or propane. They are more useful fuels for storing, transporting, and using.
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Permalink Reply by neil cox on -
Hi Jim Martin: I agree the article is not clear. Abbreviations are part of the problem. USP = United States Pharmaceutical? PVC = polyvinyl carbonate? Solar panel = PV panel = photovoltaic panel? If the latter, likely the cobalt phosphate is the electrolyte in the electrolyzer, which can be powered by either grid power or cheap solar panels, if anyone produces cheap PV panels. Neil
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Permalink Reply by KENN DRESCHER on -
He uses a Hydroxy Unit like my: Thohr 404, pictured above. Presently I'm using Lye as an electrolite.
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Permalink Reply by George F. Oerther, Jr. on -
May work, but not nearly as efficiently as plants use solar energy to split water, giving us oxygen to breathe and combining the hydrogen with CO2 to store the energy as carbohydrates for food as well as cellulose and other polysaccharides for fuel, all without adding to the atmosphere's thermal load.
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Permalink Reply by KENN DRESCHER on
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I posted same info at:
http://www.push.pickensplan.com/forum/topics/fuel-of-the-future-h2o...
He was featured on the McNeil Laier News Hour.
The key is the: COBALT PHOSPHATE electrolite. Or plating. It's not soluble in water, so that's the key to his invention.
He also states his Hydroxy On Demand system could be used to power an I.C.E. Would, of course require input electricity... Hydroxy On Demand systems store the fuel = O + H2 on board in the form of H2O; water. It's combusted as soon as it't produceed; not stored.
This system converts electricity into H2/O, but it must be stored before being converted back to water + electricity. Storing either H, or O2 is difficult, and potentially dangerous. A cleaver "battery". Bear in mind that while the SunLight is being used to produce H2/O, it's not available for Daytime use!
I like the Hydroxy On Demand application aspects much better.
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Permalink Reply by Dr. Derek Zupancic PhD on -
Hello:
We at HydroLectic Power LLC have been producing the HH2 Hydrogen Water Fuel Cell clean air system for 3 years, we have the California CARB Executive Order D-643 permitting installation on all Gasoline and Diesel vehicles as an add on part. We work wonderful with CNG, increases power and performance, reduces to emissions to Zero or Near Zero and really boosts fuel economy.
Not only does it boost CNG, it works on all fossil fuel engines, mobile and stationary. IRS Tax Credit are available for all installed units, both private and business. Average MPG improvements reported by clients is around 40%, emissions drop by 70 to 99% on installed vehicles.
Save our honey bees and butterflies and the rest of the humans on the planet. God Bless America, our Troops and Our citizens.
Regards,
Dr. Derek Zupancic
CEO HH2 Hydrogen Technologies
www.HH2.US
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Permalink Reply by W. Dan Chance on -
Since I no longer own a vehicle, I'll just wish you good luck.
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Permalink Reply by Charles Michael Powers on -
HHO gas has an interesting property when ignited, first it explodes, then it implodes. It's the prefect fuel for an I.C.E., but not any I.C.E. thats running up and down our roads today. You see, it will take a new design to get the full potential out of HHO. A design that has a very short stroke of the piston, that way the motor will get power from both the explosion and the following implosion. Plus the resulting water -and- the increased oxygen will have a oxidation affect on most of the metals that are used in today's I.C.E.'s. Another thing to consider is the timing of the ignition. The HHO will need to be ignited after top dead center, but that is easy to solve.
As far as using HHO for a conventional fossil fuel I.C.E. booster, it's fantastic. The way it works is by allowing all of the fuel to be burned in the combustion chamber instead of the catalytic converter [part of the exhaust system]. And it burns away most of the hydrocarbon that fossil fuel makes.
The professors addition of cobalt phosphate in the catalyst isn't new, but it sure works, after all, cobalt is only one step up from nickle on the periodic table, and nickle has been used in HHO electrolyzers many times. There are other things that can be added that will increase the efficiency as well. I'm working on them right now, and working on a new micro-fissured multi metel plate design.
What I think is funny is, I'm doing this with no funding, and so are several hundred other people. But when it comes from MIT, everyone is stunned, when we do it, we get called 'Insane"..
If you will do a Youtube search on HHO, you will see loads of vids from people working from their own homes, not multi-million dollar labs, and we use our own money to further our research, then share our findings mostly open source.
Well, no mater what people call us out of the box thinkers, we will continue to do what we feel is best, and apply our minds to solving problems.
Peace.
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Permalink Reply by KENN DRESCHER on
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How do you get the cobalt phosphate to disolve in the H2O?
What about using Titanium plates, for the electroylsis appliance?
PS: What's Your Unit made from?
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Permalink Reply by Charles Michael Powers on
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Ken, you don't get the cobalt to dissolve. You use cobalt phosphate micro-dust. It will will help to transfer the charge across the anode to the cathode, and as it dose it, it will produce HHO while in the electrolyte solution. Effectively increasing the surface area so to speak.
Ti plates require a much heaver electric load, but when they have a multi-metal surfacing, they function better, plus they dont release hex-chromium. So they are safer. But if a Unit is designed right in the first place, the amount of hex-chrome is very little.
My units are made from varies things, with different electrolytes. After all, this field of research is still in the infancy stage.
I like your unit.
Peace.
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Permalink Reply by KENN DRESCHER on
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WoW! Thanks. I've been on the WATERCAR Yahoo group all Weekend. Those guys don't have a clue...
Where can I obtain the: cobalt phosphate micro-dust? Then, it forms a solution? Or, is it a suspension? If so, does it settle down to the bottom of the Unit? Or, will it stick on my SS plates after be electroylized?
Happy Trails
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Permalink Reply by Charles Michael Powers on
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The cobalt stays in suspension. I'm not sure if it will electroplate your ss plates or not. That's a dang good question.
If you use a design like Smack's Gen-V, when the units is on, the fluid circulates thus keeping the cobalt in suspension.
Peace.
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