Creation of biodiesel, ethanol and other biofuels has not come without criticism. One of the criticisms of making biodiesel fuel has been what to do with the byproduct glycerol that is produced in massive amounts.
Researchers at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN have come up with a unique solution which is to convert the glycerol to hydrogen, thus fueling two types of alternative fuel vehicles using one feedstock.
According to the researchers, “Dr. Sergi Markov, associate professor of biology at Austin Peay State University, has an idea that could help push the alternative fuel race to new levels of possibility. For the last several years, Markov and two of his APSU students – Jared Averitt and Barbara Waldron – have studied the effects of the bacterium Enterobacter aerogenes on glycerol. Turns out, the bacteria converts the liquid into another biofuel, molecular hydrogen.”
This finding not only makes biodiesel suddenly a more attractive fuel but it also makes cheap hydrogen available for cars as well. Fuel manufacturers will suddenly get twice the bang for their bucks with very little effort. And cheap fuel for consumers will mean quicker public acceptance of alternative fuel vehicles for home use.
I hope I don’t eat all my words but I may be putting up a lightning rod to recharge(inductively of course)my Double-layed ultra capacitor all wheel drive crossover w/leather,gps and an Ipad while docked at it’s station in the garage of my earthdome home.Wouldn’t that be cheap energy?I know that lightning isn’t always reliable but when it does hit with the invention of ultra capacitors and the energy density they can hold I might be able to get a years worth in one storm for free.That’s really ridin’ the lightning.Windplants and lightning rods covering the horizon.
The lightening rod is an interesting future idea where I don’t think the technology has arrived yet and I don’t know if anyone is working on this but it is intriguing. Another future idea that hasn’t arrived is harnessing the power of tornadoes and hurricanes with wind turbines and storing the excess energy as hydrogen. Wind turbines typically shut down when wind speeds are too high. Mother Nature is supplying us with way too much energy than we can handle right now (sun, wind) and it is up to us to build machinery and systems that can make use of all of this natural power.
There is a company that was testing a lightning farm in ’07.There website is down now so I don’t think it went well.With the quick charge rates of ultra capacitors maybe harnessing voltage from the sky will be possible.If the equiptment necessary will ever pay for it self with the amount of energy they can create?
Maybe we can make our own inductive resonance antennas and pull ions from thin air?Things have changed since Leydell jars and Van de Graaff generators.I am fascinated.I live in Hillsboro Oregon where companies like Intel and Triquint semiconductors facilities are located.Could end up the next Detroit?
Maxwell Technologies going good for ultra capacitors used in conjunction with battery and fuel cell vehicles.
I have actually seen St.Elmos fire in Port Angeles,Wash. one night in a terrible storm.Not the movie but a coronal discharge or ball lightning.Scared the heck out of me since it eminated from under my car as I drove through some standing water and then shot upward.It was not a bolt but a ball that moved fast but not like a bolt.Sailors used to see this sometimes during certain conditions most likely had something to do with the masts.It is a naturally occuring phenomena.Lightning cannot be harnessed because it is fast but a coronal discharge may have some type of usable energy and may even hold steady.
I may have invented a new form of renewable energy and don’t know it.My gift to society if I did.This is the way I would like to power my life,if possible, so somebody invent something cool.Everytime a storm cloud passes I will be lighted and when it is cold and dry in winter it will warm me. Has something to do with static I think.
It is weird that yesterday I thought that I had found an explaination for something that I saw that couldn’t be explained.Maybe it was this coronal discharge associated with St.Elmo’sDon’t know but I learned a new word.Today I read that the Sun just had a Coronal Mass Ejection sounds similar to discharge but smaller.Scientist think CME’S(solar winds or flares)are magnetic reconnections.Could very well explain some weird things but how coincidental.Maybe this is some sort of reverse pulse after a lightning stike when an over transfer of electrons happens(like a balance beam that needs some put back on the other side to level it out).
If you find it post the link as I would like to know more.
Great enthusiast with this site, a handful of your blogposts have truly helped me out. Looking forward to up-dates!
Hygroelectricity-newest form of renewable energy-Science Daily Aug.26th,2010.Fernando Galembeck and a team of Brazillian scientist say it is possible so did Tesla!
I am studying these Geomagnetic forces and how they may affect safety of electric cars.
When transformers and capacitors swell and explode in Geomagnetic storms study could save some lives.
Sorry no links having problems pasting here.
Is it possible to convert glyserol to fluel using sosol technology ,fischer trops process
Is it possible to convert glyserol to fluel using sosol technology ,fischer trops process?