Microreactors Change Propane into Hydrogen

Roland Piquepaille writes "Microreactors have already been used for on-site reforming of fuels, such as methanol or propane, to produce hydrogen to be used in fuel cells. Now, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) have designed very efficient ceramic microreactors to do this task. The scientists say that their microreactors are much better than other fuel reformer systems. They are now trying to reform gasoline and diesel, which are more widely distributed than propane. Does this mean that one day we'll be able to go to a gas station to refill the fuel cells powering our laptops? Probably not before a while, but read more for additional details, references and a picture of a prototype."

How much better is it?

[dbIII]

One thing I would like to hear is if you really get much better results with this and hydrogen-oxygen fuel cells than you would get with a propane-oxgen fuel cell. If it is a much larger difference than you get with reforming the propane then it is interesting - propane is easier to store and ship around.

Re:huh?

[pipingguy]

Maybe they're using pure oxygen to reach those temperatures and get a more complete burn.

http://www.fossil.energy.gov/programs/powersystems /gasification/howgasificationworks.html [energy.gov]

Re:Merely a slight improvement to existing technol

[Lehk228]

ethanol is a waste, to fill up an SUV it takes enough ethanol to feed a family for a year with the grain instead of turning it to ethanol, and using corn ethanol you burn more petroleum making the corn than you get in ethanol out of it

Re:It's probably to deal with byproducts of biodie

[Quadraginta]

I think the point is to be able to generate electricity much more efficiently. This is not a replacement for a gasoline engine in your car. It's a replacement for a laptop battery for a traveling salesman or satellite-phone battery for a USMC lieutenant in the field.

As such, it's a big win. Batteries are an environmental disaster, since they often need nasty heavy metals (e.g. lead or mercury), and they don't last very long. Furthermore, you waste a lot of transportation energy transporting around the mass of batteries in something that's supposed to be portable. Finally, the process of generating and distributing the electricity you need to use to recharge the batteries is itself not very efficient at all. Generation losses, transmission losses, the fact that you can't store the stuff easily and have to have it running all the time for the intermittent occasions you need to recharge your batteries, et cetera.

This way, you generate your electricity on the spot, very efficiently (hence fewer emissions). And you don't need a heavy battery containing noxious metals.

Re:Information on fuel cell vehicles

[Anonymous Coward]

Nice article, untill it told me that 1 KG of Hydrogen weighed the same as 1 gallon of gas. 1 gallon of gas weighs 6.5 lbs, or 2.9 kg and at 45 or so miles per Kg, you could get approx. 130 miles by carrying the same weight as the equivilant amount of gas. It's just a personal bais of mine, but when i see an article lie to me i stop listening to it.

Re:huh?

[bloobloo]

At 1000C it's likely to be nitrogen coming out. It's got to be hotter to form significant amounts of NOx.