Cost Effective Fuel Cell Technology

[Darrell]

Interesting! Found via Insty:

Redox Power Plans To Roll Out Dishwasher-Sized Fuel Cells That Cost 90% Less Than Currently Available Fuel Cells

Redox Power Systems, a Fulton, MD-based start-up company founded last year, sealed the deal on a partnership with researchers at the University of Maryland to commercialize a potentially game-changing distributed generation technology.

Redox says that it plans to bring to market a fuel cell that is about one-tenth the size and one-tenth the cost of currently commercial fuel cells by 2014.

The breakthrough solid oxide fuel cell technology is the brainchild of Eric Wachsman, the director of the University of Maryland’s Energy Research Center.

Redox says that it will provide safe, efficient, reliable, uninterrupted power, on–site and optionally off the grid, at a price competitive with current energy sources.

The promise is this: generate your own electricity with a system nearly impervious to hurricanes, thunderstorms, cyber attacks, derechos, and similar dangers, while simultaneously helping the environment.

“Every business or home should be able to safely generate its own energy,” said Warren Citrin, CEO and director of Redox. “We currently rely upon a vulnerable electrical grid. The best way to decrease that vulnerability is through distributed energy, that is, by making your own energy on-site. We are building systems to do that, with an emphasis on efficiency and affordability. These should be common appliances.”

Redox’s PowerSERG 2-80, also called “The Cube,” connects to your natural gas line and electrochemically converts methane to electricity.

The first generation has a nameplate capacity of 25 kilowatts, which can power a gas station or small grocery store, and is roughly the size of a dishwasher.

The system can run at an 80% efficiency when used to provide both heat and power.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/williampent ... uel-cells/#

[Cybrludite]

I dunno, I'm always suspicious of claims regarding such sudden jumps in efficiency. If it sounds too good to be true, it most likely is too good to be true.

[Aglifter]

This has been an on-going project.

[Termite]

It has been a matter of engineering and cost, not of basic science.

FIFY.

[MarkD]

I've been hearing about impending fuel-cell-in-every-house-and-car predictions since the mid-80's at least.

[BloodlessWeevil]

It has been a matter of engineering and cost, not of basic science.

FIFY.

Good point. Rhodium, platinum, and palladium aren't cheap.

Researchers at Princeton said they found a way to substitute cheap metals for expensive ones in catalytic reactions.

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2 ... e-platinum

Redox is claiming to be cheaper than current commercial fuel cells, that is still not necessarily cheap. It could be that the only thing holding them back was the cost of the catalysts, and the method Princeton's researchers found was easily scaled up, allowing Redox to make the fuel cells competitive... but I kinda doubt it. The catalysts are only one part of the cells, I think the other parts are complicated enough that manufacturing them cheaply enough to make this work would be a huge leap foreword. Then there's the fact that the box itself looks like sci-fi movie prop. I'll believe it when I see it, but I think the best case here is that they figured out how to make natural gas fuel cells slightly more economical.

[Termite]

I'm waiting for a tachyon field motor for my 6 seat homebuilt airplane, and a graviton spin resonance drive for my star ship.........

[Aesop]

Bitchin'.

The next step after that is electrolysis of water into hydrogen and oxygen, powered by solar panels, to make methane just a seldom-used back-up source.

Then 50 electric power companies are the new Betamax, Arabs are the new poor, and gasoline is $2/gallon forever.

Call me when it happens.

[Aglifter]

Er, except catalyzed oxidation of hydrocarbons is how life works...