60 sec Speech PDF

Preview

Summary

60 sec Speech...

Description

The article I chose titled “Long-lived catalyst facilitates first steps toward viable small-scale on-board hydrogen generator”; was on improving the viability of the production of electricity via the hydrogen fuel cell.

The hydrogen fuel cell works by sending the H2 molecule through an electron barrier. Once the hydrogen pair passes through the electron barrier the pair of electrons the molecule is sharing is stripped away, and forced to take a longer route through a load baring circuit. This flow of electrons is the electricity produced. The protons now separated meet up with oxygen on the other side of the cell provided by the surrounding air and create a positive zone that attracts the pair of electrons coming out of the circuit. Thus forming the waist product, water. Although an extremely elegant solution to the world’s energy problem the hydrogen fuel cell is plagued with the difficulty of the production and storage of hydrogen.

The two main ways of getting hydrogen on its own is the electrolysis of water or Ethanol steam reforming (ESR). Electrolysis requires a large amount of electricity making it impractical. ESR on the other hand uses ethanol produced from renewable biomass to produce hydrogen. There are two main drawbacks to ESR it produces poisonous carbon monoxide and requires a high reaction temperature. The researches at A*STAR have developed an iron-promoted rhodium-based catalyst on a calcium-modified aluminium oxide support. This catalyst is able to drastically lower the activation temperature to 350 degrees and has the added effect of almost eradicating the production of carbon monoxide. The development of this catalyst by A*STAR enables hydrogen to be generated more efficiently with less environmental damage. Thus increasing the viability of the hydrogen fuel cell.

References The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). "Long-lived catalyst facilitates first steps toward viable small-scale on-board hydrogen generator." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 8 November 2014. .

Jacob Gad

9/03/2015...