 (Source: BusinessWeek)
Breakthrough uses capillary array to store hydrogen
Many alternative fuel sources are being
eyed to help reduce pollution and our need for imported oil. Among
these alternative power sources are solar power, electricity, and
hydrogen among others.
Hydrogen is an alternative fuel that is
being heavily researched. The big barriers from using hydrogen today
are the facts that the gas is highly volatile and it is difficult to
store safely. In September, researchers in America announced that
they had made a hydrogen
storage breakthrough using chemical hydrides.
BusinessWeek
reports that a new
breakthrough has been made on storing hydrogen safely that has
stemmed from technology that the Russian's developed for their space
program. Moshe Stern, an Israeli entrepreneur, was approached by a
Russian scientist Evgeny Velikohov in 2005 about adapting the
technology for the storage of hydrogen. The storage method uses what
is known as capillary arrays.
The capillary array is a bundle
of long, thin tubes of extremely strong glass. The complete array can
store as much as three times the amount of hydrogen that a
conventional steel container used to store hydrogen today. The
technology recently received an endorsement from a German institute
known as the Federal Institute for Materials Research & Testing
(BAM) for its safety.
BAM spokesman Kai Holtapples said, "The
lightweight storage and safety factors give the technology a huge
commercial potential for a whole range of industries."
Stern's
company working on the tech is called C.En. The company has announced
that it will license out the technology to corporate customers. Stern
said, "We're planning to license out the technology on a
company-by-company basis, with the first agreement during 2010."
If
the C.En system and its glass capillaries can withstand pressure,
they could be used eventually in cars and electronic devices to store
hydrogen for power. So far, the C.En company has been able to raise
$25 million in funds from investors in the U.S., Russia, South Korea,
and other countries to research and develop its array.
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