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A fuel cell is the electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel and an oxidizing agent into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most batteries in requiring a continuous source of fuel and oxygen to sustain the chemical reaction, whereas in a battery the chemical energy usually comes from substances that are already present in the battery. Fuel cells can produce electricity continuously for as long as fuel and oxygen are supplied.
Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula H2. It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, and highly combustible. Hydrogen is the most abundant chemical substance in the universe, constituting roughly 75% of all normal matter. Stars such as the Sun are mainly composed of hydrogen in the plasma state. Most of the hydrogen on Earth exists in molecular forms such as water and organic compounds. For the most common isotope of hydrogen each atom has one proton, one electron, and no neutrons.
Helium-3 is a light, stable isotope of helium with two protons and one neutron. Other than protium, helium-3 is the only stable isotope of any element with more protons than neutrons. Helium-3 was discovered in 1939.
A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid, which in turn runs through steam turbines. These either drive a ship's propellers or turn electrical generators' shafts. Nuclear generated steam in principle can be used for industrial process heat or for district heating. Some reactors are used to produce isotopes for medical and industrial use, or for production of weapons-grade plutonium. As of 2022, the International Atomic Energy Agency reports there are 422 nuclear power reactors and 223 nuclear research reactors in operation around the world.
Tritium or hydrogen-3 is a rare and radioactive isotope of hydrogen with a half-life of about 12 years. The nucleus of tritium contains one proton and two neutrons, whereas the nucleus of the common isotope hydrogen-1 (protium) contains one proton and zero neutrons, and that of hydrogen-2 (deuterium) contains one proton and one neutron.
Fusion power is a proposed form of power generation that would generate electricity by using heat from nuclear fusion reactions. In a fusion process, two lighter atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus, while releasing energy. Devices designed to harness this energy are known as fusion reactors. Research into fusion reactors began in the 1940s, but as of 2022, only one design, an inertial confinement laser-driven fusion machine at the US National Ignition Facility, has in any sense produced a positive fusion energy gain factor, i.e. more power output than input.
Wood gas is a fuel gas that can be used for furnaces, stoves, and vehicles. During the production process, biomass or related carbon-containing materials are gasified within the oxygen-limited environment of a wood gas generator to produce a combustible mixture. In some gasifiers this process is preceded by pyrolysis, where the biomass or coal is first converted to char, releasing methane and tar rich in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
ITER is an international nuclear fusion research and engineering megaproject aimed at creating energy through a fusion process similar to that of the Sun. Upon completion of construction of the main reactor and first plasma, planned for late 2025, it will be the world's largest magnetic confinement plasma physics experiment and the largest experimental tokamak nuclear fusion reactor. It is being built next to the Cadarache facility in southern France. ITER will be the largest of more than 100 fusion reactors built since the 1950s, with ten times the plasma volume of any other tokamak operating today.
Energy development is the field of activities focused on obtaining sources of energy from natural resources. These activities include production of renewable, nuclear, and fossil fuel derived sources of energy, and for the recovery and reuse of energy that would otherwise be wasted. Energy conservation and efficiency measures reduce the demand for energy development, and can have benefits to society with improvements to environmental issues.
The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority is a UK government research organisation responsible for the development of fusion energy. It is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
Alternative fuel, also known as non-conventional and advanced fuels, are fuels derived from sources other than fossil fuels. Some well-known alternative fuels include hydrogen, bio-diesel, bio-alcohol, refuse-derived fuel, chemically stored electricity, non-fossil methane, non-fossil natural gas, vegetable oil, propane and other biomass sources.
The hydrogen economy uses hydrogen to decarbonize economic sectors which are hard to electrify, essentially, the "hard-to-abate" sectors such as cement, steel, long-haul transport, etc. In order to phase out fossil fuels and limit climate change, hydrogen can be created from water using renewable sources such as wind and solar, and its combustion only releases water vapor into the atmosphere.
The Savannah River Site (SRS) is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) reservation in the United States in the state of South Carolina, located on land in Aiken, Allendale, and Barnwell counties adjacent to the Savannah River, 25 miles (40 km) southeast of Augusta, Georgia. The site was built during the 1950s to refine nuclear materials for deployment in nuclear weapons. It covers 310 square miles (800 km2) and employs more than 10,000 people.
Hydrogen fuel refers to hydrogen which is burned as fuel with oxygen. It can be a zero-carbon fuel, provided that it is created in a process that does not involve carbon. Though there are many types of hydrogen like green, blue, grey, black or brown hydrogen owing to the various methods of processes by which they come by. It can be used in fuel cells or internal combustion engines. Regarding hydrogen vehicles, hydrogen has begun to be used in commercial fuel cell vehicles such as passenger cars, and has been used in fuel cell buses for many years. It is also used as a fuel for spacecraft propulsion and is being proposed for hydrogen-powered aircraft. The fuel technology has seen awakened interest from automakers who claim it is comparatively cheap and safer to incorporate into the modern vehicle architecture over recent challenges faced by electric vehicle makers.
Ames National Laboratory, formerly Ames Laboratory, is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory located in Ames, Iowa, and affiliated with Iowa State University. It is a top-level national laboratory for research on national security, energy, and the environment. The laboratory conducts research into areas of national concern, including the synthesis and study of new materials, energy resources, high-speed computer design, and environmental cleanup and restoration. It is located on the campus of Iowa State University.
A molten salt reactor (MSR) is a class of nuclear fission reactor in which the primary nuclear reactor coolant and/or the fuel is a molten salt mixture. Only two MSRs have ever operated, both research reactors in the United States. The 1950s Aircraft Reactor Experiment was primarily motivated by the compact size that the technique offers, while the 1960s Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment aimed to prove the concept of a nuclear power plant which implements a thorium fuel cycle in a breeder reactor. Increased research into Generation IV reactor designs began to renew interest in the technology, with multiple nations having projects, and as of September 2021, China is on the verge of starting its TMSR-LF1 thorium MSR.
The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) is India's premier nuclear research facility, headquartered in Trombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It was founded by Homi Jehangir Bhabha as the Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (AEET) in January 1954 as a multidisciplinary research program essential for India's nuclear program. It operates under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India.
A nuclear reactor coolant is a coolant in a nuclear reactor used to remove heat from the nuclear reactor core and transfer it to electrical generators and the environment. Frequently, a chain of two coolant loops are used because the primary coolant loop takes on short-term radioactivity from the reactor.
The principle of a fuel cell was discovered by Christian Friedrich Schönbein in 1838, and the first fuel cell was constructed by Sir William Robert Grove in 1839. The fuel cells made at this time were most similar to today's phosphoric acid fuel cells. Most hydrogen fuel cells today are of the proton exchange membrane (PEM) type. A PEM converts the chemical energy released during the electrochemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen into electrical energy. The Hydrogen Research, Development, and Demonstration Act of 1990 and Energy Policy Act of 1992 were the first national legislative articles that called for large-scale hydrogen demonstration, development, and research programs. A five-year program was conducted that investigated the production of hydrogen from renewable energy sources and the feasibility of existing natural gas pipelines to carry hydrogen. It also called for the research into hydrogen storage systems for electric vehicles and the development of fuel cells suitable to power an electric motor vehicle.
Robert W. Conn was president and chief executive officer of The Kavli Foundation from 2009 to 2020, a U.S. based foundation dedicated to the advancement of basic science research and public interest in science. A physicist and engineer, Conn was also the board chair of the Science Philanthropy Alliance, an organization that aims to increase private support for basic science research, and Dean Emeritus of the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California, San Diego. In the 1970s and 1980s, Conn participated in some of the earliest studies of fusion energy as a potential source of electricity, and he served on numerous federal panels, committees, and boards advising the government on the subject. In the early 1970s, he co-founded the Fusion Technology Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW), and in the mid-1980s he led the formation of the Institute of Plasma and Fusion Research at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). As a university administrator in the 1990s and early 2000s, Conn served as dean of the school of engineering at UC San Diego as it established several engineering institutes and programs, including the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, known as Calit2, the Center for Wireless Communications, and the Whitaker Center for Biomedical Engineering. While at UC San Diego he also led the effort to establish an endowment for the School of Engineering, which began with major gifts from Irwin and Joan Jacobs. Irwin M. Jacobs is the co-founder and founding CEO of Qualcomm. While Conn was dean, the engineering school was renamed in 1998 the Irwin and Joan Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego. Conn's experience in the private sector includes co-founding in 1986 Plasma & Materials Technologies, Inc. (PMT), and serving as managing director of Enterprise Partners Venture Capital (EPVC) from 2002 to 2008. Over the years he has served on numerous private and public company corporate boards. Conn joined The Kavli Foundation in 2009. He helped establish the Science Philanthropy Alliance in 2012.
References
- ↑ Dominic Monetta: Executive Profile & Biography - Businessweek, Bloomberg Businessweek, retrieved 23 August 2013
- 1 2 3 Dominic J. Monetta, Resource Alternatives, Inc.
- ↑ Stock Quotes & Company News: Hudson Technologies Inc., Reuters, retrieved 23 August 2013
- ↑ Board of Directors, Hudson Technologies, archived from the original on 7 January 2014, retrieved 23 August 2013
- ↑ Advisory Council Members, The Center for Security Policy, archived from the original on 2013-01-16
- ↑ Staff And Governing Board, Atomic Testing Museum, archived from the original on 2012-02-07
- ↑ Carlisle, Rodney P. Powders and Propellants: Energetic Materials at Indian Head, Maryland, 1890-2001. pp. 206–211.
- ↑ Sparks, William; Fisher, Margaret; Carlisle, Rodney; Berry, William. "The Art and Science of Innovation: Lessons Learned from the Department of Energy's New Productions Reactors Program". Journal of Business and Behavioral Science. 19 (2).
- 1 2 Burnett, William M.; Monetta, Domininc J.; Silverman, Barry G. (1993). "How the Gas Research Institute (GRI) Helped Transform the US Natural Gas Industry". Interfaces. 23 (1): 44–58. doi:10.1287/inte.23.1.44.
- 1 2 3 Monetta, Dominic J. (August 3, 2004). Hydrogen - On The Clock. David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Pittsburgh, PA: SMART TechTrends 2004 Global Gateway for Science & Technology Conference.
- ↑ Morris, Joan (14 April 2011), HOV LAW FOR HYBRID VEHICLES EXTENDED, Virginia Department of Transportation