St. Louis University Professor develops sugar powered fuel cell
The ranks of non-hydrogen fuel cells continues, with a new design from Dr. Shelley Minteer of Saint Louis University. Dr. Minteer has developed a fuel cell that develops electricity from sugar. The cell can use almost any sugar source such as sap, soft drinks or juices. This isn't the first sugar-powered fuel cell, but this one is apparently more efficient and runs longer than previous designs. Dr. Minteer recently demonstrated a glucose-fueled cell the size of a postage stamp that ran a calculator. The fuel cell contains enzymes that process the sugars into electricity and produce water. The cell is completely biodegradable after it's used up but there is no indication of what happens to the carbon in the glucose or whether it could be scaled up enough to power anything larger than consumer electronics devices. Dr. Minteer expects the cell to be commercialized in about three to five years.
[Source: Saint Louis University]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Chris M 4:29AM (3/30/2007)
Just goes to show that it is possible to make a fuel cell that doesn't need H2. Indeed, this joins a growing line of non-H2 fuel cells, including ones running on methane, carbon, methanol, and even biological wastes! It is a great way to avoid the H2 storage problem.
I suspect that fuel cell uses enzymes to break down the sugars into simpler compounds, and maybe even fully oxidize them into water and CO2. Either way, there shouldn't be any "carbon residue". Scaling up is simple - just hook a lot of them together, and/or make them bigger.
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mobile_army_sugical_hospital 12:59PM (3/30/2007)
Soon enough everyone will have a Mr. Fusion in the back for their Delorian!
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Henry 8:28PM (3/30/2007)
They are making energy out of chimpanzee brains. They have to kill 1000 chimpanzees to get a gallon of super conductive brain juice but it runs a car for 500 miles using a fuelcell. Refueling is the only issue.
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