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Old 08-28-2005, 12:06 AM
Craig
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim H
I agree, using H2O as a source for H2 requires too much energy.

For your consideration is the Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell, which can use ethanol or methanol directly as a fuel source.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct-methanol_fuel_cell
Interesting, but the problem with all these types of processes is that the (total system) emissions are no longer limited to water. Now we are back to putting CO2 in the environment. That kind of defeats the point of having "clean" fuel cells that are independent from fossil fuel (which is how these are being sold politically). Why don't we just burn the natural gas, ethanol, or methanol in a conventional engine?

I have heard these processes proposed as "stopgap" measures because they use the existing infrastructure. The idea (I think) is that this will get enough fuel cells in service to justify the development of a "real" H2 infrastructure. We may live long enough to see this happen?
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