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Our Vision of Future Transportation and Energy Storage

Human beings have passed through the transportation energy transitions from animal forces, steam engines to liquid fuel internal combustion engines. In the future, we will enter an age of the hydrogen/electricity systems because of their unique high energy utilization efficiency and no pollution.

A number of factors are important for eveluating feasibilities of future transportation energy: (1) costs ($/MJ), (2) storage density (MJ/kg and MJ/L), (3) distribution facilities (availability and construction costs), (4) resource sufficiency, (5) sustainability, (6) independence, (7) scalability, (8) greenness, and (9) overall energy efficiency (from wells to wheels). The hydrogen economy provides great promises but there are five obstacles -- production, storage, distribution, utilizations in fuel cells, as well as safety concern. We have attempted to compare several hydrogen economy paradigms as below,

A clear conclusion can be drawn -- use of renewable carbohydrates as a hydrogen carrier (14.8 mass%) could be best solution for our future transportation. This technology also once solve four obstacles to the hydrogen economy -- production, storage, distribution, and safety.

The right figure presents a conceptual primary battery based on our invention -- a combination of sugar storage container, complete sugar conversion, and PEM fuel cells. The new power storage device will have > 10 fold energy density based on weight than any battery. For example, it has ~20 fold energy density of lithium ion battery and > 100 fold of lead-acid battery.

We also envision to put this power generation into vehicle to replace gasoline or diesel internal combustion engines. Since the sugar-hydrogen-fuel cell system has more higher energy conversion efficiency, it is estimated that 1 kg of polymeric carbohydrate can generate mechanical energy output similar to 1.12 kg of gasoline or 0.88 kg of diesel. The future vehicles powered by sugars is presented above in (MIT) Technology Review -- Running Cars on Hydrogen Made from Starch (5/25/07).

We also compare a number of possible methods converting energy resources to mechanical energy below. Obviously, biomass-hydrogen-fuel cell system will have the highest energy utilization efficiency. Considering lowest cost of carbohydrate ($/GJ), we believe that carbohydrate-hydrogen-fuel cell system will have great development potentials.

If the US replaces 30% of transportation fuels by biofuels in 2030 as proposed by the DOE, the same amount of biomass can promise 100% of transportation fuels independance based on our new technology !!!

If you are interested in our technology transfer (lignocellulose fractionation and enzymatic hydrogen production), please feel free to contact me or VTIP.

Imagination, Innovation, Implementation (3I Biofuels Lab)

*The Zhang Lab*
Home Biography Research Members Publications Activities News Awards Contact	Our Vision of Future Transportation and Energy Storage Human beings have passed through the transportation energy transitions from animal forces, steam engines to liquid fuel internal combustion engines. In the future, we will enter an age of the hydrogen/electricity systems because of their unique high energy utilization efficiency and no pollution. A number of factors are important for eveluating feasibilities of future transportation energy: (1) costs ($/MJ), (2) storage density (MJ/kg and MJ/L), (3) distribution facilities (availability and construction costs), (4) resource sufficiency, (5) sustainability, (6) independence, (7) scalability, (8) greenness, and (9) overall energy efficiency (from wells to wheels). The hydrogen economy provides great promises but there are five obstacles -- production, storage, distribution, utilizations in fuel cells, as well as safety concern. We have attempted to compare several hydrogen economy paradigms as below, A clear conclusion can be drawn -- use of renewable carbohydrates as a hydrogen carrier (14.8 mass%) could be best solution for our future transportation. This technology also once solve four obstacles to the hydrogen economy -- production, storage, distribution, and safety. The right figure presents a conceptual primary battery based on our invention -- a combination of sugar storage container, complete sugar conversion, and PEM fuel cells. The new power storage device will have > 10 fold energy density based on weight than any battery. For example, it has ~20 fold energy density of lithium ion battery and > 100 fold of lead-acid battery. We also envision to put this power generation into vehicle to replace gasoline or diesel internal combustion engines. Since the sugar-hydrogen-fuel cell system has more higher energy conversion efficiency, it is estimated that 1 kg of polymeric carbohydrate can generate mechanical energy output similar to 1.12 kg of gasoline or 0.88 kg of diesel. The future vehicles powered by sugars is presented above in (MIT) Technology Review -- Running Cars on Hydrogen Made from Starch (5/25/07). We also compare a number of possible methods converting energy resources to mechanical energy below. Obviously, biomass-hydrogen-fuel cell system will have the highest energy utilization efficiency. Considering lowest cost of carbohydrate ($/GJ), we believe that carbohydrate-hydrogen-fuel cell system will have great development potentials. If the US replaces 30% of transportation fuels by biofuels in 2030 as proposed by the DOE, the same amount of biomass can promise 100% of transportation fuels independance based on our new technology !!! If you are interested in our technology transfer (lignocellulose fractionation and enzymatic hydrogen production), please feel free to contact me or VTIP. Imagination, Innovation, Implementation (3I Biofuels Lab)