CleanBeta

Brown Hydrogen Fuel Cells Become A Reality

Waste water that is flushed down the toilet may not seem useful to many people, but the Orange County Sanitation District is taking a different approach.  On June 7, the Edmonton Journal published an article indicating that federal and state research grants have been provided to the Orange County Sanitation District to operate an experimental fuel-cell generator, built by FuelCell Energy Inc. and Air Products & Chemicals Inc., in an effort to convert sewage into automobile-friendly hydrogen fuel-cells.  In addition to producing 250 kilowatts of electricity for the grid, the fuel-cell generator is capable of filling up 50 hydrogen fuel-cell cars per day.  Organic waste produces large amounts of methane gas as it decomposes.  The generator works by splitting hydrogen off of each methane molecule that is produced by large amounts of such waste. 

As with most forms of clean technology, there is controversy over the efficiency of hydrogen fuel-cells and the technique used to harvest hydrogen from methane.  The fuel-cell generator produces electricity in a cleaner way than combusting methane to spin a turbine, but it is more expensive and the process may only slightly reduce carbon emissions.  Regardless, Air Products & Chemicals Inc. plans to build more efficient fuel-cell generators that can fill more cars and produce several megawatts of electricity as state and federal laws steadily require more hydrogen fuel-cell cars on the road.  What a great way to use something we don’t really want around anyway!