NEWS
TECHNOLOGYSPOTLIGHT
Advances in technology across industry
Hydrogen storage solution C
ella Energy, a spinout company from STFC, has developed a cheap, safe and practical way of storing hydrogen that means it is no longer necessary to use high pressure tanks. Hydrogen, which produces only water when burned, is considered an ideal solution to cutting carbon emissions from road vehicles. The technology underpinning Cella Energy was developed by scientists from STFC’s ISIS neutron source working with the London Centre for Nanotechnology at University College London and the University of Oxford. Cella Energy’s solution uses a low-cost process called coaxial electrospinning or electrospraying. This traps a complex chemical hydride inside a nano-porous polymer, speeds up
the kinetics of hydrogen desorption, reduces the temperature at which the desorption occurs and filters out many if not all of the damaging chemicals. It also protects the hydrides from oxygen and water, making it possible to handle it in air. The coaxial electrospinning process that Cella uses is simple and industrially scalable. It can be used to create micron scale micro-fibres or micro-beads nano-porous polymers filled with the chemical hydride. Cella believes that this technology can produce an inexpensive, compound material that can be handled safely in air, operates at low pressures and temperatures and has sufficiently high hydrogen concentration and rapid desorption kinetics to be useful for transport applications Visit: www.cellaenergy.com
Making rocket fuel using an ancient recipe
A
nammox is a bacterium full of scientific surprises. Microbiologists from Radboud University Nijmegen have now demonstrated how the bacteria makes the rocket fuel hydrazine by means of an ancient evolutionary pathway. Anammox bacteria feed on ammonium (NH4+) and convert this into nitrogen gas without the need for oxygen. When that discovery came to light it caused a revolution within the world of microbiology and the bacterium is still revealing amazing secrets. When its genome was unravelled in 2006, Nijmegen professor of microbiology Mike Jetten predicted that the bacteria could produce hydrazine, which is used as a rocket fuel. Now his group has confirmed this prediction and it has also discovered which proteins are responsible
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for the production of this highly reactive fuel from ammonium and nitrogen monoxide. Mike Jetten: “Proving this was quite a feat. We had to deploy a range of new experimental methods. In the end we managed to isolate the protein complex responsible for hydrazine production, a beautifully red mixture! “NASA was initially curious on hearing that we could make rocket fuel from nitrogen compounds, as these occur in large quantities in urine. However, only small quantities are produced; nothing like enough to get a rocket to Mars. Now we are accurately determining the crystal structure of the protein complex. Perhaps we can improve the production process if we have a better understanding of how the protein complex fits together.” Contact: m.jetten@science.ru.nl
Wärtsilä successfully tests new gas engine technology
W
ärtsilä, the marine industry's leading solutions provider, has successfully tested its new low-speed gas engine technology in trials conducted at the company's facilities in Trieste, Italy. Wärtsilä successfully demonstrated that the engine performance fully complies with the upcoming IMO Tier III nitrogen oxide (NOx) limits, thereby setting a new benchmark for low-speed engines running on gas. The use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a marine fuel is widely seen as being the most realistic means of reducing the marine industry's environmental footprint. When operating in gas mode, vessel emissions of nitrogen oxide (NOx), sulphur oxide (SOx), carbon dioxide (CO2), and particle matter are heavily reduced. At the same time, LNG fuel is often found to be more competitively priced than conventional liquid fuels, thus enabling ship owners and operators to achieve important operational cost savings. “The decision to initiate this project was announced in February 2011, just seven months ago. The fact that we have already conducted a successful test shows that our gas engine technology is at the forefront of meeting the future needs of shipping, a future that stipulates more stringent environmental regulation,” says Lars Anderson, vice-president, Wärtsilä Ship Power Merchant. Visit: www.wartsila.com
