Cambridge University researchers have developed a new “artificial leaf” that uses sunlight, carbon dioxide and water to directly generate “syngas,” without releasing additional CO2 into the atmosphere. As the Cambridge team reported, ‘Syngas is currently made from a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, and is used to produce a range of commodities, such as fuels, pharmaceuticals, plastics and fertilizers.” Other “leaves” have been devised, perhaps the most famous being that of Daniel Nocera, formerly at MIT and now at Harvard University. He was among the first and at the time, most successful, or the leaf producers. Note the next step he proposes at the end of the short video. Professor Erwin Reisner from Cambridge’s Department of Chemistry has been working for seven years on achieving Nocera’s desire to directly produce fuel from the elements. “You may not have heard of syngas itself but every day, you consume products that were created using it. Being able to produce it sustainably …
Making Hydrogen at Ambient Temperature with Biomass
Hydrogen would be a nearly perfect fuel if it didn’t take more energy to extract it than you can get out of it. Scientists have been working for years to isolate it in an economical fashion. The most common element in the universe, hydrogen makes up 10 percent of the weight of living things here on earth – mainly in water, proteins and fats. Its bonds in water make it pervasive, but still distant. Obtaining it can be as simple as the video below. But the short bursts derived from this approach will exhaust the battery and not provide as much energy in return. Waste Not, Want Not Ironically, much of the earth’s other resources, more easily gained, are wasted in our society’s rush to consume. Recent reports show that up to a third of the food produced today goes to waste. Huge quantities of biomass could seemingly be put to good use rather than adding to the methane that …