Hydrogen Research Will Lead to New Breed of Automobile
UA Researchers Named to Presidential Research Initiative
Dr. Anthony J. Arduengo, Saxon professor of Chemistry, Dr. David A. Dixon, Ramsay professor of chemistry, and Dr. Joseph Thrasher, professor and chemistry department chair, stand in front of Shelby Hall.
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by Elizabeth M. Smith
The record rise of gasoline prices during 2004 underscored for consumers a need scientists have been interested in for some time — the search for alternative fuel sources. The University of Alabama is on the cutting edge of that search and is working toward innovative solutions to make hydrogen-powered cars and trucks a reality.
As part of President George W. Bush's Hydrogen Research Initiative, the Capstone has been named a partner in a Grand Challenge Center for Chemical Hydrogen Storage. The benefits of hydrogen and fuel cell technology will be cleaner air, economic growth and less dependence on foreign oil.
The Center, led by Los Alamos National Laboratory and co-led by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, requested $6 million in funding annually for five years. It is part of Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham's recently announced $350 million in science and research projects, which represents nearly one-third of the president's $1.2 billion commitment in research funding to bring hydrogen and fuel cell technology from the laboratory to the showroom. UA's share will be at least $250,000 a year for five years.
Dr. Anthony J. Arduengo, Saxon Professor of Chemistry, and Dr. David A. Dixon, Ramsay Professor of Chemistry and formerly of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, are the principal investigators with Dr. Joseph Thrasher, professor and chemistry department chair, serving as the co-principal investigator on the project.
All three UA scientists are known internationally for their research. For this project, Arduengo's focus will be on synthesizing new compounds capable of taking up and releasing hydrogen on demand; Dixon will study the energetics of hydrogen storage systems and help design molecules that will provide maximum hydrogen storage capacity per unit weight by using advanced computational methods; and Thrasher's work will seek out materials to manage heat exchange during hydrogen uptake and release and that provide for effective hydrogen transport.
"We want to be able to develop a working prototype fairly early in the project," Arduengo says. "It may not be the optimal system, but it will allow us to address not only the fundamental problems of hydrogen storage, hydrogen transport and heat transport but also the questions of system integration. The research all three of us are leading will move along hand-in-hand." |
