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Non-Tech : Alternative energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jerry in Omaha who wrote (383)	12/11/2001 5:14:53 PM
From: Snowshoe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 16955

Chrysler Offers Fuel Cell Van with Soapy Twist dailynews.yahoo.com By Justin Hyde Tuesday December 11 2:20 PM ET DETROIT (Reuters) - A chemical cousin of laundry detergent could make clean-running cars and trucks a reality, if a new fuel cell concept vehicle from the Chrysler side of DaimlerChrysler AG proves its worth. Chrysler said its Natrium concept minivan pairs a hydrogen powered fuel cell with a novel fuel storage system that uses borax, the active ingredient in many detergents. The setup offers a way around some vexing problems that have hindered the development of hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles, which hold the promise of pollution-free transportation. ``The most important unresolved issue with fuel cell vehicles is not the fuel cell -- it's the fuel,'' said Thomas Moore, head of Chrysler's Liberty research and development group, in a statement released Tuesday. Fuel cells use hydrogen to produce electricity with only heat and water as byproducts. Automakers are spending billions of dollars on the theory that fuel cells will eventually replace polluting internal combustion engines as power sources in cars and trucks. But most automakers have also said it would be at least a decade before fuel-cell vehicles are common, in part because of the problems with storing and using highly flammable hydrogen. Concepts from General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and several other companies either use ``reformers'' to extract hydrogen from liquid fuels or try to store pure hydrogen in large, high-pressure tanks. Both methods have drawbacks in cost, weight and size. Reformers require either gasoline or methanol, and produce some pollution on their own. And the driving range of fuel cell concept vehicles so far has been about half or less of similar production vehicles. To solve those problems, Chrysler's system stores hydrogen in sodium borohydride powder, which is nonflammable and nontoxic. After mixing with water, the solution is passed through a catalyst which separates the hydrogen gas and leaves only sodium boride, or borax, as a residue. The borax can then be recycled into sodium borohydride. Unlike gasoline, the chemicals in Chrysler's system are readily available in North America and much of the world. A tank of sodium borohydride solution about the size of a regular gas tank can power the concept vehicle about 300 miles -- much further than other fuel-cell vehicles. There are several problems Chrysler hasn't solved yet, the major one being how to deliver the chemicals and recycle borax once it's used. Chrysler and its partner on the Natrium, Millennium Cell Inc., said they also needed to develop a better method for putting hydrogen back into the chemicals; the current process uses natural gas and produces some pollution. Chrysler said the Natrium would be provided later next year as a test vehicle to the California Fuel Cell Partnership, a government and industry joint venture aimed at testing fuel cell vehicles and speeding their development.