Hydrogen production from inexhaustible supplies of fresh and salt water using microbial reverse-electrodialysis electrolysis cells
From the abstract at
There is a tremendous source of entropic energy available from the salinity difference between river water and seawater, but this energy has yet to be efficiently captured and stored. Here we demonstrate that H2 can be produced in a single process by capturing the salinity driven energy along with organic matter degradation using exoelectrogenic bacteria. [...] These results show that pure H2 gas can efficiently be produced from virtually limitless supplies of seawater and river water, and biodegradable organic matter.
BBC News report "Harvesting 'limitless' hydrogen from self-powered cells" by Mark KinverEnvironment:
"[...] the technology [is] still in its infancy, which [is] one of the reasons why it [is] not being exploited commercially. [...] It is a new technology and it could be used, but right now it is probably a little expensive. So the question is, can we bring down the cost?"
19.10.2011, 11:00