VATIS UPDATE: Non-conventional Energy Jul-Sep 2012 1

Vol. 2 No. 114 Jul - Sep 2012

ISSN 0971-5630
Non-con Non-con
Non-con Non-con Non-conv v
v vventional entional
entional entional entional Ener Ener
Ener Ener Energ g
g ggy y
y yy
VATI S UPDATE
Highlights
Spinach gives a boost to biohybrid solar cells
Making offshore wind turbines more efficient
New testing system for wave energy technology
Magnesium-air fuel cell developed
Hydrogen production using cheap catalyst
Fermentation process doubles biofuel production
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Apprise yourself with the latest technological innovations
2 VATIS UPDATE: Non-conventional Energy Jul-Sep 2012
The shaded areas of the map indicate ESCAP members and associate members
The Asian and Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology (APCTT), a subsidiary
body of ESCAP, was established on 16 July 1977 with the objectives: to assist the
members and associate members of ESCAP through strengthening their capabilities to
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Cover Photo
Heliatek has built a Tandem organic solar cell with
10.7 per cent efficiency (see page 8 for details).
(Credit: Heliatek GmbH, Germany)
VATIS UPDATE: Non-conventional Energy Jul-Sep 2012 3
Vol. 2 No. 114 Jul - Sep 2012
I N I N I N I N I N THE THE THE THE THE NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS 4 44 44
India to go for 30 GW renewable capacity addition Sri Lanka to
provide renewable energy to four North islands Pakistan can produce
150,000 MW of wind energy China dominates renewable energy
market Philippines starts accepting RE project proposals
Indonesia raises price of renewables for electricity US$65 million
fund for renewable energy in Southeast Asia Sri Lanka doubles wind
power capacity Record trade in renewable energy certificates on IEX
China expands its on-grid wind power capacity Malaysia aims for
5.5 per cent renewable energy share
SOLAR SOLAR SOLAR SOLAR SOLAR ENERGY ENERGY ENERGY ENERGY ENERGY 7 77 77
Highly transparent solar cells for windows Record-breaking PV
cells developed New solar panel to double solar system efficiency
Spinach gives a boost to biohybrid solar cells New world record
efficiency for organic tandem solar cell
WI ND WI ND WI ND WI ND WI ND ENERGY ENERGY ENERGY ENERGY ENERGY 9 99 99
Airborne wind power system Compressed air wind turbine
Making offshore wind turbines more efficient Balancing the bolting
load of wind turbines Bladeless wind turbines double energy efficiency
WAVE/ TI DAL WAVE/ TI DAL WAVE/ TI DAL WAVE/ TI DAL WAVE/ TI DAL ENERGY ENERGY ENERGY ENERGY ENERGY 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Cheaper commercial power from ocean waves New testing system
for wave energy technology Power flows from the ocean waves
Wave energy technology produces cheap power CoRMaT tidal
current turbine to be tested A new wave energy device prototype
Worlds first community-owned tidal turbine
FUEL FUEL FUEL FUEL FUEL CELLS CELLS CELLS CELLS CELLS 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 3
Towards long-life hydrogen fuel cells New fuel cell keeps going
after the hydrogen runs out Magnesium-air fuel cell developed
New hydrogen-powered fuel cell system Superior fuel cell material
developed
HYDROGEN HYDROGEN HYDROGEN HYDROGEN HYDROGEN ENERGY ENERGY ENERGY ENERGY ENERGY 1 5 1 5 1 5 1 5 1 5
Single catalyst for oxidation and reduction of water Hydrogen
production using cheap catalyst Patent for plasma-arc-through
technology
BI OFUEL/ BI OMASS BI OFUEL/ BI OMASS BI OFUEL/ BI OMASS BI OFUEL/ BI OMASS BI OFUEL/ BI OMASS ENERGY ENERGY ENERGY ENERGY ENERGY 1 6 1 6 1 6 1 6 1 6
Fermentation process doubles biofuel production Economically
viable fuel production Major step in electricity generation from
wastewater Biofuel waste product recycled for electricity A process
that could improve biofuel production
RECENT RECENT RECENT RECENT RECENT PUBLI CATI ONS PUBLI CATI ONS PUBLI CATI ONS PUBLI CATI ONS PUBLI CATI ONS 1 8 1 8 1 8 1 8 1 8
TECH TECH TECH TECH TECH EVENTS EVENTS EVENTS EVENTS EVENTS 1 8 1 8 1 8 1 8 1 8
VATIS* Update
Non-conventional Energy
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Mr. Nanjundappa Srinivasan
Dr. Satyabrata Sahu
Dr. Krishnan Srinivasaraghavan
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CONTENTS
4 VATIS UPDATE: Non-conventional Energy Jul-Sep 2012
IN THE NEWS
India to go for
30 GW renewable
capacity addition
India is expected to see renewable
energy capacity addition of 30,000
MW, with significant contribution from
wind power, over the coming five
years. Mr. Tarun Kapoor, Joint Sec-
retary at the Ministry of New and
Renewable Energy (MNRE), noted
recently, At the end of 12
th
Five Year
Plan (2012-2017), the country is ex-
pected to have total renewable en-
ergy generation capacity of 55,000
MW. At present, India has a renew-
able energy generation capacity of
about 25,000 MW.
Of the projected 30,000 MW capa-
city addition, around 15,000 MW will
be from wind power. According to
Mr. Kapoor, there are certain issues
such as the financial health of
power distribution companies and
availability of transmission lines for
renewable energy projects that
need resolution. Amid severe power
shortage in the country, there is in-
creased focus on generating elec-
tricity from renewable sources like
wind, solar and hydro to bring down
the demand supply gap. Presently,
India has an installed power gener-
ation capacity of around 200 GW.
Source: articles.
economictimes.indiatimes.com
Sri Lanka to provide
renewable energy to
four North islands
Four islands in Sri Lankas Northern
Province Delft, Nainativu, Anali-
tivu and Elivativu that do not have
access to the national electricity
grid will be provided electricity via
renewable energy, according to the
Ministry of Power and Energy. The
proposed renewable energy projects
will be completed in 2013, with fund-
ing support from the government of
the Republic of Korea. The Minister
of Power and Energy Mr. Champika
Ranawaka and the ambassador of
the Republic of Korea made a joint
inspection tour to the four islands
recently.
On completion, the project is expec-
ted to provide electricity to 2,967
families living in the four islands and
also power to operate a garment fac-
tory located in one of the Islands.
The garment factory, which employs
more than 100 workers, is currently
run using diesel power generators.
Source: www.news360.lk
Pakistan can produce
150,000 MW of wind
energy
A recent United States Agency for
International Development (USAID)
report states that Pakistan has the
potential of producing approxima-
tely 150,000 MW of wind energy,
which can fetch around US$2 bil-
lion in investments. Official esti-
mates had put the countrys solar
and wind energy generation poten-
tial at 143,000 MW. Pakistan is cur-
rently developing wind power plants
in Jhimpir, Gharo, Keti Bandar and
Bin Qasim in Sindh, which will not
only reduce electricity shortages
but also help ease the burden of oil
imports costing the national excheq-
uer over US$12 billion annually.
The wind speed in the Sindh cor-
ridor is between 7.5m/s and 7.7m/
s, as compared with the fair wind
speed of between 6.2 m/s and 6.9
ms/ in most parts of the world. The
national government has plans to
achieve up to 2,500 MW from wind
energy by the end of 2015. Work
on Zorlu wind energy power project
in Jhimpir with a 50 MW generation
capacity will start trial production
soon. The Alternative Energy Dev-
elopment Board (AEDB) of Pakis-
tan recently approved the New Park
Energy Phase-I, a 400 MW wind
project located near Port Qasim.
Source: www.thenews.com.pk
China dominates
renewable energy
market
According to the most recent Global
Renewable Energy Country Attrac-
tiveness Indices (CAI) report, China
will continue to dominate the global
renewable energy market during the
current decade. The country has
quadrupled its solar capacity target
to 50 GW by 2020. While China is
at the top of All Renewable Index
(ARI), the country will have to over-
come some challenges including
over-supply of wind turbines and
solar panels as well as solve a
number of grid transmission issues
to reach its goal.
The score of the United States is
going down, with the country drop-
ping 1.5 points to share in second
position with Germany. The decline
was caused by ongoing uncertainty
in the United States long-term en-
ergy strategy and failure to indicate
whether there would be an exten-
sion to the Production Tax Credit for
wind projects. The rise in Germanys
score results from the governments
approach to addressing barriers to
offshore wind development and sta-
bility in its solar market. Germany
is pushing ahead with its ambitious
renewable energy agenda, includ-
ing the introduction of a new solar
photovoltaic tariff and compensation
for offshore grid connection delays,
explains Mr. Gil Forer, Global Clean-
tech Leader at Ernst & Young, the
United Kingdom.
Next on the leader board is India,
which fell one point owing to recent
severe blackouts causing specula-
tion that the country has not attrac-
ted enough private investment to
modernize its power infrastructure.
VATIS UPDATE: Non-conventional Energy Jul-Sep 2012 5
In the News
There are worries that the invest-
ments in renewable energy will also
suffer because of the unreliability
of power grid. Rounding out the top
five is the United Kingdom, which
overtook Italy, the standing of which
fell due to worsening economic con-
ditions in that country. However, the
United Kingdom seems to be in the
turbulent boat with the consensus
that policy and subsidy announce-
ments have fallen short of estab-
lishing transparency, certainty and
longevity within the market.
Source: domesticfuel.com
Philippines starts
accepting RE project
proposals
The Department of Energy (DoE) of
the Philippines is accepting appli-
cations from renewable energy (RE)
developers seeking an allocation
from the limited 760 MW installa-
tion target, said Energy Secretary
Mr. Jose Rene D. Almendras. Only
those projects that receive an allo-
cation from this installation target
which refers to the total capacity
of renewable energy projects per-
mitted to be constructed within a
three-year period will be subject
to the feed-in-tariff (FiT) rates.
The eligibility criteria will be able to
narrow down the list of RE devel-
opers who will be allowed to put up
their projects and avail of the FiT
rate, especially since DoE has al-
ready awarded 305 service contracts
for RE projects that have a combined
potential capacity of 5,505 MW
more than seven times the 760 MW
installation target. Under the cur-
rent installation target, 250 MW has
been allocated for hydropower pro-
jects, 250 MW for biomass, 50 MW
for solar, 200 MW for wind power
and 10 MW for ocean power.
Ms. Marissa P. Cerezo, Assistant
Director and Officer-in-Charge of
DoEs Renewable Energy Manage-
ment Bureau, however, said that
the details and procedures for the
eligibility criteria need to be thresh-
ed out. Ms. Cerezo added that the
Bureau is targeting to finalize the
criteria before end of 2012. DoE has
also yet to discuss how to allocate
the limited capacity in case there
is an oversubscription for a particu-
lar RE resource.
Source: business.inquirer.net
Indonesia raises
price of renewables
for electricity
The Indonesian government has an-
nounced that it will raise the price
of three types of renewable ener-
gies for electricity needs, saying the
move is necessary to encourage
Indonesias overall renewable ener-
gy production. Deputy Energy and
Mineral Resources Minister Mr. Rudi
Rubiandini stated that state elec-
tricity company Perusahaan Listrik
Negara (PLN) must now pay more
for electricity produced by biomass,
geothermal and hydro power plants.
The price of geothermal electricity
is now between US$0.100-0.185 per
kWh from the previous US$0.09 per
kWh. Biomass electricity was re-
cently priced up to Rp 1,050 (US$
0.108) per kWh from the previous
Rp 656 (US$ 0.067) per kWh. The
new tariffs have been specified in
a ministerial regulation recently is-
sued by the Energy and Mineral
Resources Ministry. The Ministry
is presently drafting another regula-
tion that will increase the price of
hydro electricity from Rp 656 per
kWh to up to Rp 1,050 per kWh,
the exact price varying depending
on the locations of the power plants
and other factors.
The Minister added that raising the
prices was expected to make renew-
able energy projects more luring to
investors, thus hopefully increasing
the number of renewable projects,
allowing the government to meet its
2025 renewable energy target. In-
donesia is targeting to increase the
portion of electricity generated from
renewable energies to 17 per cent
of the total electricity produced by
2025. The figure currently stands at
5.7 per cent, far below the 49.7 per
cent of electricity produced from
fuel-fired power plants, 24.5 per cent
from coal and 20.1 per cent from gas
power plants.
Source: www.thejakartaglobe.com
US$65 million fund
for renewable energy
in Southeast Asia
Armstrong South East Asia Clean
Energy Fund, Singapore, has stated
that it has closed on US$65 million
in funding to support investments
in solar, wind and small hydro tech-
nology in Southeast Asia. The fund-
ing round was led by the Global
Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy Fund (GEEREF), Luxem-
bourg, and Deutsche Investitions-
und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH
(DEG), Germany. Armstrong is tar-
geting a total fund size of US$150
million, which it will use to provide
early-stage capital to renewable
energy developers in Thailand, In-
donesia, Malaysia and other emer-
ging markets.
To date the team has originated a
strong pipeline of potential deals
and detailed negotiations are under-
way. We are hopeful of completing
one to two key deals soon. Small-
scale solar and mini-hydro are two
priority sub-sectors the team is cur-
rently focused on, said Armstrong
Asset Management Managing Part-
ner Mr. Andrew Affleck. Armstrong
expects a second close of the fund
by the end of 2012, with a third and
final close due by July 2013. The
6 VATIS UPDATE: Non-conventional Energy Jul-Sep 2012
In the News
fund intends to make 10-15 invest-
ment deals, ranging from US$5 mil-
lion to US$12 million over 10 years.
The fund will focus on projects less
than 10 MW in size, and Armstrong
says a salient feature of the invest-
ment strategy is aggregating multi-
ple small-scale operational project
assets in attractive portfolios, reali-
zing investments upon trade-sales.
Source: www.solarserver.com
Sri Lanka doubles
wind power capacity
Sri Lanka has doubled its genera-
tion capacity in wind power with the
addition of three new parks, accord-
ing to the nations Ministry of Power
and Energy. The Ministrys spokes-
person said that three farms of 10
MW each were connected to the
grid recently. The plants, located in
Puttalam district in northwestern
Kaplitiya, were built at a cost of SL
Rs 7.2 billion (US$54.6 million) and
will sell their power to the state-run
Sri Lanka Electricity Board. The
project owners are Daily Life Re-
newable, Nirmalapura Wind Power
and PowerGen Lanka.
Sri Lanka, which has a total power
generation capacity of 3,120 MW,
has set a target of getting 20 per
cent of its power from renewable
sources by 2020, including 400 MW
of wind capacity. It plans to add
another 10 MW of wind by the end
of the year.
Source: www.bloomberg.com
Record trade in
renewable energy
certificates on IEX
India Energy Exchange (IEX) saw
a record trading figure of renewable
energy certificates (RECs) in its 16
th
trading session in August 2012. Of
the 568,097 RECs that were avail-
able for sale, 248,165 RECs were
issued the highest issuance for
any month till date at Rs 1,500
(US$28) per REC, down from Rs
2,402 (US$45) per REC in the pre-
vious month. In the solar REC seg-
ment, IEX received buy bids of 1,728
RECs and sale bids of 310 RECs.
Of the sale bids, 129 RECs were
cleared at Rs 12,850 (US$238) per
REC.
IEX is one of the major power ex-
changes of the country. RECs are
generation-based certificates issued
to the power producers using renew-
able source of energy like wind, so-
lar, hydro and biomass. Solar RECs
are for solar power producers while
non-solar ones are for all other re-
newable energy sources. RECs,
held in electronic demat form, are
given to producers who do not wish
to sell the electricity produced at
preferential tariff.
Source: articles.
economictimes.indiatimes.com
China expands its
on-grid wind power
capacity
Chinas wind power sector has wit-
nessed substantial growth, with the
countrys on-grid wind power capa-
city exceeding 50 GW, according
to the State Grid, Chinas largest
utility company. On-grid wind power
capacity under State Grids distribu-
tion has reached 50.26 GW as of
2012, indicating an annual growth
rate of 87 per cent for the last six
years. However, the regional concen-
tration of wind resources and tech-
nical obstacles has prevented the
efficient utilization of wind power,
the company said.
Mr. Zhang Zhengling, spokesper-
son for the State Grid, said Chinas
wind energy utilization has reached
a relatively high level following a
string of measures to monitor and
adjust use of the energy. In 2011,
power generated from wind totalled
70.6 billion kWh, about 28 times the
amount generated in 2006. However,
linking regional power networks to
the national power grid remains a
stumbling block for the growth of
the sector, Mr. Zhang said.
The key problem is that regional
connections are still weak, and there
is not yet a unified national market
and corresponding grid network,
said Mr. Shu Yinbiao, Deputy Man-
ager of the State Grid. China needs
to speed up the construction of trans-
regional power grids to meet its new
energy development goals, Mr. Shu
said. Chinas on-grid wind power
capacity is expected to reach 100
GW by 2015 and 200 GW by 2020.
Source: www.chinadaily.com.cn
Malaysia aims for 5.5
per cent renewable
energy share
With a goal to achieve 40 per cent
cut in carbon emissions by 2020,
the Malaysian government plans to
raise the share of renewable energy
in the total energy mix to 5.5 per
cent by 2015, the Malaysian Prime
Minister Mr. Najib Razak has stated.
The government had created support
mechanisms and launched a feed-
in-tariff scheme which pays a pre-
mium rate for generating electricity
through renewable sources, said
Mr. Razak. According to him, renew-
able energy would get investments
worth M$70 billion (US$23 billion)
and support 50,000 jobs by 2020.
It will also avoid 42.2 million tonnes
of carbon emissions, about a 40 per
cent reduction, which I promised at
the Copenhagen Climate Confer-
ence, he added during his keynote
address at the official opening of
the third International Greentech
and Eco Products Exhibition and
Conference Malaysia (IGEM 2012).
Source: cleantechnica.com
VATIS UPDATE: Non-conventional Energy Jul-Sep 2012 7
SOLAR ENERGY
Highly transparent
solar cells for
windows
In the United States, researchers
at the University of California-Los
Angeles (UCLA) have developed a
transparent solar cell that could be
used on windows, building and lap-
tops to generate electricity while still
allowing people to see through. The
polymer solar cell (PSC) that the
UCLA team has developed produces
energy by absorbing mainly infrared
(IR) light, not visible light, making
the cells nearly 70 per cent transpa-
rent to the human eye. The device
was made from a photoactive plastic
that converts IR light into an elec-
trical current. Our new PSCs are
made from plastic-like materials and
are lightweight and flexible, said
study leader Professor Yang Yang,
who is also the Director of Nano Re-
newable Energy Centre at Califor-
nia NanoSystems Institute (CNSI).
More importantly, they can be pro-
duced in high volume at low cost,
he added.
The research team from CNSI, the
UCLA Henry Samueli School of En-
gineering and Applied Science and
the UCLA Department of Chemistry
and Biochemistry has demonstra-
ted the high-performance and visibly
transparent polymer solar cells via
the incorporation of near-IR (NIR)
light-sensitive polymer and using
silver nanowire composite films as
the top transparent electrode. The
NIR photoactive polymer absorbs
more NIR light but is less sensitive
to visible light, balancing solar cell
performance and transparency in the
visible wavelength region. Another
breakthrough is the transparent con-
ductor made of a mixture of silver
nanowire and titanium dioxide nano-
particles, which was able to replace
the opaque metal electrode used in
the past. This composite electrode
also permits the solar cells to be
fabricated economically by solution
processing. With this combination,
4 per cent power-conversion effici-
ency for solution-processed and vi-
sibly transparent polymer solar cells
has been achieved.
Source: newsroom.ucla.edu
Record-breaking
PV cells developed
Researchers at IBM Corporation, the
United States, along with partners
from Solar Frontier, Japan, Tokyo
Ohka Kogyo, Japan, and DelSolar,
Taiwan Province of China, have dev-
eloped an efficient and affordable
photovoltaic (PV) cell. The new PV
cell has broken the world record for
PV solar-to-electric power conver-
sion efficiency using earth-abundant
materials. The materials sciences
team from IBM wanted to create a
technology that combined the virtues
of being highly efficient, cheaply
scalable and uses easily-available
materials. Made from copper, zinc
and tin sulphide and referred to as
CZTS, the thin-film device achieved
11.1 per cent solar-to-electric power
conversion efficiency a world re-
cord for solar PV cells composed of
earth-abundant materials and 10
per cent better than any previous
such device. The cell can also be
made using simple ink-based tech-
niques such as printing or casting.
Currently, the most widespread PV
semiconductors, made of crystal-
line silicon, are abundant and very
efficient. However, their material
purity requirement is an extremely
high >99.9999 per cent, and they
are expensive and difficult to scale
up. The other thin-film chalcogenide
materials utilized in PV cells have
compounds that contain rare and
expensive elements that increase
cost and limit their manufacturing
levels to less than 100 GW per year.
IBMs CZTS PV cells could poten-
tially yield up to 500 GW/year, which
is about one-thirtieth of the renew-
able electricity the planet needs.
Source:
ibmresearchnews.blogspot.in
New solar panel to
double solar system
efficiency
A research team from the Univer-
sity of Arizona, the United States,
has developed a novel solar panel
that may be a precursor to highly
efficient solar energy systems. The
solar panel, which is based on old
telescope technology and the solar
panels that are often used aboard
spacecraft and satellites, is claimed
to offer double the efficiency seen
in conventional solar energy tech-
nologies. The researchers are also
developing a tracking system that
will follow the trajectory of the sun
to ensure that the solar panel is
constantly exposed to sunlight.
The new solar panel makes use of a
dish-shaped mirror that is installed
at its foundation. The mirror concen-
trates solar rays, making photons
more available for conversion into
electricity. The researchers chose
to use mirrors because of the po-
tential to increase the efficiency of
the solar energy system they had
been developing. The solar panels
that collect the concentrated sun-
light are able to produce more electri-
city than conventional solar panels,
once again drawing attention to the
capabilities of concentrated solar
power systems. The research team
The PV cell developed by the
UCLA team is visibly transparent
8 VATIS UPDATE: Non-conventional Energy Jul-Sep 2012
Solar Energy
suggests that the energy system
will be capable of generating 10 GW
of electricity while the sun is out
on par with the electricity generated
from the Palo Verde Nuclear Power
Plant, the largest of its kind in the
United States.
Source:
www.hydrogenfuelnews.com
Spinach gives a
boost to biohybrid
solar cells
An interdisciplinary team of scien-
tists at Vanderbilt University in the
United States has developed a way
to combine the photosynthetic pro-
tein that converts light into elec-
trochemical energy in spinach with
silicon, the material used in solar
cells, in a fashion that produces sub-
stantially more electrical current
than has been reported for previous
biohybrid solar cells. This com-
bination produces current levels al-
most 1,000 times higher than we
were able to achieve by depositing
the protein on various types of met-
als. It also produces a modest in-
crease in voltage, said Mr. David
Cliffel, an associate professor of
chemistry, who collaborated on the
project with Mr. Kane Jennings, Pro-
fessor of chemical and biomolecu-
lar engineering. With the new design
Mr. Jennings estimates that a two-
foot panel could put out at least 100
mA at 1 V adequate to power a
number of different types of small
electric devices.
Scientists had earlier discovered that
Photosystem 1 (PS1) one of the
proteins involved in photosynthesis
extracted from plants like spinach
can convert sunlight into electricity
with nearly 100 per cent efficiency,
as compared with conversion effi-
ciencies of less than 40 per cent
achieved by artificial devices. Biohy-
brid cells that employ PS1 can be
made from cheap and readily avail-
able materials, unlike many micro-
electronic devices that require rare
and expensive materials like indium
or platinum. However, the amount
of power that these biohybrid cells
can produce per unit area has been
substantially lower than commer-
cial photovoltaic cells. In addition,
the performance of some early test
cells deteriorated after only a few
weeks. The Vanderbilt team, how-
ever, succeeded in working a PS1
cell for nine months with no fall in
performance. Their PS1/silicon com-
bination produced 850 A/cm
2
of
current at 0.3 V nearly two and a
half times more current than the best
level reported previously for a bio-
hybrid cell.
The reason this combo works well
is because the electrical properties
of the silicon substrate have been
tailored using p-doping to fit those
of the PS1 molecule. The research-
ers extracted PS1 from spinach into
an aqueous solution and poured
the mixture on the surface of a p-
doped silicon wafer. Then they put
the wafer in a vacuum chamber to
evaporate the water away, leaving
a film of protein. They found that the
optimum thickness was about 1 m,
about 100 PS1 molecules thick. The
p-doped silicon also eliminates the
problem of both positive and nega-
tive currents being produced simul-
taneously, thereby cancelling each
other out.
Source: phys.org
New world record
efficiency for organic
tandem solar cell
Heliatek GmbH, Germany, has set
a new world record for organic pho-
tovoltaic (OPV) cells with 10.7 per
cent cell efficiency on 1.1 cm
2
, con-
firming the superior low light and
high temperature performances of
OPV compared to traditional solar.
The key to the success is oligomers
a family of small organic molecules
developed and synthesized by
Heliatek. Our solar tandem cells
are made of nanometres thin layers
of high purity and uniformity. This
enables us to literally engineer the
cell architecture to systematically
improve efficiency and lifetime, ex-
plains Dr. Martin Pfeiffer, the Chief
Technical Officer and co-founder of
Heliatek.
Heliatek conducted efficiency mea-
surements under standard testing
conditions of the solar industry as
well as performance measurements
at low light and high temperatures
of up to 80C. The test results not
only set a new world record for OPV
with 10.7 per cent cell efficiency,
but also highlight the superior per-
formance of Heliateks OPV cells
under real life conditions. The mea-
surements for low light established
that the efficiency not only remains
constant, but even increases gradu-
ally. At an irradiation of 100 W/m
the efficiency is 15 per cent higher
than the standard efficiency mea-
sured at 1,000 W/m. The efficiency
remains constant at high tempera-
tures. This behaviour is unique for
OPV technology; in traditional solar
technology, efficiency drops 15-20
per cent at high temperatures.
These technology advantages trans-
late into a higher harvesting factor
under real life conditions. First out-
door tests have shown that the har-
vesting factor of Heliateks organic
solar cells is 15-25 per cent higher
than crystalline and thin film solar.
The company is currently working
on its first roll-to-roll manufacturing
line, which is to go in production in
the third quarter of 2012. Contact:
Dr. Martin Pfeiffer, Chief Technical
Officer, Heliatek GmbH, Treidler-
strae 3, 01139 Dresden, Germany.
Tel: + 49 (351) 2130 3430; E-mail:
martin.pfeiffer@heliatek.com; Web-
site: www.heliatek.com.
Source: www.prnasia.com
VATIS UPDATE: Non-conventional Energy Jul-Sep 2012 9
WIND ENERGY
Airborne wind power
system
At present, land-based tower wind
turbines are the dominant source
of wind power, but they take up a
lot of space and generally need to
be located in high visibility areas,
such as the tops of hills or ridges.
As they are also located close to
the ground, where friction from the
Earths surface slows the wind and
increases its turbulence, negatively
affecting the efficiency of the tur-
bines. At the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA),
the United States, engineers are
developing air-borne wind power sys-
tems, capable of generating much
more power.
There are two basic types of kite-
based wind energy systems. Flygen
systems see turbines built into the
kite that generate the electricity and
feed it via a tether to a storage or
distribution device on the ground.
The second features a ground-based
generator powered by the reeling out
of the tether as the kite catches the
wind. By tacking the kite upwind like
a sailboat, the periodic reeling-in
phase takes around 10 per cent less
energy than is produced by the reel-
ing-out phase, resulting in a 90 per
cent net energy gain. Both systems
rely on the aerodynamics of the kite
and autonomous flight control. It is
these two aspects of the technol-
ogy that NASA engineers are looking
to improve to help make air-borne
wind-energy systems a viable alter-
native to ground-based turbines.
The system developed by the NASA
researchers builds on the principle
that the blade tips of a wind turbine
generate as much as 90 per cent of
the turbines power because they
are farther from the hub and spin
faster than the rest of the blade. In
effect, placing a wind turbine at the
end of a tether allows the kite to
act as a flying blade tip. The plac-
ing also allows the system to har-
ness the faster and steadier winds
found at higher altitudes.
Mr. David North, an engineer, and his
colleagues at NASAs Langley Re-
search Centre achieved the worlds
first sustained autonomous flight of
a kite using only ground-based sen-
sors in March 2012. They achieved
the breakthrough using an inexpen-
sive digital webcam connected to
a laptop computer (located on the
ground) to track the motion of the
kite and keep it flying autonomous-
ly. So far, the teams test flights have
been restricted to low altitudes to
avoid interfering with aircrafts, but
they are trying to gain permission
to fly at 2,000 ft for long periods of
time in the airspace reserved for
NASA above Wallops Island, Virgi-
nia. Above 2,000 ft is considered
the sweet spot for air-borne wind
energy systems.
Source: www.gizmag.com
Compressed air
wind turbine
An 89-year-old World War II veteran
in Australia has developed a envi-
ronment friendly wind turbine that
he says can cut also the costs of
wind power. Mr. Raymond Green
states that his CWP Compressed
Air Enclosed Wind Turbine can be
manufactured in sizes from person-
al use portables to massive units
that can used in major wind farm
installations. All moving parts of the
turbine are internal the blades are
mounted behind the windsock and
inner compression cone. Mr. Green
says that other advantages include
a quieter and lighter-weight unit that
doesnt need to be mounted as high
as traditional wind turbines. Since
the turbine compresses the wind,
it can be placed lower to the ground,
allowing for safer installation and
easier maintenance, while at least
doubling the energy it creates, he
said.
A prototype wind turbine built by Mr.
Green weighs around 21 kg, has a
turbine diameter of 30 cm, a wind
sock opening 78 cm in diameter and
cost around US$550 to build. The
wind turbine design is such that it
doesnt harm birds and bats. Sigma
Design Co., the United States, has
been contracted to test, refine and
manufacture the turbine, which may
be commercially available within the
next two years.
Source:
www.energymatters.com.au
Making offshore
wind turbines more
efficient
A study at University of Cambridge,
the United Kingdom, suggests that
offshore wind farms could be 100
per cent more efficient in terms of
energy payback if manufacturers
embraced new methods for making
the structures that support the tur-
bines. Wind farms are increasingly
sited offshore rather than on land,
and installed at water depths of up
to 40 m. Mr. Jim Platts, an engineer
at the Institute for Manufacturing
(IfM) of the Cambridge University,
is urging the wind power industry
to look again at the design of the
heavy supporting towers and foun-
dations used out at sea in order to
improve the energy payback accom-
plished. Mr. Platts believes that the
wind power sector could achieve
significantly higher payback ratios
if turbine manufacturers used guyed
The kite-based wind energy
system developed by NASA
10 VATIS UPDATE: Non-conventional Energy Jul-Sep 2012
Wind Energy
towers made in composite materi-
als rather than free-standing towers
made in conventional steel.
A preliminary study undertaken at
IfM suggests that payback ratios for
offshore wind farms could be doubled
if the industry embraced new con-
struction methods. The effectiveness
of wind turbines is determined by
a key figure: the harvesting ratio
a measure of the energy it provides
set against the energy utilized in
manufacturing it. In wind turbine in-
stallations, the tower is usually con-
structed of steel and the foundation
in steel and concrete. For a turbine
designed for use on land, the en-
ergy embedded in the moving parts
forms two-thirds of the total energy
invested in the installation while the
supporting structure (tower + foun-
dation) represents the remaining
third. Onshore turbines typically
achieve a harvesting ratio of 40:1.
When wind turbines are sited off-
shore, the towers required are both
taller and heavier and the founda-
tions more massive, using up to four
times the amount of concrete and
steel materials that are highly en-
ergy-intensive to produce. Hence,
the harvesting ratio of offshore tur-
bines reduces to typically 15:1 far
lower than for on-shore turbines. On
top of this, off-shore turbines are
subject to corrosion, which reduces
the lifespan of the steel used.
A study by IfM suggests that guyed
towers offer significant advantages
over conventional towers. The use
of steel cables, fixed to the sea bed
by screw anchors, means that the
towers can be significantly slimmer
the tent-like guyed shape distri-
butes the loads more efficiently to
the seabed. Similarly, the founda-
tions required are substantially less
heavy. The resulting reduction in the
volume of steel and concrete need-
ed means that a harvesting ratio of
25:1 can be achieved. The second
step would be to manufacture tow-
ers in composite materials that are
less energy-intensive to make than
steel and also have a longer life.
Using these new materials could
increase the harvesting ratio still
further to 32:1 and extend the life-
time of a turbine installation to up to
60 years from the present 20 years,
claimed Mr. Platts.
Source: phys.org
Balancing the bolting
load of wind turbines
Mr. Mikel Abasolo, a researcher at
Faculty of Engineering of University
of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU),
Spain, has built a simplified simu-
lation model for wind turbines. All
one has to do is enter the character-
istics that the tower and its parts will
have, and in a matter of seconds the
model predicts the load that has to
be given to each of the bolts, which
facilitates construction and main-
tenance processes. Owing to their
great heights, wind turbine towers
are built in two or three parts and
are subsequently bolted together.
However, joining elements of such
dimensions and quantities of bolts
is very complex. All the bolts must
have the same load so that they all
work equally, but achieving this is
no easy task.
In an adjustment sequence, when
you tighten one bolt, the previous
ones lose part of their load, says
Mr. Abasolo. If, for example, in one
sequence a load of 100 points is as-
signed to all the bolts one by one,
by the end of the sequence most
of them will not remain the same
because when one is adjusted, the
previous ones lose load. Only a few
bolts will continue to have 100 points
while the rest will fall below that.
Therefore, to keep all the bolts at
the level of 100 points, one has to
adjust them a number of times. This
means a loss of time and money,
Mr. Abasolo points out.
The simplified model of Mr. Abasolo
can predict what load has to be ap-
portioned to each bolt at the mo-
ment of assembly, so that by the
end of the process the load ends
up being uniform. Data input into
the model include tube geometry,
the exterior and interior diameter,
the metrics and resistance of the
bolts or the final load required. The
results are output within seconds.
This model can be used for periodi-
cal maintenance tasks, such as re-
adjusting the load on bolts that have
loosened over time.
Source: www.sciencedaily.com
Bladeless wind
turbines double
energy efficiency
Conventional wind turbines work by
harnessing the kinetic energy of the
wind to spin propeller-type blades
at low torque. The blades rotate a
shaft connected to a generator that
makes electricity. While the process
is rather simple, it is not the most
efficient way of generating power.
Saphon Energy, Tunisia, believes
that it has a new technology that
can change that. The company has
developed Zero-Blade wind turbines
that do nor have the typical blades,
rotors or gearboxes.
The design is inspired by sailboats,
with turbine blades replaced by a
giant sail that harnesses the wind by
a back-and-forth motion. This kinetic
energy captured is converted into
mechanical energy using pistons,
thereby creating hydraulic pressure.
This pressure can either be stored
in a hydraulic accumulator or used
to make electricity via a hydraulic
motor and a generator. Saphon says
the technology is 2.3 times more
efficient than conventional wind tur-
bines and cuts costs by some 45
per cent.
Source: revmodo.com
VATIS UPDATE: Non-conventional Energy Jul-Sep 2012 11
WAVE/TIDAL ENERGY
Cheaper commercial
power from ocean
waves
Eco Wave Power (EWP), Israel, has
successfully demonstrated the con-
cept of producing cheaper electri-
city from ocean wave energy with
its inventions such as Power Wing
and Wave Clapper. The EWP con-
verters draw energy from wave power
throughout uniquely shaped buoys
that rise and fall with the up-and-
down motion, lifting force, change
of water level, hydraulic air lock and
incident flux of waves. The Wave
Clapper and the Power Wing are
equipped with sensors that conti-
nuously monitor the performance of
the various sub-systems and sur-
rounding ocean environment. As a
result, data transmission to shore
is in real time. In the event of up-
coming storms, the system auto-
matically recognizes the type of
waves, and independently decides
whether to raise the buoys over the
water level, or to create a process
of buoy submersion into the ocean,
in order to protect the system from
mechanical injuries. When the wave
heights return to normal, the system
unlocks and recommences energy
conversion and transmission of the
electrical power ashore.
The energy from motion of the floats
is delivered to shore by a subma-
rine cable. The on-shore machinery
a hydro pneumatic system con-
verts the energy from this motion
into fluid pressure, which is used
to spin a generator, producing elec-
tricity. One of the clear advantages
of the system is that only the buoys
and pistons are located in the water,
while all other equipment operate
on land, thereby improving reliabi-
lity and providing easy access for
maintenance and repair. The floats
are attached by robust arms to any
type of structure, such as break-
waters, peers, poles, and floating
and fixed platforms. At large scale
commercial size sea wave power
plants, the waves will enable the lift-
ing of up to 100 floats in turn. This
will enable continuous energy pro-
duction and a smooth output.
Source: www.ecowavepower.com
New testing system
for wave energy
technology
A new test centre for public wave
energy has been launched in the
United States. The US$1.5 million
Ocean Sentinel, sited off the Ore-
gon coast, is among the few centres
in the United States that tests new
public wave energy technology from
industry or academia. The Newport
test facility has been established
by Oregon State Universitys North-
west National Marine Renewable
Energy Centre (NNMREC). The
much-needed mobile unit will also
be used to measure and learn more
about wave resources and examine
wave energy production and other
critical matters.
Mr. Sean Moran, NNMRECs Ocean
Test Facilities Manager, says, The
Ocean Sentinel will provide a stand-
ardized, accurate system to com-
pare various wave energy technolo-
gies, including systems that may
be better for one type of wave situ-
ation or another. We have to find out
more about which technologies work
best, in what conditions, and what
environmental impacts there may
be. The Ocean Sentinel can test
and measure the amplitude of waves,
energy output, ocean currents, the
speed of the wind and more.
It is thought that no single technol-
ogy will dominate wave power gen-
eration. Some get better results with
flatter waves and others need rough
seas, says Mr. Moran. The area in
which the Ocean Sentinel operates
has been specially selected for its
physical aspects as well as local
biology. A major element of the ma-
rine centres programme is to study
possible environmental factors from
variations in acoustics, electromag-
netic fields, differences in marine
life, sediment and more. It will also
promote research, public outreach
and education.
Source: www.earthtimes.org
Power flows from the
ocean waves
The Wave Energy Technology-NZ
(Wet-NZ) converter, which genera-
tes electricity by ocean wave power,
is undergoing tests off the coast of
Oregon, the United States. With
these tests, the device designed in
New Zealand is one step closer to
breaking into the massive United
States energy market. It is a major
milestone for the eight-year project
in New Zealand a collaboration
between Industrial Research Ltd.
(IRL), a Crown Research Institute,
and Power Projects Ltd., a private
company.
Wet-NZ had been refined based on
the results of deployments at vari-
ous sites around New Zealand, as
well as extensive wave tank model-
ling. The device was designed to ex-
tract as much energy as possible
from three different types of wave
motion. A half-scale, 18.4 m long
version would be moored upright to
the sea floor off Oregon, with wave
Ocean Sentinel wave energy
testing system
12 VATIS UPDATE: Non-conventional Energy Jul-Sep 2012
Wave/Tidal Energy
movement converted into energy by
a system of on-board hydraulics.
After this test, the next step would
be to develop and trial a full-scale
version of the device. That would
need to be tested in bigger, more
powerful waves in another part of
the country, said IRL General Man-
ager of Industry Engagement, Mr.
Gavin Mitchell.
Source: www.nzherald.co.nz
Wave energy
technology produces
cheap power
SDE Sea Wave Power Plants from
Israel is concluding construction of
its second plant in a series of three
for China, which will generate 150
kW/hour using the energy of ocean
waves, and will be followed by a
third such plant that generates 500
kW/hour. SDE power plants operate
automatically, employing a hydro-
pneumatic circular system with an
engine and buoys that enable the
use of waves at their rise and fall,
as well as the return from break-
waters. This way, the system can
be more efficient, and generate as
much energy as possible from a sin-
gle wave, according to SDE.
The motion of the waves creates
hydraulic pressure, which causes a
generator to spin and create elec-
tricity. While this process involves
use of a hydraulic oil, the company
stressed that this type of oil is en-
vironmentally friendly and does not
cause any damage to underwater
plants and animals. An added ben-
efit of the technology, says SDE,
is that it has low production costs
of only US$0.02 per kWh. The sys-
tem is resistant to storms, as only
10 per cent of plant parts are in the
water and because systems use full
force of waves to generate power
from their rise and fall.
Source: www.jpost.com
CoRMaT tidal current
turbine to be tested
In the United Kingdom, the Mull of
Kintyre, southwest Scotland, is to
be the first test site for a new gen-
eration of tidal energy technology
developed by Nautricity, which has
received development and demon-
stration funding from the Scottish
government. Nautricity will use the
1.4 million towards the cost of de-
ploying its CoRMaT tidal current
turbine in the sea. Electricity gen-
erated by the device will be fed into
the electrical network. It is hoped
the test phase can be completed
by March 2014, followed by full-
scale commercial deployment. The
device, which could generate 500
kW of electricity, uses a patented
rotor system that overcomes many
of the problems that have made ti-
dal energy production uneconomic
until now. While conventional tidal
devices resemble wind turbines fixed
to the seabed, incurring engineer-
ing and deployment costs, CoRMaT
is a small capsule, tethered to a sub-
surface float, which uses a novel,
contra-rotating rotor-generator sys-
tem to harness tidal energy.
Source: www.theengineer.co.uk
A new wave energy
device prototype
SUBMARINER, a European project
on the sustainable uses of Baltic
marine resources, is exploring po-
tential for development of a wave
energy industry in the Baltic Sea.
One of the project activities that are
under way is the technical imple-
mentation of wave energy genera-
tors for the very specific Baltic Sea
conditions. A wave generator proto-
type developed is being tested off
the coast of Lithuania. The proto-
type will be further developed and
refined on the basis of environment-
al conditions and test results.
The linear generator a vital part
of the prototype received the first
prize in the engines category in
a recent innovation contest. The
wave energy device prototype has
been designed to meet the specific
conditions of the Baltic Sea occa-
sional harsh storms and relatively
low energy in a yearly run. The fur-
ther development focuses on mini-
mizing the investment costs while
maximizing the generators effici-
ency. Contact: Ms. Joanna Przedr-
zymirska, The Maritime Institute in
Gdask, Dugi Targ 41/42, PL-80-
830 Gdask, Poland. Tel: +48 (58)
301 1641; Fax: +48 (58) 301 3513;
E-mail: joaprz@im.gda.pl; Website:
www.im.gda.pl.
Source: www.submariner-project.eu
Worlds first
community-owned
tidal turbine
In the United Kingdom, the worlds
first community-owned tidal turbine
will be deployed off the Shetland
Islands, the United Kingdom, early
next year, according to Scottish
First Minister Mr. Alex Salmond.
Nova Innovations, the United King-
dom, will supply the grid-connected
30 kW demonstrator device, which
is set to be used by a community
in North Yell to power a local ice
plant and industrial estate. Nova has
commissioned Steel Engineering
Ltd. to manufacture the tidal turbine.
The Nova-30 tidal turbine employs
a well proven, horizontal axis, three-
bladed rotor to extract reliable and
predictable energy from the tides.
The generating unit, consisting of
a Siemens gearbox and generator,
is housed in a watertight nacelle.
The turbine is fully yawable and is
connected to a solid gravity moor-
ing and anchoring mechanism on
the seabed.
Source: www.novainnovation.co.uk
VATIS UPDATE: Non-conventional Energy Jul-Sep 2012 13
FUEL CELLS
Towards long-life
hydrogen fuel cells
Recent studies have shown that gold
nanoparticles can remove carbon
monoxide (CO) impurities from hy-
drogen in fuel cells by catalysis un-
der mild temperature and pressure
conditions. Unfortunately, gold nano-
particles tend to lose their catalytic
activity after a few hours of use a
problem that need to be overcome if
gold nanoparticles are to be used.
At the Agency for Science, Tech-
nology and Research (A*STAR) in
Singapore, scientists have identified
the subtle, atomic-scale structural
transformations that can activate
and de-activate gold nanoparticle
catalysts a finding that may lead
to longer-lasting hydrogen fuel cells.
Along with their colleagues, Dr. Ziyi
Zhong at the A*STAR Institute of
Chemical and Engineering Scien-
ces and Dr. Ming Lin at the A*STAR
Institute of Materials Research and
Engineering set out to design an
improved catalyst for preferential
oxidation (PROX) reactions. Their
approach transforms CO impurities
in hydrogen gas which can have
a detrimental impact on the per-
formance of fuel cells into carbon
dioxide (CO
2
) on a ceramic support
containing metal catalysts.
The research team has previously
found that silica-based supports,
called SBA-15, could boost CO re-
moval by selectively absorbing the
CO
2
by-product. The researchers
took advantage of another SBA-15
feature a mesoporous framework
decorated by terminal amine groups
to engineer a novel PROX cata-
lyst. First, the team used amine
modification to disperse a mixture
of gold and copper(II) oxide (CuO)
precursors evenly over the SBA-15
support. They then used heat treat-
ment to generate gold and CuO
nanoparticles on the SBA-15 sup-
port. The numerous pores in SBA-
15 and the CuO particles work to-
gether to hinder agglomeration of
gold nanoparticles a major cause
of catalyst de-activation.
The team then achieved an almost
unprecedented chemical feat: local-
ized structural characterization of
their catalyst at atomic scale, using
high-resolution transmission elec-
tron microscopy (HR-TEM) and 3-
D electron tomography. These im-
aging techniques revealed that the
active catalyst sites gold or gold-
copper alloy nanoparticles in the im-
mediate vicinity of amorphous and
crystalline CuO remained stable
for up to 13 hours. Eventually how-
ever, the reducing atmosphere trans-
forms CuO into copper(I) oxide and
free copper; the latter of which then
alloys with the gold nanoparticles
and deactivates them. Fortunately,
heating to above 300C reversed the
alloying process and restored the
catalysts activity.
Source: www.sciencedaily.com
New fuel cell keeps
going after the
hydrogen runs out
Imagine a kerosene lamp that con-
tinued to shine after the fuel was
spent, or an electric stove that could
remain hot during a power outage.
Materials scientists at the School of
Engineering and Applied Sciences
(SEAS) of Harvard University, the
United States, have demonstrated
an equivalent feat in clean energy
generation with a solid-oxide fuel
cell (SOFC) that converts hydrogen
into electricity but can also store
electrochemical energy like a bat-
tery. This fuel cell can continue to
produce power for a short time after
its fuel has run out.
According to principal investigator
Dr. Shriram Ramanathan, Associate
Professor of Materials Science at
SEAS, This thin-film SOFC takes
advantage of recent advances in low-
temperature operation to incorpo-
rate a new and more versatile ma-
terial. Vanadium oxide (VOx) at the
anode behaves as a multifunctional
material, permitting the fuel cell to
both produce and store energy. The
finding will be most salient for small-
scale, portable energy applications,
wherein a very compact and light-
weight power supply is crucial and
the fuel supply may be interrupted.
The new SOFC uses a bi-layer of
platinum and VOx for the anode,
which allows the cell to continue
operating without fuel for up to 14
times as long (3 minutes and 30
seconds, at a current density of 0.2
mA/cm
2
). This early result is only
a proof of concept, according to
Dr. Ramanathan, and his team pre-
dicts that future improvements to the
composition of the VOx-platinum
anode will further extend the cells
lifespan. During normal operation,
the amount of power produced by
the novel device is comparable to
that produced by a platinum-anode
SOFC. The special nanostructured
VOx layer sets up various chemi-
cal reactions that continue after the
hydrogen fuel has run out.
Three reactions that potentially take
place within the cell due to the VOx
anode, says Dr. Ramanathan. The
first is the oxidation of vanadium
ions, which we verified through XPS
(X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy).
The second is the storage of hydro-
gen within the VOx crystal lattice,
which is gradually released and oxi-
Laboratory set-up for testing solid-
oxide fuel cells
14 VATIS UPDATE: Non-conventional Energy Jul-Sep 2012
Fuel Cells
dized at the anode. And the third
phenomenon we might see is that
the concentration of oxygen ions dif-
fers from the anode to the cathode,
so we may also have oxygen anions
being oxidized, as in a concentra-
tion cell. All the three reactions are
capable of feeding electrons into a
circuit, but it is currently unclear ex-
actly what allows the new fuel cell
to keep running.
Source: www.seas.harvard.edu
Magnesium-air
fuel cell developed
Research by Professor Takashi Yabe
at the Tokyo Institute of Technology,
Japan, on the potential of magne-
sium in terms of energy generation
has shown that the metal holds a
great deal of promise in energy sys-
tems. In terms of transportation, a
magnesium-air fuel cell could be 7.5
times more effective than lithium-
ion batteries. Despite the potential
of these energy systems, the majo-
rity of the fuel cell industry and its
supporters remain focused on hy-
drogen. However, MagPower Sys-
tems Inc. from Canada believes that
magnesium-air fuel cell technology
is completely capable of compet-
ing against hydrogen variants, if not
replacing them entirely.
MagPower Systems has developed
a lightweight and efficient magne-
sium-air fuel cell that it believes will
be a viable energy system in the
near future. The cell makes use of
hydrogen inhibitors, which reduce
the prevalence of hydrogen gas. The
fuel cell also makes use of a gas
diffusion cathode and magnesium
immersed in an electrolyte, a com-
bination that generates a strong
electric current. Magnesium is a
relatively inexpensive material, mak-
ing the manufacture of the fuel cell
cost-effective. MagPower notes that
the magnesium-air fuel cell may be
a popular energy system in military
and vehicle markets. Contact: Mag-
Power Systems Inc., Suite 20, 1480
Foster Street, White Rock, B.C.,
Canada V4B 3X7. Tel: +1 (778) 294
3211; Fax: +1 (778) 294 3212.
Source:
www.hydrogenfuelnews.com
New hydrogen-
powered fuel cell
system
Toyota Motor Corporation, based in
Japan, has developed a power sup-
ply system that utilizes electricity
produced within a fuel cell bus to
supply electrical power to devices
such as electrical appliances. The
fuel cell bus, which is powered by
hydrogen fuel, has two electrical
outlets (100 VAC, 1.5 kW) inside
the cabin that can supply a maxi-
mum output of 3 kW. Toyota is also
developing a vehicle-to-home (V2H)
system for supplying electricity from
a fuel cell bus to a buildings exist-
ing electrical wiring, with the goal
of providing a maximum output of
9.8 kW for 50 hours. With a full tank
of hydrogen, a fuel cell bus with the
V2H system could be used to power
the lights inside an average school
gymnasium (with a power consump-
tion of approximately 100 kWh) for
approximately five days.
Source: www.newstatesman.com
Superior fuel cell
material developed
Current commercially available fuel
cells use platinum nanoparticles
as the catalyst because platinum
is the only metal that can resist the
highly acidic conditions inside such
a cell. However, the widespread use
of fuel cells has been impeded by
the high cost of platinum and its low
stability. To overcome this limita-
tion, a research team led by Prof.
Jackie Y. Ying, Executive Director
of the Institute of Bioengineering and
Nanotechnology (IBN), Singapore,
has discovered that by replacing
the central part of the catalyst with
gold and copper alloy and leaving
just the outer layer in platinum, the
new hybrid material can provide five
times higher activity and greater
stability than the commercial plati-
num catalyst.
IBNs new nanocomposite material
can produce at least 0.571 A of elec-
tric current per milligram of platinum,
compared with 0.109 A for commer-
cial platinum catalysts. This is also
the first time that a catalyst has been
shown to enhance both the stability
and activity for the fuel cell reaction
with a significantly reduced platinum
content. To make this catalyst more
active than the commercial platinum
catalyst, the researchers designed
the core of the nanocrsytalline ma-
terial to be gold-copper alloy, which
has slightly smaller lattice spacing
than the platinum coating on the
nanocrystals surface. This creates
a compressive strain on the surface
platinum atoms, making platinum
more active in the rate-limiting step
of oxygen reduction reaction for the
fuel cell. Replacing the core of the
nanoparticle with the less expen-
sive gold-copper alloy cuts down the
usage of platinum.
Source: phys.org
Open Energy Information
Open Energy Information (OpenEI) is a knowledge sharing online com-
munity dedicated to connecting people with the latest energy information
and data. It providesg access to energy-related information via geographic
discovery, visualizations and apps, and topic-oriented gateways. For more
information, access:
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VATIS UPDATE: Non-conventional Energy Jul-Sep 2012 15
Single catalyst
for oxidation and
reduction of water
Scientists at University of Grenoble,
France, have developed a catalyst
based on cobalt that generates hy-
drogen from water in a simple elec-
trochemical process, with the added
bonus that it can also be used to
produce oxygen. Mr. Vincent Artero
and his colleagues used reductive
electrodeposition of cobalt dinitrate
hexahydrate in a potassium phos-
phate buffer onto a fluorine-doped
tin oxide electrode. This produces
a nanoparticulate coating of a layer
of metallic cobalt on the electrode,
covered by a cobalt-oxo/hydroxo-
phosphate layer on the outside.
When this electrode is operated
against a silver/silver chloride elec-
trode in an electrolyte of aqueous
cobalt dinitrate, hydrogen gas is
produced at a potential difference
as low as 50 mV, which is far lower
than those reported for other cobalt-
based catalysts. Remarkably, when
the same electrode is operated at
a positive potential, typically +1.16
V relative to the silver/silver chloride
electrode, a stable anodic current
density is achieved and oxygen is
produced. This is made possible by
a change in the structure of the cat-
alyst under negative and positive
potentials.
Spectroscopic studies show that
the cobalt layers act like a catalyst
with two types of structure on the
same electrode. About half of the
original cobalt film is changed into
a cobalt oxide-based material at
positive potentials in a fast, redox-
dependent transformation that is
fully reversible without loss of acti-
vity. This is the first time that a non-
noble metal catalyst has exhibited
such behaviour and it is possible
because the materials on the elec-
trode exist in equilibrium with metal
ions in solution. While the device
for the use of the catalyst remains
to be developed, the prospects for
commercialization of the technol-
ogy are good, says Mr. Artero.
Source: www.rsc.org
Hydrogen production
using cheap catalyst
Researchers at University of Cam-
bridge, the United Kingdom, have
produced hydrogen from water using
an inexpensive catalyst under in-
dustrially relevant conditions. Lead
author of the research Dr. Erwin
Reisner, Head of Christian Doppler
Laboratory at the University, said:
A hydrogen evolution catalyst that
is active under elevated oxygen lev-
els is crucial if we are to develop an
industrial water-splitting process
a chemical reaction that separates
the two elements that make up wa-
ter. A real-world device will be expo-
sed to atmospheric oxygen and will
also produce oxygen in situ as a
result of water splitting.
According to the university, one of
the many problems that scientists
face is finding an efficient and inex-
pensive catalyst that can function
under real-world conditions in water,
under air and at room temperature.
Currently, highly efficient catalysts
such as platinum are too expensive
and cheaper alternatives are typi-
cally inefficient. The researchers
discovered that a simple catalyst
containing cobalt, a comparatively
inexpensive and abundant metal,
operates as an active catalyst in
pH-neutral water and under atmos-
pheric oxygen. Dr. Reisner said in a
statement: Our research has shown
that inexpensive materials such as
cobalt are suitable to fulfil this chal-
lenging requirement. Many hurdles,
such as the rather poor stability of
the catalyst, remain to be addres-
sed, but our finding provides a first
step to produce green hydrogen
under relevant conditions. The re-
sults demonstrate that the catalyst
works under air and the research-
ers are currently working on a solar
water-splitting device, where fuel
hydrogen and the by-product oxy-
gen are produced simultaneously.
Source: www.theengineer.co.uk
Patent for
plasma-arc-through
technology
MagneGas Corporation, the United
States, has secured a patent for its
Plasma-Arc-Through Apparatus and
Process for Submerged Electric
Arcs, related to a technology that
converts liquid waste into a hydro-
gen-based metal working fuel and
natural gas alternative. The compa-
nys patented Plasma Arc Flow
TM
process entails flowing liquid waste
through a submerged electric arc
between coal electrodes. The arc
decomposes the liquid molecules
into atoms and creates a plasma
around the tips of the electrodes at
about 5,500C.
The Plasma Arc Flow moves the
plasma away from the electrodes
and controls the formation of the
gas MagneGas
TM
that bubbles
to the surface for collection. In this
way, the liquid waste is converted
into MagneGas and sterile liquid
effluent, with carbonaceous preci-
pitates collected in a strainer for
periodical removal. MagneGas is a
clean burning hydrogen-based fuel
that is essentially interchangeable
with natural gas. The gas can be
utilized for metal working, cooking,
heating, powering bi-fuel automo-
biles, etc. The fuel gas has very low
greenhouse gas emissions when
compared with fossil fuel. The re-
finery has no odour or noise pollu-
tion as it runs quietly in a totally
sealed environment.
Source: www.magnegas.com
HYDROGEN ENERGY
16 VATIS UPDATE: Non-conventional Energy Jul-Sep 2012
BIOFUEL/BIOMASS ENERGY
Fermentation process
doubles biofuel
production
Dr. Hao Feng, a scientist at Univer-
sity of Illinois, the United States, has
found a way around the bottleneck
that has frustrated biofuel produ-
cers in the past and could signific-
antly reduce the cost of the energy
involved in making it as well. The
first challenge in butanol production
is that at a certain concentration, the
fuel being created becomes toxic
to the organism used to make it
(Clostridium pasteurianum and other
strains), and that toxicity limits the
amount of fuel that can be made in
one batch. The second issue is the
high energy cost of removing buta-
nol from the fermentation broth at
the high concentrations used by the
industry. We have solved both pro-
blems, Dr. Feng says.
Dr. Fengs team successfully tested
the use of a non-ionic surfactant, or
co-polymer, to create small struc-
tures that capture and hold butanol
molecules. This keeps the amount
of butanol in the fermentation broth
low so it doesnt kill the organism
and we can continue to produce it,
he says. The process, called ex-
tractive fermentation, increases the
quantity of butanol produced dur-
ing fermentation by 100 per cent
or more. The research team then
makes use of one of the polymers
properties its sensitivity to tem-
perature. When the fermentation
process is finished, the scientists
heat the solution until a cloud ap-
pears and two layers form.
We use a process called cloud
point separation, explains Dr. Feng.
Two phases form, with the second
facing the polymer-rich phase. When
we remove the second phase, we
can recover the butanol, achieving a
three- to four-fold reduction in energy
use there because we dont have to
remove as much water as in tradi-
tional fermentation. A bonus is that
the co-polymers can be recycled
and can be reused at least three
times after butanol is extracted with
little effect on phase separation be-
haviour and butanol enrichment abili-
ty. After the first recovery, the volume
of butanol recovered is slightly lower
but is still at a high concentration,
Dr. Feng says.
Source:
www.laboratoryequipment.com
Economically viable
fuel production
In the United States, a new process
developed by Gas Technology In-
stitute (GTI) to produce fuel from
municipal waste, algae, corn stalks
and similar materials was present-
ed at the 244
th
National Meeting &
Exposition of the American Chemi-
cal Society (ACS). The new process
makes use of a technology named
Integrated Hydropyrolysis and Hy-
droconversion (IH2), which utilizes
hydrogen fuel that is produced inter-
nally as well as a series of catalysts
that are used to generate chemical
reactions. The process then uses
these chemical reactions to convert
non-food biomass materials, such
as wood or corn stalk, into petrol,
diesel or jet fuel. GTI claims that
the process is both efficient and via-
ble in terms of fuel production as it
is capable of producing high volumes
of clean fuel.
The fuel produced by the process
is ready-to-use as soon as it is
created. This sets the GTI process
apart from other biofuel production
methods. Conventional biofuel pro-
duction requires the fuel to be re-
fined before it can be used. The IH2
technology makes use of existing
materials and equipment that makes
it economically viable and keeps the
production of greenhouse gases
low. The technology also produces
the hydrogen it needs internally. The
United States National Renewable
Energy Laboratory has examined
the IH2 technology and determined
that it can produce petrol at a cost
of approximately US$0.53 per litre.
Source:
www.hydrogenfuelnews.com
Major step in
electricity generation
from wastewater
Engineers at Oregon State Univer-
sity (OSU), the United States, have
made a breakthrough in the perform-
ance of microbial fuel cells (MFCs)
that can produce electricity directly
from wastewater, opening the door
to a future in which waste treatment
plants not only will power themsel-
ves, but will sell excess electricity.
The new OSU technology can now
produce 10-50 more times the elec-
tricity per volume than most other
approaches used in MFCs and 100
times more electricity than some.
Researchers say this could even-
tually change the way that waste-
water is treated all over the world,
replacing the widely used activa-
ted sludge process that has been
in use for almost a century.
OSU researchers reported on the
promise of this technology several
years ago, but the systems in use
at that time produced far less elec-
trical power. With new concepts
reduced anode-cathode spacing,
evolved microbes and new separa-
tor materials the technology can
now produce more than 2 kW/m
3
of
liquid reactor volume. This amount
of power density far exceeds any-
thing else done with MFCs. The sys-
tem also treats wastewater more
effectively than anaerobic diges-
tion, and does not have any of the
environmental drawbacks of that
technology, such as the production
of unwanted hydrogen sulphide or
the release of methane.
VATIS UPDATE: Non-conventional Energy Jul-Sep 2012 17
Biofuel/Biomass Energy
This technology cleans sewage by
a very different approach than the
aerobic bacteria used in the past.
Bacteria oxidize the organic matter
and, in the process, produce elec-
trons that run from the anode to the
cathode within the fuel cell, creating
an electrical current. Almost any
type of organic waste material can
be used to produce electricity not
only wastewater, but also grass,
straw, animal waste, and by-pro-
ducts from such operations as the
wine, beer or dairy industries. The
OSU system has been proven at a
substantial scale in the laboratory,
said Ms. Hong Liu, an associate
professor in the OSU Department
of Biological and Ecological Engi-
neering, and the next step would be
a pilot study.
Source: esciencenews.com
Biofuel waste product
recycled for
electricity
Distillers Dried Grain with Solubles
(DDGS) is a waste product from bio-
ethanol production that is common-
ly used as a low-cost animal feed.
At University of Surrey, the United
Kingdom, researchers incorpora-
ted DDGS together with bacteria-
inoculated sludge from a wastewater
treatment plant in their microbial fuel
cell (MFC). The design of the MFC
physically separated the bacteria,
which used the DDGS for growth,
from their oxygen supply, forcing
the bacteria into sending electrons
around a circuit leading to a supply
of oxygen. By tapping into this elec-
tron flow, electricity could be gener-
ated from the waste.
MFCs offer the ability to convert a
wide range of complex organic waste
products into electrical energy. How-
ever, finding cost-efficient starting
products is necessary to help com-
mercialize the process, explained
Ms. Lisa Buddrus who is conducting
the research. The next step for us
is to identify the electrogenic bac-
terial species that grow on DDGS.
Furthermore, by looking at genetics
across this microbial community,
we will be able to better understand
the metabolic processes and essen-
tial genes involved in electron lib-
eration and transfer, she said.
We have found something really
useful from a waste product without
affecting its value as animal feed
and at the same time improving its
environmental status, said Profes-
sor Mike Bushell who is leading the
group. Besides being low-cost, use
DDGS in MFCs is very environment-
friendly. The waste that is left fol-
lowing electricity generation is of
greater value, as it is less reactive
with oxygen and so less polluting.
Source: www.sciencedaily.com
A process that could
improve biofuel
production
A new patented process developed
by microbiologists at Missouri Uni-
versity of Science and Technology,
the United States, could reduce the
cost and the reliance on fossil fuels
in biofuel production, while stream-
lining the process. Prof. Melanie
Mormileb has found a bacterium,
Halanaerobium hydrogeniformans,
that can be used to streamline the
production of biofuel. Because the
bacterium thrives in high-alkaline,
high-salt conditions, it can eliminate
the need to neutralize the pH of the
biomass, a step required in the alkali
treatment of biomass for production
of hydrogen fuel and other biofuels.
The conventional method of biofuel
production involves steam-blasting
of switchgrass and straw to sepa-
rate lignin from the cellulose, which
is needed to create the biofuel. The
process requires electricity, produ-
ced by either coal or natural gas, to
generate the steam. The process
releases considerable amounts of
carbon dioxide, while maintaining
the dependency on fossil fuels. The
degradation of lignin produces cer-
tain compounds that impede fer-
mentation and leads to overall low
hydrogen yields. Treating switch-
grass and straw with an alkaline
substance removes the lignin with
limited formation of the harmful com-
pounds, but the resulting slurry is
highly alkaline and very salty. A
neutralization step was therefore
required before the fermentation pro-
cess could begin. The discovery of
H. hydrogeniformans has elimina-
ted this step.
We are seeing hydrogen produc-
tion similar to a genetically modifi-
ed organism and we havent begun
to tweak the genome of this bac-
terium yet, said Dr. Mormile, who
is now looking for ways to optimize
growth of the organism and minim-
ize the cost. She is working in col-
laboration with Dr. Oliver Sitton, an
associate professor of chemical
and biochemical engineering, to
optimize growth of the bacterium in
a bioreactor. We have shown that
we can produce hydrogen in a lab-
scale reactor, Dr. Mormile stated.
The next step in the project is to
find the best growth medium and
optimize the hydrogen production
from this organism.
Source: news.mst.edu
Ms. Hong Liu works on the MFC
that treats wastewater
18 VATIS UPDATE: Non-conventional Energy Jul-Sep 2012
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Microbial Technologies in
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Very real concerns over the effects of biofuel produc-
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for renewable and waste energy sources for 34 OECD
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Contact: International Energy Agency, Bookshop, 9,
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