Will Alcohol power your future portables?

[rsaavedra]

Interesting news:

http://news.com.com/A+fuel+cell+to+g...9515&subj=news

 

[blessingx]

I was betting on dead cats.

 

[catscratch]

Damn, I was hoping for an ethanol-powered version. This way, we can do a sound quality comparison between Grey Goose power and Smirnoff power, with Red Army as a budget component, and Van Gogh or Zyr in the high end

Mmmmm... Ethanol powered portables... *Homer voice* A little for you, a little for me...

 

[K2Grey]

Catscratch: That's weak. Instead, people will sell special audiophile grade alcohol, and people will debate on forums whether all alcohol is the same, or whether you need a highly resolving rig in order to differentiate between a $100 alcohol and a $2000 alcohol.

 

[gerG]

...and what sort of wood the alcohol was aged in!

btw, anybody catch what they do with the carbon? All of these fuels are hydrocarbons, so after they strip the hydrogen for the fuel cell they are left with either chunks of kingsford or carbon monoxide + heat. Is there a new carbon fuel cell technology out there?


gerG

 

[notnormal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by blessingx I was betting on dead cats.

All this talk is reminding me of urine powered devices

.
News article
Research paper

 

[jmr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gerG btw, anybody catch what they do with the carbon? All of these fuels are hydrocarbons, so after they strip the hydrogen for the fuel cell they are left with either chunks of kingsford or carbon monoxide + heat. Is there a new carbon fuel cell technology out there? gerG

Methanol can be used directly in the fuel cell with carbon dioxide and water as by-products. Ethanol and other carbon based fuels must be reformed or burned using a rhodium catalyst to form hydrogen for the fuel cell.