Battelle’s portable hydrogen fuel cell is capable of running a bunch of computers and a 6-foot-tall, light-laden, fake fir. Boosting the original fuel cell’s efficiency, the Battelle scientists’ technology needs 25 percent less fuel to run, Charles E. Lucius, Battelle’s vice president for fuel-cell development claims.
The achievement of the technology may not seem to be huge presently; it could power homes and cars in the next couple of decades. It can ‘quietly’ transform diesel fuel into electrons for powering many things.
To make this technology work, it runs a liquid hydrocarbon through a device – reformer — for removing the hydrogen. The electrons are then removed from the hydrogen and sent through electrical lines as current.
To help Battelle refine the technology and to tour military bases to show off its work, the Ohio Department of Development will fund it with $900,000.
