Eco Factor: Water Oxidation catalyst generates clean hydrogen from water and sunlight.
Chemists at the Emory University have developed the most potent homogeneous catalyst known for water oxidation, which is being considered a crucial component for generating hydrogen fuel from water using only sunlight. The research team states that in order to be a viable option the water oxidation catalyst (WOC) needs to have selectivity, stability and speed.
The new research aims to mimic natural processes such as photosynthesis to generate clean fuel, with the long term goal to generate hydrogen from water using only sunlight. Hydrogen becomes the fuel and its combustion produces the by-product of water, which flows back into the clean, renewable cycle.
I don’t think we can just look at one aspect of renewable fuels without also looking at non-biodiesel energy concepts, because who really knows today how it will all fit together in the future?
While not silent, the new Power Stroke is so quiet that you can stand at the rear of the truck and hold a conversation and not have to raise your voice. In the cab, the engine noise levels are so low that it's hard to discern whether you're driving a gas or diesel truck. The fact that you can't smell any eau d'diesel makes the new engine and emissions package all the more impressive. One of the most innovative features of the new Power Stroke engine is the path of the airflow through the engine. The air charge enters the heads on the outside of the V, with spent gasses exiting to the center of the valley. Waiting for those rapidly expanding gasses is a Honeywell turbocharger featuring two outboard compressor wheels that form a sandwich around the impeller.
Within a few months, fueling school buses with biodiesel at the Chevron station in downtown Hailey will be a thing of the past. The Blaine County school board on Tuesday approved installing a 12,000-gallon fuel storage tank at the bus depot near the Community Campus on Fox Acres Road. Bus driver Shirley Tharp is shown here fueling a bus at Chevron on Thursday. Photo by David N. Seelig
The Blaine County School District board of trustees on Tuesday narrowly approved a controversial plan to install a 12,000-gallon biodiesel storage tank at the bus depot on Fox Acres Road in east Hailey.
The vote was 3-2 in favor of the plan, with board Chair Julie Dahlgren casting the tie-breaking vote.
The Central Iowa Energy biodiesel plant in northeast Newton is now REG Newton. Renewable Energy Group in Ames announced the completion of asset purchase and consolidation agreements with the commercial-scale biodiesel plant in Newton, as well as Blackhawk Biofuels in Danville, Ill., on Tuesday. The consolidation makes REG the largest wholly-owned biodiesel manufacturing and marketing source in North America.
Shareholders with Central Iowa Energy and Blackhawk Biofuels voted in late February to an all-stock transaction, making their facilities wholly-owned by Renewable Energy Group. The Newton facility’s 30-million gallon per year capacity and Blawkhawk’s 45-million gallon per year capacity brings REG’s manufacturing capacity to 122 million gallons yearly.