Super Supercapacitors!

Super-capacitors have the ability to absorb and discharge amperage very quickly.
Much quicker than batteries.
So for things like regenerative breaking and sudden acceleration they are a needed component in any electric or hybrid vehicle.
With this breakthrough, we may be seeing them integrated into cars on a much wider basis…..

https://newatlas.com/energy/supercapacitor-density-breakthrough/

 

New Li-On Development

There seems to be a new announcement about energy storage breakthroughs daily.  It all has to be taken with a grain of salt until they actually have a product made outside the lab in some slow production facility for sale.

While this is still in the lab, what they are claiming and what they say they have done really is amazing. It’s a major university so I give them a little more credence.

http://www.computerworld.com/article/3060005/mobile-wireless/scientists-can-now-make-lithium-ion-batteries-last-a-lifetime.html

While they don’t go into how this effects energy charge-discharge rate, just making batteries that can charge and discharge a couple hundred thousand times is going to radically change the economics of electric transportation and storage.

It will make electric cars and wind power happen a day after they start making these things….

Update: This article is better than the first.

http://www.popsci.com/researchers-accidentally-make-batteries-last-400-times-longer

 

Nitrogen Fixing Bacteria for Seeds

Any breakthrough in farming, either in equipment or plant development, has a huge impact on our society. We pay farmers not to grow food in the US because they make so much it becomes worthless. We use plants to make fuel. Farming has a huge impact on our natural environment. Not just in the land used but also in the process itself.

In the US we use a large amount of Natural Gas derived nitrogen based fertilizer to boost our crops. This can have negative environmental consequences due to it running off into our rivers and lakes.

There are plants that can take nitrogen out of the air. They have a bacteria which in a symbiotic relationship with the plant benefits them both. Now a researcher named Professor Cocking has found a strain of this bacteria that when applied to the seed of any plant will make it nitrogen fixing.

This will have a really big impact on farming and the seed industry. Take a look:

http://www.gizmag.com/n-fix-nitrogen-fixation/28482/

Good stuff.

 

 

Graphene Capacitor Process

If you scroll down a bit you will see the article “Graphene makes a great superconductor”. In the article the University of Texas found that Graphene has the properties to make a great supercapacitor. But they do not explain how to do it. The process. 

Well some folks at UCLA have found how the process and it looks pretty straight forward:

http://www.kcet.org/news/rewire/science/more-good-news-on-those-carbon-supercapacitors.html

Here is the Video:

http://vimeo.com/51873011

In the first article they say it can hold as much as a lead acid battery. Lets make the assumption that they are measuring based on space used. In other words you take a lead acid battery and in the volume of space it takes up you can make a capacitor(s) that have the same amount of energy storage.  With this in mind I can give some insight. With this capacity your phone and computer will still be Lithium-Ion. LI-On (Lithium-Ion) batteries are light and holds a lot of energy. Just about when you need to replace the battery is about the time you are thinking of getting a new one. So unless they make the capacitor a lot better I can see things staying the same. Even with the capacitors super fast recharge rate. 

But for cars and aircraft I see a swift change. Because wight matters. And quick recharge rate matters when dealing with electric cars and Hybrid aircraft. Take the battery in the Chevy Volt. It is quite large. One of the reasons it is so large is they found that if they only charged it 80% and discharged to 30% of battery capacity so it would make the batteries last twice as long. So in effect they are not using all the battery capacity in exchange for longevity.  If you swapped out the LI-ON with these capacitors you would still not get as much energy storage  but it would take five minutes to recharge.  So storage is not such an issue. 

The Volt is also fairly complex. The Li-On batteries have to be heated and cooled to keep them working efficiently. I do not think these capacitors would have such issues. Granted extreme weather can cause issues with any system. But batteries being a chemical reaction are effected a great deal by temperature.  

For aircraft I see this being an important step also. For planes and helicopters electric motors as the prime mover has advantages in power and simplicity. But the drawbacks right now are too great due to battery weight and loss of efficiency (motors and generators usually have a 10-15% inefficiency). But this could be a turning point. With light weigh capacitors which store the same amount as lead-Acid batteries and have a very long life it may be better to have a aircraft that has one engine for power production, one for backup and batteries which are used for high power demand maneuvers. Like taking off.  

Of course this is all speculation at this point. We will have to wait to see what the amp-hours are when they come out with an actual product. 

I hope we do not have too long to wait…

Update: 16 August 2013: Another lab is having similer results with Graphene super capacitors. This leads me to belive the breakthrough is not just a process, but the material itself.  This is a good thing. No one compnay will be able to lock in this technology. Take a look:

http://www.gizmag.com/graphene-based-supercapacitor/28579/

 

New Metal Process

   

 

I am a big believer in new processes. Processes created into efficient factory’s are the reason we have the modern cheap world we have today. Factories make the obscenely expensive into common.

   This new process is in its infancy. I hesitate to put it up until their new mini-factory is actually in production for a while. But it works in the lab so that means they should be able to scale it up into a factory, so I am posting it.

   

http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21571847-exotic-useful-metals-such-tantalum-and-titanium-are-about-become-cheap

If this works as advertised it will have a huge effect on our society.

 

Carbon Nano-tubes for Transmitting Electricity

While this technology could just keep getting better, they have hit a milestone. The cables they make now are as good as copper.

 http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/38615/?p1=MstRcnt

This is very exciting. For the aviation industry this could be a boon. Airbus is using aluminum wiring in some of their aircraft for weight reasons, even though aluminum does not transmit electricity as well as copper. If the cost is even in the ballpark, we could see the aviation industry switching quite rapidly.

Obviously there are cost, longevity and maintenance issues that will have to be resolved. Production issues as well.

But the benefits are so obvious, I see a lot of money being thrown at this to get it into production and into vehicles.

Update 1/8/13: 

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/509766/nanotubes-turned-into-super-fibers/

 

Bloom Fuel Cells

 

Well, it seems someone finally cracked the fuel cell problem.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/02/18/60minutes/main6221135.shtml

The dig at solar in the interview is unwarranted. This fuel cell technology acts as energy converter. Solar makes the power from a free source. It is not an apples and apples comparison.

As the price comes down this will change how electricity is created and distributed. It will cut down on our coal usage and increase the use of natural gas and propane.

-Tech Dennis

 

Lithium-Ion Battery Breakthrough

Great progress is being made on the development of Lithium-Ion batteries.

http://www.gizmag.com/adding-graphene-to-titanium-dioxide/12917/

The problem of these batteries (and by effect the problem with electric cars….) is one of cost. Hopefully this will help reduce this problem.

Update:  Another advance, this time using Nanotechnology on the anodes.

http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/23516/

Update: September 17th 2010:  Trial runs and production partners forming.

http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/26294/

While it is nice than they have increased the batteries capacities, whenever I read about nanotechnology I wonder about cost and production ability…..

-Tech Dennis

 

Ford Coming Out With Direct Injection/Turbo Combination for Its Engines

It seems Ford is one upping GM. GM is coming out with direct injection (previously posted on this site), so Ford is coming out with a direct injection and turbo combination.

http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2009-09/fords-turbo-charged-ecoboost-engine

Of course to keep the fuel from having “Vapor lock” issues, where the fuel vaporizes before reaching the combustion chamber, this will require a high pressure pump and injection system. Also possibly a fuel system that sends fuel back to the tank to spread the heat out.

Also no word on how expensive this will be. I think as the internal combustion engine becomes more complicated and expensive there will be a tipping point on cost.

Electric cars with range extending engines are already much simpler than today’s cars and electric cars without range extending engines are  stupid simple. As electric cars become cheaper and “regular” cars become more expensive and complicated to get the MPG required by law we will see a dramatic shift in buying habits.

Another aspect of this is car life. It is true that batteries will have to be replaced in electric cars, but there are so few components to them it may work out that it is cheaper to go to a shop and have it repaired than to buy another.

As in the case of many European diesels in the 80’s, when the car refused to stop working  (engine and tranny, the two big money repair items that force most people to ditch a vehicle, just kept going and going….) people got rid of them due to worn paint jobs, worn seats and rust. A desire to have something new and pretty.

-Tech Dennis

 

Algae Breakthrough at Joule Biotechnology

This one is hot! A startup called Joule Biotechnology’s claims they can compete with petroleum with the algae they have:

http://www.technologyreview.com/business/23073/

http://www.jouleunlimited.com/

If they can backup their claims expect to see a production plant built really quickly.  I am looking forward to it……

Update: January 2012: Another Round of funding to create a plant in New Mexico:

http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/39488/

Update: March 29 2010: Beginnings of a production plant:

http://www.jouleunlimited.com/news/2010/joule-biotechnologies-secures-pilot-site-renewable-solar-fuel

Update: April 28, 2010: They secure second round of funding for plant.

http://www.jouleunlimited.com/news/2010/joule-closes-30-million-funding-round

 

-Tech Dennis

 

Algae That Converts Sun+Saltwater+Carbon Dioxide=Ethanol

I have been watching as scientist scramble to genetically craft algae to “grow” oil which is then harvested.

But another company has taken a different route. Algenol Biofuels has crafted algae to act as a process to produce ethanol.

http://www.technologyreview.com/business/23009/

http://www.algenolbiofuels.com/

Uses light, carbon dioxide and saltwater (three very abundant items) to create usable, portable energy.  And it desalinates the water to boot.

This is one to watch.

Algae Update:  Algae technology is heating up. Exxon is investing in a company called Synthetic Genomics that has created algae that produces oil and then excretes it:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/07/17/could-exxon-go-green-oil-giant-invests-in-algae-biofuel-research/

-Tech Dennis

 

Steam Engine?

Most of us have the opinion that steam power is a inefficient, antique technology.

Not so fast!

With Modern materials a few people are pushing this old technologies boundaries.  Especially Harry Schoell at Cyclone Power Technologies:

http://www.popsci.com/node/21610

Interesting stuff. But I am unsure if he is going to “break into” the gas or diesel engine market successfully. Lawn equipment is a good start but most manufacturers and users are very comfortable with the internal combustion engine.

Here is a link to his site: http://cyclonepower.com/

I wish him luck.

-Tech Dennis