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Fuel Cell that Runs on Sugar

materia3

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A battery that runs on scraps of food could fuel a battery providing electricity to top up your home's supply, say UK researchers.

That doggie treat will run a light bulb Although such "microbial fuel cells" (MFCs) have been developed in the past, they have always proved extremely inefficient and expensive. Now Chris Melhuish and technologists at the University of the West of England (UWE) in Bristol have come up with a simplified MFC that costs as little as £10 to make.

Right now, their fuel cell runs only on sugar cubes, since these produce almost no waste when broken down, but they aim to move on to carrot power. "It has to be able to use raw materials, rather than giving it a refined fuel," says Melhuish......
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from the New Scientist - 10 October 2004 Complete story at:

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992899
 
I think autonomous robots that eat plants and maybe small animals could be neat. Let loose a tuna-bot in the ocean and all you have to do is pick up the radio broadcasts it does once every few days.
 
Actually, robots that run on organic fuel sources have been prototyped:

Slug-Eating Robot

Ironically, it's the organic farmers who'd want this technology. Slug-killing chemicals bad, flesh-eating killer robots good!
 
Interesting but not practical

A gallon of gas weighs ~>6 Lbs. and costs ~$1,90 in Florida on 10-10-04.
A 5 Lbs of bag of pure sugar costs, on same date is $3.75 so ~ $4.50 for equal weight.

Add the kinetic energy contained in gas gasoline = 20300 Btu/lb, Sugar is 7200 BTU/LB

That's not an accurate way to measure it ( as I'm sure some would like to point out) But it gives You an idea of the difference in scope.

To get an accurate picture of the comparison would require accounting for the I.C engine VS fuel efficiency , translational losses and efficiency all active components. ( Electric motor for the fuel cell? Transmission for the I.C engine?)
 
Read the original post. They are talking about supplementing home electricity supply, and say that it only makes sense when they can use unrefined fuels, i.e. NOT pure sugar. That's why the price of sugar is irrelevant.

Try powering your house with gasoline sometime and see what it costs.

Ask yourself how much energy goes INTO the PRODUCTION of gasoline. That's why it has a higher BTU/LB output than sugar, otherwise you'd be getting something for nothing. Petroleum refinement is a process of concentrating potential energy.

Read the original post.
 
TeaBag420 said:
Read the original post. They are talking about supplementing home electricity supply, and say that it only makes sense when they can use unrefined fuels, i.e. NOT pure sugar. That's why the price of sugar is irrelevant.

Try powering your house with gasoline sometime and see what it costs.

Ask yourself how much energy goes INTO the PRODUCTION of gasoline. That's why it has a higher BTU/LB output than sugar, otherwise you'd be getting something for nothing. Petroleum refinement is a process of concentrating potential energy.

Read the original post.
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You know I knew I should keep my mouth shut but nooo...


Read the original post they state that they use sugar cubes.

My first post on this board was about regenerative fuel cells and ceramic turbines. Some idiot over stepped his understanding of the case and made Lincoln's quote about "better to be thought..." just as relevant as it when first uttered.

I have spent years studying both fuel cells and their application in energy production on a micro-scale as a part of my profession.

I included caveats in my post about end BTU production and cost analysis. The cost of both sugar and gasoline production are both reflected in their price. You don't mine gasoline or sugar both must be refined .You comments make no sense.

I suggest that if You hold serious interest in the subject goto DOE and do research on fuel cells ..fasinating stuff AND if just may put the power companies out of business ( less they buy the patent .Hmmm).

Edit to add:

Ya spent the last week on a gas powered generator due to hurricane/ power issues, so I do know how much it costs to power my home by gasoline.
 
Yes, they say they used sugar cubes. It's called "proof of concept". They also said that for it to be sensible they need to use other, less refined fuel sources. READ THE ORIGINAL POST.
 
New Scientist
A battery that runs on scraps of food could fuel a battery providing electricity to top up your home's supply, say UK researchers.
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This is old news, they were already doing it in 1989 in Back to the Future II.
 
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