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Associate Professor Galen
Suppes stands in his lab by a High Performance Liquid Chromatography
machine, which helps him conduct chemical analyses.
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Slashing
Fuel Consumption
By Jeff Neu
Recently, Toyota Motor Corp. opened the production
site of its gasoline-electric hybrid cars to journalists for the
first time. Many leading auto makers have questioned the benefit
of developing these vehicles, arguing that they are just a temporary
solution before zero-emission fuel cell vehicles are the standard
20 years from now.
However, a researcher at the University of
Missouri-Columbia discovered that the development of a plug-in
fuel cell hybrid, with as little as 20 miles of range from rechargeable
hydrogen, could cut the amount of gasoline consumed in the United
States by more than 50 percent. In addition, this technology could
be mass produced in the next five years.
“About 47 percent of all miles put on
vehicles in a day are within the first 20 miles of travel,”
said Galen Suppes, associate professor of chemical
engineering at MU. “Furthermore, about 50 percent of
the vehicles travel 20 miles or less per day, and this 20 mile
distance is usually in inner-city travel where fuel economy for
conventional internal combustion engines is poor and emissions
have their greatest adverse affects.”
The plug-in hybrid is a modified version of
the hybrid vehicle, which uses electric motors and battery packs
to improve fuel efficiency. The plug-in contains a secondary power
source, larger than the standard hybrid, which can be recharged
using electricity while parked at home. Suppes says that by replacing
vehicular fuel consumption with electricity, there will be a drop
in fuel emissions and less demand for gasoline. If the vehicles
were charged at night, according to Suppes, they would not add
to the burden on the nation’s electrical power grid.
The fuel cell hybrid provides an additional
degree of freedom with the plug-in option, Suppes found. The electricity
could be used to recharge batteries or to hydrolyze water to hydrogen
for use with the fuel cell. In the hydrogen storage option, fuel
cells are used to generate hydrogen and oxygen which are stored
in compressed tanks. This configuration, Suppes says, can reduce
the amount of secondary source battery storage since pure hydrogen
can power the fuel cells.
“At less than $1,000 in incremental
costs to today’s standard hybrid vehicle, this is a good
option today and a great option for tomorrow’s fuel cell
hybrid vehicles,” Suppes said. “The plug-in fuel cell
hybrid is a great transition technology toward a hydrogen infrastructure.”
Suppes’ research on the plug-in fuel
cell hybrid was recently published in the International
Journal of Hydrogen Energy. He and his colleague, Truman
Storvick, professor emeritus of chemical engineering at MU, recently
developed an online book, Energy
Disclosed: Abundant Resources and Unused Technology.
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November 15, 2007
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