Tom Andel

Maybe tomorrow's employees won't be zombies
May 14, 2008

There’s a new book out called The Dumbest Generation. Author Mark Bauerlein argues that today’s school-age kids may be technologically savvy about using gadgetry, but the software that counts—their brains—is getting mushy by participating in online social websites rather than exercising in a more book-centered, debate-fostering environment. Oh, to whom can we look to save corporate America from the advance of these young zombies?

How about Ian Fuller? I met this young Wright State University sophomore at the 2008 Ohio Fuel Cell Coalition Symposium held this week in Akron, OH. In the midst of this two-day program of presentations by energy companies, politicians and technology providers, all of whom painted an optimistic view of the future for the application of fuel cell technology in consumer and industrial applications, there was a display of science project posters created by kids belonging to the same generation Mr. Bauerline decries. Ian Fuller’s poster won first prize. Its title? “A Novel Method of Hydrogen Production and Storage for Fuel Cell Applications.”

Knowing what a challenge the hydrogen infrastructure posed to the widespread application of fuel cells in industrial applications (namely lift trucks), I had to talk to this kid. And I did. In fact he caught me studying his poster and started the conversation. He asked if he could answer any questions. A zombie wouldn’t do that, so I knew I was safe.

Yeah, what does your poster mean? (Maybe I’m the zombie.)

Basically, it’s a way to use sodium borahydride combined with a solid acid as a replacement for liquid hydrogen in fuel cell applications. Simple.

Ian says by creating hydrogen from these ingredients rather than delivering it in liquid form via pipelines or tankers, you can avoid installing an intricate infrastructure along with the safety challenges that accompany that infrastructure. He also says sodium borahydride is fairly cheap--$28 per kilogram. If 1 kilogram gets you 40-50 work hours, it might be comparable to compressed gas, he says. This solid format is also easier and more efficient to store, Ian says. 10 kg of sodium borahydride under a standard density would take about 18 liters of volume to store. The same amount of hydrogen, with a 4000 psi tank, would take about 90 liters. I’ll take his word for that. He also says you can store sodium borahydride in any sealed plastic container. You generate hydrogen by adding water from the fuel cell.

How much do you need? He says it’s scalable. A 10 kg fuel rod could last tens of hours on a typical fuel cell stack. For smaller applications you could have a 1 kg fuel rod.

Ian filed his first patent on this process and is already talking to people about commercialization. I told him I might introduce him to you, dear readers, and so I am. If you’d like to dialog with him about his developing vision of materials handling, his e-mail address is fuller.33@wright.edu.

Let me know what you learn.

Posted by Tom Andel on May 14, 2008 | Comments (4)