From Farm Waste to Fuel Tanks (Nat'l Science Foundation press release)

[jpak]

http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=108390&org=NSF&from=news

Using corncob waste as a starting material, researchers have created carbon briquettes with complex nanopores capable of storing natural gas at an unprecedented density of 180 times their own volume and at one seventh the pressure of conventional natural gas tanks.

The breakthrough, announced today in Kansas City, Mo., is a significant step forward in the nationwide effort to fit more automobiles to run on methane, an abundant fuel that is domestically produced and cleaner burning than gasoline.

Supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Partnership for Innovation program, researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia (MU) and Midwest Research Institute (MRI) in Kansas City developed the technology. The technology has been incorporated into a test bed installed on a pickup truck used regularly by the Kansas City Office of Environmental Quality.

The briquettes are the first technology to meet the 180 to 1 storage to volume target set by the U.S. Department of Energy in 2000, a long-term goal of principal project leader Peter Pfeifer of MU.

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[madokie]

1. thats got to be good news

[JohnWxy]

2. I love it. Recommended! And the methane can come from cattle and pig poop!

let's leave some to run Ethanol plants, though - eliminating fossil fuel in production of ethanol (with biodiesel operated farm equipment)! MOre fuel, less GHG emissions from animal manure!

[jpak]

3. I'm thinking homegrown biogas farm equipment...

:)

[JohnWxy]

4. Right. That's the first place it should be used. Right where the 'raw material' is made!

[eppur_se_muova]

5. Uh oh ... someone at DOE has been setting GOALS ...

how long will he keep his job after this gets out?

One Bu**sh** ass-kissin' crony replacement, coming right up!

(Seriously, though, it sounds like the gas-storing briquettes are good news.)

(Are they safe for internal use? Can I get a sample?):evilgrin: