The University’s effort to forward the research and commercial application of alternative energy technology received a substantial boost from the state in May. The Ohio Department of Defense awarded $18 million to a coalition of industries and universities, including UT, to support the research, development and commercialization of fuel cells.
***image2***UT’s College of Engineering received $1.8 million of the grant to improve hydrogen fuel cell technology. According to Dr. Martin Abraham, associate dean of research and graduate studies and the principal investigator on the project, the goal of the research is to extract hydrogen from fuels that will be used to operate more efficient and cost-effective fuel cells. “We believe we can take gasoline, ethanol or methanol and convert it efficiently and economically to hydrogen in a compact system that will create fuel from which to operate fuel cells,” Abraham explained. “This type of technology currently exists in research facilities, but it is not commercially available because of the cost.”
Abraham added that about 70 percent of the cost associated with generating hydrogen-powered fuel cells is not in the actual cell, but in the components needed to make the cell operate.
Dr. Glenn Lipscomb, professor of chemical and environmental engineering, and Dr. Maria Coleman, professor of chemical and environmental engineering, also are involved with the research. Their expertise will help develop new technologies to purify hydrogen by passing it through selective membranes that separate the hydrogen from other gases produced during the conversion process and evaluate opportunities to integrate the hydrogen separation and purification process with the other components of the fuel cell system.
“Because of our expertise in reaction engineering and separations, we are able to provide all of this research to the state as a complete package. This gave us the technical advantage needed to secure the grant,” Abraham said.
“This is an outcome of a sustained scholarly effort by our faculty during the last year, and I am very proud of what they have accomplished,” said Dr. Nagi G. Naganathan, dean of College of Engineering.
The college first became involved with the research after Naganathan returned from a 2002 Washington, D.C., meeting with Dr. Bob Savinell, dean of the Case School of Engineering, during which they discussed collaboration in the area of fuel cells. “When I got back, I discussed the idea with some of our faculty members. Over the last summer, they worked with a group of bright graduate and undergraduate students and quickly demonstrated that we have the expertise to be a significant partner in the statewide effort,” Naganathan said. “I complement Dr. Abraham on his outstanding leadership role in interfacing with the other university and industry partners in the state.”
In addition to UT, Case Western Reserve University, Ohio State University, Cleveland State University and Stark State College of Technology are recipients of the grant. The coalition makes up the Power Partnership for Ohio, one of Gov. Bob Taft’s Wright Centers of Innovation.
