Spring Break
The Daily OrangeGreen eggs and Fan
OSU professor patents vinegar and eggs mixture as hydrogen fuel alternative
By Mel Zilora
Posted: 10/15/07, 9:47 PM EST Section: News
The search for renewable energy technology has researchers walking on eggshells.
Dr. Liang-Shih Fan, professor and research leader at Ohio State University, recently patented a breakthrough in hydrogen fuel production that uses two peculiar household ingredients: vinegar and eggs.
Eggshells are a source of calcium carbonate, a compound very useful in refining the hydrogen gas product. When hydrogen gas is formed, a large amount of carbon dioxide remains with the gas, making it impure.
Pulverized eggshells, a natural waste product, can be heated to form calcium oxide, which will bond with the carbon dioxide to make calcium carbonate and pure oxygen gas.
"The carbon dioxide is removed as it happens, giving us the purest hydrogen possible," Fan said.
This process avoids the need to bury or release excess waste, reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of this already "green" fuel.
Yet surprisingly, the innovation here lies not in the use of eggshells, but in the use of vinegar.
Vinegar, or acetic acid, is used to strip the membranes from the eggshells to both purify the shell and harvest the collagen membrane for use with burn victims.
"Other teams have been working on separating the membrane, but mechanically, versus this very convenient chemical process," Fan said. "We are taking a solid waste, one that they pay to get rid of, and using it in a new way. … It's a significant commercial interest."
Justine Schmidt, a sophomore chemistry major at State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, agrees with Fan.
"I think this is definitely a good idea, to decrease the negative side effects of the process. … It's a very abstract thing, but if it's feasible, it should definitely be adopted."
Dr. Liang-Shih Fan, professor and research leader at Ohio State University, recently patented a breakthrough in hydrogen fuel production that uses two peculiar household ingredients: vinegar and eggs.
Eggshells are a source of calcium carbonate, a compound very useful in refining the hydrogen gas product. When hydrogen gas is formed, a large amount of carbon dioxide remains with the gas, making it impure.
Pulverized eggshells, a natural waste product, can be heated to form calcium oxide, which will bond with the carbon dioxide to make calcium carbonate and pure oxygen gas.
"The carbon dioxide is removed as it happens, giving us the purest hydrogen possible," Fan said.
This process avoids the need to bury or release excess waste, reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of this already "green" fuel.
Yet surprisingly, the innovation here lies not in the use of eggshells, but in the use of vinegar.
Vinegar, or acetic acid, is used to strip the membranes from the eggshells to both purify the shell and harvest the collagen membrane for use with burn victims.
"Other teams have been working on separating the membrane, but mechanically, versus this very convenient chemical process," Fan said. "We are taking a solid waste, one that they pay to get rid of, and using it in a new way. … It's a significant commercial interest."
Justine Schmidt, a sophomore chemistry major at State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, agrees with Fan.
"I think this is definitely a good idea, to decrease the negative side effects of the process. … It's a very abstract thing, but if it's feasible, it should definitely be adopted."
Be the first to comment on this story