Show Notes 30 August 2024
Story 1: A recipe for zero-emissions fuel: Soda cans, seawater, and caffeine
Source: MIT News Story by Jennifer Chu
See also: https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-physical-science/fulltext/S2666-3864(24)00399-0
See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIowXoHPeFk&t=2s
- MIT engineers have found that when the aluminum in soda cans is exposed in its pure form and mixed with seawater, the solution bubbles up and naturally produces hydrogen — a gas that can be subsequently used to power an engine or [hydrogen] fuel cell without generating carbon emissions. What’s more, this simple reaction can be sped up by adding a common stimulant: caffeine.
- Optional side note – what is a hydrogen fuel cell: A hydrogen fuel cell is a device that converts the chemical energy of hydrogen and oxygen into electricity through an electrochemical process. Here’s a simple breakdown of how it works:
- Hydrogen Supply: Hydrogen gas is supplied to the anode (negative electrode) of the fuel cell.
- Electrochemical Reaction: At the anode, a catalyst splits the hydrogen molecules into protons (positively charged hydrogen ions) and electrons.
- Proton Movement: The protons pass through an electrolyte to the cathode (positive electrode).
- Electron Flow: The electrons travel through an external circuit, creating an electric current that can be used to power electrical devices.
- Oxygen Supply: Oxygen from the air is supplied to the cathode.
- Water Formation: At the cathode, the protons, electrons, and oxygen combine to form water and heat as byproducts.
- In a study recently appearing in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science, the researchers show they can produce hydrogen gas by dropping pretreated, pebble-sized aluminum pellets into a beaker of filtered seawater.
- The aluminum is pretreated with a rare-metal alloy that effectively scrubs aluminum into a pure form that can react with seawater to generate hydrogen.
- The salt ions in the seawater can, in turn, attract and recover the rare-metal alloy, which can be reused to generate more hydrogen, in a sustainable cycle.
- Time out, what is the “rare-metal alloy”? – Eutectic Gallium-Indium (EGaIn) itself is not a single metal but an alloy of gallium and indium.
- Gallium is relatively rare in the Earth’s crust, but it is more commonly found in trace amounts within bauxite and zinc ores. It is not typically mined directly but is extracted as a byproduct of mining and refining other metals.
- Indium is also considered rare, primarily obtained as a byproduct of zinc ore processing. Its availability is limited, and it is less abundant than gallium.
- The team found that this reaction between aluminum and seawater successfully produces hydrogen gas, though slowly. On a lark, they tossed into the mix some coffee grounds and found, to their surprise, that the reaction picked up its pace.
- In the end, the team discovered that a low concentration of imidazole — an active ingredient in caffeine — is enough to significantly speed up the reaction, producing the same amount of hydrogen in just five minutes, compared to two hours without the added stimulant.
- The researchers are developing a small reactor that could run on a marine vessel or underwater vehicle. The vessel would hold a supply of aluminum pellets (recycled from old soda cans and other aluminum products), along with a small amount of gallium-indium and caffeine.
- These ingredients could be periodically funneled into the reactor, along with some of the surrounding seawater, to produce hydrogen on demand. The hydrogen could then fuel an onboard engine to drive a motor or generate electricity to power the ship.
- As one of the key researchers noted, “We’re showing a new way to produce hydrogen fuel, without carrying hydrogen but carrying aluminum as the ‘fuel’. The next part is to figure out how to use this for trucks, trains, and maybe airplanes. Perhaps, instead of having to carry water as well, we could extract water from the ambient humidity to produce hydrogen. That’s down the line.”
Story 2: City unveils world’s first ‘hydrogen apartment’ block — here’s how this technology could revolutionize the future of housing
Source: The Cool Down Story by Kristen Lawrence
See also: https://interestingengineering.com/energy/hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered-apartment-korea
- Urban living in Ulsan, South Korea, just got an eco-friendly upgrade thanks to the world’s first “hydrogen apartment” complex, which was recently unveiled in the Buk-gu district.
- Called the Yuldong With You apartments, all 437 units are powered completely by hydrogen fuel cells, which can not only lower residents’ electric bills by 30-40%, but also have a positive impact on the planet, according to an online news article published by FuelCellsWorks.com.
- According to another article on the project in Interesting Engineering, the apartment complex is powered by the Yuldong Combined Heat and Power Plant, which is located only 200 meters from the complex.
- The plant used hydrogen as a byproduct and received it via a 10 km pipeline from nearby industries. 10 km is equivalent to approximately 6.2 miles.
- Using hydrogen, the plant generated heat and power with reduced environmental impact.
- Since the power plant first came online in June, it has generated around 840 megawatts of energy, valued at about 150 million won (over $109,000). That means hydrogen could be a game-changer when it comes to powering big cities with clean, abundant energy.
- Three container-sized fuel cells on the apartment complex’s roof [which hold the hydrogen supplied by the power plant] produce up to 1.32 MW of electricity from around 112 pounds of hydrogen per hour.
- Interesting Engineering explained that this is enough energy to provide a month’s worth of power to four average-sized households each hour.
- In addition, heat generated in the process is captured and stored in a 40-ton energy-efficient thermal [water] storage tank. The water — which can reach up to 70 degrees Celsius [158 degrees Fahrenheit] — is then piped into the apartment units for heating, making the entire process planet-friendly.
Story 3: New living building material draws carbon out of the atmosphere
Source: TechXplore.com Story by University College London
Link: https://techxplore.com/news/2024-08-material-carbon-atmosphere.html#google_vignette
- A new construction biomaterial that uses living microorganisms to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere has been developed by a University College London graduate student and colleagues.
- The biomaterial, developed by a master’s student in the University College London Bio-Integrated Design program, could dramatically reduce the construction industry’s carbon footprint if mass produced and widely adopted.
- It was unveiled as part of an art installation in St Andrews Botanic Garden in Scotland and incorporates living cyanobacteria into translucent panels that can be mounted on to the interior walls of buildings.
- As the microorganisms embedded within these panels grow using photosynthesis, they pull carbon dioxide out of the air, and through a biomineralization process, affix it to calcium to create calcium carbonate, locking away the carbon.
- A kilogram of this biomaterial, known as a cyanobacterial engineered living material, can capture and sequester up to 350 grams of carbon dioxide, while the same amount of traditional concrete will emit as much as 500 grams of carbon dioxide.
- A 150-square-meter wall [that’s approximately 1,614.59 square feet] covered with these cyanobacterial engineered living material panels will lock away approximately one ton of carbon dioxide.
- The panels themselves are designed to offer a range of cosmetic and structural benefits for buildings. They are lightweight, sound-absorbing, translucent enough to transmit light through and thermally insulating to enhance the energy efficiency of buildings.
Story 4: New Biomaterial Regrows Damaged Cartilage in Joints
Source: Northwestern University Engineering News Story by Amanda Morris
- Northwestern University Engineering scientists in Evanston, Illinois have developed a new bioactive material that successfully regenerated high-quality cartilage in the knee joints of a large animal model.
- Although it looks like a rubbery goo, the material is actually a complex network of molecular components, which work together to mimic cartilage’s natural environment in the body.
- In the new study, the researchers applied the material to damaged cartilage in an animals’ knee joints [the article does not identify what kind of animal].
- Within just six months, the researchers observed evidence of enhanced repair, including the growth of new cartilage containing the natural biopolymers (collagen II and proteoglycans), which enable pain-free mechanical resilience in joints.
- With more work, the researchers say the new material someday could potentially be used to prevent full knee replacement surgeries, treat degenerative diseases like osteoarthritis, and repair sports-related injuries like ACL tears.
- Northwestern University’s Samuel I. Stupp, who led the study noted, “Our new therapy can induce repair in a tissue that does not naturally regenerate. We think our treatment could help address a serious, unmet clinical need.”
Honorable Mentions:
Story: Engineering plants with deeper roots could be a huge climate boon. Scientists just made a big find
Source: Anthropocene Magazine Story by Emma Bryce
- A host of agricultural challenges—crops’ vulnerability to drought, massive nitrogen pollution and greenhouse gas emissions—share one elegant solution: getting plants to grow longer, deeper roots.
- It may sound odd, but in fact this feat of genetic engineering has occupied scientists for years. Now, writing in Cell Reports, one research team thinks they have hit on an especially promising way to achieve this goal: by tweaking the behavior of a particular plant hormone, they believe we can grow plants that burrow deeper into the soil.
- Such deep-reaching roots have real potential for crop health and the environment. Not only do deep-rooted plants have a better chance of reaching water in times of drought, they also capture more of the excess nitrogen that filters into the soil of fertilized farmland, helping tackle nutrient pollution. What’s more, long roots deposit carbon into deeper soil layers, “where it stays for longer and can be kept out of the atmosphere,” explains Wolfgang Busch, executive director of the Harnessing Plants Initiative at the Salk Institute, whose lab led the new work. That’s thanks in part to suberin, an abundant tissue in plant roots that locks away carbon and, conveniently, is slow to decompose.
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Story: World’s 1st AI-powered hearing aids boost speech understanding by 53 times
Source: Interesting Engineering Story by Maria Mocerino
Link: https://interestingengineering.com/health/sonovas-ai-hearing-aids-offer-crystal-clear-speech
- Understanding speech in a noisy environment represents the biggest pain point in those affected by hearing loss, according to an official statement by Sonova, a hearing aid company with a 77-year history backing up its clout and authority on the subject.
- After putting Phonak Audéo Sphere™ Infinio to the test, a new state-of-the-art AI hearing aid, they made significant headway by helping 50% of their clinical trial participants separate clear speech from background noise.
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Story: New tool from U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory simulates real-world vehicle traffic to predict large-scale energy impact
Source: TechXplore.com Story by Evonne Acevedo
Link: https://techxplore.com/news/2024-08-tool-simulates-real-world-vehicle.html
- From a city’s rush-hour commute to the operations of a cross-country transport fleet, a new tool from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory can paint a picture of how vehicles are using energy on a large scale.
- The tool, called Autonomie Express, is designed to help transport and mobility companies, researchers, city planners and others estimate their vehicles’ energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The tool—free to all users—assesses energy consumption for a wide range of vehicles, both current and future.
- “You can ask, what if 50% of these vehicles were battery electric—what impact would that have on traffic flow?” says Phillip Sharer, manager of Argonne’s model-based systems engineering group. “Over the last 20 years, transportation has become more complex with the onset of new technologies, both at the powertrain level and the vehicle level, as well as the intelligence that’s being added to vehicles and roadways. We have a mix of conventional vehicles, hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles of varying sizes on the road today, and we anticipate more in the years to come.”
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Story: Engineered microbes found to repel mosquitoes
Source: Phys.org Story by PNAS Nexus
Link: https://phys.org/news/2024-07-microbes-repel-mosquitoes.html
- Genetically-engineered human skin bacteria can make mice less attractive to mosquitoes for 11 days. Mosquitoes transmit a host of deadly diseases, including malaria, West Nile, dengue, yellow fever, and Zika. Female mosquitoes on the hunt for a blood meal tune into scents released by skin microbes that live on their targets.
- Omar Akbari and colleagues engineered versions of the common human skin commensals Staphylococcus epidermidis and Corynebacterium amycolatum to produce much less of a form of lactic acid known to attract mosquitoes. The work is published in the journal PNAS Nexus.
- The authors tested the microbes alone and found the engineered version of S. epidermidis attracted about half as many Aedes aegypti and Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes and about 22% fewer Culex quinquefasciatus as the wildtype versions of the microbes.
- The authors also tried the engineered microbes on mice. Painting the mice with wildtype S. epidermidis attracted mosquitos. However, painting the mice with engineered S. epidermidis reduced mosquito attraction by up to 64.4%, compared with wildtype, starting three days after the microbe was applied.
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