Electricity from Alcohol

The new device on display at the Linden, N.J., laboratory of Esso Research & Engineering Co. looked like nothing more than an outsize storage battery draped with a tangle of plastic tubes.Like a battery, it was an entirely self-contained source of electricity, but it was far more than that. Esso's new fuel cell comes remarkably close to the achievement of a chemical engineer's dream: the use of a cheap fuel to pro duce practical amounts of electric cur rent without the aid of expensive engines or generators.

Other fuel cells already in operation combine pure hydrogen and oxygen to form water. In the process the hydrogen gives up electrons that flow out of the cell as electric current. But hydrogen is a touchy, expensive fuel, and since it is a very light gas, only small amounts can be stored in large, un wieldy pressure tanks. The Esso cell burns familiar methanol (wood alcohol) and gets its oxygen free, out of ordinary air.

When air is bubbled in, the cell heats up to 140DEG F. (about the temperature of household hot tap water). Helped by a catalyst, the methanol combines with oxygen, forming carbon dioxide and wa ter while releasing electrons. The 29-lb. cell produces 100 watts of power at 5 volts' pressure, and its efficiency is as high as 40% . An auto engine, by comparison, is doing well if it gets 15% efficiency out of its gasoline fuel.

Esso engineers admit that their fuel cell is too heavy and feeble at present to have many practical applications, but they are confident that it will soon lose weight and gain power. Fuel cells may never compete with such large sources of electricity as coal-burning power stations, but they are candidates for smaller jobs in which convenience and efficiency are important. They may soon find a use in space, contributing valuable water as a byproduct along with their electricity. On earth they may provide cheap, quiet electricity for homes, weather stations or microwave repeaters beyond the reach of commercial power lines.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.