Posted on 09/26/2007 12:36:21 PM PDT by Red Badger
Engineers at Ohio State University have found a way to turn discarded chicken eggshells into an alternative energy resource
The patented process uses eggshells to soak up carbon dioxide from a reaction that produces hydrogen fuel. It also includes a unique method for peeling the collagen-containing membrane from the inside of the shells, so that the collagen can be used commercially.
L.S. Fan, Distinguished University Professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Ohio State, said that he and former Ohio State doctoral student, Mahesh Iyer, hit upon the idea when they were trying to improve a method of hydrogen production called the water-gas-shift reaction. With this method, fossil fuels such as coal are gasified to produce carbon monoxide gas, which then combines with water to produce carbon dioxide and hydrogen.
The eggshell plays a critical role.
"The key to making pure hydrogen is separating out the carbon dioxide," Fan said. "In order to do it very economically, we needed a new way of thinking, a new process scheme."
That brought them to eggshells, which mostly consist of calcium carbonate -- one of nature's most absorbent materials. It is a common ingredient in calcium supplements and antacids. With heat processing, calcium carbonate becomes calcium oxide, which will then absorb any acidic gas, such as carbon dioxide.
In the laboratory, Fan and his colleagues demonstrated that ground-up eggshells could be used in the water-gas-shift reaction. Iyer performed those early experiments; recent graduate Theresa Vonder Haar also worked on the project for her bachelor's degree honors thesis.
Calcium carbonate –- a key ingredient in the eggshells -- captures 78 percent of carbon dioxide by weight, Fan explained. That means, given equal amounts of carbon dioxide and eggshell, the eggshell would absorb 78 percent of the carbon dioxide.
That makes it the most effective carbon dioxide absorber ever tested.
Energy experts believe that hydrogen may become an important power source in the future, most notably in the form of fuel cells. But first, researchers must develop affordable ways to produce large quantities of hydrogen -- and that means finding ways to deal with the byproducts of chemical reactions that produce the gas.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the country produced nearly 91 billion eggs in 2006. That equates to about 455,000 tons of shell per year that could potentially be used in hydrogen production.
Still, Fan said, even if all that shell were utilized, it would only provide a portion of what the United States would need to seriously pursue a hydrogen economy.
"Eggshell alone may not be adequate to produce hydrogen for the whole country, but at least we can use eggshell in a better way compared to dumping it as organic waste in landfills, where companies have to pay up to $40 dollars per ton disposal cost," he said.
Before they could grind up the egg shell, the engineers needed to remove the collagen-containing membrane that clings to the inside; they developed an organic acid that does the job. About 10 percent of the membrane consists of collagen, which sells for about $ 1000/gram. This collagen, once extracted, can be used in food or pharmaceuticals, or for medical treatments. Doctors use collagen to help burn victims regenerate skin; it's also used in cosmetic surgery.
"We like that our technology can help the egg industry to dispose of its waste, and at the same time convert the waste to a useful product," Fan said.
"And in the long term, we're demonstrating that carbon-based fuel sources, like coal or biomass, can be efficiently converted to hydrogen and liquid fuel. The goal is an energy conversion system that uses a dependable fossil energy source, but at the same time has very little environmental impact."
Fan is currently working with a major egg company to produce large quantities of the eggshell granules for testing. The university plans to license the technology for further development.
Source: Ohio State University
Ping!.............
Cool.
But let me be the first on this thread to say:
Sugar, it’s the new oil!
But, do you think we could just burn the fuel source from which the hydrogen came. OH NO! Can’t do thet, that would create evil carbon dioxide.
Sometimes you gotta break a few eggs...
But if Global Warming is a scam, the yolks on them!...............They’ll all have egg on their faces!.............
When the calcium carbonate is calcined it releases CO2.
CaCO3 + heat -> CaO + CO2
So while they have an activated lime that is a good CO2 scavenger for the reaction, this "green" process has its own carbon footprint.
Net CO2 is not impacted at all! So, it comes from eggshells. It does not matter if it is clamshells, eggshells, limestone, or whatever.
"Lime Production:
Like cement production, the industrial lime production results in carbon dioxide emission when limestone is heated up.
As well as straightforward 'quicklime' production, a second type of lime called 'dolomitic' quick lime is also produced using a mixture of limestone and magnesium carbonate.
Quicklime production is thought to result in about 800kg of carbon dioxide per tonne, while dolomitic quicklime produces slightly more at about 900kg per tonne."
The solution would be to place a ‘egg shell’ deposit, say 5 cents/egg shell. You could bring the egg shell back to the store and get your 5 cents back. There...problem solved and global warming avoided!
Seems to me I remember a scene in one of the”Back to the Future” movies where Christopher Lloyd starts putting garbage into the Delorean to “refuel” it. That’s the first thing that came to mind when I read this.
Hey, now there's an idea whose time had come
“According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the country produced nearly 91 billion eggs in 2006. That equates to about 455,000 tons of shell per year that could potentially be used in hydrogen production.”
Sorry, but unless our Fascist/Stalinist nanny-state advocates are going to pass laws that mandate separate days of the week and separate containers for everyone to “recycle” all eggshells, used commercially or individually, eggshells cannot ever “potentially be used in hydrogen production”. That claim is laughable. They will have to find another source of, or means to make, Calcium Carbonate - maybe it will even do a better job than eggshells.
EGGSACKLEY!..............
That's the case with any energy storage and transportation medium (which is what hydrogen, gasoline, electricity, etc., are). It's all about moving energy from its source (solar, primarily, through lifting of water, creation of fossil fuels, wind generation...) to the place where it can be put to work. Efficiency will never be 100 percent.
Most eggshells are discarded by industry, not households, so if this process captures them at a lower cost than landfill the industrial egg users will benefit. This is not unlike the companies that collect wast oil from restaurants and recycle it into fuel.
All the same, this article doesn’t have enough detail to determine whether the process is worthwhile.
Like cement production, the industrial lime production results in carbon dioxide emission when limestone is heated up......... Quicklime production is thought to result in about 800kg of carbon dioxide per tonne, while dolomitic quicklime produces slightly more at about 900kg per tonne.
Maybe the "man made" global warming skeptics need to look at this. (if they haven't already)
The "manmade" advocates place all the "CO2" attention on fossil fuels and they claim their models demonstrate the "fossil-fuel-caused" additions account for atmospheric increases of CO2. I wonder?
According to the US geological survey, quicklime production in the US alone, for the century from 1904 to 2004:
(http://minerals.usgs.gov/ds/2005/140/lime.pdf)
amounted to 1,010,400,000 metric tons,
which at 800kg of CO2 per ton
and 1,000kg in a ton,
it amounts to a C02 contribution from US quicklime production of 808 million, 320 thousand tons (US alone).
I don't know how that compares to "fossil fuels". Maybe a new breed of "man made" GW advocates will make a case to finding an alternative to quicklime instead of an alternative to gasoline. LOL
“Most eggshells are discarded by industry, not households,”
Regardless, the practical means to their capture does not exist and will not be accepted. Its a joke and industry is not going to engage in it with any purpose from which the development of the means will be looked for. You cannot pay industry enough to produce and use the means to recycle eggshells and if you decreed a price they would accept then the end-product users of the resulting hydrogen could not afford it.
For an example, consider hydrogen (storage) "generation" with light metal hydrides, which later suggest the resulting hydroxides be salvaged and recycled into more hydrides..Via carbothermal reduction!
Hydrogen from Methane does likewise. Coal gasification produces a CO2 stream. How much carbothermal reduction of silicon is done to make a solar cell? A mole of sugar when fermented to Ethanol produces a mole of CO2.
Hydrogen "fuels" and battery powered cars produce no CO2 at the tailpipe. They just do it upstream where no one has to think about it or see it.
The recent aluminum-as-fuel excitement conveniently ignores the reason Niagara Falls was so popular with Reynolds and Alcoa.
These Green Energy schemes have carbon footprints or other horrendous energy demands, and they cannot have it both ways. No one seems to be thinking things through the entire chain any more, and instead rush to print.
The article is misnamed.
It should read “Scientists Look for Grant to Make Current Hydrogen Production Process More Expensive, We Want Some of the Global Warming Largess.”
I wondered if they’ve figured out that egg shells are more scarce than oil?
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