1 Megawatt Fuel Cell Power Plant

The easiest way to obtain hydrogen is through pyrolysis. It converts all organic materials (waste, tires,hazardous waste, etc.) into hydrogen and carbon black.
You get paid for the disposal of the ingoing material and get paid for the material produced.
The most efficient method of heating the vessel during pyrolysis by using a plasma torch INSIDE the vessel.

which is the most efficient way to "react" hydrogen into electricity, normal burning process with turbines ? or is there another method. ?

Power Plants don't run on gasoline. A coal/ng powerplant can have up to 60% efficiency, and nuclear currently reaches 50%. Once Natural gas supplies delcine (around 2030), wind, tidal, solar, geo, methane, nuclear and coal will be the only 'root' technologies available. Vehicles will likely be hydrogen, but it will be based off of these 'roots'.

You just answered my question, so thank you!

I'm not a chemist so excuse me if this is a dumb idea, but could'nt hydrogen be generated (and later harnessed) by simple elctrolysis of water? I think that is the thing that has always fascinated me about fuel cells, the notion that, on the surface at least, hydrogen seems so readily available and affordable.

The U.S Government will stop you. They want you controlled, dead or poor and as long as they monopolize you with their inferior technologies and decades old dependency on oil, they will do everything they can to stop it. Why? Because too many politicians stand to loose billions if people stopped using oil. So at the expense of the public we loose.

absolutely great system
thermocouples and other systems could make it more efficient

System price?

as an engineer i,m surprised at you. running green on a limited basis is perfectable under many different circumstances. however when you look at the normal every day energy neends for just the asa, nevermind the rest of the rapidlt growing 3rd world,doube it,will be workable.the fraud on carbon futures is laughable right now bobbyr

Well, I've been interested in hydrogen energy since Ben Bova, through an editorial in "Analog", turned me on to the idea in 1975. The breakthroughs in hydrogen storage, production and fuel cell efficiency that are occurring weekly now indicate an earlier culmination than previously forseen. You can see that today I am pretty interested in the political barriers by visiting my web site.

in fact they they don't BURN anything, depending on what kinda fuel cells they are.

And in this case, they get their natural gas and reform it. Its a process called steam reformation, no combustions ever happens. these types of fuel cells work exclusively by electrochemical reactions

Hello Mr. Masters. Thank you for your kind comments. What drives your interest in hydrogen?

Andy, Thanks for the excellent insight on CSU's reforming fuel cell at Northridge. These fuel cell types will play an important role in the inevitable transition from natural gas to hydrogen in the coming years as wind farms begin to supplement depleting natural gas supplies with renewable hydrogen produced from off-peak or stranded wind resources.
Richard D. Masters

1 MW won't get you too far

To clarify something, if you're worried about fossil fuels... molten carbonate fuel cells can use a variety of fuel sources. You do not need pure gaseous hydrogen as is with PEM (proton exchange membrane) fuel cells. The fuel source(s) for the cell stack, whether it be some kind of hydrogen rich organic, natural gas, or whatever, is internally reformed beucase of the high temperatues and potent lithium or sodium salt electrolytes/catalysts. Thank you chemical engineering.

They don't burn anything, burning is a different chemical reaction.
As for fossil fuels they currently do, but are certainly not tied to using it for ever.

They split the hydrogen off the gas that goes in.

"The plant burns natural gas to genertate hydrogen .... no fossil fuels" Ummm... sure, I'll believe that one

Where in the world do they get their hydrogen? Unless they are producing hydrogen magically, all they're doing is wasting energy.

Hydrolisis. There`s a new method to obtain hydrogen with a bit amount of amperes.
That`s not a big trouble.

and a 30% efficient gasoline engine is somehow better?

Despite the description, fuel cell commercial power generation CANNOT replace fossil fuel dependance.

Hydrogen from water is only about 50-70% efficient. The fuel cells convert about 30-40% of this hydrogen energy back into electricity. Such a plant would recover 10-23% of the electricity needed to feul it.

In order to produce power, such a large-scale plant would still need to produce hydrogen from fossil fuels (like this one does), where gas is reacted with water to form H2 and CO.

Hydrogen on demand is the key to water fuel.

Sorry not having to refill at another gas station is true freedom. Your still paying for your hydrogen? LOL. Idiotic concept.

Your still tethered to a gas pump. Really revolutionary, um no. Its the same thing.

I'm not sure which of the two reforming technologies this power plant uses, the key point is that the only external inputs of energy you would need (and I'm not sure that you even need external inputs) is to heat and pressurize the natural gas.

That's an excellent question. I had to look There are two natural gas reformer technologies — autothermal reforming (ATR) and steam methane reforming (SMR). Both methods work by exposing natural gas to a catalyst (usually nickel) at high temperature and pressure.