For scandium just is the best thing to make solid oxide fuel cells out of.
There are two dominant flavors of fuel cell: proton-exchange membrane (PEM) and solid oxide.
Butane goes in, and the solid oxide mechanisms inside Nectar convert it into electrons.
The main electrolytes used today are alkali, molten carbonate, phosphoric acid, proton exchange membrane and solid oxide.
Another is to use powerful solar cells to collect sunlight in conjunction with an efficient solid oxide fuel cell.
ENGADGET: Marines eye solar energy to eliminate dependency on fuel generators (video)
The advantage of solid oxide fuel cells running so hot is that all that waste heat can potentially be put to good use.
FORBES: The Economics of Bloom Energy's 'Breakthrough' Fuel Cell
Solid oxide fuel cells have notoriously faced challenges with durability, since they operate at very high temperatures, which the Bloom box will also have to overcome to prove profitable.
FORBES: The Economics of Bloom Energy's 'Breakthrough' Fuel Cell
Both Apple and Google have one in North Carolina, both of them are using or thinking of using solid oxide fuel cells to at least partially power them.
When co-generating heat and electricity, solid oxide fuel cells can reach combined efficiencies upwards of 85%, which is excellent, but no word yet whether or not the Bloom fuel cell will co-generate heat.
FORBES: The Economics of Bloom Energy's 'Breakthrough' Fuel Cell
The gas is then fed into a stack of solid oxide fuel cells, where a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen occurs, producing electricity, water vapor and a tiny amount of carbon dioxide.
The technology is based on highly efficient solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) wafer fabrication methods, including key nanotechnology elements, and is fueled by recyclable high energy power cartridges, or pods.
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The Tennessee Valley Authority (nyse: TVC - news - people ), a big Chattanooga employer, is taking the output from the 5-kilowatt solid oxide fuel cell that the center is experimenting with.
Bethesda, Maryland, is developing solid oxide fuel cell generators that will replace reliance on traditional battlefield power solutions and potentially reduce the fuel required for tactical generation of electric power by half or more.
FORBES: Lockheed Gambles On Green Generators For U.S. Military
Frankly, I believe that solid oxide fuel cells are the better technology in the long run, but Fuel Cell Energy owns 43% of the shares of VERSA Power that also makes solid oxide fuel cells.
Using research from the Ohio labs of the old Standard Oil of Ohio (Sohio), now a division of BP, Lee has a solid oxide cell that can be configured to run on natural gas, soy oil or farm wastes.
But solid-oxide fuel cells are hardier and offer far more punch because they can use denser hydrocarbons as fuel.
That's when the MIT duo decided to miniaturize a solid-oxide fuel cell instead.
Lilliputian's engineering miracle was in designing a tiny solid-oxide fuel cell that instead of melting everything in its vicinity is merely warm to the touch.
Solid-oxide cells, Lilliputian's choice, were abandoned by most manufacturers for use in portable power because they operate at scorching temperatures (up to 2, 500 degrees Fahrenheit).
On the contrary, start-up companies like Westwood, MA-based Acumentrics are similarly pursuing a solid-oxide fuel cell technology tailored to the needs of the military.
FORBES: Lockheed Gambles On Green Generators For U.S. Military
As fuel it uses liquid nitrous oxide and solid polythene plastic.
In 2010 a team of researchers from Washington State University found that artificial regolith containing silicon, aluminium, calcium, iron and magnesium oxide could be used by 3D printers to create solid objects.
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