Check this out.



"Scientists have discovered a remarkable, unexpected and cheap way to store hydrogen fuel– using carbonized chicken feather fibers.
The problem of storing hydrogen as fuel has traditionally been a perplexing and expensive dilemma. For instance, a car with a 20-gallon hydrogen storage tank made from carbon nanotubes or metal hydrides– two of the best ideas so far– would add $5.5 million or $30k respectively to the price of that vehicle.

A storage tank made from carbonized chicken feathers, however, would only mark up the cost a measly $200. The green bio-material would also help solve the problem of how to dispose of the 2.7 billion kilograms of chicken feathers generated each year by commercial poultry operations."


http://cleantechnica.com/2009/06/24/hydrogen-fuel-tanks-made-from-chicken-feathers-could-save-55-million/

Check this out.



"Scientists have discovered a remarkable, unexpected and cheap way to store hydrogen fuel– using carbonized chicken feather fibers.
The problem of storing hydrogen as fuel has traditionally been a perplexing and expensive dilemma. For instance, a car with a 20-gallon hydrogen storage tank made from carbon nanotubes or metal hydrides– two of the best ideas so far– would add $5.5 million or $30k respectively to the price of that vehicle.

A storage tank made from carbonized chicken feathers, however, would only mark up the cost a measly $200. The green bio-material would also help solve the problem of how to dispose of the 2.7 billion kilograms of chicken feathers generated each year by commercial poultry operations."


http://cleantechnica.com/2009/06/24/hydrogen-fuel-tanks-made-from-chicken-feathers-could-save-55-million/

KFC stock soars.

Very interesting... it seems there is always an alternative to complicated problems with a simple and natural material.
Does this mean Super chicken got his incredible stregnth from hydrogen?

If I understand them correctly, chicken feathers contain keratin, a molecule chain / structure, that when heated, carbonizes (becomes a pure carbon chain / structure) into a form with the same or similar properties as carbon nano-tubes.

Wow, sounds like a great use of a bio-waste to provide a material with valuable properties, that was otherwise too expensive to produce. Talk about using all of the "buffalo" - the Hakawi would be proud.

6 down, 200 problems left to go.

I hate to bring this up but I was digging a bit deeper into this and found out they had to cool the carbonized feathers down to -266 degrees. That's liquid hydrogen levels. Yeah, I was disappointed as well (although I have trained myself not to get excited until I see a 3rd party verified prototype with a reasonable cost estimate).

Seriously, what were these researchers thinking? If you have to cool down to -266 degrees why not just store the hydrogen as a liquid? lol. Skip the feathers and probably the KFC smell when the hydrogen was used. ;)

I hate to bring this up but I was digging a bit deeper into this and found out they had to cool the carbonized feathers down to -266 degrees. That's liquid hydrogen levels. Yeah, I was disappointed as well (although I have trained myself not to get excited until I see a 3rd party verified prototype with a reasonable cost estimate).

Seriously, what were these researchers thinking? If you have to cool down to -266 degrees why not just store the hydrogen as a liquid? lol. Skip the feathers and probably the KFC smell when the hydrogen was used. ;)
I wonder what the closed-loop efficiency of this system is?

This story also made the 6/26 edition of Science Friday. I don't think anyone mentioned the -266 degrees, though. And they mentioned other possible uses for chicken feathers.