Intellectual Property Law

US Patent 7468097 - Hydrogen production from greenhouse gas saturated CNTs

Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide are often associated with global warming phenomena. Meanwhile, alternative energy systems such as fuel cells are looking for ways to produce hydrogen to solve the problem of future oil shortages. This patent from the University of North Texas teaches a very interesting potential solution for both these problems using carbon nanotubes saturated with a greenhouse gas which is converted to hydrogen for energy usage. Claim 1 reads:

1. An apparatus for generating and storing hydrogen gas from a saturated carbon nanotube having an attached hydrocarbon gas or attached greenhouse gas, comprising:

(a) a vacuum chamber, wherein the vacuum chamber is in fluid communication with a gas inlet port;

(b) a nanotube holding chamber located inside the vacuum chamber and having a first end and a second end, wherein the first end is in fluid communication with the gas inlet port, and the second end is in fluid communication with a gas exit port;

(c) a hydrogen storage chamber in fluid communication with the gas exit port; and

(d) a microwave generator aligned to discharge microwave energy that impinges on the saturated carbon nanotube having an attached hydrocarbon gas or attached greenhouse gas placed in the nanotube holding chamber.

Full post as published by TinytechIP on December 23, 2008 (boomark / email).