Originally published November 3 2003
Old coal mine sees new life as a fuel cell plant
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Here's a nice description of a leap from fossil fuels to fuel cells. This story reports the launching of a small fuel cell station that converts methane gas into electricity. Methane gas, of course, is the gas responsible for coal mine explosions.
Harness that power, however, and you can make electricity. Lots of electricity. And as this article points out, this also prevents the methane gas from escaping into the open air.
Most people don't realize you can use methane gas for fuel cells. They've heard about the use of hydrogen or propane, but not methane. The fact remains, however, that virtually any petroleum-based liquid or gas can be used in a fuel cell generator.
On a humorous note, methane gas is the same gas released by cows. Some have argued that cows are farting the gas out, but it turns out that the gas escapes from cows' stomachs during the multistage digestion process. A herd of cows can release a tremendous amount of methane gas. Could these same cows now power our cities, too?
Analysis: This is more than just symbolic, it's real progress. When we can convert old fossil fuel sites to electricity plants through clean fuel cell technology, everyone benefits.
The purpose of the project, which is co-funded by the U.S. Department
of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory, is to demonstrate the
feasibility and advantages of methane from coalmines to generate
electricity cleanly and efficiently.
First, by using coalmine methane to power our DFC power plants, we're
generating electricity cleanly and efficiently from a readily available
domestic fuel source.
Second, we're helping to eliminate escaping methane, which is a
harmful greenhouse gas.
Third, we are demonstrating the economics of using coalmine methane as
an opportunity fuel to generate electricity in a clean power source such
as our DFC power plants."
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