⚡ Students' hydrogen-powered engine, CO2-fueled generator, Wave energy converter

A group of undergraduate students has built and successfully operated a hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engine.

Their work stands out because despite significant efforts by major automotive manufacturers to advance the technology, hydrogen-powered internal combustion engines are not commercially accessible. For more on how the hydrogen-powered engine works, have a peek at today’s Must-Read.

🔥Today’s job of the day as featured on jobs.interestingengineering.com:

> Lead Project Engineer – Propulsion Engines
> Full Stack Software Engineer (L5), Partner Products Lifecycle Apps Team

🎙 New podcast Turning waste into power for a green revolution

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MUST READ

⚡ Undergraduates develop record hydrogen-powered engine in a world first

“The achievement makes them the world’s first undergraduate students to develop and run a hydrogen-powered internal combustion engine,” according to a statement by Bath University, UK.

The fifteen members of the Bath Hydrogen team are third and fourth-year students enrolled in integrated mechanical and electrical engineering, automotive engineering, and mechanical engineering courses. Vanguard, their sponsor, provided a modified single-cylinder gasoline engine for the hydrogen engine.

According to the engineers, their motivation for pursuing this technology lies in hydrogen’s potential as a carbon-neutral fuel, coupled with the impending ban on the sale of new gasoline and diesel vehicles commencing in 2035. With their newly developed engine, they aim to set a land speed record.

🏭 Breakthrough CO2-fueled generator turns greenhouse gas into electricity

Researchers have built a generator that absorbs carbon dioxide (CO₂) to make electricity, advancing efforts to reverse climate change. The ‘nanogenerator’ could lead to a new industrial-scale carbon capture method.

The nanogenerator consists of two parts: a skeleton constructed of boron nitrate, a few atoms thick, which produces positive and negative ions. The second is a polyamine gel, which the industry has already utilized to collect CO₂.

The researchers explain that during CO2 adsorption, positively charged NH₃⁺ ions bond to H-BN, while negatively charged HCO₃^- ions form in hydrogel channels, resulting in a significant size difference. This difference enables rapid diffusion across the generator, translating into electricity to power external devices, leveraging gaseous CO₂ as an energy source.

🌊 Spain set to get table-top-like submerged sea wave energy converter

A fully submerged wave energy converter (WEC) system designed by Irish company CETO Wave Energy Ireland (CWEI) has passed a crucial step and has been approved for deployment in Basque Country, Spain.

Similar to wind and solar energy, ocean waves offer an unlimited supply of renewable energy to meet global needs. As countries transition away from fossil fuels, innovative methods to harness this resource are being developed, and projects like this support their development.

The device’s design ensures that it has a minimal visual impact and can coexist with marine life. It is attached to the sea floor with a mooring system, and the carbon-free electricity generated by the buoyant actuator is removed from the system by a dynamic cable.

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IE QUIZ: THE RESULTS

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