Fuel cell power is generated from hydrogen and oxygen, and the elements combine to form a nonpolluting byproduct--water.

We're not there yet, but farmers may someday grow crops that can be turned efficiently into hydrogen and used in fuel cells.
Ethanol, biodiesel, methane, wind power or even biomass can all be converted into hydrogen--the energy needed to run fuel cells.
Today, fuel cells are too expensive and the technology still too rudimentary for widespread use. But within one to three decades, fuel cells could be running cell phones, laptop computers, cars, pickups, tractors and combines.
The emission from fuel cells is just water, leading to a cleaner world than the one now dependent on petroleum products.
The fuel cell industry is garnering more and more attention as researchers and high-tech companies join in to develop this nonpolluting, homegrown energy source. Billions of dollars are moving into fuel cell development and include an agricultural angle--the production of hydrogen from ag commodities rather than petroleum-based products.
"Fuel cells are the battery, generator or engine replacement. That's hardware and the companies working on that are industrial companies like ourselves," said John Goodman, president of the fuel cell market sector at Entegris, Inc., a Chaska, Minn.-based high-tech materials integrity management company with global operations, theprairiestar.com reported.
Entegris is developing advanced components and subsystems for fuel cells in portable, stationary and transportation applications and helping fuel cell developers simplify their systems, improve reliability and reduce the size, weight and cost of fuel cells.
Currently, most fuel cells are fueled by natural gas converted to hydrogen.
"In terms of hydrogen--ethanol and biodiesel could be converted into hydrogen, but with current technologies it's not going to be competitive with other forms of energy today," said Goodman.
Many scientists and researchers hope that new technologies will make it possible to create hydrogen cheaply from agricultural sources in the near future.

Fuel Cell Defined
A fuel cell is a device that converts hydrogen fuel and oxygen from the air into electrical power via a chemical reaction, according to the US Fuel Cell Council. Every fuel cell has two electrodes, one positive and one negative, called the cathode and the anode.
The reaction that produces electricity occurs at the electrodes. Every fuel cell also has an electrolyte, which carries electrically charged particles from one electrode to the other, and a catalyst that speeds the reactions at the electrodes.
Fuel cell power is generated from hydrogen and oxygen, and the elements combine to form a nonpolluting byproduct--water.
For years, fuel cells have been used to provide power and water for spacecraft. Fuel cells are also used in submarines, spacecraft, small power generators and test cars and buses.
Commercial applications for fuel cells are just now becoming realistic as the technology improves and costs decrease.

Feeding the Fuel Cell
Research in fuel cells involves at least two venues--developing the fuel cell and developing non-petroleum hydrogen fuel.
According to an article from the Agricultural Utilization Research Institute, the Minneapolis-based Cummins Power Generation received a $75 million grant from the Department of Energy to develop an affordable, 10-kilowatt modular solid oxide fuel cell.
The Donaldson Company, another Minneapolis manufacturer, is working with the Los Alamos National Laboratory to develop filtration systems that prolong fuel cell life. Minnesota-based 3M, Entegris, and several smaller companies also produce a wide range of fuel cell parts.
Research to develop cost-effective hydrogen fuel from agricultural sources continues, said Goodman.
Lanny Schmidt, University of Minnesota Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, recently developed technology that can convert ethanol into hydrogen.
Researchers hope to use an electrolyzer to convert wind power to hydrogen. The process allows wind-generated power to be stored and used when the wind isn't blowing.
Research continues on using hydroelectric power to generate hydrogen by electrolyzing water.
In regions with plenty of sunlight, scientists are looking at ways to generate hydrogen from solar power through electrolysis.
High-energy forest products, methane and animal byproducts, sugarbeets, biodiesel and ethanol may all serve as hydrogen energy sources in the future.

According to the latest statistics, the global petrochemical market is estimated at US$2 trillion.

Unknown to many, petrochemical is a thriving industry which is similar to the more glamorous sectors such as oil and gas.
According to the latest statistics, the global petrochemical market is estimated at US$2 trillion. Asia alone represents about one-third of the total.
The global annual compounded growth rate (CAGR) is about 2.8% but many believe that the CAGR in Asia-Pacific is even higher, driven by China's strong economic growth spurred by aggressive manufacturing activities--activities that utilize, among others, petrochemical products.
Most of the Optimal group workforce are at its Kertih plant in Terengganu
Optimal group's chief executive officer James Ray Fitterling said Malaysia, rich in natural resources, should grab these opportunities by expanding into petrochemical related investments, particularly with China earmarked to be the net importer of petrochemicals over the next 20 years.
"Based on the range of petrochemical products developed by major players in Malaysia, we are in a good spot to fully tap the petrochemical business with government support and key decisions made on the right platform for growth," he said, biz.thestar.com reported.
Fitterling said the petrochemical industry typically grew at 1.4 times the gross domestic product (GDP) rate on a global basis. "For Asia-Pacific, we expect the growth to be higher than the global rates," he added.
For Malaysia, he said, the economy was estimated to grow by 6.5%, which would translate into 8.5% or 9% growth in the petrochemical industry.
Fitterling, who has been in the petrochemical industry for the past 20 years, said: "Many people do not realize that petrochemicals are the enabler for almost all technologies."
He said the Optimal group catered to a wide range of industries such as personal care products, pharmaceuticals, oil and gas processing, brake fluids, fibreglass, synthetic lubricants and electronics.

Fitterling said Optimal had secured a major three-year contract with Procter & Gamble to supply alcohol ethoxylates from its petrochemical site in Kertih to P&G Chemicals to meet the growing demand from the latter's customers in Asia.
"Alcohol ethoxylates is a new product offered by Optimal Chemicals (M) Sdn Bhd and is commonly used in consumer products like personal care and household items. Its environment-friendly attributes are gaining wider acceptance in the industry, which makes it a bright growth area for Optimal Chemicals in the Asia-Pacific," he said.

Wave Energy Converter

Denmark catches the most wind for power. Japan absorbs the most sun. Now Britain wants to rule the waves.
Wave and tidal stream machines are the latest exploratory technology in the rush to find alternative energy sources to replace fossil fuels with soaring price tags.
"Britain has one of the best wind, wave and tidal resources in Europe," said Martin Wright, managing director of Marine Current Turbine (MCT), the company that built the world's first large-scale tidal stream machine.
Denmark beat out Britain after a strong showing in the early stages of the race to build a viable wind power industry, but the United Kingdom has a terrific opportunity to develop a wave and tidal power industry, Wright said.
Portugal, Japan, the United States, Australia and South Africa are also among the countries that want to pool energy from the natural flow of the ocean. But the global wave industry is still small and Britain wants to develop it on a large commercial scale and then export the technology.
"It's a bit of an international race to develop the technology," said Tim German, manager of Cornwall Sustainable Energy Partnership in southwest England.
Proponents say if they harnessed the energy of the ocean, they could have enough energy to power the planet. Britain's available wave power has been estimated to be around double the country's energy consumption, Reuters reported.

In the Water
Developers are already running tests and some are linked into national grids. Britain's Ocean Power Delivery (OPD) plugged its 750-kilowatt Pelamis machine into the grid in Scotland in August and Dutch Archimedes Wave Swing connected its two-megawatt machine in Portugal this month.
Britain wants these kind of developers in its waters off Cornwall, a peninsula that catches the swells of the Atlantic. A feasibility study is being conducted to develop a test centre called Wave Hub that would give developers a chance to test large-scale projects before they launch globally.
"If, for instance, Pelamis was developed in a farm of 40 machines, it could power 20,000 homes in the UK," said Michael Hay, marine renewables development manager for the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA).
Twenty farms could power a whole city the size of Edinburgh with a population of nearly 450,000.
The Wave Hub would be located 12 to 15 kilometers (10 miles) off the white sandy beach at Hayle in Cornwall and cover an area up to 20 square kilometers (7.7 square miles). The hub could eventually produce 30 to 40 megawatts of electricity each year which would be directly linked into the national grid via an old power station.
"We hope to have the machines in the water by 2006," said Mike Patching, project manager for Scott Wilson Oceans, the firm managing the feasibility study.
Patching said OPD would likely be first in the water but expects other developers from Europe and the United States could also get involved.

Wave Blocks
One of the biggest advantages to wave farms is that they can't be seen. Wind farms are economically competitive but some people complain they are an eyesore.
But just because they are out of sight doesn't mean there shouldn't be a note of caution. The devices would be on or just below the surface of the water making such farms a no-go zone for sail and fishing boats, with their deep keels and nets.
There are also some concerns about the impact on tourism, marine mammals and if the devices will cut waves for surfers.
The technology is not cheap either. Developers will need help from the government to get to the point where the economies of scale will allow the wave industry to stand on its own.
Britain wants 15 percent of the country's electricity needs to be met with renewable energy by 2015 and has allocated 50 million pounds to develop marine renewables.

Sratigraphic traps have the potential to deliver an additional 30% of North Sea reserves, and in so doing could extend the life of this region by 10 to 15 years.
This is according to Tom Windle, Managing Director of WHAM Energy, one of the new breed of Promote companies, which has been awarded acreage in the 22nd United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS) Licence Round.
These awards have provided WHAM Energy with a strategic portfolio of gas exploration opportunities centered around the highly prolific Southern North Sea basin, and three targeted oil exploration blocks in under-explored areas of the Central North Sea basin. Several of the blocks have existing mapped prospects. WHAM is striving to bring these prospects and others into a drillable state at the earliest possible opportunity.
"It is our assessment that the North Sea is under-explored with regard to stratigraphic traps and basin margin prospects," says Windle. "This is probably because stratigraphic traps are more difficult to identify than the traditionally targeted structural traps."
Stratigraphic reservoir rocks do not show an obvious trapping mechanism as they do not appear to have a trapping 'container' closure. Closure is provided by rocks that will not let oil or gas pass through it, eyeforenergy.com reported.
"However, while North Sea stratigraphic traps may be under-explored and under-utilized, it is no secret that the largest oil field in the US is stratigraphic, and that there are in fact several big fields in the North Sea that are also stratigraphic, even though they were in many instances discovered by accident."
To fully exploit these potential reserves, Windle believes there will need to be significant changes in the North Sea operating environment, with leaner more cost effective seismic and drilling programs, greater access to the existing infrastructure, and perhaps most importantly the removal of fiscal barriers that are currently inhibiting exploration.
WHAM Energy was formed for the specific purpose of identifying and promoting exploration of high reward/moderate risk oil and gas prospects on the UKCS. The general exodus of the major oil companies from the area, considered by many to be a mature region, created a significant gap on the UKCS for innovative exploration companies.
"For smaller companies, the North Sea still holds much potential," contends Windle. "The break through for companies such as ours came when Government introduced the Promote concept and made the region viable for exploration geoscientists who were independent or acting as consultants, and knew of potential prospects, but were unable to acquire them.
"WHAM, as with many of the Promote license holders is a small company, and co-operation and co-ordination will be the key to future exploration success."
This energy company strongly believes that the new breed of Promote companies will revive interest in exploration by leveraging their expertise to identify and promote prospects often considered too risky by the traditional companies.
"Three years ago the DTI's 'Promote' Licence Round concept seemed as if might be just a 'careless whisper'", comments Windle. "Now it is the most exciting and vibrant initiative to come out of the North Sea for fifteen years.
"We believe the Promote concept will rejuvenate exploration and drilling in the North Sea, and provide the UK with significant new hydrocarbon reserves. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is to be heartily congratulated for their innovation, and we are proud to be part of this revival."
Until recently, access to data and offshore licenses, has been prohibitively expensive and too restrictive for many small players. The combination of affordable and easy access to data, and more progressive license conditions, has opened the door to many exploration experts who were previously involved in the traditional oil and gas companies.