Introduction
Welcome to my blog again, dear readers. Yesterday, I read an article from the Guardian News that was called “Upp hydrogen fuel cell review: get off the grid, but at a price”, published in October 6. This article has considered a device that is called “Upp”. In this post I want to explain this article and provide additional information by conducting extra research. By the end of this post you will know: what is Upp hydrogen fuel cell, how this device works and how this can be evaluated using chemistry knowledge.What`s Upp and How It Works?
According to the article, the Upp is a hydrogen fuel cell. But what is a fuel cell? Fuel cell is an electrochemical apparatus that perform a chemical reaction in order to produce electricity. The article states that Upp hydrogen fuel cell liberates electrons which produce a current by rearranging hydrogen into water. This technology is considered as “off-the-grid” charger for electronic devices, which needs only reusable hydrogen fuel receptacle and air to power electronics through a USB port.
As stated in the article, the Upp consists of two parts (see Picture 1). First part, shorter one (9 cm), is fuel cartridge. Second part, the main part, is 12 cm long and it contains all electronic components, including cell fuel. In consonance with an article from ZdNet, when these parts are connected to each other by a special magnet, the device is ready to work. If you want to see how it actually works, you can watch the video above.
In the gas state hydrogen is extremely dangerous, due to its high flammability. Therefore, hydrogen in the Upp is in the form of solid metal hydride. This is hydrogen fuel, known as Hydralloy C5, which contains hydrogen combined with titanium, zirconium, vanadium, iron, chromium and manganese. At the end of the article, author concluded that Upp hydrogen fuel cell has high price (£149), £35 for cartridge and £10 to refill it. One cartridge is able to charge no more than 5 smartphones. Also, he enclosed that it is heavy (full weight is 620 gram) and it works very slowly.
We have understood what is the Upp device and how it works. However, I think you want to ask me: is there any connection with chemistry? The answer is yes. Now, let`s look at this case as a chemist. First of all, the Upp technology uses Hydralloy C5 that is protecting storage of hydrogen. However, firstly, hydrogen should be extracted and then stored in this form. Hydrogen is abundant in our planet, but only in the form of chemical compounds, like hydrocarbons or water. And one of the beneficial sources of hydrogen is methane (CH4). Methane decomposes to release carbon (C) and hydrogen (H2).
Picture 2. Production of Water by Combining Hydrogen and Oxygen (link)
At the start, I mentioned that current is produced when hydrogen is converted into water by combining with air. Actually, the mechanism is slightly different. Hydrogen reacts with oxygen, contained in air, to produce water (see Picture 2). The reaction is explosive, therefore the Upp device uses hydrogen not in a pure form, but in the form of Hydralloy C5.
Decomposition of one mole (unit of measurements in chemistry) of methane requires 90.1 kJ of energy, while production of water from hydrogen releases 232 kJ. Therefore, we can state that this process is beneficial, because we achieve more energy than we spend.
In conclusion, we looked through an article that explained the device that is called “Upp”. It is portable and it needs only air, hydrogen fuel cell and hydrogen itself to work. In the article it was concluded that it is not useful, because it is heavy, expensive and the process of charging is slow. Then, this case was evaluated using chemistry knowledge. Hydrogen for the device is extracted from methane, and then this hydrogen reacts with oxygen to produce water. It was calculated that this process is beneficial, because we get more energy than we give. Therefore, this process may be not so useful in the sphere of portable chargers, but can be very beneficial in generating electricity for other spheres. If you want to know more about the article that was explained or sources that were used, you can see reference list above.
References:
1. Carcassi, M. N., and F.
Fineschi. "Deflagrations of H2–air and CH4–air lean mixtures in a vented
multi-compartment environment." Energy 30, no. 8 (2005): 1439-1451.
Accessed October 7, 2014. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544204000532
2. Choudhary,
T.V.. Methane Decomposition: Production of Hydrogen and Carbon Filament.
Texas: The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2006. Accessed October 5, 2014. http://www.chem.tamu.edu/rgroup/goodman/pdf%20files/465_catal_19_06_164.pdf
3. Gibbs,
Samuel. "Upp hydrogen fuel cell review: get off the grid, but at a
price." Guardian News (London), October 6, 2014. Accessed October
6, 2014. http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/06/upp-hydrogen-fuel-cell-review-off-grid-charger
4. International Bureau of Weights and Measures, Barry N. Taylor, and Ambler
Thompson. The international system of units (SI). US Department of
Commerce, Technology Administration, National Institute of Standards and
Technology, 2001. Accessed October 7, 2014. http://pml.nist.gov/Pubs/SP330/sp330.pdf
5. McLellan,
Charles. "Upp fuel cell review: Off-grid gadget power, at a price gadget
power, at a price." ZDnet (London), June 4, 2014. Accessed October
5, 2014. http://www.zdnet.com/upp-fuel-cell-review-off-grid-gadget-power-at-a-price-7000030214/
6. Miessler, Gary L., and Donald A. Tarr. Inorganic
chemistry. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Education, 2004. Acessed October 6, 2014. http://www.mediafire.com/download/rav02sav4yazvzw/%5BeBook%5D+Inorganic+Chemistry_Pearson-Miessler+%26+Tarr-3rd+edition.pdf
7.
Pohlmann, Carsten, Lars
Röntzsch, Felix Heubner, Thomas Weißgärber, and Bernd Kieback.
"Solid-state hydrogen storage in Hydralloy–graphite composites." Journal
of Power Sources 231 (2013): 97-105. Accessed October 7, 2014. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378775312018903
8. Porcja,
Bob. "Explosive Reaction of Hydrogen and Oxygen Using Balloons."
Rutgers Chemistry Lecture Demonstration (CLD) Facility. Accessed October 6,
2014. http://cldfacility.rutgers.edu/content/explosive-reaction-hydrogen-and-oxygen-using-balloons
9. Smithsonian
Institution. "Fuel Cell Basics." A Basic Overview of Fuel Cell
Technology. Accessed October 5, 2014. http://americanhistory.si.edu/fuelcells/basics.htm
10. University of
California. "The Future of Methane." Future Energy Use. Accessed
October 5, 2014. http://earthguide.ucsd.edu/virtualmuseum/climatechange2/11_3.shtml
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