Scientists at Napier University
are planning to use solar panels installed at their campus in Merchiston,
Edinburgh, UK to create environmentally-friendly hydrogen fuel.
In the first project of its kind in Scotland, Professor Tariq Muneer and
his team at the School of Engineering want to use the electricity produced
by the solar panels to create hydrogen gas through electrolysis.
Electrolysis involves passing a current of electricity through water to
separate the hydrogen molecules from the oxygen molecules. The hydrogen
gas produced can be stored under pressure for use later in a fuel cell.
When there is a demand for electrical power the two gases are then passed
through the fuel cell thus creating an electric current. The atoms then
recombine and join with the oxygen to become water again. No carbon is
produced.
The project, which has secured money from the third round of Scottish
Research Investment Funding, will cost around £70,000 and should
hopefully be working by June 2007 – enabling the University to generate
electricity at night when the solar panels would not work.
Prof Muneer, director of research at the School of Engineering, said:
“Hydrogen can be produced fairly cheaply using electrolysis of water.
However, there are dirty and clean ways of producing hydrogen. The clean
way is to use renewable energy, like the solar panels, rather than fossil
fuels to power the electrolysis.
“This project will be the first of its kind in Scotland and will
demonstrate the complete cycle of renewable energy – production,
storage, and transportation.
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