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Friday, December 13,1985/The Battalion/Page 3 I"
State and Local
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A&M scientists trying to perfect
means of producing hydrogen
By JENS B. KOEPKE
Senior Staff Writer
I The Texas A&M Hydrogen Re
search Center, formally recognized
by the Board of Regents at its Nov.
27 meeting, is concentrating its work
on perfecting better ways to produce
hydrogen, the center’s senior scien
tist said Thursday.
H “We solve the basic problems that
will allow the processes to be indus
trialized,” Dr. Benjamin Scharifker
said.
H Scharifker said the center is devel
oping two methods to produce hy
drogen:
• One process uses solar energy
captured in a photoelectric cell to
split water molecules into oxygen
and hydrogen. The system requires
no electricity and is the most effi
cient solar-powered photoelectroly
sis system in the country.
• The second process uses electri
city to split hydrogen sulfide into hy
drogen and sulfur. The hydrogen
sulfide is obtained from natural gas
and from the desulfurization of
crude oil and coal, and must be bro
ken down because it can mix with
the atmosphere resulting in acid
rain. Currently the sulfide is dis-
▲ ▲ A A A A
“Being part of a university
. . . gives us more leverage
to raise funds. ”
— Dr. Benjamin Scha
rifker, senior scientist at
the Texas A&M Hydro
gen Research Center.
posed of by being burnt in a Claus
plant. The center is now ready to de
velop a pilot plant to produce large
amounts of hydrogen using this
process.
The economical production of hy
drogen is important because its use
as a fuel will become more viable as
fossil fuels become scarcer, Scha-
rifker said. By the year 2000, the
production rate of liquid fossil fuels
will not be able to keep up with the
rate of consumption, he said. In con
trast, hydrogen fuel burns cleanly
and is virtually inexhaustible.
Internal combustion engines that
run on gaseous hydrogen and are as
efficient as gasoline-powered en
gines have been developed, Scha
rifker said. Although the hydrogen
engines cost twice as much as their
gasoline counterparts to operate, the
engines themselves cost the same
amount. The higher pricetag comes
from the present cost of hydrogen
fuel. Hydrogen-powered engines
will become more commercially vi
able because as technological devel
opments lower the price of hydro
gen fuel, the scarcity of fossil fuels
will increase the cost of gasoline, he
said.
Coal, even though its world re
sources are large, currently cannot
solve the impending fuel shortage
‘We can now benefit from
all the fame and prestige
of Texas A&M as a leader
in technological advance
ment. ”
— Dr. Benjamin Scha
rifker.
problem because a practical liquid
fuel has not been developed from it,
Scharifker said.
The A&M center was established
in July 1983 with help from the Na
tional Science Foundation as the
Center for Hydrogen Technology,
said Bill Craven, the center’s man
ager. Designed by the NSF to foster
cooperation between universities
and industries, the center operated
on a $300,000 budget, half from
coming from the NSF and half from
companies and individuals. The
NSF will provide funding for the
center until 1987 after which fund
ing will come from individuals and
companies.
Formal recognition by the regents
puts the center in the directory
which gives it more identification
and visibility within the University,
Craven said.
“Being part of a university means
that everything we do here is being
recognized by the institution and
this gives us more leverage to raise
funds,” Scharifker added. “We can
now benefit from all the fame and
prestige of Texas A&M as a leader in
technological advancement.”
The center’s next major project is
the extraction of hydrogen from
coal, Scharifker said. A mixture of
coal and water would be electrolyzed
to produce hydrogen and liquid hy
drocarbons similar to diesel fuel.
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