Hydrogen-powered lawnmowers possible

PRINCETON, N.J., Jan. 23 (UPI) -- A U.S. scientist reported a breakthrough that could make hydrogen fuel cells practical for such small machines as lawnmowers and chainsaws.

Jay Benziger of Princeton University and colleagues say they've developed a new mechanism to efficiently control hydrogen fuel cell power. Many standard fuel cell designs use electronics to control power output, but that requires complex systems to manage humidity and fuel recovery and recycling systems to achieve acceptable efficiency.

The new process controls the hydrogen feed to match the required power output, just as one controls the feed of gasoline into an internal combustion engine. The technology functions as a closed system that uses the waste water to regulate the size of the reaction chamber, the site where the gasses combine to form water, heat and electricity.

The research by Benziger, who developed the new technique with student Claire Woo, now a doctoral candidate at the University of California- Berkeley, appears in the February issue of the journal Chemical Engineering Science.