“Our research over the past 10 years has identified metal fuels as the best low-carbon alternative to carbon fuels,” says Prof. Jeffrey Bergthorson
McGill University researchers are exploring a potentially important source of clean energy that has so far been largely overlooked: metal particles.
Odd as the concept may sound, the idea of burning metal powders is nothing new. They’ve been used for centuries in fireworks. Nowadays, the space shuttle’s solid-fuel booster rockets burn aluminum.
“Our idea is to take that rocket science and make it into clean tech,” says Prof. Jeffrey Bergthorson, Associate Director of the Trottier Institute for Sustainability in Engineering and Design at McGill.
Metals store energy during the refining process. As a result, they could be used to transport and stockpile energy, much in the way that fossil fuels are used now. And the by-products from burning metal powders could be recycled and reused as fuel.
“To mitigate climate change, the world needs to transition away from fossil fuels,” says Bergthorson, who directs McGill’s Alternative Fuels Laboratory. “Biofuels can be part of the solution, but won’t be able to satisfy all the demand. Hydrogen requires big, heavy fuel tanks and is explosive, and batteries are too bulky and don’t store enough energy for many applications. Our research over the past 10 years has identified metal fuels as the best low-carbon alternative to carbon fuels.”
Novel concept
In a 2015 study published in the journal Applied Energy, Bergthorson and five other McGill researchers, along with a European Space Agency scientist, laid out a novel concept for using tiny metal particles – similar in size to fine flour or icing sugar – to power external-combustion engines.
Unlike the internal-combustion engines used in gasoline-powered cars, external-combustion engines use heat from an outside source to drive an engine. External-combustion engines – modern versions of the coal-fired steam locomotives that drove the industrial era – are widely used to generate power from nuclear, coal or biomass fuels in power stations.
Using a custom-built burner, the McGill researchers demonstrated that a flame can be stabilized in a flow of tiny metal particles suspended in air. Flames from metal powders “appear quite similar” to those produced by burning hydrocarbon fuels, they reported.
Recyclable after combustion
The concept takes advantage of an important property of metal powders: when burned, they react with air to form stable, nontoxic solid-oxide products that can be collected relatively easily for recycling – unlike the CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels that escape into the atmosphere.
Iron is also plentiful, making it a strong candidate for use in metal-fueled engines. Millions of tons of iron powders are already produced annually for the metallurgy, chemical and electronic industries. And iron is readily recyclable with well-established technologies.
“The idea is to close the loop – to use that same bit of iron, or that same bit of aluminum, over and over again,” Bergthorson says. “That’s what enables it to be sustainable.”
Aluminum-water reactions
What’s more, combustion may not be the only effective way to tap the energy stored in metals. Another approach that has long intrigued scientists involves causing metal – particularly aluminum – to react chemically with water.
In aluminum-water reactions, the water molecule, composed of one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms, gets split apart. The released hydrogen gas is a fuel that can be burned in air or used in a fuel cell. The oxygen attaches to the metal atoms, forming an oxide, which can be recycled.
In the Alternative Fuels Laboratory, research led by PhD student Keena Trowell focuses on reacting aluminum particles with high-temperature water at high pressures. The result: stored energy is released in the form of heat and hydrogen.
Beyond transmission lines
Both techniques – burning metal powders or combining aluminum particles with water to produce hydrogen – could be used to extend clean electricity beyond the reach of transmission lines.
“When we make aluminum here in Quebec from aluminum ore, the primary input is renewable hydroelectricity,” Trowell says. “So you can think of that as storing hydroelectricity in the form of aluminum.”
Other technologies to generate clean electricity – primarily solar and wind power – are being developed rapidly. But “we can’t use that electricity for many of the things that oil and gas are used for today, such as transportation and global energy trade,” Bergthorson notes.
“The transition away from fossil fuels presents a unique opportunity for metal producers to expand into the energy market,” he adds.
Next step: building prototypes
While laboratory work at McGill and elsewhere has shown that use of metal fuels with heat engines is technically feasible, no one has yet demonstrated the idea in practice. So the next step toward turning the lab findings into usable technology will be to build a prototype burner and couple it to a heat engine.
Bergthorson’s lab aims to begin testing such a metal-engine prototype later this year. “The goal is to demonstrate that we can generate electricity from metal fuels without producing any carbon dioxide emissions. Once proven in the laboratory, the technology will be ready to scale up to become a commercial technology.”
In parallel, Bergthorson’s group is building a consortium to develop a prototype metal-water reactor technology. “Demonstration of efficient hydrogen production from coarse and safe aluminum will open the door to using this novel clean fuel in a variety of applications, from remote power generation to heavy duty transportation, such as shipping.”
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
