From farm waste to fuel tanks

News

Using corn waste as a starting material, researchers have created carbon briquettes with complex nanopores capable of storing natural gas at 180 times their own volume.

Using corn waste as a starting material, researchers have created carbon briquettes with complex nanopores capable of storing natural gas at 180 times their own volume and at one-seventh the pressure of conventional natural gas tanks.

The breakthrough, announced today in Kansas City, Missouri, is a significant step forward in the USA’s effort to fit more vehicles to run on methane, an abundant fuel that is domestically produced and cleaner burning than petrol.

Supported by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) Partnership for Innovation program, researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia (MU) and Midwest Research Institute (MRI) in Kansas City developed the technology. The technology has been incorporated into a test bed installed on a pickup truck used by the Kansas City Office of Environmental Quality.

The briquettes are the first technology to meet the 180 to 1 storage to volume target set by the US Department of Energy in 2000, a long-term goal of principal project leader Peter Pfeifer of MU.

Register now to continue reading

Thanks for visiting The Engineer. You’ve now reached your monthly limit of news stories. Register for free to unlock unlimited access to all of our news coverage, as well as premium content including opinion, in-depth features and special reports.  

Benefits of registering

  • In-depth insights and coverage of key emerging trends

  • Unrestricted access to special reports throughout the year

  • Daily technology news delivered straight to your inbox

Register
Or continue by

Signing in with your registered email address