Researchers at the University of Tennessee (UTC, Chattanooga, TN) are using a $2.5 million federal grant to create a fuel cell that runs on natural gas and produces electricity and hydrogen. The fuel cell, which is a ceramic machine the size and shape of a loaf of bread, is to be housed in what looks like a refrigerator-size residential power generator. It will be on a live Web camera so the community can watch the research as it is conducted.
In the research, the university is working alongside such high-profile institutions as MIT, Georgia Tech and the University of South Carolina. State governments also are getting involved. California, Florida and New York are funding similar research. Florida's legislature is considering a bill that would dedicate $15 million to hydrogen fuel development.
"Our goals are for the Chattanooga industrial economy to be involved in the commercialization of this kind of fuel cell," said UTC Engineering Professor Jim Henry, adding that such technology could create jobs in Chattanooga as the demand for it grows. "The goal of our research is to find out how to make it cost-competitive."
