Centers research hydrogen fuel use, water purification
By Alexandra Mathieu
Feb. 2, 2010 10:57 p.m.
Both the Hydrogen Engineering Research Consortium and Water Technology Research Center at UCLA strive to make cost-efficient and environmentally sound developments using water.
In the near future, fuel-cell vehicles may no longer be restricted to a few hundred people. Dr. Vasilios Manousiouthakis, director of the research consortium, owns a fuel-cell vehicle and anticipates the cars to be more accessible to the general public in approximately 45 years.
The research center strives to improve and create innovative water purification systems, using different desalination technology, said Yoram Cohen, director of the research center. Focusing on clean energy development, the research consortium specializes in investigating hydrogen fuel for vehicle use to produce water instead of pollutants, Manousiouthakis said.
“(The research center’s members) are working with U.S. Office of Naval Research to develop an advanced water desalination system that would be used on navy ships as well as new processes for water treatment to upgrade Colorado River water quality,” Cohen said.
Meanwhile, the research consortium is currently planning the construction of a hydrogen fueling station on Kinross and Veteran avenues to start in the second half of 2010. The fuel station is expected to open for public use in the first quarter of 2011.
The grant-based multimillion-dollar project is run by the research consortium’s faculty and students, and will allow UCLA to become part of the rapidly growing hydrogen fuel economy.
The research consortium intends to use the fuel station to collect further data about this energy, as well as to increase student understanding of the reaction processes, Manousiouthakis added.
There are two ways to use hydrogen for fuel energy. Hydrogen can be stored and combusted to produce energy, water and oxygen. It can also generate electricity through an electrochemical reaction in a fuel cell.
“People have apprehension about the safety of hydrogen energy, (but) hydrogen is a safer fuel as long as you treat it properly and do not forget that you are dealing with a fuel,” he added.
Although Manousiouthakis focuses on fuel-cell research, the energy in principle could be used for other technology, he added.
The cost of fuel-cell technology is still very expensive and improving every year, but has the potential to reduce energy consumption costs as well as air pollution, he added.
Hydrogen fuel work at the research consortium is only a sample of UCLA’s projects that involve water. Instead of generating energy, the research center focuses on ameliorating quality and quantity of clean water.
“The department of water resources in California is concerned by agricultural drainage water problems in California, (including) high salinity, dwindling supplies of water and (poor sanitary levels),” Cohen said.
One of the research center’s most recent developments is the mini-mobile-modular, or M3, which is a water platform for desalination. The modular uses sensors that work autonomously on water with high levels of minerals and salts.
“It is a major advance in rapid analysis for both lab and field evaluation of water systems that enables desalination in areas where standard systems are not capable of operating,” Cohen said.
A new type of sensor has been developed with a new type of membrane characterized by higher permeability to water, allowing for 95 percent clean water yield and higher cost efficiency.
“When using a (normal) membrane for water treatment, bacteria and salts adhere to membrane-surface-forming biofilm and mineral scale crystals, which reduce water flux through the membrane, causing it damage,” Cohen said.
Such developments have allowed the research center to take part in national conferences and associate with diverse industries and agencies, integrating UCLA into a cooperative system of water research, Cohen said. Workshops are also organized on campus, and at these workshops more than 40 organizations are united to discuss research efficiency for projects of practical concern to both industries and agencies, he added.
“(Research in the center) has been a really interesting experience that allows me to apply theory to actual experimental systems,” said Alex Bartman, a graduate student who is working as a member of the M3 smart water platform team.
Participation in such research allows students to obtain a full experience of both the research and the industrial side, which includes involvement with industry representatives and contributing to conferences and workshops, Bartman added.
“There is a tremendous potential for water savings, and the preliminary work has been done,” Cohen said. There is ongoing discussion about making UCLA more water independent, he added.
