Generating electricity from natural gas

NATURAL GAS could soon be generating electricity in millions of homes, thanks to a revolutionary new fuel cell. The breakthrough allows the cells to run on methane from the gas mains.

Fuel cells are advanced batteries that make electricity through chemical reactions such as oxidation. This is cleaner and more efficient than burning fossil fuel, but the technology has been held back partly because it's difficult to find a suitable fuel.

Until now hydrogen has been the front runner. The fuel cell converts it into water and energy. But the hydrogen has to be made - typically from a hydrocarbon such as methane.

Conventional fuel cells cannot cope with hydrocarbons because the process produces carbon which clogs up the cell's nickel catalyst within minutes. But, this week, Raymond Gorte and colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia have shown that using a copper and cerium oxide catalyst in the fuel cell, instead of nickel, prevents carbon building up.

``This discovery is a winner,'' says Kevin Kendall of the University of Keele chemistry department. Gorte sees his fuel cells powering clean cars, but Kendall thinks the main application could lie elsewhere. ``Millions of homeowners replace their gas-fired central heating systems in Europe every year. Within five years they could be installing a fuel cell that would run on natural gas,'' says Kendall. This battery in the basement could generate enough electricity to run the home as well as heating it, he says. ``Every home could have a combined heat-and- power plant running off mains gas.''

- New Scientist

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