Finding sources of renewable energy is a priority for researchers at NMSU

The gasoline and home heating crisis has caused a resurgence of interest in alternative or renewable energy among the general public. But researchers at NMSU have long been at work on the issue.

Last fall, NMSU’s Seamus Curran and David Carroll at Wake Forest University, demonstrated an organic solar cell that achieved an energy efficiency of 5.2 percent.

That means organic solar cells are likely to be consumer friendly in the next four to five years, Curran said. The arroll/Curran team is working to create a plastic solar device that can wrap around or over a structure to produce energy. Imagine being able to paint solar energy on your roof or carry a plastic sheet in your backpack that can be rolled out over a tent to power equipment.

Meanwhile, traditional solar technology continues to serve around the world. Robert Foster, program manager of the Southwest Technology Development Institute in the engineering college, just returned from Nicaragua where he was working on a World Bank project to provide solar photovoltaic energy to various areas. Foster has brought NMSU technology and expertise to Guatemala, Mexico and Honduras.

“There are two billion people in the world without electricity,” Foster said. “One billion are without potable water.”

Solar technology could be the answer for both issues, Foster said. Not only can it generate electricity, but using “solar for water purification can relieve the water situation around the world, as well as on our own border.”

Foster also is working to bring renewable energy to the NASA White Sands Test Facility through the use of wind turbines. The NMSU researcher also has a request from Mesalands Community College in Tucumcari to train “windsmiths” or technicians who would be able to work on wind turbines.

In another area on campus, researchers from the biology, chemistry and engineering departments are working on means to create and use hydrogen fuel.

Shuguang Deng at NMSU is among the researchers nationwide working to make hydrogen fuel cells more economical
and safe.

“A fuel cell is similar to a battery. It converts chemicals into energy,” said Deng, an assistant professor in chemical engineering. “The difference between a fuel cell and a battery is that the battery has a life span; when the chemical is used up, it’s gone. Fuel cells provide a continual flow of energy.”

He hopes to launch a fuel cell research center at NMSU. Meanwhile, he is working with Nirmala Khandan, an NMSU environmental engineering professor, and NMSU biologist Geoffrey Smith on turning biomass into hydrogen.

Biomass is derived from anything that grows naturally. It contains energy garnered from the sun that can be captured for our use, Khandan said. All plant-eating animals produce waste, such as cattle manure, that can be converted into energy.

The NMSU biomass team is developing a process in which microorganisms are used to convert cattle manure to biogases. Traditionally the gas produced is methane, but that is known to be a factor in global warming. Khandan’s goal is to produce hydrogen, called by some the energy of the future.

When methane is used as an energy source, carbon dioxide is created. But when hydrogen is used, water pure enough to drink is the result, Khandan said. His research group received one of the $25,000 mini-grants being awarded to research clusters developing at NMSU. Students working with him on this project have also won a $10,000 grant from EPA’s P3 program to build a system to be demonstrated in Washington, D.C.

He and Deng hope to produce small fuel cell units powered by hydrogen that create enough energy to run a small farm or village. Deng is developing a hydrogen selective membrane that will remove hydrogen from the system in a pure enough state to put directly into the fuel cell.

Deng also is targeting hydrogen to fuel automobiles. Hydrogen-fueled cars are possible, but the trick is to get the cost low enough for the ordinary consumer and improve the safety of using the gas.

However, Deng says at least one U.S. automaker is targeting 2010 as the year to begin producing hydrogen-fueled cars.

Mary Benanti