Japan debut for mobile fuel cell, News Story #79

Friday 23 October 2009

Japan debut for mobile fuel cell

An alternative to batteries that uses methanol and water to recharge gadgets is to go on sale in Japan.

Made by electronics giant Toshiba, the Dynario is now on sale and will only be available in a limited product run of 3 000 units.

Toshiba has been working on fuel cells since the 1990s but has held back from putting its prototypes on shop shelves before now. Fuel cells from other firms, including Medis Technologies in the US and SFC in Germany, have been available for some time.

Full story at BBC News

Did you know? Methanol can be derived from biomass – vegetable matter used as a source of energy. I have just read about biomass in the spread “Energy 2: Other Sources” under the section Technology and Industry of The Guinness Encylopedia.

Did you know? Methanol (CH₃OH) belongs to the class of organic compounds known as the alcohol group. And “alcohol” is a word I am all too familiar with.

Did you know? The alcohol that makes you drunk is not methanol but ethanol (C₂H₅OH).

Did you know? Alcohols have the functional group –OH. I have just read about functional groups and reactivity in the spread “Natural Compounds” under the section The Nature of the Universe of The Guinness Encylopedia.

I have just read about fuel cell in the glossary at the end of Chapter 21, “Man the inventor”, under the section THE HUMAN ACHIEVEMENT in Volume 2, “The human world”, of the Reader’s Digest Library of Modern Knowledge. Did you know? “Fuel cells are simple, compact, self-contained ‘power-packs’.”

I have just read about acetaldehyde in The Penguin Dictionary of Botany. Did you know? The final stage of glycolysis under anaerobic conditions in plants is the conversion via ethanal of pyruvic acid to ethanol.