Wyo company wants to convert CBM water to hydrogen
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Publication Date:14-June-2006 03:00 PM US Eastern Timezone Source: DUSTIN BLEIZEFFER-Star-Tribune |
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| GILLETTE
-- The National Science Foundation has awarded a $100,000 grant to a Wyoming
company that wants to determine the profitability of using wind turbines to
convert coal-bed methane discharge water into pollution-free hydrogen and
oxygen.
Hydrogen already has several industrial uses in Wyoming, including oil refining. Eventually, the hydrogen may be stored in fuel cells to complement intermittent wind energy -- which would increase the value of Wyoming's wind energy by two-thirds, according to Wilson-based Ladd Energy. The hydrogen may also be made available at local gas stations to power fuel-cell vehicles. "It takes gumption," said Ted Ladd, owner of Ladd Energy. Ladd won the National Science Foundation grant with the help of the Phase 0 Small Business Innovation Research program administered by the Wyoming Business Council. The Phase 0 grant essentially aided Ladd in making a successful application to the National Science Foundation. Ladd, who was the unsuccessful Democratic nominee for Wyoming's lone U.S. House of Representatives seat in 2004, said he's putting together the resources Wyoming already has to create the state's future energy industry. "I want to improve small business in Wyoming by using the momentum of this energy boom -- the resources, the skills, the knowledge -- and simultaneously create the next generation of American energy and do it here in Wyoming," Ladd said. |