A researcher from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts in the US is being awarded a major honour for his work in the development of a super-thin palladium membrane.

Yi Hua Ma, the Frances B Manning Professor of Chemical Engineering at the university, is to receive the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Award for Excellence in Industrial Gases Technology, which is one of the institute's most prestigious awards.

The chemical engineering researcher is being rewarded in particular for his work in developing a novel chemical reactor which uses an ultra-thin palladium membrane to separate hydrogen derived from natural gas or renewable sources such as corn.

This research, carried out over the past decade, has resulted in the reactor, which has been able to significantly cut the cost of generating hydrogen pure enough to be capable of powering fuel cells without poisoning the catalysts.

Shell, which sponsored the research, is now looking to use the reactor at the heart of a hydrogen refuelling network that could make fuel cell cars more commercially viable.

Source:

WPI Professor Yi Hua Ma to Receive Institute Award for Excellence from American Institute of Chemical Engineers, 31/10/07
http://www.wpi.edu/News/Releases/20078/mainstituteaward.html

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