Travel Technology - Will TSA allow Hydorgen fuel cells on flights?

This is form yahoo.

Hydrogen: The next fuel for laptops?

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2314&ncid=2314&e=4&u=/sv/20050303/tc_siliconvalley/_www11030972

According to the article, a small New Jersey firm Millennium Cell is working on a hydrogen-fueled battery that it hopes will eventually provide eight hours of power for laptop computers from the current three-hour life. This was presented at the Intel's Developer Forum in San Francisco on Tuesday,

One can be aware of its’ spontaneous explosive properties with air. I am wondering if TSA will ever allow such energy cells on flights as the lower explosive can easily be attained by either leaks or punctures. ;)

I've worked a bit with Millenium Cell, actually (it didn't go anywhere but I did attend a meeting at their HQ a couple of years ago). One of their key technologies as mentioned in the article is the use of sodium borohydride as a hydrogen storage medium. They push it through a catalyst mesh and gobs of H2 are released - if it was gaseous hydrogen in the same volume as the "fuel" it would need to be at ~10,000 psi. (A liter 35% NaBH4 solution in water stores 77 grams of hydrogen which would have a volume of 921 liters at 1 atm and 70F). There are some negatives, though - the byproduct of the catalyst reaction is still a boron salt dissolved in water :

NaBH4 + 2 H2O —› NaBO2 + 4 H2 + Heat

You still need to store the leftover NaBO2 solution, which is kind of a sludge due to the consumption of water in the reaction (also, I recall that NaBO2 is less soluble than NaBH4) . NaBH4 can be a little nasty (MSDS for NaBH4 (http://physchem.ox.ac.uk/MSDS/SO/sodium_borohydride.html) ). NaBO2 is an eye, skin and respiratory irritant. (MSDS for NaBO2 (http://ptcl.chem.ox.ac.uk/MSDS/SO/sodium_metaborate_hydrate.html) ). The used fuel also can't easily be recycled back into new fuel - at least that was the case a couple of years back. So no plugging the used fuel pack into a wall charger to get hydrogen back into it. Note that there's no mention of refueling/recharging cost.

I believe each cell gives only a small voltage? One paper on fuel cells says that several stacks of cells are needed to give about 48 volts - which may be the voltage suitable for designing automobile drives. It says that each cell could only provide usable volatge of about 0.7 volt. Are a stack of cells also needed in a laptop unit?

hydrogen-fueled battery that it hopes will eventually provide eight hours of power for laptop computers from the current three-hour life.

I hope this will be a great technology for remote and truly portable applications.

But I seriously question as to if this technology will be justified for laptops on airplanes.

There is no reasonable reason why future (and even current) aircraft can't have power ports at seats. AA has already done it for the most part. Installing the wiring at construction or major refit minimizes the cost of the addition. Hopefully, the march of this technology is inevitable.

It seems incredibly silly to develop and certify advanced fuel-cell technologies for use in an environment where there can be kilowatts of excess power coursing through the floors. In contrast non-reversible fuel-cell reactions will mean disposing/replacing power cells, probably at substantial expense. Much more hassle for users than regharging LiIon cells.