Kent State U. conducting research on new fuel replacement: "Comtex Energy Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)KENT, Ohio, Feb 23, 2006 (Daily Kent Stater, U-WIRE via COMTEX) --In 1874, the science-fiction novel 'The Mysterious Island,' by Jules Verne, made an astonishing prediction for the future: One day, hydrogen will be used for power.


And just as Verne predicted the submarine and the spaceship, hydrogen power is indeed the power of the future, through the discovery of fuel cells -- a way to convert hydrogen to create energy.

Yuriy Tolmachev, assistant professor of analytical chemistry, is researching this idea at Kent State University. One of the main uses of fuel cells will be to replace gasoline-powered engines in automobiles, he said.

Tolmachev said fuel cells are not a new discovery. They were discovered in Sweden in the 1800s, but 'there were no applications,' he said.

But now the study of fuel cells is vital, Tolmachev said, because of the depletion of fossil fuels.

A lack of resources

'We have enough oil for 50 years,' he said. 'Then we don't have enough oil left for anything.'

Tolmachev said there was enough natural gas to last 150 years, and enough coal to last from 500 to 1,000 years.

'We don't have enough fossil fuels left,' he said. 'They're not renewable.'

And they are being depleted rapidly. Tolmachev said it took 125 years to use the first trillion barrels of oil in the world, but the world will use the next trillion barrels in 30 years.

At Kent State, fuel cell research is growing, Tolmachev said.

Tolmachev has six students researching fuel cells with him, he said.

At Kent State's Stark campus, there is a two-year program, and Tolmachev recently made a proposal "