MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge
MIT Alumni Showcase Energy Innovations
Abe Schneider '02, '03 (left), of NatEl, shows off his company's Linear Hydroengine, which improves hydropower. All photos courtesy Mass Technology Transfer Center.
Converting environmentally harmful gasses into energy sources and improving hydropower were just some of the MIT alumni-designed innovations showcased at the Conference on Clean Energy held November 2, 2006, at Boston's Hynes Convention Center. The conference, co-sponsored by the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge and the Mass Technology Transfer Center (MTTC), among others, offered engineers the opportunity to showcase their work and ideas to investors.
Steve Weiss PhD '05 presented technology that helps landfills convert waste carbon dioxide and methane into a gas mixture that can be used to improve electricity generation through internal combustion engines. Landfills produce more waste methane, a gas that causes 21 times the greenhouse effect of carbon dioxide, than any other source in the U.S. In addition, this methane is diluted with large quantities of carbon dioxide. Only select landfills have appropriate gas mixtures for conversion to electricity using traditional internal combustion engines. Other landfills usually burn off the gases subject to EPA regulation.
Weiss's invention improves materials used for a reaction called dry reforming, which upgrades low-quality landfill gas into a carbon monoxide and hydrogen mix. Improved engine performance from the partially reformed gases should also decrease production of oxides of nitrogen.
Jeff Bentley '76, SM '77 of CellTech Power LLC discusses his company's innovations involving fuel cells at the conference.
Hydropower's harmful effect on marine life lead the Schneider family—siblings Gia '99 and Abe '02, SM '03 and father, Daniel—to create the fish-friendly Linear Hydroengine for use at low dams, irrigation drops, and wastewater outfalls. In contrast to rotors, which have high tip speeds, the Schneiders designed a machine whose blades move in linear paths at low speed, allowing fish to pass through. Imagine a Venetian blind with the top and bottom joined, rotating around two axles. Having built several prototype systems, they are now launching their company, NatEl, which has already won third place in the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge's 2006 Ignite Clean Energy Competition.
According to Abe, 80 percent of renewable energy in the U.S. comes from hydropower, but millions of dollars are spent annually mitigating the effect of large hydropower dams on fish. With the Schneider invention, thousands of small dams and water control systems could be put to work generating electricity in an ecologically sensitive way. MIT Professors Ernesto Blanco and Woodie Flowers SM '68, ME '71, PhD '73 played crucial roles in guiding the development of the machine.
Other presenters included Roger Little GY '64, founder of Spire Corporation; Jeff Bentley '76, SM '77 of CellTech Power LLC; James Geshwiler MBA '00 of Common Angels; and James Worden '89 of Solectria Renewables LLC. Linda Plano '82, associate director of MTTC, noted the surge in innovator and attendee interest over last year's inaugural conference and the increasing importance of clean energy companies. "An attendee can find an investment opportunity, an investor, a partner, or a job, all on the same day."
Published November 28, 2006
