As our world inches is in the midst of a serious climate problem, automotive companies such as Tesla have been propping up their electric cars as the answer to sustainable transportation. No doubt a major step in the right direction, there is still the issue of the electric car battery, the production of which is still considered detrimental to the environment. One research team composed of honor students from the Netherlands-based Technical University of Eindhoven, called Team FAST (Formic Acid Sustainable Transportation), has developed what they feel could be the future of sustainable fuel. With the help of an Ultimaker 2 3D printer, Team FAST was able to efficiently prototype a scaled car model and test the use of formic acid as a fuel source.
Poised to finish their prototyping within a year, Team FAST turned to the Ultimaker 3D printer to create custom mounts and fittings as soon as the parts for the Formauto Junior Scale Model car arrived. Traditionally, these parts would have to be custom milled elsewhere, a time-consuming and pricey process that can take weeks to complete. But, with their quick prototyping, the team engineered the Formauto Junior to run on formic acid, a liquid that is able to convert into hydrogen and carbon oxide through a newly discovered catalyst. Once converted into hydrogen, this fuel can be used to generate electricity. The goal of the team is to utilize formic acid in a traditional fuel tank.
“Our vision is making formic acid the new standard for sustainable transport,” Team FAST has stated. “We believe formic acid brings solutions to existing and future problems. These problems will not be solved by hydrogen or the electric car but formic acid possesses qualities that are inherently better than the former options.”
The team’s research has shown some high promise for the use of formic acid for sustainable fuel. Unlike the complex nature behind electric charging stations and tanks for pressurized hydrogen, formic acid could technically be implemented in the same gas station infrastructure we use today. In addition, the formic acid-based fuel would be completely carbon neutral, and the production could possibly be powered by wind or solar energy, too.
Team FAST successfully got the Formauto Junior scale model running on a formic acid engine at the start of the year, the next step is to prototype a car with 1,000 times the power before the end of 2016. This next test will attempt to power an actual public bus, attempting to show that this formic acid system has real life applications. It remains to be seen whether or not their Ultimaker 2+ will assist in future iterations, but it has certainly helped Team FAST get on the right track towards sustainable and renewable fuel sources!
