Fuels
for internal combustion engines are recognized as the hallmarks of the modern
age. Not so well known are their birth and sustenance in the state of Ohio. In
1891, John Lambert of Ohio City, Ohio, invented an automobile and internal
combustion engine that ran on gasoline, a refined product of oil.
Thomas Midgley of Dayton developed leaded "antiknock" gasoline, and
William M. Burton of
Cleveland developed the first commercially successful catalytic cracking
technology to refine crude oil into gasoline. Perhaps the principal beneficiary
of these discoveries was another Ohioan, John D. Rockefeller of Shaker Heights,
Ohio. The Standard Oil Company had been founded by John and William Rockefeller
in 1867, but their business suffered when electricity shifted consumers away
from the use of oil burning lamps for lighting. Whereas one technology discovery
hurt Standard Oil, another, the internal combustion engine using gasoline for
automobiles, propelled it to new levels of success in a new business.
Ohio is rarely thought of as a
great energy state. It has been overshadowed by Texas, Louisiana, California,
and Alaska. In the early 20th century, however, Ohio was an energy
leader. It was a major producer of coal, natural gas, and oil. More importantly,
Ohio was the home of great energy companies. For example, Standard Oil and later
Sohio originated in Cleveland. Sohio, before it merged with BP, was the leading
oil exploration company in Alaska. Marathon Oil dates back to the Ohio Oil
Company, which was founded in 1887 in Lima, Ohio. It participated in the shift
of oil drilling to Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and abroad. Although its
corporate headquarters moved to Houston, Marathon still maintains extensive
operations in Findlay, Ohio.
Economically
the oil and natural gas supplies of northwestern Ohio are now largely depleted.
The great coal deposits of eastern and southern Ohio (also producing some
natural gas) supplied the fuel for the steel mills of Ohio. The state still
contains large deposits of coal, which is now principally used to generate
electricity in large power plants. Coal, however, raises environmental concerns,
including smoke, particulates, and sulfur emissions. Today there is a growing
concern about mercury released from burning coal. In the future, the great
environmental regulatory challenge of coal will be carbon dioxide emissions that
may contribute to global climate change. Within 20 years, if not sooner, the
U.S. may have to resort to a carbon (dioxide) management plan in order to
prevent further damage to the Earth’s atmosphere. Ohio is currently a leader in
examining the best options for carbon management. A regional consortium of
companies and universities that includes AEP, FirstEnergy, Cinergy, Battelle,
The Ohio State University, and Ohio University is working with the U.S.
Department of Energy and state agencies to identify and evaluate alternative
methods of carbon management, including sequestration. "Carbon sequestration"
captures and permanently isolates gases that otherwise could contribute to
global climate change.
One great innovation of the future
may be a new technology for coal gasification. The process today is too
expensive compared with current commodity fuel prices. The goal is to remove
sulfur, mercury, and other constituents of coal leaving only high-energy
hydrogen and carbon. Gas derived from coal could be used as a fuel for fuel
cells as well as burned in internal combustion engines for transportation and
power plants for electricity.
In addition to the possible
gasification of coal, two other exciting technologies may drive Ohio back to its
position as a national leader in energy. One is bio-fuels, discussed above in
the section on agriculture. This includes ethanol and methanol for use as blends
with gasoline and diesel (thereby reducing quantities of foreign oil and
pollutants), as a fuel for modified internal combustion engines, and methanol as
a fuel for fuel cells.
The other exciting possibility is
"manufactured" energy, which relies on the state’s industrial foundation. The
principal product would be PEM and Solid Oxide Fuel Cells.
Ohio is currently a leading
generator of power, with
AEP in Columbus being the largest producer of
electricity in the U.S. There will be a need for the huge amounts of electricity
that can be generated in a central power plant. Innovations in power generation,
such as the integrated gas combined cycle (IGCC) generators, will appear over
the next 20 years. In addition, there will be more distributed generation of
smaller generators to augment the electric power grid. These generators might be
fueled by synthetic diesel, bio-fuel blends of diesel, natural gas, and fuel
cells.
The
ultimate source of energy is the sun, yet solar power remains a tough technical
challenge, especially for Ohio. Today solar power technologies operate in the
visible light part of the electromagnetic spectrum. A great innovation would be
the discovery of materials reactive to different ranges of the spectrum, such as
ultraviolet, which Ohio receives even on cloudy days. There are possibilities of
hybrid energy systems using solar power, batteries, engines or turbines, and
fuel cells. Large scale solar power is not likely within the next 20 years, but
perhaps within the next 50 years.
Another energy option for the
future is a new generation of nuclear power. Innovative pebble bed nuclear
reactors are being tested now. Also emerging is a new technology called
pyrometallurgical processing that will process spent fuels at the reactor,
thereby eliminating a major nuclear waste disposal challenge. Because it
releases little or no carbon dioxide, nuclear power could be the most effective
response to the emerging challenges of carbon management. Large amounts of very
inexpensive electricity generated by nuclear power plants off-peak could be used
for the affordable electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen for fuel cells.
Ohio Science and
Technology in the Future