Walker agreed, saying that a generation of cars with a fuel tank in the past and an engine in the future would encourage the acceptance of futuristic renewable fuels.

"That would be a very interesting transition, since it would allow the present infrastructure to be used, yet we would end up with hydrogen vehicles that would be better environmentally," he said.

Although environmentalists--both here at Harvard, and outside--have said that the Arthur D. Little reformer does little to reduce dependency on fossil fuels, Derby defended the firm's strategy.

"We're working with the system," he said. "It doesn't necessarily meet all the concerns of the environmentalists, but it does say that we can get something out there in the next five to 10 years that people can use."

FUEL VAPORIZATION

1 Liquid fuel (Gasoline, Ethanol, etc.) is vaporized using waste energy from the fuel cell to insure high efficiency operation.

POX

2 Vaporized fuel is burned with a small amount of air in a Partial Oxidation (POX) reactor producing carbon monoxide and carbon.

SULFUR REMOVAL

3 Sulfur compounds from the fuel are removed to eliminate emissions that form acid rain.

CATALYTIC REACTORS

4 Using the heat from the POX zone, steam is reacted with most of the carbon monoxide to form additional hydrogen and carbon dioxide.

PROX

5 The remaining carbon monoxide is Preferentially Oxidized (burnt) over a catalyst to reduce its concentration to less than 10 ppm.

FUEL CELL

6 The hydrogen gas combines with air to form electricity, water and heat to propel the vehicle with virtually zero emissions. Fuel cell by-products are water and heat.

Source: http://www.arthurlittle.com/pressroom/press_release.html