Chemistry
The Burgundy Gold Team have considerable experience in product development, research and development and marketing within the chemicals sector.
The Chemicals Sector
The Chemical Sector within the UK has changed substantially over the last few years particularly as the global industry has gone through a major consolidation process resulting in many UK household names being swallowed up by International Groups. For the industry that remains generatiion of novel innovative ideas is crucial to the sustainability of the chemical industry. Improvements in process and ability to find and take-up and develop new products is key to this survuval and ongoing success.
Fuel Cells
Fuel cells are clean and efficient technology for generating electricity which is poised to become the leading energy source of the 21st century, in applications such as transport, stationary power and even laptop computers. Fuel cell operates like a battery. Unlike a battery, a fuel cell does not run down or require recharging. It will produce energy in the form of electricity and heat as long as fuel is supplied. A fuel cell consists of two electrodes sandwiched around an electrolyte. Oxygen passes over one electrode and hydrogen over the other, generating electricity, water and heat. A fuel cell produces electricity. The fuel cell is similar to a battery. It produces electricity using chemicals. The chemicals are usually very simple, often just hydrogen and oxygen. In this case the hydrogen is the "fuel" that the fuel cell uses to make electricity. Another very important difference is that fuel cells do not run down like batteries. As long as the fuel and oxygen is supplied to the cell it will keep producing electricty for ever. The oxygen needed by a fuel cell is usually simply obtained from air. Although the majority of fuel cells use hydrogen as the fuel, some fuel cells work off methane, and a few use liquid fuels such as methanol. Fuel cells that use hydrogen can be thought of as devices that do the reverse of the well known experiment where passing an electric current through water splits it up into hydrogen and oxygen. In the fuel cell hydrogen and oxygen are joined together to produce water and electricty. Fuel cells can be made in a huge range of sizes. They can be used to produce quite small amounts of electric power, for devices such as portable computers or radio transmitters, right up to very high powers for electric power stations.