Vodka powered cell phones??

[MikeHunt]

Student wants vodka to power your cell phone:

By Shera Dalin

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

(KRT) - ST. LOUIS - Imagine powering up your cell phone's battery with vodka and having the charge last for a week.

An area seed-money group was so taken with the idea of turning hooch into juice that it invested $400,000 in cash and in-kind services with the St. Louis company that is developing the technology. BioGenerator, a new seed-capital company, signed a deal Friday with Akermin Inc.

Potential uses for Akermin's technology include powering a cell phone or laptop computer using vodka, beer or any other ethanol-based substance. Cooking oil, sugar and many other organic substances will work, too, but ethanol is more efficient, Akermin President Nick Akers said.

"This was a standout from the get-go," BioGenerator President and Chief Executive Pat Snider said Monday. "For us, it could be a very early exit; this is not going to be something that is going to take 10 years" to stand on its own.

In addition, St. Louis University, where the biofuel cell was developed, has invested $250,000 in fee and licensing waivers and grants to the founders, Akers and assistant chemistry professor Shelley Minteer.

The money will be critical to advancing the biofuel cell beyond the initial prototypes to working models, said Akers, 24.

The spark of Akermin ignited when Akers came to St. Louis University two years ago to pursue a master's degree in chemistry. He began research on a biofuel cell project started by his adviser, Minteer.

As Akers' research developed, a team of 13 graduate and undergraduate students joined the project. He formed Akermin in August and began to search for funding to pursue commercial applications.

Akers said that once the biofuel cell is charged, it could run a cell phone for a week or a laptop all day before needing another shot - 62 times more energy than traditional batteries.

Plus, biofuel cells don't harm the environment like the heavy metals in lithium batteries, Akers said.

"They are presenting a solution that is better than anything that is out there now," Snider said.

The Akermin cell also doesn't have the risks of other fuel cells. A hydrogen cell could blow up, and methanol cells could blind users, Akers said.

"We're extremely excited about this," said Bob Webster, director of SLU's technology-transfer office. "This is a wonderful opportunity to support some very bright inventors, who we feel will bring cutting-edge technology for a variety of purposes."

This is the third commercial research spinoff SLU has helped fund since the technology-transfer office was created in 1998. Other universities, such as MIT, have been exploiting their research for years, but SLU is new to the game.

"This is a big deal for St. Louis University, and it's a big deal for BioGenerator," Akers said.

BioGenerator chose Akermin out of 35 biotech or life-science company proposals, Snider said. Two more companies will be selected in May.

"The bar is high," she said. "We are being very selective."

---

© 2004, St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

:Here's to you: :Here's to you: