Chesapeake Bay Waterman’s Livelihood in Jeopardy

POCOMOKE CITY, Md. - Feb. 8, 2015 - PRLog -- Rising acidification of estuary waters spells trouble for Chesapeake Bay Watermen.

The Chesapeake Bay Oyster is now potentially entering its newest fight in what could prove to be an epic battle against ocean acidification. Typically, about 30 percent of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is absorbed into oceans, where it becomes carbonic acid and makes the water more acidic. As carbon dioxide becomes more prevalent in the atmosphere, more of it ends up in the ocean as well.

The Chesapeake Bay is an estuary lying inland from the Atlantic Ocean, and surrounded by the North American mainland to the West, and the Delmarva Peninsula to the East. It is the largest such body in the US.The northern bay is within Maryland, the southern portion within Virginia, and is a very important feature for the ecology and economy of those two states, as well as others. More than 150 major rivers and streamsflow into the bay's 64,299 square miles (166,534 km²) drainage basin, which covers parts of six states (New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia) plus all of the District of Columbia.

Rising acidification (too much hydrogen in the seawater) of estuary waters spells trouble for Chesapeake Bay oysters and other marine habitats. One example shows, new data published from many scientific and government agencies that rising acidity in the Chesapeake Bay will have a negative impact on oyster shells. Laboratory experiments in which oyster larvae were raised in seawater containing high levels of acidity (hydrogen), levels that are predicted to occur during this century, show the oysters experienced a significant decrease in both shell growth and in the calcium content of their shells. The experiments were led by Ecologist Whitman Miller of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center on the Chesapeake Bay in Edgewater, Md.

Thomas Institute for Technology Research will make hydrogen future good for the Chesapeake Bay.

A new hydrogen gas production technology invented by Scientist Michael Thomas who has filed the first patent teaching the art will be available to the Chesapeake Region free of all cost. When CO2 is pumped into Chesapeake seawater feed stock acidification of the seawater begins under the reaction below

The present invention is a unique dissociation and ionization chemistry technology that will allow hydrogen gas production from Chesapeake seawater in high volumes at low costs. The US Department of Energy's hydrogen production target goal using hydrocarbons/bacteria/sewage is $4 / Kg will be more costly than the hydrogen from seawater $.30 / Kg targeted by this invention. If a CO2 tax credit stock exchange is created the producers of CO2 could end up selling CO2 while getting a tax benefit.

The CO2 used in the process will come from current hydrocarbon automobiles, trucks, planes, trains, ships, commercial CO2 producers, power plants, and states wanting to improve their carbon emissions footprint. The hydrogen gas from this process can be sold to the new burgeoning hydrogen fuel cell automobile markets now evolving across the world. Hydrogen can even be collected (de-acidification) from current Chesapeake seawater using graphene film filters without infusing CO2 into the seawater.

The improved chemical composition of the returning Chesapeake seawater will be favorable to Chesapeake sea life habitats with continued job creation and stability for the Chesapeake watermen fishing industry.

Chesapeake Seawater is a FREE feedstock material unregulated, taxed or controlled by any State in the Chesapeake Region. Ongoing R&D experiments and data collection will allow fine tuning the highest quality method for production of hydrogen gas from Chesapeake seawater. The expectation of making basic discoveries that can solve Chesapeake chemistry problems while improving conditions of all Chesapeake aquatic life environments and protecting the Chesapeake fishing industry will be the goal.

The benefits of this unique technology to the Chesapeake region is energy independence, environmental protection, protection of the Atlantic Ocean, political stability, and fishing industry job security.

The seawater acidification process now destroying the Chesapeake’s inlets, bays, and Atlantic Ocean can be reversed by the development of a methodology that can deliver substantial quantities of low cost renewable hydrogen from de-acidification of seawater, brine or brackish water is expected and demanded.

This will greatly add to the financial stability of the Chesapeake and decrease dependence on fluxuating expensive geopolitical hydrocarbons, climate change by CO2 carbon emissions, and environmental disasters in the Chesapeake. The Chesapeake Bay as a whole will benefit because seawater, as an energy resource, exists in abundance and is an underutilized feedstock resource by the Chesapeake State Governments.

Emerging hydrogen for fuel cell usage will help to reduce carbon emissions and increase higher quality energy generation. Controlling energy cost forever using an infinite renewable seawater feedstock source can put the Chesapeake on a track to a healthier future. The proposed technology is focused on real low cost on-site production of hydrogen gas that can compete with other worldwide energy sources in the Chesapeake market place, which will lead to tangible, disruptive, and cleaner renewable energy products.

The process of producing hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe, thru safe, intelligent de-acidification (removal of hydrogen) of seawater and brackish water will keep our Chesapeake aquatic life from becoming extinct threatening the livelihood of the Chesapeake Waterman and fishing industry while helping to re-vitalize the already damaged Chesapeake marine environment.

It’s time for environmentally safe energy to be produced that makes people’s lives better within the Chesapeake and Atlantic Ocean regions giving what it needs, hope for the future.

To learn more about this FREE TO THE Chesapeake hydrogen-from-seawater technology please contact the Thomas Institute for Technology Research.