Hydrogen Powered Technologies and the Future

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As the impact of burning fossil fuels in automobiles and power plants becomes increasingly obvious through climatic changes, the need for a shift to a hydrogen powered economy has become more than compelling.¹

In November 2003, the United States Secretary of Energy, Spencer Abraham, joined Ministers from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, European Commission, France, Germany, Iceland, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Norway, Russia and the UK to sign the Terms of Reference formally creating the International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy (‘IPHE’). The agreement marked a significant advancement in countries from around the globe working together to achieve a safe and environmentally benign hydrogen economy. The aim of the agreement is ‘that participating country’s consumers will have the practical option of purchasing a competitively priced hydrogen power vehicle, and be able to refuel it near their homes or places of work, by 2020’. The IPHE will serve as a mechanism to co-ordinate hydrogen research and hydrogen technology development and deployment.²

In the United States, the use of hydrogen fuel cells to power automobiles would dramatically reduce tail-pipe emissions of carbon dioxide which account for about 40% of the country’s greenhouse gases. It would also reduce the United States dependence on imported oil, which has reached 60% of the oil consumed in the United States.³ However, the prospect of a hydrogen economy totally redefines the paradigm. During his State of the Union Address last January, President Bush embraced hydrogen as the fuel of the future. The United States has an ambitious dream to make hydrogen technology a marketable technology within 12 years and with widespread commercial availability within 17 years.⁴

Currently the most practical source available to produce hydrogen is coal, mainly due to it being cheap and abundant. However, in order to avoid the effects of carbon dioxide and other pollutants emitted during the process of burning coal to produce hydrogen, research is underway in the United States to find ways to trap carbon dioxide and inject the gas deep underground. The Department of Energy is planning to set aside funds to build an emission-free coal plant to help demonstrate methods of sequestering carbon dioxide. Funding is also being considered for building a very high-temperature nuclear reactor that would generate electricity and produce hydrogen. One of the designs, called a pebble bed reactor, is even safer than conventional nuclear plants and produces less waste.⁵

Hydrogen power has also proven to be an excellent source of back-up energy in instances where the local source of energy fails. During the recent power outages suffered by Ontario and large parts of North-eastern United States, one company, Stuart Energy, which had its own Hydrogen Energy Station was able to restore power to its critical operations within 8 seconds of the blackout. Stuart Energy is in partnership with Cheung Kong Infrastructures Holdings in Hong Kong to establish codes and standards for hydrogen fuelling and power generation. The aim of this partnership is to market the Hydrogen Energy Stations to the Asia-Pacific region, as it has become evident that there is a growing global interest in using hydrogen technology and fuelling as a means to power generators and hybrid electric vehicles. Stuart Energy has already unveiled Sweden’s first hydrogen fuelling station for Sydkraft, a major Northern European energy provider. Using the Hydrogen Energy Stations, Sydkraft will be providing a blend of hydrogen and natural gas to the City of Malmo’s bus fleet.⁶

Over in the United States, Proton Energy Systems, has entered into two contracts with NASA and the United States Missile Defence Agency (‘MDA’) for the development of lightweight unitised regenerative fuel cell technology for unmanned aerial vehicles and for the development of lightweight regenerative fuel cell technology for high altitude airships, respectively. NASA through this partnership hopes to demonstrate the feasibility of producing and operating lightweight unitised regenerative fuel cell hardware to meet the needs of aerospace applications. Part of the regenerative fuel cell design will incorporate Proton’s core commercial hydrogen generator technology, which is capable of generating its own hydrogen at pressure. MDA on the other hand, plans to develop and demonstrate a hydrogen/oxygen regenerative fuel cell with lightweight packaging capable of high-pressure hydrogen and oxygen generation and multi-kilowatt power output. MDA’s contract is part of a Department of Defense initiative to develop a lighter than air, high altitude airship Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration or ACTD prototype.⁷

In an effort to further the global use of hydrogen fuel cell technology and to test its feasibility on ground, the United States and India recently implemented a project supported by USAID to introduce three-wheel hydrogen powered vehicles into India. India with its over congested traffic conditions, serves as an ideal place for testing the alternative fuel-efficient systems where the transportation pollution is severe. Through this project, the United States hopes to hasten the introduction of hydrogen-fuelled transportation into the United States by building upon lessons learned in wide-scale deployment of small vehicles in India. The project supports research, development and demonstration activities under the United States Department of Energy hydrogen programme to develop improved metal hydride materials and for the hydrogen-based transportation options. This is an initial step towards developing a roadmap for India’s hydrogen future.⁸

In Singapore, a trial project involving hydrogen-powered cars from Daimler-Chrysler and refuelling stations by BP is set to begin actual operations in the early part of 2004. The National University of Singapore has made some recent breakthroughs in the area of solid state conformable hydrogen storage technologies and is accelerating research in this area. Solid state conformable hydrogen storage promises to be the future fuel storage method of choice for vehicles powered by hydrogen. At the moment, important constraints in the technology have led automakers to adopt more immediate solutions to hydrogen storage, gas cylinders storing pressurised hydrogen being the most prevalent today.

Recently, the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics in China, combined tested 5KW-grade methanol auto-heating, reforming hydrogen sample maker and fuel cell to produce results showing that the fuel cells have good Carbon Oxide resistance. Further, the fuel cell’s tail gas is used as fuel gas for the hydrogen source system and energy balance and optimal utilisation is therefore achieved. Using the reforming of hydrocarbons such as natural gas, methanol and gasoline to produce hydrogen on the spot for power generation of fuel cells has the features of a high energy conversion rate, convenient transportation, replenishment and storage. This has also proven to be more economical and safe.⁹

In Japan, Honda Motor Co, has developed a home energy station (‘HES’) that generates hydrogen from natural gas for use in fuel cell in motor vehicles while at the same time acting as an electricity supply and heating system for homes. HES uses such facilities as a reformer to extract hydrogen from natural gas, a tank to store pressurised hydrogen and a fuel cell unit to supply electricity. The experimental system is capable of producing 400 litres of hydrogen, enough to refill the tank of a Honda FCX fuel cell vehicle each day. It can also generate 5KW of electricity.¹⁰

Earlier in June 2003, Idemitsu Kosan Co, had extracted hydrogen from kerosene. Idemitsu will operate a station in Hadano, to supply fuel cell cars with kerosene derived hydrogen, starting April. This would be the world’s first hydrogen station supplying hydrogen made from kerosene. The manufacture of hydrogen using kerosene requires the use of high technologies, such as one to remove sulphur, but it has more advantages than making hydrogen from gas, an example being that kerosene is easier to transport and is cheaper.¹¹

Currently billions of dollars have been approved for research and development of hydrogen powered technologies and it would seem that at this point much remains to be learnt about hydrogen and its use in hydrogen technologies and its relation to power generation. There is little doubt that hydrogen is the fuel of the future. Perhaps there never was a time where research into hydrogen technologies was more in demand. It would seem that it has become increasingly urgent that the demand for knowledge in this growing field of power generation be met both responsibly and safely.

Prepared by Vimala Chandrarajan and Georges S. Salo.

The article was written via materials and data available on LexisNexis™ Research. The authors acknowledge that any errors or omissions are of their own.

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1. Hydrogen Key to US Energy Future, Florida Today, 16 December 2003.
2.15 Nations Agree to Hydrogen Future, Industries in Transition, Volume 31.
3. See footnote 1.
4. Transportation Sector ‘Absolutely Critical’ to Hydrogen Economy, New Technology Week, 8 December 2003.
5. See footnote 3.
6. Stuart Energy Announces Results for Quarter Ended 30 September 2003, Business Wire, 10 November 2003.
7. Proton Energy Awarded Two Contracts for Regenerative Fuel Cell Development with NASA and the US Missile Defense Agency, PR Newswire, 18 December 2003.
8. Hydrogen-Fuelled Three-Wheelers Could Make Impact on Developing Nations and US, FDCH Federal Department and Agency Documents, Regulatory Intelligence Data, 22 December 2003.
9. Breakthrough Progress in Fuel Cell Research, China Chemical Reporter, 6 September 2003.
10. Honda to Test Hydrogen Energy Station for Homes, Knight-Ridder Tribune Business News, 2 October 2003.
11. Japanese Oil Refiner, Wholesaler to Supply Kerosene-Derived Hydrogen, Knight-Ridder Tribune Business News, 12 June 2003.