Talks and poster presentations will focus on various hydrogen-related technologies, including those that could power future cars and fuel cells and generate electricity for homes and businesses.

Hydrogen Symposium 2008, April 24 and 25 in Stewart Center, is sponsored by the Energy Center at Purdue's Discovery Park. The conference will feature keynote lectures, presentations and poster sessions dealing with various aspects of hydrogen production, distribution and storage.

"The conference is a way to bring to Purdue experts from academia, government and industry to discuss key issues related to hydrogen," said Jay Gore, the Reilly University Professor of Engineering and director of the Energy Center. "We remember Purdue's own Nobel laureate, professor Herbert C. Brown, and provide an opportunity for our students to listen to experts from around the world right here in West Lafayette."

Public and private sector representatives participating in the symposium include researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy, the General Motors R&D and Planning Center, Praxair Inc., the Scripps Research Institute, Case Western Reserve University, 3M Co., the University of Tennessee, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory.

"There is no escaping hydrogen," said Mahdi M. Abu-Omar, symposium chair and a Purdue professor of chemistry. "We will ultimately get our energy from the sun, and the best renewable source of fuel will be hydrogen produced from water and sunlight. However, the grand challenge for hydrogen fuel utilization is storage. Much basic research is needed to enable the hydrogen economy. This year's symposium will highlight scientific developments at the cutting edge in hydrogen research."

The symposium theme for April 24 is production, distribution, storage and fuel cells, and the theme for talks on April 25 is research meets the market.

"Major challenges include finding ways to efficiently store and transport hydrogen and also to generate hydrogen on-demand," said Timothee Pourpoint, co-chair of the symposium and a senior research scientist in Purdue's School of Aeronautics and Astronautics. "Other challenges include developing technologies to make fuel cells more affordable and practical for widespread commercial applications."

He is leading research at a new hydrogen facility funded by General Motors Corp. to develop a hydrogen-storage system for future cars. The Hydrogen Systems Laboratory is located at the university's Maurice J. Zucrow Laboratories.

Purdue research in hydrogen will be highlighted during a poster session from 5:15-6:30 p.m. on April 24 at a reception in Ross-Ade Stadium's Buchanan Room before the symposium banquet.

The symposium will feature four keynote speakers, with each introducing a major segment.

Registration for the symposium starts at 7:45 a.m. on April 24 in Stewart Center. Room 314, with a welcome address at 8 a.m., also in Stewart 314.

A keynote talk will follow at 8:15 a.m. by David Dixon, the Robert Ramsay Professor of Chemistry at the University of Alabama. Researchers will talk about hydrogen storage from 9-10:20 a.m., with presentations by Tom Autrey from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Sunita Satyapal from the U.S. Department of Energy and John Gordon from Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Gholam-Abbas Nazri, from General Motors R&D and Planning Center, will give a keynote address on hydrogen storage at 10:35 a.m. in Stewart 310, followed by talks by Lennie Klebanoff from Sandia National Laboratories and Leslie Eudy from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

At 1:30 p.m. on April 24, Daniel DuBois from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will give a keynote talk in Stewart 314 about developing new "molecular catalysts" for hydrogen production. A session on catalysis and fuel cell research will follow from 2:15-4:55 p.m., with talks by Hoydoo You from Argonne National Laboratory, Radoslav Atanasoski from 3M Co. and Scott Barnett from Northwestern University.

The recipient of the second Herbert C. Brown Award for Innovations in Hydrogen Research will be announced at the symposium banquet the evening of April 24. The award comes with a $5,000 cash prize.

On April 25, Roy Periana from the Scripps Research Institute will give a keynote address on energy storage at 8 a.m. in Stewart 314. A session on materials for fuel cells will follow at 8:45 a.m., with talks by Jimmy Mays from the University of Tennessee, Morton Litt from Case Western Reserve University and Klaus Schmidt-Rohr from Iowa State University.

A session on production and delivery of hydrogen, from 10:20 a.m. to noon, will be in Stewart 314, with talks by Tim Aaron from Praxair Inc., John Turner from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Yong Wang from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Participants can register to spend the rest of the day touring Purdue labs, including the Hydrogen Systems Laboratory and the Birck Nanotechnology Center.

The registration fee is $150 for registrants from outside of Purdue and $50 for Purdue faculty and staff. Registration is free for students. The registration fee covers the cost of the symposium banquet, lunch and coffee breaks.

Information about the symposium is available online at http://www.purdue.edu/dp/energy/2008hydrogen/.