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SACRAMENTO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The California Fuel Cell Partnership announced that Linde North America has joined CaFCP as an associate member.

Linde North America is a member of The Linde Group, one of the world’s largest hydrogen producers and suppliers. As a member of the California Fuel Cell Partnership, Linde brings years of experience designing hydrogen delivery systems, including developing ground-breaking technology that provides safe, fast and efficient ways to fuel hydrogen vehicles.

Mike McGowan, head of hydrogen solutions for Linde North America, says the CaFCP’s efforts are contributing to a greener world and cleaner environment. “Linde has long admired the California Fuel Cell Partnership’s tremendous work and is pleased to become a member. California’s leadership in deploying hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is due largely to the CaFCP’s efforts. As the CaFCP continues its mission to go beyond demonstrations to achieve commercial deployments, Linde is excited to help make driving and refueling hydrogen cars practical for California residents.”

“As hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are nearing commercial market entry, it’s crucial that the first customers find fueling to be convenient, fast and easy,” said Catherine Dunwoody, Executive Director of CaFCP. “Linde’s expertise building refueling stations around the world will translate nicely into building customer-friendly stations in California.”

Mike Beckman, head of Linde’s Western region, said he’s excited about supporting the CaFCP’s efforts to make a difference in the state. “Linde’s strong local presence, combined with our global expertise in hydrogen, will complement the fantastic work the partnership has been doing in California.”

The Linde Group

As one of the earliest entrants into the hydrogen energy arena, Linde is a leader in the safe production, storage and distribution of hydrogen. Linde is the world’s only company with the in-house technology to fuel gaseous or liquid hydrogen regardless of the mode of on-board storage.

Linde has equipped over 70 hydrogen fueling stations in 15 countries, supplying hydrogen for projects large and small. Amounts supplied range from a few hundred cubic feet of compressed hydrogen in cylinders to thousands of tons of liquid and gaseous hydrogen delivered by tank truck or pipeline.

The Linde Group is a world leading gases and engineering company with almost 52,000 employees working in around 100 countries worldwide. In the 2008 financial year it achieved sales of EUR 12.7 billion (USD 15.9 billion). The strategy of The Linde Group is geared towards sustainable earnings-based growth and focuses on the expansion of its international business with forward-looking products and services.

Linde acts responsibly towards its shareholders, business partners, employees, society and the environment – in every one of its business areas, regions and locations across the globe. Linde is committed to technologies and products that unite the goals of customer value and sustainable development.

US researchers have developed an efficient way of producing hydrogen from urine – a feat that could not only fuel the cars of the future, but could also help clean up municipal wastewater.

Using hydrogen to power cars has become an increasingly attractive transportation fuel, as the only emission produced is water – but a major stumbling block is the lack of a cheap, renewable source of the fuel. Gerardine Botte of Ohio University may now have found the answer, using an electrolytic approach to produce hydrogen from urine – the most abundant waste on Earth – at a fraction of the cost of producing hydrogen from water.

Botte says the idea came to her several years ago at a conference on fuel cells, where they were discussing how to turn clean water into clean power. ‘I wondered how we could do this better,’ she adds – so started looking at waste streams as a better source of molecules from which to produce hydrogen.

Urine’s major constituent is urea, which incorporates four hydrogen atoms per molecule – importantly, less tightly bonded than the hydrogen atoms in water molecules. Botte used electrolysis to break the molecule apart, developing an inexpensive new nickel-based electrode to selectively and efficiently oxidise the urea. To break the molecule down, a voltage of 0.37V needs to be applied across the cell – much less than the 1.23V needed to split water.

‘During the electrochemical process the urea gets adsorbed on to the nickel electrode surface, which passes the electrons needed to break up the molecule,’ Botte told Chemistry World. Pure hydrogen is evolved at the cathode, while nitrogen plus a trace of oxygen and hydrogen were collected at the anode. While carbon dioxide is generated during the reaction, none is found in the collected gasses as it reacts with the potassium hydroxide in the solution to form potassium carbonate.

The group initially tested their process with ’synthetic’ urine made of dissolved urea, but also showed that the process works just as well with real human urine. ‘It took us some time to get clearance to work with human urine – which held up publication of the research,’ says Botte.

According to Botte, currently available processes that can remove urine from water are expensive and inefficient. Urea naturally hydrolyses into ammonia before generating gas phase ammonia emissions. These emissions lead to the formation of ammonium sulphate and nitrate particulates in the air, which cause a variety of health problems including chronic bronchitis, asthma attacks and premature death.

The group are currently conducting long term stability studies on their electrolysis systems, as well as conducting computational experiments to better understand the mechanisms at work.

Botte believes the technology could be easily scaled-up to generate hydrogen while cleaning up the effluent from sewage plants. ‘We do not need to reinvent the wheel as there are already electrolysers being used in different applications.’ She believes the only the thing that would hamper the process would be the presence of a lot of salt.

Bruce Logan, an expert in energy generation from wastewater and director of Pennsylvania State University’s H2E Center and Engineering Environmental Institute, applauded Botte’s efforts in developing a more energy efficient way of producing hydrogen than splitting water. However, he did caution that urea gets converted very quickly into ammonia by bacteria, which could limit the usefulness of the technique.

However, Logan does feel that it would be a good idea to start saving up our urine – although not for the hydrogen. ‘You have to remember about the P [phosphorus] in pee - globally we need to start thinking about conserving phosphorus for fertiliser, because, just like oil, one day the deposits are all going to run out and we need to start building phosphorus recycling into our infrastructure,’ he says.

Matt Wilkinson

Eight companies have agreed to launch a joint effort to develop equipment and facilities to supply hydrogen to fuel-cell vehicles, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.

Hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles are regarded as highly eco-friendly because they emit no carbon dioxide.

The group comprises Nippon Oil Corp., Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K., Idemitsu Kosan Co., Cosmo Oil Co., Japan Energy Corp., Tokyo Gas Co., Osaka Gas Co. and Toho Gas Co., according to sources. They plan to invite auto manufacturers involved in the development of fuel-cell vehicles to take part in the energy-supply project.

The group aims to commercialize the supply of hydrogen to fuel battery-powered vehicles before 2015. The eight companies have been working on developing technologies to extract, transport and fill hydrogen in fuel-cell vehicles.

However, they have decided to jointly start a research association, which is eligible for preferential tax treatment, in the near future.

A fuel-cell vehicle is powered by electricity obtained through the chemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen.

It is regarded as a future green car, following the development of a gas-and-electric-powered hybrid vehicle and an electric car with a chargeable battery.

Honda Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and other auto manufacturers have been working on the development of fuel-cell vehicles. However, fuel-cell vehicles remain very expensive, as are the costs automakers would incur to independently construct networks of hydrogen-supply facilities.

As a result, the number of fuel-cell vehicles in use in the country had not reached 50 as of the end of 2007.

The eight companies are looking to reduce costs of constructing a network of hydrogen supply facilities by unifying standards and systems.

When the group launches its joint venture to operate a network of hydrogen supply stations, it may seek investment from the Industry Innovation Organization, a semipublic investment fund. The start-up costs of the group’s joint business may be as much as several tens of billions of yen, the sources said.

Zero CO₂ is the world’s first-hydrogen powered yacht with a fully integrated laboratory to study pollution in the Mediterranean.

The objective of the Zero CO₂ project is to sail around the Mediterranean using a clean carbon-free auxiliary motor (petrol motors are commonly used in yachts for all port manoeuvres). The yacht will be presented for the first time at the Paris Boat Show in December 2009.  A 12m craft built by the RM shipyard of La Rochelle, the yacht will be equipped with an electric motor driven by a hydrogen fuel cell, developed by CEA Liten of Grenoble.

Test pollution levels in the Mediterranean using a built-in laboratory

A scientific platform installed on the yacht by the University Joseph Fourier (UJF) and its technology transfer subsidiary, Floralis, will be used to collect scientific data on man-made pollution throughout the length of the 10 month trip. The yacht will travel around the Mediterranean coast as far as Turkey on a journey that will commence in March, 2010.

The “Grenelle de la Mer” a major French maritime event that promotes key environmental issues will signal the beginning of the project. The Zero CO₂ journey should open up amateur and professional sailors to new ways of enjoying the sea, using cutting-edge technologies that are both more respectful of the environment and more economic in terms of energy consumption.

A key aim of the project is to develop and promote new energy sources that will replace fossil fuels and consequently lead to a reduction in carbon emissions and an improvement with regards to the greenhouse effect. Throughout the journey around the Mediterranean, the Zero CO₂ crew will also carry out research into the possibility of producing “green hydrogen” produced through the installation of solar panels and wind turbines on the roofs of port-side buildings. It is through such initiatives that the long-term objective of achieving truly carbon neutral power sources could become achievable.

The Zero CO₂ project remit: test an environmentally-friendly boat powered by hydrogen and renewable energies

The Zero CO₂ journey around the Mediterranean will enable the project owners to:

-demonstrate the efficiency of the combined energy types that power the RM 1200, an environmentally-friendly craft that uses clean energies in place of petrol. These include a hydrogen fuel cell that powers an auxiliary electric motor and renewable energies (solar, wind, hydro power sources) for onboard power requirements.

-analyse data obtained from the air, sea and port sediments using the boats integrated onboard laboratory in order to evaluate pollution from the sea and coastline, especially pollution originating from fossil fuels.

-raise awareness of climatic change, pollution and the importance of alternative energies to the Mediterranean population and professional/amateur sailors.

-promote a culture based on respecting maritime environments through the adoption of self-sustainable energies in port and coastal areas in place of traditional fossil fuels. The project will also aim at increasing the uptake of carbon-neutral renewable energies that do not contribute to the greenhouse effect

The Zero CO₂ project team has developed an internet site http://www.zeroCO2sailing.com which will feature a wide range of information on the progress of the project including the various stages of the yacht’s development.  The site will also give details of the boat’s journey around the Mediterranean as well as give regular updates on the data that has been collected and analysed by the onboard laboratory. ZeroCO2sailing.com is also an important means of communicating key information about the project to an audience that includes researchers, schoolchildren and the general public. An RSS feed will enable contacts to be sent regular updates on the project.

Key dates and destinations: the « Zero CO2 around the Mediterranean calendar

March to December 2009: construction of the boat, integration of the hydrogen fuel cell and onboard laboratory, planning for the ship’s course around the Mediterranean, and preparation of all logistics for the Zero CO₂ expedition.

5th to 13th December 2009: presentation of the Zero CO₂ yacht equipped with a hydrogen fuel cell and fully integrated onboard laboratory, for use in environmental experiments at the Paris Boat Show.

January to February 2010: launch and first tests of the yacht on the “Lac du Bourget” in Savoie, Rhones-Alpes, France with the support of the Savoie Local Government and INES (National Institute for Solar Energy).

March to December 2010: first tests of the yacht on the Mediterranean followed by the start of the Zero CO₂ trip. This period will see the start of the scientific phase of the trip: environmental data on man-made pollution will be captured and analysed onboard the yacht. Studies will commence regarding the feasibility for the production of “green hydrogen” through the installation of solar panels and wind turbines in suitable port-side locations. Public relations activity (presentations) on the project will take place demonstrating the importance of the project in relation to climate change in selected Mediterranean ports.

Geographic Areas covered by the scientific expedition

After initial tests on the Lac du Bourget in Savoie, France, the boat will be tested again in the Mediterranean before following the Southern French coast and heading for Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Tunisia, Crete, Turkey, the Greek coast, Montenegro, Croatia, the Italian coast, Spain, and the Balearic Islands before sailing back to Marseille in late 2010.

Major Research and Development themes covered by the Zero CO₂ around the Mediterranean project

Clean propulsion systems for boats

For the first time, a yacht (an RM 1200 built in La Rochelle) will be equipped with a scientific research and development platform:

·        The yacht will be entirely self-sufficient in terms of energy production

·        The hydrogen fuel cell and the integration of hydrogen storage systems will be managed by the CEA Liten Institute in Grenoble.

Understanding boats and their environment

The integrated onboard laboratory is made up of two key innovative analytic devices developed by Floralis’s business units, Sara and Ecometrix. These devices will enable the accurate testing of atmospheric pollutants linked to human, urban and industrial activity. These pollutants include carbon monoxide, ammonia and methane, but the team will also collate data on more complex compounds such as Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in the water and sediments of ports.

Coastal Environments

Key areas of focus for the project will include:

·        Potential means of producing self-sustaining “green hydrogen” using solar panels and wind turbines, strategically placed on portside buildings, in order to reduce fuel consumption

·        This “green hydrogen” study will be carried out by the University Joseph Fourier and its laboratories.

Financing/Sponsorship Opportunities

The project has been part-financed through a “crédit d’impôt recherche“  (a means of reducing tax expenditure by committing to research projects which have been validated for their socio-economic value).

http://www.zeroCO2sailing.com/

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand have urged Senate Appropriators to fully fund fuel cell research and development. The United States is a leader in fuel cell research and development and is a critical component of our economic recovery.

Companies across New York including GM, Delphi Automotive, Plug Power, Ener-G-Rosors, Nanodynamics, ENrg, Kodak, and Harris RF Communications, as well as institutions including the University of Rochester and the Rochester Institute of Technology are contributors to fuel cell research and development.

“Fuel cells have been and will continue to be an economic engine in New York State, particularly in Western New York and the Rochester Finger Lakes region,” said Schumer.  “Maintaining, and even increasing, the amount of money that goes towards fuel cell research will allow New York companies and universities to continue the ground breaking research they are doing, provide jobs for New Yorkers, and allow the country to work towards a future of energy independence and low pollution vehicles.”

“Companies in New York are at the cutting edge of fuel cell research and development for products of all types, from cars to cameras,” said  Gillibrand, a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee. “Investment in fuel cells will help us compete internationally in energy and transportation, enhance our country’s ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and will create new jobs across the country. It is a significant contributor to our local employment, and I am committed to fighting for jobs throughout New York.”

The state’s investment in the hydrogen industry seeing a return on its investment at a 10-to-1 ratio, said House Speaker Bobby Harrell Jr.

Through direct state appropriations and support of the Centers of Economic Excellence program, South Carolina has invested more than $12.2 million in hydrogen over the past 5 years. By conservative estimates, this has spurred more than $115 million in non-state investments.

“When we created the Centers of Economic Excellence to help grow our state’s knowledge-based economy, we did not know for certain what direction this public/private partnership would lead us,” said Harrell, R-Charleston. “Driven by industry investments and world-class scientists, hydrogen research took off and presented itself as a viable industry that could lead to a booming knowledge-based economy for South Carolina.”

The investment in hydrogen has created 229 jobs in South Carolina. With 65% of those jobs being created in the last 5 years, this is proving to be a growing industry, he said.

Pursuing a knowledge-based economy and growing related industries is crucial for the state’s economic future, Harrell said. Unemployment in May was at 12%. Since 2003, the number of unemployed people in South Carolina has increased by more than 100%.

“Our current economic development strategy of inaction needs to end, watching other states successfully attract new jobs and investments while our economic development leaders stand idly by is hurting jobless South Carolinians,” Harrell said. “If we are going to combat this 100% increase in unemployment, we must actively pursue new economic opportunities. Hydrogen has the potential to create the high-paying jobs of tomorrow by becoming the next economic engine driving our state’s knowledge-based economy.”

In 2005, ICF Consulting conducted a thorough statewide analysis of South Carolina’s hydrogen and fuel cell potential. The study determined that “this industry represented a significant knowledge-based market opportunity for the state.”

Most industry experts think the technology for affordable hydrogen-powered vehicles is still far off. This is one of the main reasons that the Obama Administration proposed cutting the federal funding for hydrogen vehicle research. However, many other uses for this technology are viable and are ready for real world application, Harrell said.

Bridgestone Firestone Manufacturing in Aiken is switching over its entire forklift fleet to run on more efficient and cost effective hydrogen fuel cells, the city of Columbia is backing up its emergency broadcast towers with longer lasting fuel cells and is operating a hydrogen fueled city bus and ETV is using cameras that run on hydrogen power.

“The results we are seeing from our state’s investment in hydrogen are significant,” Harrell said. “In just the Midlands alone, we have seen a 60% return on investment. Most importantly, our partnership with over 40 companies means that the pursuit of this knowledge-based industry is being driven by the private sector.”

SAHIMO, a hydrogen-powered car built by students from Sakarya University, came in third in a race across Europe last year.

If you are wondering whether three liters of fuel is enough to get you through a tour around Turkey, don’t bother asking anymore. Driving the new hydrogen car SAHİMO, made by several Sakarya University students, it’s now possible to travel all the way from Edirne to Iğdır on just three liters of fuel.

This new vehicle was created by members of the Sakarya University Advanced Technologies Implementation Group (SAİTEM), who rolled up their sleeves in an effort to construct Europe’s most fuel-efficient vehicle. SAHIMO did manage to leave its Turkish competitors in the dust, while coming in third across Europe last year. Able to go 568 kilometers on just one liter of hydrogen, SAHİMO is the pride of Turkey.

The success by this group of Sakarya University students comes as the world enters further into the 21st century, an era many scientists have already begun to term the “age of energy.” Interestingly, this latest hydrogen-powered car, SAHİMO, comes in the wake of a previous project by SAİTEM members, a solar powered vehicle they called the “SAGUAR.”

SAHİMO was voted the third-most fuel efficient vehicle in Europe in the 26th Shell Eco Marathon in 2008. Achieving a distance of 568 kilometers on just one liter of hydrogen, SAHİMO would theoretically be able to travel from Turkey’s eastern region of Iğdır to Edirne in the west — a distance of around 1,744 kilometers — on just three liters of hydrogen.

SAHİMO, which cost $170,000 to build, weighs only 110 kilograms. The effort to create as lightweight a vehicle as possible means that SAHIMO is made up of 90 percent carbon fiber materials. This environmentally friendly hydrogen vehicle bears the license plate “90 SAHİMO 54.”

Turkish universities with sufficient budgets have been participating in Europe-based contests aiming to encourage competitors to creating and develop alternative energy technologies for the past 26 years. Interestingly, though more prestigious Turkish universities like Boğazıcı Üniversitesi and Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ) have entered these competitions over the past years, it has been the less well known Sakarya University which has been most successful. The president of Sakarya University’s SAİTEM club, Fazlı Melemez, notes that despite the university’s less-ample budget, students there have more-than-sufficient knowledge to make up for a lack of funds. He also notes that larger projects undertaken by his group do need sponsorship and support for their research and development efforts.

Melemez, a fourth-year student in the engineering department at Sakarya University, says: “Right now we are preparing for the Global Green Challenge contest, which will take place in Australia in October. This contest takes place once every two years, and is more prestigious. We are hoping to raise our record from 568 kilometers on one liter of hydrogen up to a full 1,000 kilometers on one liter, and we believe we can do it. But of course, there will be great cargo and logistic expenses involved with this, as well as ticket costs for the students going to the contest. From this perspective, we do need logistical support. We have no doubt that we will bring smiles to the faces of those who support us.” At this point, it should also be noted that SAİTEM is planning on working on non-piloted aircraft for the national defense industry in a few years. They are currently in talks with Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) regarding these plans.

The work done by SAİTEM these days began originally as homework for two students at Sakarya University in 2003; today research and development is carried out by a 40-member group. The group divides its workload into three basic parts, with students responsible for technical-mechanical work, sponsorships-institutional work and press promotion work. One student, Mehmet Burak Mısırlı, is a third-year student in Sakarya University’s Metallurgy Engineering program; he helps out in the technical-mechanical section of SAİTEM. Meanwhile, Aybike Zeynep Çakır, one of only eight female students in SAİTEM and a first-year student at the university, explained that she does voluntary press promotional work for SAİTEM.