FuelCellsWorks

HOUSTON–Reducing greenhouse gases and pollution in cities is one of society’s main challenges and a core commitment of Air Liquide in the pursuit of sustainable development. Using hydrogen as energy for transportation is a promising solution for sustainable mobility.

Air Liquide has completed the installation of a fueling system for Shell Hydrogen in the Bronx, New York. In addition to the fueling equipment, Air Liquide is also supplying the hydrogen gas and liquid nitrogen required for operations. The station will provide fueling capability in support of General Motors’ Project Driveway vehicles and serve as another site in the network being developed in New York in anticipation of other auto manufacturers introducing fuel cell vehicles to the area. Air Liquide’s technology is also used at a station in Ardsley, New York.

Air Liquide has also provided fueling systems in California and Delaware, and in many countries around the world. Air Liquide’s hydrogen fueling systems are built in the U.S. with proprietary engineering designs from Air Liquide Advanced Technologies U.S. LLC. The technology is capable of filling a car at 700 bar (10,000 p.s.i.) pressure in less than five minutes.

Michael J. Graff, a member of Air Liquide’s executive committee and president and CEO of American Air Liquide Holdings, Inc., states: “Air Liquide’s innovative hydrogen technologies are powering vehicles and equipment while protecting the environment. With more than 40 years of experience in hydrogen and numerous related patents, Air Liquide is helping to build the hydrogen energy infrastructure, to demonstrate its benefits to society and prepare for future markets.”

Hydrogen, an energy vector

Used in a fuel cell, hydrogen combines with oxygen in the air to produce electricity with only water as a by-product. Hydrogen can be produced from a range of energy sources, natural gas in particular, but also renewable energy sources. Hydrogen thus has great potential to provide clean energy and ensure reliability of supply.

Hydrogen energy demonstration projects

Air Liquide is taking part in demonstration projects that aim to develop and test hydrogen energy and help it to promote its social acceptance.

Over the last four years, Air Liquide has designed, built and commissioned more than 40 stations which are fueling passenger vehicles, buses and forklift trucks as well as stationary equipment in Europe, Canada and the Pacific Rim.

HotModule fuel cell plant from MTU Onsite Energy

• Regenerative energy to produce electric power, heat and cooling
• Base load: cooling systems for production machinery
• Clean and efficient energy generation

Ottobrunn– Automotive supplier Reich GmbH based in Mellrichstadt in Bavaria has ordered a fuel cell plant from Tognum subsidiary MTU Onsite Energy GmbH Fuel Cell Systems in Ottobrunn. Scheduled to go into service in autumn 2010, the HotModule HM400 high temperature fuel cell is to use biogas to produce electric power, heat and cooling for industrial operations. Reich is a manufacturer of precision automotive parts and special ball bearings for the automobile and engineering industries. The medium-sized company counts Bosch, ZF Friedrichshafen and Continental among its customers.

The HotModule has an electrical output of 345 kW and a thermal output of 220 kW. The heat generated is around 400°C and the majority of it is used by Reich for powering an absorption refrigerator to cool their production machinery. It is also used to heat the factory building. Carbonate fuel cells are ideally suited for base loads of this kind, since their high potential efficiency is best realized in continuous operation and in situations where a high proportion of the heat produced is re-circulated, for example, for refrigeration. Any power surpluses are fed by Reich into the public power grid.

The fuel gas is biogas from a corn silage biogas plant in the vicinity, which means that electric power, heat and cooling are produced virtually without CO2 emissions. Furthermore, exhaust air from the fuel cell contains almost no pollutants. Karl-Hermann Reich, executive partner of Reich GmbH, sees numerous advantages in choosing a regenerative fuel gas: “The HotModule is not only very clean and efficient, the fact that it is powered by biogas keeps us independent of fossil fuels. At the same time, we stimulate local business by using regionally produced biogas and working with municipal utility companies”. The automotive supplier and ball bearing manufacturer has ordered a fuel cell configuration which allows addition of another HotModule in the medium-term.

BOTHELL, Wash. — Neah Power Systems, Inc., (OTCBB:NPWZ),  the Company developing fuel cell-based renewable energy solutions, announced that its patented, porous, silicon-based anaerobic fuel cell reached 1500 hours of constant operation on November 15th 2009. The test, part of a series of ongoing technology demonstrations, further demonstrates that the company’s fuel cell is a reliable alternative to existing power solutions, including traditional batteries.

Neah Power has maintained a consistent schedule of improvements in their direct methanol fuel cell technology, including this recent demonstration, which required improvements to the fuel cell over previous prototypes. “On October 27th, after 1163 hours of continuous run time, we examined the cell to determine the source of decay, discovering that the fuel stream had not been filtered,” says Dr. Tsali Cross, VP of Engineering at Neah Power. “We cleaned the cell and restarted it, this time with a fuel filter in-line. After 1500 hours, the cell is now putting out as much power as the day we started.”

Neah’s direct methanol fuel cell has far exceeded the design team’s expectations and will continue to lead the field of alternative power solutions as it maintains long lasting, successful power generation.

“We continue to be amazed, but not surprised, by the progress and success of our design and the fuel cell’s performance,” says Dr. Chris D’Couto, CEO of Neah Power. “We are confident that our fuel cell technology will continue to improve in terms of operational quality and run time towards the goal of commercialization in myriad consumer, military and industrial applications. This milestone for our technology is significant as fuel cells continue to gain ground as the future of power solutions.”

About Neah Power

Neah Power Systems, Inc. (NPWZ) is developing long-lasting, efficient and safe power solutions for the military and for portable electronic devices. Neah uses a unique, patented, silicon-based design for its micro fuel cells that enable higher power densities, lower cost and compact form-factors. The company’s micro fuel cell system can run in aerobic and anaerobic modes, and is developing energy storage solutions based on its proprietary porous silicon technology.

Further company information can be found at www.Neahpower.com.

Study co-author Kenneth Nealson Photo/Philip Channing

Bacteria dance the electric slide, officially named electrokinesis, in a new study by USC geobiologists.

The study, published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition, describes a bacterial behavior never before observed.

The metal-metabolizing Shewanella oneidensis microbe does not just cling to metal in its environment, as previously thought. Instead, it harvests electrochemical energy obtained upon contact with the metal and swims furiously for a few minutes before landing again.

Electrokinesis is more than a curiosity. Laboratory director and co-author Kenneth Nealson, the Wrigley Professor of Geobiology at USC College and discoverer of Shewanella, hopes to boost the power of microbe-based fuel cells enough to produce usable energy.

The discovery of electrokinesis does not achieve that goal directly, but it should help researchers to better tune the complex living engines of microbial fuel cells.

“To optimize the bacteria is far more complicated than to optimize the fuel cell,” Nealson said.

Electrokinesis was discovered in 2007 by Nealson’s graduate student Howard Harris, an undergraduate at the time.

Nealson had given Harris what seemed an ideal assignment for a double major in cinema and biophysics.

“I had asked him if he would just take some movies of these bacteria doing what they do,” Nealson said.

Filming through a microscope is hardly simple, but with the help of co-author and biophysics expert Moh El-Naggar, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at USC College, Harris was able to make a computer analysis of a time-lapse sequence of bacteria near metal oxide particles.

“Every time the bacteria were around these particles … there was a great deal of swimming activity,” Nealson recalled.

Harris then discovered that bacteria displayed the same behavior around the electrode of a battery. The swimming stopped when the electrode turned off, suggesting that the activity was electrical in origin.

As is often true with discoveries, this one raises more questions than it answers. Two in particular intrigue the researchers:

• Why do the bacteria expend valuable energy swimming around?

• How do the bacteria find the metal and return to it? Do they sense it through an electric field or the behavior of other bacteria?

Nealson and his team so far have only educated guesses.

For the first question, Nealson believes that the bacteria may swim away from the metal because they have too many competitors.

Bacteria get energy in two steps: by absorbing dissolved nutrients and then by converting those nutrients into biologically useful forms of energy through respiration, or the loss of electrons to an electron acceptor such as iron or manganese (humans also respire through the loss of electrons to oxygen, one of the most powerful electron acceptors).

“If electrons don’t flow, it doesn’t matter how much food you have,” Nealson said.

However, he added, “in some environments, the food is much more precious than the electron acceptors.”

If a metal surface became too crowded for bacteria to absorb nutrients easily, they might want to swim away and come back.

For the second question, Harris and co-author Mandy Ward, assistant professor of research in earth sciences at USC College, are planning other experiments to understand exactly how Shewanella find electron acceptors.

They expect the experiments to keep Harris busy through his doctoral thesis.

The other co-authors on the paper were Orianna Bretschger of the J. Craig Venter Institute in San Diego, Margaret Romine of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Anna Obraztsova, a staff scientist in the Nealson laboratory at USC.

Tokyo Gas Co. (TSE:9531) and three partner companies have begun field trials of a solid-oxide-type fuel cell (SOFC) for homes.

Compared with the polymer-electrolyte fuel cells currently being sold, the next-generation SOFCs promise to be even more helpful at reducing energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. The goal is to have commercial versions ready for marketing in 2014-15.

The field trials will test a proprietary cell stack that can provide both electricity and hot water for households. Model homes are being operated in Yokohama and Tokyo, and the number of test locations will be increased to six in fiscal 2010.

Other companies involved in the tests are Kyocera Corp. (TSE:6971), Rinnai Corp. (TSE:5947) and gas equipment maker Gastar Co.

The trials will evaluate the performance and durability of the fuel cells .

Green energy is increasingly becoming a concern for governments, and many countries in Asia Pacific are targeting 8 to 20 percent renewable energy in their energy mix by 2020 to 2025. This has made the region an attractive option for the implementation of renewable power generation sources, including fuel cells.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Asia Pacific Fuel Cells Markets, finds that the stationary fuel cells segment earned revenues of $142 million in 2008 and estimates this to reach $1.9 billion in 2015. At the same time, the portable fuel cells segment earned revenues of $1 million in 2008 and estimates this to reach $12 million in 2015.

The push for green energy technologies has intensified considerably over the last couple of years. Kyoto targets, government’s emissions reduction targets, as well as the support for green technologies c has been some of the key drivers for new, cleaner technologies development and adoption across the APAC region. Fuel cells are just one such example.

“As with any other new product, the initial costs of technology, low end-user awareness, and the lack of a proven track record of continuous and reliable operations restrict the degree of adoption of fuel cells,” said Irina Sidneva, program manager, Frost & Sullivan. “However, given the technical qualities of the product, the application potential for fuel cells is enormous”.

The fuel cells market is currently holding on to its market position mainly on the strength of government subsidies, incentives, and favorable policies. The eventual adoption of fuel cell as the power source of choice will depend on how aggressively and effectively local governments market it.

In Japan, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is running a millennium project on automotive and residential fuel cell markets. In 2009, the emphasis of the third phase of the project is on the commercialization of fuel cells—on creating positive market conditions to motivate mass adoption.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy in South Korea is supporting extended trials and diffusion of the product to stimulate wider uptake. While ANZ and several SEA countries are still in the planning phase of fuel cell technology rollouts, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand are actively developing fuel cells R&D capabilities. In SEA, the pride of place goes to Singapore, with its government striving to position the country as a regional hub for fuel cell technology R&D and application.

However, the demand is still limited from most other countries due to inadequate assistance from the regional governments and the high initial costs of the technology. Moreover, fuel cells have an added disadvantage of competing with mature products such as diesel and gas engines, generator sets, and batteries. Therefore, along with technological advancements, fuel cell companies also have to aggressively educate customers about the benefits of fuel cell technology.

“At the moment, other renewable energy sources such as solar panels and wind turbines are seen to have higher potential in the immediate future, while fuel cell technology has to be monitored until it is ready to be introduced to the mass market,” noted Sidneva. “Fuel cells’ costs need to come down tenfold and the number of years of operation needs to double to be competitive in the mass market.”

Given the recent trends in fuel cells technology development, mass market adoption in the Asia Pacific is forecast to take off by 2015 for stationary fuel cells, and by 2020 for portable fuel cells.

The trio of Warren County Technical School students had seen their share of problems in designing a model car powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. The axle had broken, the attached balloons malfunctioned and the fuel cell didn’t work.

But minutes before racing their car this morning, something else happened: an electrical wire broke.

“Not our day!” exclaimed Warren Tech Senior Adam Horridge, 18, of Knowlton Township, who designed the car with Juniors John Harrison and John Lubas.

After a quick pep talk by a Warren Tech teacher, the students fixed the problem and returned to the starting line during the fourth annual Hydrogen Fuel Cell Model Car Challenge at New Providence High School in Union County.

Three teams of Warren Tech racers were among the 200 students from 10 northwestern New Jersey high schools who took part in today’s competition, which was hosted by TransOptions. Warren Tech did not receive any awards.

Read the entire story at link below.

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/warren-county/express-times/index.ssf/2009/12/warren_tech_students_compete_i.html