FuelCellsWorks

The company delivers the first Magnesium Hydride storage tank to CEA Liten in Grenoble
Grenoble, France, April 19, 2010 – McPhy Energy, a leading company in solid state hydrogen storage technology, has signed a research contract with CEA Liten (Laboratory of Innovation for New Energy Technologies and Nanomaterials), one of the leading European research centers dedicated to new energy technologies. The purpose of this agreement is to manufacture two full size magnesium hydride storage prototypes and to test them at industrial scale. During the test campaign, they will be coupled to an electrolyser and a fuel cell simulating a real-world renewable energy storage application.

The first storage tank with a hydrogen capacity of 1 kg, has been delivered on March 29, 2010 to CEA Liten. Within this agreement a second larger system (15 kg hydrogen) will be installed and tested during the second half of 2010.

Such a system coupled to a hydrogen production device using renewable energy will solve the intermittent nature of these new energy sources. The targeted applications are electricity production in isolated sites, or peak shaving of electrical networks, with an improved safety and no negative environmental impact (no release of CO₂ or wasted heat).

McPhy Energy develops, designs, manufactures and sells hydrogen storage systems based on metal hydrides.

Magnesium hydride has been known for decades, but the very low kinetics of the hydrogenation- dehydrogenation processes were roadblocks for their industrial application. Thanks to a nanostructuration of the material and the addition of proprietary additives developed by CNRS (Néel institute – CRETA – LEGI), the systems commercialized by McPhy Energy can store at low pressure large quantities of hydrogen within tens of minutes. The modular design of the storage systems, initiated at CNRS, integrates a Phase Change Material which enables loading and unloading with almost no energy losses.

The storage systems developed by McPhy Energy, are therefore totally safe and provide an excellent energy yield. Compared to compressed gas storage, they can store at atmospheric pressure as much hydrogen as a 500 bar storage within the same volume. The systems developed by McPhy Energy meet the needs of industrial customers for renewable energy storage applications based on hydrogen energy technologies.

About McPHY Energy – www.mcphy.com
McPhy Energy is a young innovative company created in 2008 to industrialize the patents developed by the CNRS labs ( Néel institute – CRETA – LEGI) in Grenoble France. McPhy Energy owns a revolutionary process to store hydrogen using magnesium hydrides. The company is managed by Pascal Mauberger and supported by EMERTEC venture capital and AREVA. Member of the TENERRDIS cluster, McPhy Energy is involved as a partner or a subcontractor in several research projects.

Shanghai–Reporters learned from Changan Automotive Group that the Changan fuel-cell sedan has been successfully listed in the 210th “vehicle manufacturers and products announcement” issued by Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

A fuel cell vehicle (FCV) is a new type of clean energy vehicle which powers an electric motor with electricity generated in the electrochemical reaction between hydrogen from the fuel-cell stack and oxygen from the air. An FCV only emits a small amount of water and hydrogen, and thus has better energy efficiency than the ICE (internal combustion engine) which is of significance in energy saving and energy structure improvement.

It said the Chang FCVs have now been designated for vehicle model running at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.

AFC Energy, the world’s leading developer of low-cost alkaline fuel cells, has received a visit from former Government Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir David King., Sir David, who is now the Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford, visited AFC Energy on the 15 April to tour the company’s site and discuss their rapidly developing fuel cell technology.

Sir David’s visit came just days after AFC announced a positive interim review of their technical activity from Dr. Jon Helliwell, Project Manager of Fuel Cell Applications at the Centre for the Process Innovation (CPI). The report confirmed the substantial strides the Company has made over the last 5 months as well as the significant headway achieved in commercialising the system and delivering on partner expectations.

During the visit Sir David spoke about the need for radical energy solutions and the importance of transitional technologies:

“The biggest single challenge we’re faced with globally is to move from a fossil fuel-based economy to fossil fuel less-society. To me, this challenge is the most wonderful technology, innovation, wealth creation possibility. What I’ve just seen at AFC is an exciting example of this. The alkaline fuel cell has the possibility to create power stations with megawatts of electricity.”

Sir David also spoke passionately about the possibilities with one of the Company’s largest target markets, Underground Coal Gasification (UCG):

“I think the alkaline fuel cell is virtually there and there’s an immediate niche which is coal gasification. In North Wales and Leicestershire there are coal mines that are have been closed down that are inefficient for coal mining but all that coal is still there to be gasified and that process is what this alkaline fuel cell is based around. You produce hydrogen and carbon dioxide through the gasification process and send carbon dioxide back down into the mine – none is released into the atmosphere.”

By allowing the exploitation of previously uneconomical coal sites, UCG could give access in the UK to an estimated 17 billion additional tonnes of coal. AFC Energy has already signed an agreement with Australia’s leader in clean coal technology Linc Energy to integrate the fuel cell system for use in Linc’s global UCG projects.

Ian Balchin, CEO of AFC Energy, commented:

“Sir David’s visit highlights the rapid progress that the company is making. We are delighted that he recognised the increasingly wide application potential of our low-cost fuel cell systems for clean electricity generation”.

Following the visit, Sir David invited AFC Energy to join leading global figures from the policy, business and academic communities at the 2010 World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment. Run jointly with The Times, the forum is a key event in the international environmental calendar, making an invaluable contribution to establishing and maintaining a sustainable global economy.

By BEREN JONES

There’s a problem with fuel-cell cars fueling up in Connecticut in the near future, and that problem is one familiar to both the chicken and the egg.

Carmakers are reluctant to commercialize fuel-cell vehicles because there’s little to no infrastructure in place to support them, while those building the fueling stations are hesitant because there are so few fuel cell cars on the road.

The question is who goes first?

With his first station slated to open in Wallingford in June, it’s not much of a question to Tom Sullivan, founder of both Lumber Liquidators, a hardware flooring retailer with 200 stores and $544 million in net sales, and SunHydro, a solar-powered-fuel-cell car-refueling network with plans for stations up and down the East Coast.

For Sullivan, it’s time to stop talking and start doing.

In 2008, Sullivan bought the Connecticut-based Proton Energy Systems for $10.2 million at a bankruptcy auction. The company specialized in making electrolyzers to separate the hydrogen and oxygen molecules in water; which can be used for hydrogen refueling stations or to generate oxygen onboard navy ships, which is especially important to submarines, like those based in Groton.

SunHydro will be building the refueling stations at its Wallingford headquarters and then moving them to their locations along the coast via shipping containers, according to the New York Times.

“Our goal is to make it possible for hydrogen cars to drive from Maine to Miami strictly on sun and water,” company president Michael Grey told Wired.com.

The stations are slated to make hydrogen using integrated solar panels, allowing for the company’s zero-emission claims.

Fuel cell vehicles are still in the early stages of development, with several issues (mostly with weight, cost, durability and safety) to resolve before they become commercially viable. However, when they do, they will emit nothing other than a bit of water out of the ‘tailpipe’ and could significantly reduce our dependency on foreign oil, a fact not lost on Sullivan.

“It seemed ridiculous we were spending $1 billion a day on imported oil when we could make our own zero-emission hydrogen,” Sullivan told the NY Times.

Connecticut is no stranger to fuel cell technology, with a fuel-cell bus in service in Hartford.