FuelCellsWorks

Long Beach, CA – The California Fuel Cell Partnership (CaFCP) released their Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle and Station Deployment Plan: Progress and Next Steps report at the National Hydrogen Association Conference & Expo. The “next steps” report further refines CaFCP’s 2009 action plan with specific steps needed in 2010 and 2011 to prepare for fuel cell vehicles to enter the commercial market in 2015.

CaFCP’s executive director, Catherine Dunwoody said, “The most important next step is to build retail-ready stations. Today just a few publicly accessible hydrogen stations are serving a handful of customers, and stations being developed now will enable more customers to fuel. Expanding the retail-ready network in 2011 will prepare California to move from hundreds of fuel cell vehicles to thousands over the next few years.”

The Next Steps: Positioning California for Success
The next steps report calls for specific actions that move us closer to the commercial market:

• New stations – seven new stations and four expanded or upgraded stations are needed in early market communities to be operational by the end of 2011. These stations will provide fuel to passenger vehicles and transit buses coming in the near future.
• Synchronize and augment regulations and policies – The California Air Resources Board this year will propose new regulations for renewable hydrogen, propose revised Zero-Emission Vehicle regulations to launch California on a path to meet 2050 climate goals, and adopt changes to existing fuels regulations, such as the Clean Fuels Outlet, that will help coordinate fuel and vehicle deployment.
• Complete codes and standards for retail sales of hydrogen – The Division of Measurement Standards will develop the tools and methods for measuring hydrogen dispensed and fuel quality, so that hydrogen can be sold as a retail transportation fuel.
• Support business models developed by the private sector – CaFCP will identify practical approaches that independent fuel retailers can use to develop business models for hydrogen to compete with gasoline and yield profits for business.
• Support early market communities – Hydrogen and fuel cells can help communities meet their environmental and energy goals, reducing local emissions as well as their carbon footprint. Communities can identify local resources, renewable in many cases, to make hydrogen in their region and be more energy independent. CaFCP is working closely with early market communities to help them make these connections.

Fuel Cells 2000 recent report State of the States: Fuel Cells in America identified California as the nation’s leader in fuel cell vehicle and hydrogen infrastructure development and demonstration. The actions in the next steps report will help California retain that position. Download the report for free at: http://www.fuelcells.org/statereport.html.

Please visit: www.cafcp.org for the overview or full version of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle and Station Deployment Plan: A Strategy for Meeting the Challenge Ahead and Progress and Next Steps.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Paul Tonko has introduced a new bill that would add hydrogen fuel cell-powered industrial vehicles to an existing tax credit program, which will lead to new investment in technology and possibly create thousands of new jobs, including some right here in the Capital Region. H.R. 5174, The Fuel Cell Industrial Vehicles Jobs Act of 2010, would make material handling fuel cell vehicles, such as forklifts, eligible for the existing Alternative Motor Vehicle Credit for Qualified Fuel Cell Motor Vehicles.

“Fuel cell technology has gained widespread traction in the material handling industry because of the efficiency and productivity gains that are realized,” said Congressman Paul Tonko. “This legislation creates an improved and robust tax credit that will provide the incentive for large scale conversions to this clean technology at manufacturing and distribution centers across the country, which will ultimately lead to new jobs.”

Currently, there is a tax credit on the books that is applied to fuel cell-powered material handling vehicles, however the credit only applies to the fuel cell itself. Under the legislation submitted by Congressman Tonko, the Alternative Motor Vehicle Tax Credit would be modified to include vehicles that carry or tow loads in commercial or industrial settings, and would provide a calculation based on the weight of the entire vehicle. The result would be a larger credit which will serve as an incentive for companies to build, buy, and operate fuel cell powered forklifts and other material handling vehicles. This would lead to job creation in design, manufacturing, and sales – clean energy jobs produced domestically – and potentially lead to exports of this technology overseas.

Companies like Plug Power of Latham would benefit if this bill were to become law. Plug Power is the leader in providing commercially viable fuel cell technology for the motive and stationary power markets.

“We applaud Congressman Tonko for introducing this forward-thinking and effective legislation,” said Andy Marsh, CEO of Plug Power. “This bill can create thousands of green jobs in his district, in New York State and throughout the country.”

The North American market for material handling vehicles is currently about $4 billion annually. Fuel cell powered material handling vehicles have been shown to dramatically increase productivity in many applications in comparison to electric lift trucks because they can be refueled quickly by operators. They also increase efficiency by eliminating the need to charge, store and maintain batteries. Fuel cells also produce constant voltage, so there’s no decrease in performance as there would be in an electric battery.

Air Liquide will provide delivery service and back-up hydrogen supply for the hydrogen refilling stations serving the Shanghai World Expo. Following an agreement with ENN, the official operator of the hydrogen filling stations, Air Liquide will provide all logistical means, including trailers and tractors, for the transportation of hydrogen. In addition, Air Liquide’s hydrogen sources will be used as a back-up to ensure a safe and reliable supply of hydrogen throughout the World Expo. About 200 fuel cell vehicles will be used to transport visitors and guests during the event. These vehicles do not generate any pollution. Air Liquide has over 40 years of experience in hydrogen, covering the entire chain, from production, storage and distribution to application.

Air Liquide is also the main sponsor of the Franco-Chinese symposium on pre-hospital emergency medicine, which will take place on May 12th in the French Pavilion’s auditorium at the Shanghai 2010 World Expo. This symposium will contribute to better sharing of international expertise in the field of emergency care. Organized by the SAMU de Paris – the French System of Emergency Medical Assistance – and the Shanghai Health Bureau, the symposium will bring together internationally known French and Chinese medical experts, who will address around 120 Chinese emergency and respiratory practitioners, with the support of Air Liquide Medical Systems, dedicated to respiratory assistance equipment. This symposium is the first in a series of Franco-Chinese healthcare meetings scheduled under the auspices of the “Science and Thought” programme of the French Pavilion.

Balbuena views a model showing the detachment of a platinum atom (grey) from a nanocatalyst surface, driven by the presence of oxygen (red) and acid agents (yellow).

Long hampered by high manufacturing costs and durability issues, fuel cell technology could overcome those obstacles and take a significant step towards mainstream adoption thanks to a finding by a Texas A&M University chemical engineering professor.

Investigating the use of alternative materials as catalysts in fuel cells, Perla Balbuena, professor in the university’s Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, has found a class of composite materials that show early indications of being just as effective — and even more durable — than the costly platinum catalysts typically used in fuel cells.

The findings from her work, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), appear in the January edition of the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters.

Because of their potential as a clean source of virtually continuous energy, fuel cells are a chief area of interest to a wide variety of entities, including automobile manufacturers and the U.S. government, which has invested nearly a billion dollars in research and development of the technology.

In a basic fuel cell, Balbuena explains, the platinum takes the form of incredibly small but expensive particles that are deposited on an electrode within the fuel cell. The electrode helps to trigger complex chemical reactions that ultimately result in the conversion of oxygen and hydrogen into water and electrical energy.

Previous attempts to find more affordable alternatives for pure platinum catalysts have been unsuccessful, Balbuena says, noting that the nickel and iron-based alloy substitutes used were less durable, dissolving inside the fuel cell at a faster rate than even the traditional platinum catalysts. This dissolution occurs, Balbuena notes, because of an acidic polymeric membrane located next to the catalyst within the fuel cell.

“This membrane, although necessary, creates another problem with regard to the design of the catalyst,” Balbuena says. “When nanoparticles of platinum or platinum alloys come into contact with this acid medium they can dissolve. The less ‘noble’ the metal, the easier to dissolve, and in that scale, platinum is the most ‘noble’ metal. When this happens, the catalyst can be negatively affected, rendering the chemical reaction less efficient.

“This is the issue we are trying to address – trying to understand the reasons behind the dissolution of these metals and the possible solutions for this problem,” Balbuena says.

Looking to overcome that problem, Balbuena, an authority on materials and catalytic processes, employed computational chemistry methods to investigate viable catalysts that would show enhanced performance as well as improved durability. In contrast to experimental models, computational chemistry makes use high-performance computers to find numerical solutions of fundamental equations involving interactions among atoms and electrons. These computational results translate into finding out the best materials for the desired task. It’s a pivotal first step in a process that saves scientists from costly trial-and-error approaches in the lab.

Through that approach, Balbuena and her research group at Texas A&M were able to demonstrate the potential durability and activity properties of a new “core-shell” composite material that can serve as a catalyst within a fuel cell. The material, she explains, still uses platinum but less of it, meaning it’s cheaper. What’s more, in its core, the material uses other key elements in a way that ensures the core particles will not segregate to the surface and dissolve in the polymeric membrane.

“In essence, we anchor less-expensive core elements that play a supportive role and let the ultra-thin platinum film on the surface exert its catalytic effect, that is to accelerate the desired reactions,” Balbuena explains.

It’s a finding with significant implications for the widespread adoption of fuel cell technology. The DOE’s Solid State Energy Conversion Alliance estimates fuel cells will need to cost $700 per kilowatt to serve as a viable energy alternative. Current technology, however, costs nearly 10 times that amount per kilowatt.

A more affordable, durable catalyst could help lower the cost of fuel cell production, says Balbuena, who notes the composite material she has found meets a set of standard properties that DOE has set for the durability and makeup of such catalysts.

Having successfully met those criteria, the next step for the composite material, Balbuena says, is actual production and laboratory testing — aspects of the research that she is planning on exploring with potential experimental partners who have taken note of her findings and hope to begin building the new electrode catalysts in the near future.

“It is superb because as a researcher you not only want to contribute basic fundamental knowledge but you also want such knowledge triggering practical applications,” Balbuena says. “When you discover something like this it is very exciting because we see that we can convert this study into something practical and useful — bringing fuel cell technology a step closer to realization.”