FuelCellsWorks

SOUTH WINDSOR, Conn.– UTC Power, a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) company, today announced it has set durability records for its latest generation transit bus fuel cell system.

A PureMotion^® Model 120 fuel cell powerplant aboard an Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (AC Transit) bus operating in the Greater Oakland, California, area has surpassed 7,000 hours in service with the original cell stacks and no cell replacements, and another has exceeded 6,000 hours.

“Based on industry data we’ve seen, these durability milestones are unmatched in the industry,” said Ken Stewart, UTC Power Vice President-Transportation.  ”We’ve worked very hard at UTC Power over the past several years to improve our fuel cell stack durability, which is recognized as a key challenge to commercializing fuel cell vehicles.  These operating hour numbers demonstrate our significant progress.”

Three of AC Transit’s buses are equipped with UTC Power fuel cell systems and have now traveled more than 255,000 miles, with an average fuel economy that is 65 percent better than the control fleet of diesel buses running the same routes and duty cycles.

Fuel cell buses produce no harmful tailpipe emissions and provide a smooth, quiet ride for passengers. Transit buses with fuel cell systems can have a major impact on greenhouse gas reduction, ranging from a 43 percent reduction over diesel buses if hydrogen is supplied from the reformation of natural gas, up to a 100 percent reduction when hydrogen is generated from on-site renewable sources like solar and wind power.

“This is the type of result we and our industry are looking for as we make steady progress toward proving the commercial viability of fuel cell buses for public transit. We’re looking forward to applying the success of UTC Power’s newest fuel cell systems in our new fleet of 12 next-generation buses, as they enter passenger service over the next six months,” said Jaimie Levin, AC Transit’s Director of Alternative Fuels Policy and Hydrogen Fuel Cell Program Manager.

UTC Power is part of United Technologies Corp., which provides energy-efficient products and services to the aerospace and building industries.  Based in South Windsor, Conn., UTC Power is a world leader in developing and producing fuel cells for on-site power at buildings and for transportation applications.

AC Transit serves more than 1.5 million people in 13 cities (including Oakland and Berkeley) and two counties in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area.  With a fleet of 600 buses, it carries more than 67 million passengers annually.

AFC Energy plc (LSE:AFC) (“AFC Energy”), a leading developer of low-cost alkaline fuel cells, is pleased to announce that an alkaline fuel cell system has been successfully deployed and operated at Linc Energy’s (ASX:LNC) (“Linc Energy”) underground coal gasification (“UCG”) demonstration facility in Chinchilla, Australia.

The board of AFC Energy (the “Board”) believes that this is the first time that a hydrogen fuel cell has been deployed with UCG and that, as such, this represents a major step towards the opportunity of combining UCG and alkaline fuels cells as a breakthrough technology for cleaner coal worldwide. The Board considers that, together, the technologies have the potential to use coal in the cleanest way possible.

Hydrogen produced from Linc Energy’s UCG process is an ideal feedstock for AFC Energy’s fuel cell systems. Linc Energy will utilise a simple membrane gas separation process on the UCG gases to ensure a rich hydrogen mix is available for the fuel cell system.

During a visit to Linc Energy’s demonstration facility in Chinchilla, AFC engineers worked alongside Linc Energy personnel to train them and demonstrate the necessary procedures to enable Linc Energy to operate the fuel cell in the future with minimal assistance and to facilitate the upgrade to the Beta system as it is developed.

The Board believes that AFC Energy’s and Linc Energy’s integrated technologies have the potential to offer an enhanced efficiency conversion of coal to electricity, whilst enabling up to 99 per cent. carbon capture. Furthermore, this combination provides potential access to billions of additional tonnes of coal in the UK without the environmental impacts of conventional underground or open cast mining. The alkaline fuel cell converts hydrogen to electricity at 60 per cent. efficiency and at an estimated cost per kilowatt hour as low as 4 pence.

The deployment of AFC Energy’s Alpha fuel cell system builds upon an order and exclusivity agreement between Linc Energy, AFC Energy and UK-based B9 Coal Ltd signed in December 2009. The relationship was instigated by B9 Coal which continues to lead the project and is actively pursuing opportunities for deploying these technologies in the UK.

Ian Balchin, CEO of AFC Energy said, “We are delighted that this initial deployment has been successful and we are looking forward to demonstrating enhanced performance at Linc Energy’s demonstration facility in Chinchilla in the coming months following completion of further trial work with AkzoNobel.”

Peter Bond, CEO of Linc Energy said, “Combining UCG with fuel cells for cleaner power generation makes environmental sense. This world-first UCG and fuel cell trial is a milestone for a cleaner energy future. Linc Energy looks forward to the next stage of the project, Beta system commissioning and, ultimately, multi-megawatt deployment with UCG.”

BRISBANE, Australia – Linc Energy the world leader in Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) technology, and AFC Energy (LSE: AFC), the world’s leading developer of low-cost alkaline fuel cells, have successfully trialled hydrogen fuel cell technology to produce electricity at Linc Energy’s Chinchilla Demonstration Facility in Queensland.

Linc Energy’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Peter Bond said his company’s exclusive agreement with UK-based AFC Energy for application with UCG and the delivery of an Alpha Unit Hydrogen Fuel Cell to the Chinchilla facility had been completed.

“This is a major innovation and the first time that a hydrogen fuel cell has been successfully trialled with UCG,” said Bond.

“It represents a huge step towards the worldwide opportunity of combining UCG and alkaline fuels cells as a breakthrough technology for creating the cleanest possible power generation from coal.”

Initial testing with the hydrogen fuel cell unit at Linc Energy’s Chinchilla Demonstration Facility was performed following successful trials at AFC UK facilities of mock syngas of comparative composition to that generated at the Linc Energy facility.

The trial demonstrated the successful ability to generate clean electricity from alkaline hydrogen fuel cell technology from syngas derived from UCG operations.

“What is so remarkable about this trial is that the fuel cell configuration was able to produce reliable and efficient clean electricity from a much lower percentage hydrogen content gas than other fuel cells require,” said Bond.

“This effectively demonstrates that combining the AFC Fuel Cell technology with hydrogen from Linc Energy’s syngas produced from the world-class UCG at Chinchilla is a feasible route to achieve the ultimate in clean electricity from stranded, sub-economic coal, of which there is an abundance in the world.”

“This will unlock energy resources and provide energy security to nations in an environmentally sustainable and proficient manner.”

“When combined with our world-class Gas to Liquids operations and utilising the purified hydrogen as part of the synthesis gas clean-up processes in commercial operations, the hydrogen fuel cell is expected to produce even better results,” said Bond.

Further trials will be carried out with the fuel cell system in the coming months however the promising results from this trial has enhanced AFC Energy’s development of the next generation of hydrogen fuel cells for a commercial application, which Linc Energy aims to install at its Chinchilla Demonstration Facility.

The first hydrogen-powered sightseeing vehicle was jointed invented by Hefei Kezhen Development Company and University of Zhejiang in Anhui province. The vehicle has 12 seats with power of 5 kilowatt. A 40 liter hydrogen can fuel the car to operate a distance of 180 kilometers.

It’s learned that Hefei Kezhen Company planed to produce this type of sedan in two years, which had applied for five patents. Compared with gas and electricity-fueled vehicle, the hydrogen car sees a higher energy efficiency, and more importantly, after fueled, it emits only water which makes it zero-pollution.

Cheng Chao, Financial Director with the company, demonstrated the new type vehicle to reporters for its smooth ride and strong dynamic. Cheng introduced that the energy conversion rate for this car was 60 percent while that of oil-powered car was only 30 percent.

One difficulty, it seemed now, preventing hydrogen sedans from popularizing was high production cost. A 1 kilowatt battery of 20-centimetre long and 5-centimetre wide costed 10,000 yuan, while a sedan had to be fueled by battery with the power of 35 to 50 kilowatts.

As to this problem, Chen said that research had been made to solve the cost barrier and future cost for the battery could be as low as 10 percent of its price now. Then the hydrogen-fueled sedan would be a suitable option for ordinary people.

The hydrogen battery could be used for as long as 8 years. The city of Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province has made an order of 12 hydrogen vehicles which will be put into operation in West Lake scenery spot.

(By Zha Xuan)