FuelCellsWorks

Each year, engineers, scientists, analysts, and others funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) meet in Washington, D.C. to showcase their hydrogen, fuel cell, and advanced vehicle technology projects at the Annual Merit Review. This year, DOE presented National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) staffers and and two of our subcontractors with four prestigious awards.

NREL’s Michael Penev and Darlene Steward received team awards for developing the Fuel Cell Power Model, an analysis tool used by national laboratories and industry to assess the cost, energy savings, and benefits of fuel cells. Using the model, they provided input for fuel cell evaluations and insight into critical financing mechanisms for fuel cells, including the analysis of tax credits. They also developed numerous business cases for performing financial and economic evaluations of fuel cell applications, with a focus on integrating stationary fuel cells with combined heat, hydrogen, and power systems.

Lin Simpson accepted a team award for the DOE Hydrogen Sorption Center of Excellence (HSCoE) for advancing the state-of-the-art in hydrogen storage materials. Simpson is director of the HSCoE, which was among three centers of excellence recognized for significantly increasing the understanding and development of hydrogen storage materials over the past five years. Together, the centers have investigated more than 400 new material systems experimentally and millions computationally. These advances could not have been achieved without the collective creativity and synergy of the partners as well as the managers who encouraged their coordination and teamwork.

The HSCoE leverages the expertise of DOE national laboratories in partnership with academia and industry. Key NREL staffers include Jeff Blackburn, Justin Bult, Mark Davis, Anne Dillon, Tyler Elko-Hansen, Buzz Curtis, Chaiwat Engtrakul, Thomas Gennett, Amy Groves, Aditi Herwadkar, Kevin O’Neill, Philip Parilla, John-David Rocha, Erin Whitney, Qiang Xu, Yufeng Zhao, and former staffers Mike Heben, Yong-Hyun Kim, and Shengbai Zhang.

NREL consultant Douglas Wheeler received an award for his contributions to DOE’s fuel cell manufacturing efforts. Wheeler provided analyses of industrial manufacturing capabilities for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell systems and is currently working with NREL to develop a manufacturing readiness assessment process for U.S. companies. He also served on an NREL-commissioned independent review panel that evaluated the 2008 Fuel Cell System Cost Estimate for Transportation and participated in a panel that assessed the status of small combined heat and power systems.

John Christensen, also an NREL consultant, received an award for his contributions to the market transformation activity within the DOE Fuel Cell Technologies Program. Christensen was instrumental in the deployment of 60 forklifts at a defense distribution depot and air force base as well as the installation of emergency backup power at more than 15 Department of Defense sites and 25 Federal Aviation Administration sites. He also facilitated numerous industry presentations and interagency discussions about fuel cell deployments for the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Federal Interagency Working Group.

LOS ANGELES–OriginOil, Inc. (OOIL), the developer of a breakthrough technology to transform algae, the most promising source of renewable oil, into a true competitor to petroleum, today announced a new invention that generates hydrogen from living algae, providing an additional energy source from bioreactors. In contrast to previously reported developments in the area, the new Hydrogen Harvester™ uses little or no external energy inputs, requires no sulfur deprivation or other “stressing” of the algae, and no genetic modification. The process employs viable, high growth rate, high oil content algae strains.

“One of the primary challenges for algae production is to achieve the best-possible energy balance,” said Riggs Eckelberry, OriginOil CEO. “By harvesting hydrogen from algae we are able to increase the energy output of virtually any algae production system. The result is a photosynthetic technology platform that yields energy in the form of oil, biomass, and hydrogen.”

Algae already create oxygen through photosynthesis. Recovering hydrogen provides the necessary ingredients for electricity generation using fuel cells. The energy can be used to offset the electricity requirements of algae cultivation, harvesting and downstream processing.

Dr. Brian Goodall, OriginOil’s new CTO, commented: “The co-generation of hydrogen at the algae production site is a critical development for the realization of a completely integrated algal biorefinery. All routes from algae to ‘drop-in’ fuels such as renewable diesel and jet fuel require hydrogen and hydrotreating. The Hydrogen Harvester technology would eliminate the need for hydrogen pipelines and dependence on existing refineries which are typically far removed from ideal sites for algae growth.”

The Hydrogen Harvester will be integrated into OriginOil’s existing portfolio of algae growth technologies, including the recently announced MultiReactor™. It will also be available as an add-on to other industry growth systems.

The company recently filed for patent protection of the new hydrogen harvesting technology, its tenth patent application, entitled “Bio Energy Reactor.” While the invention is applicable to any photosynthetic organism, algae is thought to be most productive.

Hydrogen has often been called the perfect fuel. Its major reserve on earth (water) is inexhaustible, meaning that we will never run out of hydrogen. Hydrogen, if produced cleanly, efficiently and affordably from renewable resources, is the ultimate green energy solution: It produces no air pollutants or greenhouse gases when used in fuel cells and the only pollutants generated when burned in internal combustion engines are nitrogen oxides (NOx).

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has stated that producing hydrogen by direct water-splitting technologies — using photosynthetic microorganisms — is the “Holy Grail” of the hydrogen economy, the ultimate clean and sustainable hydrogen production method, and is the focus of long-term R&D efforts at NREL. OriginOil believes that the new Hydrogen Harvester could represent the breakthrough needed to power the hydrogen economy.

About OriginOil, Inc.

OriginOil, Inc. is developing a breakthrough technology that will transform algae, the most promising source of renewable oil, into a true competitor to petroleum. Much of the world’s oil and gas is made up of ancient algae deposits. Today, our technology will produce “new oil” from algae, through a cost-effective, high-speed manufacturing process. This endless supply of new oil can be used for many products, such as diesel, gasoline, jet fuel, plastics and solvents, without the global warming effects of petroleum. Other oil-producing feedstock, such as corn and sugarcane, often destroy vital farmlands and rainforests, disrupt global food supplies and create new environmental problems. Our unique technology, based on algae, is targeted at fundamentally changing our source of oil without disrupting the environment or food supplies. To learn more about OriginOil™, please visit our website at www.originoil.com.