Issue 0102
Issue 0102
Market News:
Harvesting energy on the sea: offshore H2 production with the energy ship
Ambitious goals: EU funding for renewable energies increased, Britain to follow suit
"Driving on detergent": DaimlerChrysler goes for sodium borohydride
100.000 kilometers with 200.000 passengers: Dynetek cylinders prove to be long-term dependable
Energy from waste: UTC Fuel Cells on track with several projects
Fuel cells off the assembly line: Juelich Research Institute develops new coating technology
Quick start for fuel cells: Nuvera with new patent
Interview of the month:
This time with Ines Freesen, Managing Director, Freesen & Partner GmbH, organizer of Hydrogen Expo
Event News:
Click here: new web site for Hydrogen Expo is online
Political support: Federal Environment Ministry assumes patronage again
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Market News:
Harvesting energy on the sea: offshore H2 production with the energy ship
In order to make better use of the potential wind power offers, Schiller Power and Energy GmbH from Germany developed a system, with which wind energy can be "harvested" offshore on a large scale and can be converted into hydrogen gas or drinking water. According to the company, wind power was able to deliver 50 times the world's energy demand. Stationary wind plants, however, were limited in their productivity because only the energy available at the given location could be used and the plants were further physically restricted by the diameter size of the rotor. CEO and patent holder Helmut Schiller therefore put his bet on the use of wind power in motion. The system is based on two larger than life Flettner rotors mounted to a ship's hull with good hydrodynamic properties. The rotors convert wind power into driving speed. The driving energy between the hull and the surrounding water is then converted by an on-board hydroturbine into electricity and then into hydrogen. The energy ship is designed to move as quickly as possible in good winds and with this to harvest as much energy as possible. Flettner rotors were successfully tested on two ships already in the 1920s. They are vertically mounted pillars which rotate around the longitudinal axis. The rotation creates an air sheet which serves as an invisible sail. Schiller explains that the shadow area of the rotor takes up only 5-10% of the area of a canvas with similar performance. Propulsion energy for the rotating pillar therefore consumes only 3-5% of the output performance. In his concept two rotors slightly bent towards the direction in which the ship is traveling are put into place. Both can be individually controlled and thereby can be adapted to the strength of the wind in an ideal way. In addition to hydrogen production the system is able to desalinate sea water. This makes the economical use of offshore energy possible. Thus, free of charge wind power becomes a competitive product.
Ambitious goals: EU funding for renewable energies increased, Britain to follow suit
After plans to increase financial support for nuclear energy research on the back of the renewables had temporarily heated up the discussion, the EU board of research ministers finally agreed on an increase of non-nuclear energy research funding in the beginning of December. Simultaneously, the widening of nuclear subsidizing was cancelled. The financial means available for all other areas including renewable energies, fuel cells, coal, gas and energy saving technologies now amount to a total of 0.81 million Euro. Britain, which so far did not rank very high on the list of supporters of future energies, wants to follow suit. The government already had a target of increasing power generation from renewable energy sources to 10% by 2010 and a further increase to 20% by 2020. The new policy sets a target that doubles the proportion of power from regenerative sources. This includes a commitment to having 10% of all new cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells by 2010. This would make Britain one of the most environmentally benign producers of energy in Europe. In order to make way for climate friendly power supply concepts, the planning and approval process is also to be eased. E.g. under the latest planning rounds only 40% of requests for large wind farms above 1mw have been granted. This is twice the normal rejection rate for other planning requests.
"Driving on detergent": DaimlerChrysler goes for sodium borohydride
H2 Report's December issue featured an article on the Powerball technology with which highly pure hydrogen can be stored in sodium hydride balls and can be released on demand. Now DaimlerChrysler also revealed a vehicle using borax. Borax is another name for sodium boride, a chemical cousin of laundry detergent. The concept minivan pairs a hydrogen powered fuel cell with a novel fuel storage system relying on borax. A company spokesman called this development a milestone for the early commercialization of FC vehicles. Most automakers were saying that it would take at least a decade before such vehicles became common, in part because of the problems with storing hydrogen. Manufacturers either use reformers to extract H2 from liquid fuels on-board or try to store pure hydrogen in large, high-pressure tanks. Others go for liquid hydrogen tanks, which makes it necessary to keep the energy carrier at cryogenic temperatures to avoid evaporation. All methods face drawbacks in cost, weight and size. To solve those problems, the Chrysler system stores hydrogen in sodium borohydride power, which is nonflammable and nontoxic. After mixing with water, the solution is passed through a catalyst which separates hydrogen gas and leaves only borax as a residue, which then can be recycled into sodium borohydride. Two fuel tanks would have to be installed at filling stations to make the system work: one that holds fresh fuel, and a further one serving as a receptacle for the spent fuel that must be expelled from the vehicle at every fill-up. But the old fuel does not wear out but can be endlessly recharged. DaimlerChrysler partners with Millennium Cell for this project.
100.000 kilometers with 200.000 passengers: Dynetek cylinders prove to be long-term dependable
Also looking for solutions for the storage problem is Dynetek Industries Ltd. from Canada. In December, the company was able to announce the findings of a service assessment conducted by Powertech Labs Inc., a third party testing agency located in Surrey, BC. The report demonstrated that the performance of the Dynetek hydrogen cylinders was not affected by use on board the Ballard fuel cell buses tested in Chicago and Vancouver over a two-year period. Powertech's report stated that the cylinders, which were routinely fast-filled during that time, showed no signs of deterioration, stress corrosion or hydrogen embrittlement. It concluded that all cylinders tested either met or exceeded their original performance requirements after two years of continuous service. In 1997 Dynetek supplied Ballard Power Systems with cylinders for on-board storage of compressed hydrogen for six fuel cell transit buses put into daily revenue service by the Chicago and Vancouver transit agencies. Both test programs were completed in June 2000 and the buses traveled over 100,000 kilometers and carried more than 200,000 passengers. In the spring of 2001, several cylinders were removed and sent to Powertech for evaluation.
Energy from waste: UTC Fuel Cells on track with several projects
After the name change of International Fuel Cells, a 100% subsidy of United Technologies Corp., into UTC Fuel Cells (UTCFC), the company released a number of statements in December about recovering energy from waste gases. A PC25(TM) fuel cell power unit was installed at a hog farm in the Guangzhou (Canton) city, in the Guangdong province of China located 90 miles northwest of Hong Kong. This is the first commercial fuel cell power unit in China. The unit will generate power for electrical equipment on the farm. Surplus power will be exported to users outside the farm. The unit will initially be fueled by liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), but plans call for the fuel cell to be powered by methane fermentation gas produced by hog waste, a renewable energy source. The unit was manufactured by UTC Fuel Cells and sold to Toshiba Corp, which modified and sold the unit to the customer. The project is managed by the Institute of Energy Economics of Japan and subsidized by The New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) of Japan. UTCFC sold eight further PC25 fuel cell power plants to the New York Power Authority (NYPA). The 200-kilowatt PC25 units will produce power for, and reduce emissions from, four wastewater treatment plants in New York City. Waste gas produced in the water treatment process will fuel the power plant. A similar system with an ONSI fuel cell (also IFC resp. UTCFC) is operated by a utilities company in Cologne, Germany. According to the company, the PC25 is the only commercially available fuel cell power plant worldwide and is virtually pollution-free. While a traditional system produced as much as 11 kilos of pollutants to generate 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity, the PC25 power plant came up with only 27 gramms.
Fuel cells off the assembly line: Juelich Research Institute develops new coating technology
A novel, cost-effective coating technology for direct methanol fuel cells (DFMC) was introduced to the public by the Juelich Research Institute. On December 13, 2001, a pilot plant went into operation. DMFCs are fueled with methanol instead of hydrogen. Methanol is liquid and is said to be easier to handle and to store than liquid or gaseous hydrogen. Same as H2, it can be generated from renewable energies. The core piece of the DMFC is a membrane electrode unit (MEA) consisting of multiple layers, which up to now had to be put together by hand. "The state of our research for the direct methanol fuel cell has progressed thus far that we can now devote ourselves to areas such as quality assurance and the automatisation of fuel cell engineering", says Prof. Detlef Stolten, Head of the Department about the importance of the new assembly line. The latter is to make more accurate coating of fuel cells in large quantities possible. The original field of application for the machine manfuacturered by Coatema from Neuss, Germany, lies in the textile industry. With this new approach subsidized by the Government of North-Rhine-Westfalia the company wants to lessen its dependency on traditional lines of business.
Quick start for fuel cells: Nuvera with new patent
Nuvera Fuel Cells recently announced it has developed a breakthrough technology concept that could rapidly advance the commercialization of fuel cell vehicles. The innovation, invented by Nuvera and to be developed through the firm's "Hi-Q" (high-efficiency quick start) program from funding provided by the U.S. Department of Energy, specifically addresses key issues such as start-up time and system efficiency common to conventional fuel cell power systems. A PCT (patent cooperation treaty) application on the new concept was recently published. The breakthrough involves a significant advancement to Nuvera's multi-fuel processor technology, which is capable of converting hydrocarbon and renewable fuels into hydrogen for use in fuel cell applications. Using Nuvera's latest innovation, fuel cell systems in the 50 kW range (enough to power a mid-sized vehicle) could surpass 50 percent operating efficiency and start up in less than 10 seconds, far exceeding today's industry standards. The unique system architecture enables Nuvera to run its PEM (proton exchange membrane) fuel cells at higher temperatures, resulting in a net increase of operating efficiency and power density.
Interview of the month:
This time with Ines Freesen, Managing Director, Freesen & Partner GmbH, organizer of Hydrogen Expo
H2 Report: How did you come to do a hydrogen trade show?
Freesen: We have been observing the development of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies for quite some time. In doing this, we found out that this important subject did not have its own forum. There are so many pathbreaking developments for the introduction of new energy and propulsion concepts. However, if you ask the proverbial man on the street, there are still not enough people aware of this. And is it not quite obvious that a new technology, even if it is as important for the whole of mankind as this one, can only convince people if they know about it? This is what we want to contribute to with Hydrogen Expo. The hydrogen "scene" needs a trade show so that it does not remain to be a scene. And this is not just what we believe. One of the survery results of our online market research on http://www.h2trend.com states it quite clearly: 99% of the voters were of the opinion that this show is much needed.
H2 Report: Some people seem to believe there are already too many events. What do you tell them?
Freesen: There is quite a number of conferences, regional events and pavilions, indeed, which cover certain aspects or scratch the surface because this is such an in thing. But these events do not do justice to the importance of the subject. Furthermore, interested parties have a hard time deciding where they can find the right answers. Hydrogen Expo is the only platform which showcases the whole scope and is able to meet all requirements. Suppliers can present themselves in a targeted environment and because of the clear focus receive maximum attention. They do not have to compete with parallel events. Visitors have easy access to all the information on display under one roof, and free of charge so, if they pre-register online. This by the way also applies to the seminar program.
H2 Report: In your promotional material you say that Hydrogen Expo is more than an exhibition. What do you mean by that?
Freesen: It is our goal to contribute to the shaping of public awareness for the introduction of H2 technology. Therefore, we want to provide our clients with more than a couple of square meters of stand space once a year. All our exhibitors can use free of charge value added services such as joint press releases, assistance in establishing media contacts, news coverage in H2 Report (which currently has more than 1.600 subscribers worldwide), integration into the VIP and visitor program, to name but a few. Additionally, exhibitors can maximize the impact of their presence with a speaking opportunity. The seminar CD can be obtained from our website after the show, along with more information about the suppliers and the subject. We want to actively assist corporations and institutions, who commited themselves to the research and development of new energy technologies, and help them stay in public awareness all year round.
H2 Report: The hydrogen and fuel cell market is only just developing. Does a trade show pay off for you as an exhibitor after all?
Freesen: Of course, this is a question you ask yourself before starting such an enterprise. And it is true that we have to put quite some privately financed start-up capital into this. But we are absolutely confident that this is a worthwhile investment. We are not looking to make some easy money here but want to achieve something in the mid and long run. If I may put it so bluntly: with Hydrogen Expo we significantly contribute to paving the way for an enormous growth market.
H2 Report: What do you think, when will hydrogen come?
Freesen: The suppliers decide when this will happen. With the maturity of their products and solutions they determine the pace at which commercialization progresses. And with the marketing behind this. Because as I said before, users, be they industrial or private, can only make up their minds for something they know about. This is a development which does not come overnight. Therefore it is so important to start to go canvassing for hydrogen technologies early and to keep going. It is a good thing that the media increasingly supports this subject. It would be even better if we were already in a position where we did not ask ourselves if but how we can all pull the same strings. This is what we have to get to.
Event News:
Click here: new web site for Hydrogen Expo is online
The new web site for the world's largest hydrogen trade show has been online since mid-December. Grouped into clear categories, information for exhibitors, visitors and media representatives is available on http://www.h2expo.com. Suppliers who are interested to exhibit can for example download a full info-pack complete with facts & figures, benefits and application form. Visitors can view the exhibitor list, seminar program and find travel assistance and background information on the subject. Under the headline "press" all press relases can be accessed.
Political support: Federal Environment Ministry assumes patronage again
The German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety has renewed its patronage for Hydrogen Expo 2002, held on October 10 to 12 in Hamburg, Germany. Says Ines Freesen of organizer Freesen & Partner GmbH: "The renewal of the patronage proves that the German Government is interested in more than speaking out for this important subject just once. We see this as a signal for sustainable political support for projects in this field." The cooperation between the ministry and the organizer is further enhanced by the ministry sending a representative to join the Hydrogen Expo Advisory Board.
