Category Archives: Fuel Cells

DES PLAINES, Ill., May 5 /PRNewswire/ — Gas Technology Institute (GTI) successfully completed a series of 250 psig, air-blown coal gasification tests with three different coals in March 2005 in its new Flex-Fuel Test Facility (FFTF) in Des Plaines, Illinois. The tests were conducted in support of a Siemens Westinghouse Power Corporation (SWPC) program for the development of novel syngas cleaning systems. SWPC is the prime contractor for this program co-funded by the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The results demonstrated the effectiveness of the SWPC Ultra-Clean Process (UCP) for halide and sulfur removal from gasifier syngas down to parts-per-billion (ppbv) levels as well as the ability of the FFTF to conduct multi-fuel, rapid-turnaround testing of gasification-based technologies in a cost-effective manner.

The objective is to economically achieve the most stringent cleanup requirements for sulfur species, halide species, mercury, and particulate matter expected for chemical and fuel synthesis applications (total sulfur species < 60 ppbv, halides < 10 ppbv, mercury < 0.01 ppbv, and particulate < 0.1 ppmw) in advanced, near-zero emission, efficient multi-production energy plants. The Ultra-Clean Process is a dry process that injects fine sorbent particles into two stages of barrier filter-reactors integrated in series, coupling efficient particle capture with an effective entrained and filter cake reaction environment. The process concept exploits existing particulate control devices as chemical reactors for multi-contaminant control at moderate/warm temperatures.

The Ultra-Clean Process tests, conducted during March, successfully commissioned and tested the upstream sorbent injection systems and filter reactors for syngas halide and sulfur removal. Contaminant levels in the 10 to 50 ppbv range were measured in the ultra-clean syngas corresponding to removal efficiencies exceeding 99.99%. These contaminant levels are well below the limits of detection of conventional analytical technologies.

Innovative sampling and analytical systems were designed and implemented in the FFTF to enable the type of systems evaluations that were carried out in the UCP testing. Simultaneous on-line analyses of gas compositions from raw gas concentrations to ultra-clean levels allowed for near real-time assessment of the performance of the integrated gasification and gas conditioning system. Comprehensive and accurate diagnostic capabilities make cost-effective testing of technologies and systems at the FFTF possible.

The FFTF’s ability to accept a broad range of fuels contributed significantly to the timely achievement of the Ultra-Clean Process test objectives. Three fuels with widely different characteristics were processed during the tests, including low-volatile metallurgical coke, high-ash Indian coal, and low rank lignite. “The recent Ultra-Clean Process testing also demonstrated the FFTF’s ability to be turned around quickly, with three successful gasification tests conducted during March,” said Bruce Bryan, Director of Gasification at GTI.

The FFTF was built with funding from the U.S. natural gas industry and the State of Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. The facility addresses the need for continued development and more thorough evaluation of gasification and related equipment and technologies for thermochemical conversion of solid fuels to clean fuel and syngas. It is capable of operation at pressures up to 400 psig with either air- or oxygen-blown gasification of coal or biomass at feed rates ranging from 0.25 to 1.5 tons per hour.

The Flex-Fuel Test Facility is available for use by organizations and companies conducting research on enabling technologies that have shown promise in laboratory- and bench-scale testing and need testing at the next scale, including continuous long-duration tests.

Siemens Westinghouse Power Corporation is a Siemens Company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. Within Siemens’ global Fossil Power Generation business, Siemens Westinghouse is the regional business company for the Americas and operates engineering and manufacturing centers in North America. In the United States and Canada, the company also is responsible for the Industrial Turbine, Instrumentation and Control, wind power and solid oxide fuel cell businesses.

GTI is the leading research, development and training organization serving energy markets. For more than 60 years, GTI has been meeting the nation’s energy and environmental challenges by developing technology-based solutions for consumers, industry, and government. For more information on GTI, visit http://www.gastechnology.org/.

April 12, 2005 — PolyFuel Inc., a developer of engineered membranes for fuel cells, announced a new version of its hydrocarbon membrane for portable applications that is a “drop-in” replacement for the fluorocarbon membranes used in existing fuel cell membrane electrode assembly (MEA) manufacturing processes.

PolyFuel says its new “hot-bondable” membrane permits manufacturers to substitute its hydrocarbon membrane in fabrication processes originally designed for Nafion, a flourocarbon product.

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Mar. 15, 2005 — Try to get Bob Sinuc to pontificate on the future of fuel cell technology and you won’t get far. Instead, the vice president of engineering for fuel cell developer Plug Power will politely remind you that, “we’re a reality-based company.”

So it’s no surprise to see Plug Power announce the operation of its second-generation experimental home energy station without much accompanying hype. No flowing descriptions of how the device will enable the hydrogen economy. No explanations of how this technology will cure all evil by liberating the world from oil. It’s as if they’re merely saying, “Here it is. Any questions?”

However, what they have created is a device — the home energy station — that could disrupt a variety of industries if it could one day be affordable to the average homeowner.

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The current design of the station runs on either natural gas or propane, along with a supply of water. The fuel and water are used to make hydrogen, which powers a fuel cell to generate electricity. Waste heat is dissipated or used to supplement a home’s primary heating system. In addition, hydrogen is generated and stored at high pressure for fueling up a fuel cell car. The process at the core of this type of fuel cell — known as a PEM, or proton exchange membrane cell — occurs at the nanoscale.

Plug Power already had a first-generation unit in experimental operation in Torrance, Calif., in partnership with Honda, which uses it to fuel up its FCX experimental fuel cell car. Now that Honda has unveiled a new FCX designed to work in cold temperatures, the two companies saw fit to put a second-generation home energy station in a cold climate. Plug Power’s hometown of Latham, near Albany in upstate New York, was a perfect fit.

Automakers, says Sinuc, “realized that at some point in the development of fuel cell cars they are going to be limited by the infrastructure.” In short, no one’s going to buy fuel cell cars if there isn’t anywhere to fuel them up.

But if you could buy a home energy station along with your fuel cell car and fuel up your car at home in six minutes the value proposition suddenly changes. Add to that the additional benefit of generating your own electricity and gaining supplemental heat, and you’ve got a combination that could certainly lure some early adopters.

Sinuc wouldn’t comment on the business model to eventually sell the device, but he said there are no restrictions. The company could sell it to gas station operators or homeowners, and it could work with Honda or other automakers to sell the home energy station in tandem with a car.

Plug Power and Honda are not the only companies to hit on this idea. In February, UTC Fuel Cells, Hyundai Motor Co. and ChevronTexaco unveiled a hydrogen energy station at the Hyundai-Kia America Technical Center in Chino, Calif. The project is part of a Department of Energy-sponsored hydrogen fleet and infrastructure program.

The program has similar goals — to test a fleet of fuel cell vehicles, in this case Hyundai Tucsons and Kia Sportage fuel cell vehicles — to demonstrate safe and practical hydrogen technologies in real-world use.

These collaborations are going a long way to assuage some of the biggest fears about the so-called hydrogen economy — that transporting hydrogen would be dangerous, that generating it on-site would be impractical, or that fuel cell cars can’t be made to work in cold climates.

However, don’t sell your current car just yet. Sinuc and other experts are quick to point out it’s a very long way from proof-of-concept to your putting a fuel cell car in your driveway or an energy station in your home.

Jan. 31, 2005 — Honda Motor Co. leased a fuel cell-equipped FCX car to Hokkaido Prefectural Government in Japan, according to a report from Japan Corporate News Network.

The car was delivered January 27. It is equipped with a special system to enable it to start in sub-freezing temperatures. A new membrane design and improved durability lets the fuel cell work between 20 and 95 degrees Celsius, according to the report. The report also said the new design uses 50 percent fewer parts than the previous one while outputting more energy.

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Jan. 19, 2005 — Each year, Small Times ranks the U.S. states for their research, development and commercialization proficiency in the areas of nanotechnology, MEMS and microsystems. Last year, Ohio ranked tenth. Its 2004 report card follows. Look to Small Times’ upcoming March issue for this year’s state-by-state rankings.

Mar. 2004 — No single entity deserves credit for Ohio’s ascension to the top 10 this year. Instead, the state’s ability to rally its diverse applied research efforts helped it elbow out about a half dozen states that were flirting with the cut. Ohio’s strong showing in the industry and innovation categories suggests it could become a commercial force in the future.

“You have this phenomenal mix,” said Donna Fossum, senior social scientist with the RAND Corp. Fossum analyzes federal funding trends for the non-profit research corporation. “There are two major federal government agencies and an amazing university system.”

The NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland is investigating microsystems, nanomaterials and nanotube-based energy concepts for space applications. The Air Force Research Laboratory at the Wright- Patterson base in Dayton explores nanotechnology’s potential, particularly in materials, to improve its military might. Ohio gets another boost through the Cleveland Clinic, which has bioMEMS and nanotechnology programs on its campus.

Wright-Patterson collaborates with the neighboring University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) on projects that have a problem-solving bent. For instance, the lab’s materials and manufacturing branch and UDRI joined forces to design a lubricant coating for MEMS. Under a different Air Force contract, UDRI developed a durable nanofiber composite that is being commercialized by the Ohio-based startup, NanoSperse LLC. NanoSperse was founded in 2003.

To the north, Glennan Microsystems Inc. looks for business opportunities that build off the research strengths at NASA Glenn and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. The region specializes in microsystems that function in harsh environments such as the automotive engine sensors made by Glennan spinout FLX Micro of Solon.

Such application-driven partnerships helped Ohio crack into two key categories in the rankings, innovation and industry, where it claimed the seventh and eighth berth, respectively.

It scored a respectable 14th in the research category as well, thanks to bioengineering and micro-device work at Ohio State University in Columbus and a nanomaterials thrust at the University of Cincinnati.

The federal agencies and clinic are bolstering a growing business community, but whether the state can provide adequate incentives to sustain them remains to be seen. Under its Third Frontier project, the state awarded $18 million in 2003 to a fuel cell initiative based at Case Western.

The university has an expertise in miniaturized fuel cell components. The state selected the UDRI-NanoSperse nanocomposite effort for additional support.

But taxpayers also narrowly defeated an amendment in November that would have allowed Third Frontier to invest in future startups.

Jan. 18, 2005 — Plug Power Inc. (Nasdaq: PLUG) of Latham, N.Y., announced it intends to install a pair of GenSite hydrogen generators under two recently awarded programs sponsored by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

Under the first program, Plug Power will partner with award winner American Honda Motor Co. Inc., Air Products and Chemicals Inc. and Homeland Energy to provide the refueling infrastructure necessary for fuel cell vehicles, including two Honda FCXs recently leased by the State of New York.

The program calls for Plug Power to install a GenSite hydrogen generator at the company’s Latham location capable of directly fueling fuel cell vehicles and the Air Product’s HF-150 mobile refueler which will be located at the State’s Harriman Campus in Albany, N.Y.

As part of the second project, Plug Power will partner with Albany NanoTech to integrate a GenSite system into the existing hydrogen infrastructure. The NanoTech Center uses hydrogen in research and development of semiconductors.

Plug Power and project partners expect the hydrogen generators to be installed later this year once final contract negotiations are complete.

Jan. 18, 2005 — Nanosys Inc. today announced it entered into a collaborative agreement with Sharp Corp. of Osaka, Japan, to develop nanotechnology-enabled fuel cells incorporating Nanosys’ nanostructure technology.

Under the terms of the agreement, the two will collaborate to develop high performance fuel cells for use in portable consumer electronics such as laptop computers, cell phones and cameras. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

Proponents of fuel cells for consumer electronics say the inherent higher energy density of small fuel cells in comparison to batteries has the potential to lead to longer operational time.

Nanosys is a Palo Alto, Calif.-based company that develops nanotechnology-based products using high performance inorganic nanostructures. Sharp Corp. is a worldwide developer of consumer electronics, information products, electronic components and other products.

Jan. 12, 2005 — Ener1 Inc. (OTC.BB: ENEI), a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based developer of clean energy technologies, announced it has signed letters of intent to acquire Giner Electrochemical Systems LLC (GES), a privately held company located in Newton, Mass., that specializes in the development of fuel cell technologies and products.

GES has contributed to the development of many technologies and products for fuel cell power generation, including proton exchange membrane high-pressure electrolyzers for gas production, regenerative fuel cells, and direct methanol fuel cell stacks and systems.

GES is currently owned by Giner Inc. and General Motors Corp. GES will maintain its existing GM multi-year contracts and its research and development relationship with GM going forward, according to a news release.

Jan. 4, 2005 — Nano-Proprietary Inc. (OTC: NNPP), an Austin, Texas-based holding company, announced through its subsidiary, Applied Nanotech Inc. (ANI), that it has entered into a research and development agreement with KRI Inc. KRI is the R&D subsidiary of Osaka Gas Co. Ltd., a gas utility company in Japan.

The agreement is to develop a hydrogen sensor for automotive fuel cell applications. The collaboration is the result of a joint proposal submitted by KRI and ANI to Japan’s New Energy Industrial Technology Development Organization. The proposal was one of eleven grants awarded in the area of hydrogen energy by the development organization. The project is expected to take about one year.

Dec. 28, 2004 — NanoDynamics Inc., a Buffalo, N.Y.-based nanomaterials developer, announced it will distribute its nano- and micron-sized metal powders in Japan and Korea through an exclusive agreement with Kanematsu-KGK, a distributor of advanced materials and machine tools in Japan.

The company’s initial focus will be on copper and silver powders targeted at the ceramic capacitor market. NanoDynamics’ ND Materials unit manufactures a broad range of nano- and micron-sized metal powders in dry, unagglomerated form, and as ready-to-use dispersions.

Applications include materials for microelectronic inks and pastes, interconnects for solid oxide fuel cells, thermally conductive fillers for polymers and fluids, ink jet printed conductors, and anti-microbial additives.