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Fuel Cell/Hydrogen

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INTRO

One of the most interesting, and in some ways promising, alternative transportation fuels is hydrogen. It is easy to produce through electrolysis, simply splitting water (H20) into oxygen and hydrogen by using electricity. However, these days, nearly all hydrogen is made from natural gas.

Using hydrogen, specifically if produced with power from wind, solar-, geothermal-, hydro or other renewable energy systems, creates a zero emission energy chain. Hydrogen is a clean fuel which can replace gasoline, diesel or gas in the transport sector.

Because hydrogen in its gaseous state takes up a very large volume when compared to other fuels, hydrogen would be more useful as an energy source in its liquid state. One possible solution is to liberate the hydrogen from its associated carbon in a hydrogen reformer and feed the hydrogen into a fuel cell.

Hydrogen is used in fuel cells to make electricity; the drive train for hydrogen vehicles is a gearless electric motor. Hydrogen is also used in specially designed internal combustion engines and has been successfully mixed with natural gas for gas buses to raise efficiency and decrease emissions.
A hydrogen cell uses hydrogen as fuel and oxygen as oxidant. Other fuels include hydrocarbons and alcohols. Other oxidants include air, chlorine and chlorine dioxide.

Car manufacturers have only emphasized the development of hydrogen drive trains since the 1990s. During demonstrations hydrogen FC buses in public transport have shown comparable reliability to diesel buses during three years of operation and the life time of fuel cells is constantly improving.

SUPPLY

Number of buses in Europe currently running on hydrogen: 27 buses

ADVANTAGES

o Zero carbon dioxide emissions*
o A clean statement of commitment to mitigate climate change
o Green image, positive PR
o Low noise
o Pave the way to use local, diversified resources
o High fuel efficiency
*see drawback 1

DISADVANTAGES

If not produced by way of electrolysis, the carbon dioxide emissions which result from the hydrogen-producing process can be higher than with petrol or diesel.
Takes up large volume in its gaseous state
Requires specialist filling equipment (it can be either compressed gas or a liquid)
High cost
The storage of hydrogen on a vehicle for a reasonable range

The first public hydrogen refuelling station was opened in Reykjavík, Iceland in April 2003. This station serves three buses built by DaimlerChrysler that are in service in the public transport net of Reykjavík. The station produces the hydrogen it needs by itself, with an electrolyzing unit (produced by Norsk Hydro), and does not need refilling: all that enters is electricity and water. Royal Dutch Shell is also a partner in the project. The station has no roof, in order to allow any leaked hydrogen to escape to the atmosphere

FUEL CELLS

What are fuel cells?

Fuel cells are extremely efficient electro-chemical devices that use hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity. This electricity is used to power an electric traction motor in a vehicle. The fuel cell was discovered over a century ago. Fuel cells were used in space explorations throughout the 20th century and advances have been fairly rapid. In 2006 vehicles either use compressed hydrogen or liquefied hydrogen.
Fuel cell vehicles have similar or improved performance as compared to a vehicle with an internal combustion engine and are not as limited in range as most battery electric vehicles. Though fuel cell vehicles are not yet commercially available, that looks set to change over the next few years.
Fuel cell vehicles can be either 'pure' or 'hybrid'. The hybrid design incorporates the use of a battery for peak power loading. This also enables the vehicle to use regenerative braking which can reduce fuel consumption by up to 20%. Hybrids save fuel at a rate of 30-40%.
Fuel cells have been used on spacecraft for many years to power electric equipment. These are fueled with liquid hydrogen from the spacecraft's rocket fuel tanks.
Fuel cell vehicles turn hydrogen fuel and oxygen into electricity. The electricity then powers an electric motor, just like electricity from batteries powers the motor of an electric vehicle. Fuel cells combine oxygen from the air with hydrogen from the vehicle's fuel tank to produce electricity. When oxygen and hydrogen are combined they give off energy and water (H2O). In fuel cells this is done without any burning (combustion).
When we think of vehicles that are fueled with hydrogen, we may think of rocket-powered spacecraft, like the space shuttle. The space shuttle is fueled with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. Very little is in the exhaust except water. Fuel cells do get hot though, so the water comes out of the fuel cells as water vapor, or steam.
There are a number of ways that hydrogen can be provided to the fuel cell. One way is simply to put hydrogen gas into the fuel cell, along with air. Hydrogen gas can come from gaseous or liquid hydrogen stored on the vehicle.
To carry gaseous hydrogen on a vehicle, it must be compressed. When compressed (usually to a pressure of about 3000 pounds per square inch), it must be stored in special high-pressure containers. This is similar to the way compressed natural gas is stored on natural gas-fueled vehicles.

Manufacturers including Ford, GM, Honda, Toyota, and Mercedes Benz have already demonstrated fuel cell vehicles and the New Electric Car (Necar) range of vehicles has been developed by DaimlerChrysler, Ford and Ballard. This partnership aims to make fuel cell cars commercially available by 2010-2012.
At present, fuel cell vehicles have only been developed to what might be called the pre-prototype stage. That means there are very few fuel cell vehicles in existence, and all of them are actually used for testing. Most car manufacturers have or are working on demonstration models, some of which can reach a speed of 90 mph and can travel up to about 280 miles before they need refueling.

SUPPLY

The Fuel Cell Bus Club unites three projects:

ECTOS (Ecological Transport System) in Iceland
CUTE (Clean Urban Transport for Europe)
STEP (Sustainable Transport Energy Project) in Australia

In total there are over 33 DaimlerChrysler fuel cell buses in 11 cities.

ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS

Potential of near-zero well-to-wheel emissions when using renewable fuels to produce hydrogen
No dependence on petroleum
During driving, a hydrogen vehicle equipped with a fuel cell (FC) only emits water vapor.

ADVANTAGES:

Zero tailpipe emissions
Higher energy efficiency than the internal combustion engine
Regenerative braking captures and reuses braking energy
Potential of near-zero well-to-wheel emissions when using renewable fuels to produce hydrogen
No dependence on petroleum
During driving, a hydrogen vehicle equipped with a fuel cell (FC) only emits water vapor.

DISADVANTAGES:

High cost
Increased reliability and durability
Hydrogen generation, distribution, dispensing, and onboard storage
Availability and affordability of hydrogen refueling
Codes and standards development
Scalability for mass manufacture
Consumer education

COUNTRY SPECIFIC INFORMATION

The UK

There are a number of fuel cell vehicle demonstration projects currently running in London, including:

three fuel cell buses (this is part of the CUTE project)
a fuel cell taxi
a park utility vehicle

In addition, Woking Council has a fuel cell power station.

Italy

In July 2006, the first H2 fuel station was set up by Eni in Grecciano (Tuscany Region, on the clearway Florence-Pisa-Livorno). The facility is the first station in the world which supplies H2 from renewable sources.
The Hydrogen is produced by 20 kW photovoltaic panels and three 20 kW wind turbines.
Currently there are no national regulations allowing H2 powered vehicles to run, therefore the station is used by prototypes.

Bulgaria

In Bulgaria research on efficient combustion to obtain ultra-low emissions has been intensified in order to comply with the future European and national stringent emissions legislations for automotive and industrial applications. A very good example in this direction is the research work carried out in the “Laboratory on ecological problems of engines” (LEPE) at University of Rousse.

In the automotive sector fuel-cell powered vehicles and hydrogen super-charged direct injection engines will not be in series production for at least another few decades, as hydrogen production and storage remain to be solved. It is therefore likely that the combustion engines will still be dominant for another 30 to 50 years, which means that real efforts have to be directed at obtaining a clean efficient combustion with hydrogen internal combustion engines.

Hydrogen as a combustion stimulant is an advanced approach significant developed in Bulgaria. Hydrogen burns more rapidly than hydrocarbon fuels because it is smaller and enters combustion reactions at higher velocity, has lower activation energy, and incurs more molecular collisions than heavier molecules. These characteristics make it possible to use mixtures of hydrogen with conventional hydrocarbon fuels such as gasoline, diesel and propane to reduce emissions of unburned hydrocarbons. Transition from fossil fuels to renewable hydrogen by use of mixtures of hydrogen in small quantities with conventional fuels offers significant reductions in exhaust emissions. In the LEPE research on using hydrogen addition (supplement) to the conventional fuels is going on. Using hydrogen as a combustion stimulant makes it possible for other fuels to meet future requirements for lower exhaust emissions in Bulgaria.

At the LEPE an advanced combustion system for Hydrogen Enhanced Torch Ignition (HETI) is designed and manufactured. This combustion system is under intensive investigation process at the moment in order to be evaluated its possibilities to assist and to improve ignition and combustion of very lean homogeneous air-hydrocarbon mixtures. The initial results show large scale improved fuel consumption as swell as large scale reduced NOx emissions under part load conditions. The HETI consists of a prechamber attached at the standard spark plug hole and a hydrogen injection device attached at the prechamber. The prechamber is connected with the main combustion chamber via several narrow holes. The spark plug electrodes are situated at the prechamber volume. This design concept proposes small quantities of pure hydrogen or H2-rich gas to be injected in a small prechamber and ignited by spark. As a result rich jet of OH and H radicals with high thermal energy can considerably enhances the combustion of ultralean air-hydrocarbon fuel mixture in the main combustion chamber.

Portugal

Fuel Cell is only at a research stage but it is an actual issue on diverse institutes and associations from all over the county. The most important project is CUTE, with 3 BUSes in Porto.

Spain

Madrid and Barcelona, together with other 8 European cities (Amsterdam, Stockholm, Hamburg, London, Luxemburg, Stuttgart, Reykjavik and Porto), are pioneer since 2003 in the use of urban buses equipped with fuel cell which use hydrogen like fuel. This initiative is part of CUTE project (Clean Urban Transport for Europe), promoted by European Union and leaded by Daimler Chrysler (Mercedes), which consider the demonstration of 30 buses fuelled by a fuel cell in these 10 European cities. The 10 buses are equipped with cells Ballard of 205 kW of proton exchange membrane PEMFC type.
Moreover, Madrid City participates in other project, CITYCELL, which leaded by Iveco-Iris bus and Renault, consider the demonstration of 4 buses fuelled by a fuel cell in 4 European cities (Madrid, Paris, Turin and Berlin). In Madrid and Turin, the vehicles used are IVECO buses equipped with a fuel cell UTC of 62 kW of PEMFC type.

In the Municipal Transport Company of Madrid, they put on service the first Hydrogen fuel cell bus in 2003 within the European CUTE/ECTOS project. They built a H2 Refuelling station able to fill the tank of the bus in 15 minutes and 350 bar pressure. Now they are also studying other technologies related to hydrogen as hybrid technology or direct hydrogen combustion.
Almost two years later since EMT began to use this kind of vehicles; we can say that experience has been very positive for the acceptance both from drivers and passengers.

Iceland

The government of Iceland had declared its ambitious goal of becoming the first hydrogen society in the world.
The history of hydrogen in Iceland:

First policy measures towards hydrogen in 1998
Current position:
Iceland an international platform for hydrogen research
Create the worlds first hydrogen economy
H2 policy of the government:
Favourable framework for business and research
International cooperation
Education and training
First major steps:
Taxation incentives (no taxes on hydrogen vehicles)
Financial and international support (IPHE)
Roadmapping and hydrogen policy

Bus operation

The hydrogen buses arrived in Iceland in September 2003. The location of Iceland now became a disadvantage as for the first time the vehicles had to be shipped on container vessels over the Atlantic. As the vehicles are delicate equipment the original idea was to ship the vehicles below deck, but due to the height of the vehicles they had to be shipped on deck. Fortunately the rough seas did not affect the equipment and they could be driven from the ship immediately after arrival. Another precaution taken into account in the original shipment was to send only two at once and one later to avoid if a drastic incident would happen, i.e. losing all of them at the same time if the ship sank on its voyage to Iceland.
One of the strategic goals of the ECTOS project completed in 2005 was also to show in what way the future society might benefit in social, economic and environmental terms by using hydrogen as a fuel instead of conventional fossil fuels.
The first public hydrogen refuelling station was opened in Reykjavík, Iceland in April 2003. This station serves three buses built by DaimlerChrysler that are in service in the public transport net of Reykjavík. The station produces the hydrogen it needs by itself, with an electrolyzing unit (produced by Norsk Hydro), and does not need refilling: all that enters is electricity and water. Royal Dutch Shell is also a partner in the project. The station has no roof, in order to allow any leaked hydrogen to escape to the atmosphere

Number of buses in Europe currently running on hydrogen: 27 buses

As regards to Fuel Cell, it is worth mentioning the Fuel Cell Bus Club, which unites three projects:

ECTOS (Ecological Transport System) in Iceland
CUTE (Clean Urban Transport for Europe)
STEP (Sustainable Transport Energy Project) in Australia

Greece

Hydrogen is not used for transport purposes in Greece yet, however it is laboratory tested.

Recently (May, 2007), a Hellenic project namely HYDROSOL, a technology for generating "clean energy", achieved considerable distinction in the European Descartes Prizes (2006). The prize consists of a monetary amount of 333,333 Euros and a special diploma which was presented to the HYDROSOL team coordinator (Dr. A.G. Konstandopoulos), at a special ceremony held in Brussels on March 7, 2007.

The innovative aspect of the HYDROSOL technology is that it is feasible to efficiently generate hydrogen exclusively from renewable energy sources, such as the sun and water, without generating greenhouse emissions. The HYDROSOL team has developed an innovative solar thermo-chemical reactor for the production of hydrogen from water splitting, resembling the familiar catalytic converter of automobiles (More info: http://cordis.europa.eu/greece/interviews_new32.htm).

Slovenia
Slovenia is planning, within framework of the project “Sustainable Energy and Hydrogen Economy”, to establish network of 12 hydrogen refueling points till 2013. First one to be built in Slovenian capital in 2009. Till 2023 it is expected to be 300 fuel cell hydrogen vehicles for public transport and individual use.

Fuel Cell/Hydrogen

INTRO

COUNTRY SPECIFIC INFORMATION

Further reading