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December 2006 Fuel Cells Bulletin7
DOE dishes out another $100m for fuel cell R&D
US Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman has announced $100m to
fund 25 hydrogen research and devel-opment projects. DOE will negotiate the 25 cost-shared projects for an additional $27m contribution from the applicants over four years (fiscal years 2007–2010).
The projects will seek to overcome cost and durability barriers associated with hydrogen fuel cell research, and will specifically focus on fuel cell membranes, water transport within the stack, advanced cathode catalysts and supports, cell hardware, innovative fuel cell concepts, and the effects of impurities on fuel cell performance and durability. Awards also include stationary fuel cell demonstration projects to help foster inter-national and intergovernmental partnerships.
The selected organizations are as follows (organization/location/topic/DOE funding):
• Arkema (King of Prussia, PA): membranes, $6.3m.
• 3M (St Paul, MN): membranes, $8.9m.• Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (CA):
membranes, $6.0m.• Rochester Institute of Technology (NY):
water transport, $2.7m.• Los Alamos National Lab (NM): water
transport, $5.5m.• Nuvera Fuel Cells (Cambridge, MA): water
transport, $5.0m.• CFD Research Corporation (Huntsville,
AL): water transport, $4.7m.• 3M: catalysts, $8.4m.• UTC Power (South Windsor, CT): catalysts,
$6.4m.• Los Alamos National Lab: catalysts, $6.8m.• Argonne National Lab (IL): catalysts, $5.4m.• Pacific Northwest National Lab (Richland,
WA): catalysts, $4.6m.• GrafTech International (Parma, OH):
bipolar plates, $2.3m.• UTC Power: advanced seals, $2.0m.• Oak Ridge National Lab (TN): bipolar
plates, $4.5m.• Plug Power (Latham, NY): innovative stack
design, $1.0m.• Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland,
OH): innovative stack design, $0.8m.• Argonne National Lab: innovative stack
design, $1.0m.• Pacific Northwest National Lab: innovative
balance of plant, $1.0m.• University of Connecticut – Connecticut
Global Fuel Cell Center (Storrs, CT): impurities, $1.9m.
• Clemson University (SC): impurities, $2.0m.• Los Alamos National Lab: impurities,
$3.6m.• Plug Power: demonstration, $3.6m.• Plug Power: demonstration, $4.0m.• Intelligent Energy (Long Beach, CA):
demonstration, $2.2m.
For more on the DOE Hydrogen Program, go to: www.hydrogen.energy.gov
Framework agreement between CIDETEC, regional government
In northern Spain, the Department of Sustainable Development of the
provincial government of Gipuzkoa and CIDETEC-IK4, the Centre for Electrochemical Technologies in San Sebastián, have signed a joint working agreement aimed at encouraging and promoting the use of hydrogen-based fuel cells as sources of sustainable energy. The collaboration is based on the premise of jointly promoting activi-ties deemed appropriate for encourag-ing the generalized use of hydrogen.
The basis of the joint working framework agreement is summed up in the Plan of Action for 2006, in the form of a project for the instal-lation and evaluation of a generator based on a PEM fuel cell running on hydrogen.
The aim of this project is the installation of a generator based on a PEM fuel cell, with an uninterrupted power supply (UPS) system. In this way, CIDETEC-IK4 will be able to carry out exhaustive monitoring of the gen-erator’s operation, in order to evaluate both the current state of development of this new technology with a real application, as well as its viability as an energy alternative coherent with a sustainable energy and environmentally friendly strategy.
Likewise, the fuel cell generator can be employed as a demonstration application to bring this new technology to the public. The installation will be at the Renewable Energies Centre at Usurbil Professional School, with which the Department of Sustainable Development has a joint working agreement for awareness programs and dissemination pro-grams involving measures for energy efficiency and renewable energies.
Contact: CIDETEC Centro de Tecnologías Electroquímicas, Donostia/San Sebastián, Spain. Tel: +34 943 309022, www.cidetec.es
Korean manufacturing deals for DMFCC
California-based Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Corporation has signed a
cartridge design and certified manufac-turer agreement with Hyun Won Inc in South Korea. DMFCC has also signed an amended cartridge design and cer-tified manufacturer agreement with Elentec of Suwon-city in Korea. Elentec is already a cartridge manufacturing partner of DMFCC, and the amendment extends the agreement to 2011.
Hyun Won manufactures and distributes portable multimedia players, and also produces image processing systems, glass encapsula-tion for LEDs, and controllers for automated machinery. ‘The portable electronics industry is moving toward fuel cells, and I believe that fuel cartridges can be one of the growth engines for our company,’ says O-Shik Song, the company’s CEO. ‘Hyun Won can be a strategic partner with Viaspace [DMFCC’s parent company] to develop and introduce other high-technology products into the Korean marketplace.’
Elentec is a leading Korean supplier of Li-ion battery packs for portable electronic devices to OEMs worldwide, to power cell phones, PDAs, camcorders and laptop computers. The company is experienced in producing injection-molded plastic parts, and has injection molding capability in its Suwon factory.
‘Elentec has already produced prototype car-tridges for DMFCC,’ explains Carl Kukkonen, CEO of both DMFCC and Viaspace. ‘With their close relationships with Korean OEMs, Elentec has proved to be a great partner. We plan to be working with them for a long time.’
Contact: Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Corporation, Pasadena , California, USA. Tel: +1 626 768 3375, www.dmfcc.com
Los Alamos progress with less expensive composite catalyst
Scientists at the Los Alamos National Lab in New Mexico have devel-
oped a new class of hydrogen fuel cell catalysts that exhibit promising activity and stability. The catalysts are made of low-cost, non-precious metals entrapped in a heteroatomic-polymer structure, instead of the platinum materials typically used in fuel cells.
Fuel Cells Bulletin December 2006
In research published recently in Nature [DOI: 10.1038/nature05118], Los Alamos scientists Rajesh Bashyam and Piotr Zelenay describe tests conducted on a cobalt-polypyrrole-carbon (Co-PPY-XC72) composite. The composite – consist-ing of cobalt, polymer and carbon – was devel-oped in research aimed at developing low-cost, non-Pt catalysts for the PEM fuel cell cathode.
While the catalyst’s electrical energy produc-ing activity is lower than that of Pt-based cata-lysts used in PEM fuel cells, the new material has already shown exceptional performance sta-bility for more than 100 h of continuous test-ing, which the researchers claim has not been previously achieved with non-precious metal catalysts in PEMFCs.
‘Besides being made of inexpensive and envi-ronmentally benign materials,’ says Zelenay, ‘the chief advantage of these composite catalysts for oxygen reduction is that they can operate in the acidic environment of the polymer electro-lyte fuel cell.’
Bashyam and Zelenay are investigating the nature of catalysts in a variety of composites. They are also part of a larger LANL effort aimed at developing new catalyst and electrode structures that could increase the current out-put from fuel cells.
Contact: Dr Piotr Zelenay, Project Leader, Materials Science & Technology Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA. Tel: +1 505 667 0197, Email: [email protected], www.lanl.gov/orgs/mst
Ford, BP open Michigan hydrogen station
In the US, Ford Motor Company, BP and the city of Taylor in Michigan
have marked an important milestone in their joint effort towards develop-ing a hydrogen economy, by opening a hydrogen station that will fuel a fleet of four Ford Focus fuel cell vehicles in use as full-time city vehicles.
‘With this station, we will continue our work to gain real-world experience in hydrogen fueling infrastructure and help build public awareness of this developing technology,’ says Maria Curry-Nkansah, BP’s hydrogen business development manager. ‘This program is an example of how government, energy companies and the automotive industry are working col-laboratively to develop alternative fuels.’
Ford currently has a fleet of 30 hydrogen-powered Focus fuel cell vehicles on the road as part of a worldwide, seven-city program to con-duct real-world testing of fuel cell technology. The fleet has accumulated more than 482 800
km (300 000 miles) since its inception. Having the fleet outside the confines of the company has also produced valuable feedback on servic-ing vehicles in the field. As a hydrogen infra-structure is developed and implemented for the fleet at each of its locations, lessons learned are helping to ensure that the customer and hydro-gen fueling interface is seamless and easy to use.
Contact: Karl Fiegenschuh, Research and Advanced Engineering, Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, Michigan, USA. Tel: +1 313 337 3125, Email: [email protected], www.ford.com/en/innovation/ technology/hydrogenTransport
Micro-reactors produce hydrogen for portables
Scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the US
have designed and built ceramic micro-reactors for on-site reforming of hydrocarbon fuels, such as propane, into hydrogen for use in fuel cells and other portable power sources.
In previous work, a team led by Paul Kenis, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Illinois, developed an integrated catalyst structure and placed it inside a stain-less steel housing, where it successfully stripped hydrogen from ammonia at temperatures up to 500°C. In their latest work, accepted for publi-cation in the journal Lab on a Chip and posted on its website, the researchers incorporated the catalyst structure within a ceramic housing, which enabled the steam reforming of propane at operating temperatures up to 1000°C. Using this housing, the researchers also demonstrated the successful decomposition of ammonia at similar temperatures.
According to Kenis, the high-temperature operation is essential for micro-reactors to operate at peak performance. When reforming hydrocar-bons, such as propane, temperatures above 800°C prevent the formation of soot that can foul the catalyst surface and reduce performance.
‘The performance of our integrated, high-temperature micro-reactors surpasses that of other fuel reformer systems,’ says Kenis ‘Our micro-reactors are superior in both hydrogen production and in long-term stability.’
Kenis and his group are now attempting to reform other higher hydrocarbon fuels, such as gasoline and diesel.
Contact: Dr Paul J.A. Kenis, Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA. Tel: +1 217 265 0523, Email: [email protected], www.scs.uiuc.edu/chem_eng/Faculty/kenis.html
Plug Power links with Russian firms to work on fuel cell technology
US-based Plug Power has signed an agreement with the National
Innovation Company New Energy Projects (NIC NEP) in Moscow to col-laborate on technology and market development efforts in Russia.
Norilsk Nickel MMC and the Russian Academy of Sciences launched NIC NEP in 2003 to advance hydrogen power and fuel cell research. As part of the agreement, Plug Power and NIC NEP will jointly develop commercial channels, supplier relationships, product manu-facturing capabilities, training and support services and the requisite infrastructure – all of which are necessary for the successful market adoption of fuel cell products in Russia.
Plug Power says that combining its propri-etary research with that carried out by NIC NEP could lead to broader, more accelerated developments in fuel cell technology. Based on both technical and market considerations, the companies expect to set out a comprehensive, prioritized road map to drive product develop-ment and technology delivery activities in line with Russian market requirements. The partners will also pursue a number of technology develop-ment projects based on a comprehensive analysis of the market and business considerations.
Targeted R&D areas include low-tempera-ture membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) and fuel cell stack technology, high-temperature MEA technology, solid oxide fuel cell develop-ment, desulfurization processes, fuel reforming, ultracapacitors, inverters and MEA production techniques.
Contact: Plug Power Inc, Latham, New York, USA. Tel: +1 518 782 7700, www.plugpower.com
Or contact: National Innovation Company New Energy Projects, Moscow, Russia. Tel: +7 495 787 2424, www.nic-nep.com
Funding supports HydroGen industrial fuel cell projects
In the US, HydroGen Corporation has signed an agreement with Ashta
Chemicals to install and operate a fuel cell demonstration power plant at the latter’s chlor-alkali manufacturing plant in Ashtabula, Ohio. HydroGen,
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