{"id":7981,"date":"2013-07-04T12:59:08","date_gmt":"2013-07-04T19:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=7981"},"modified":"2013-07-04T14:19:10","modified_gmt":"2013-07-04T21:19:10","slug":"fuel-cell-progress-in-britain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/fuel-cell-progress-in-britain\/","title":{"rendered":"Fuel Cell Progress in Britain"},"content":{"rendered":"

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado released a document<\/a> last year on the viability of fuel cells for various applications, including transportation.\u00a0 The National Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle Learning Demonstration Final Report,<\/em> \u201canalyzed data from more than 500,000 individual vehicle trips covering 3.6 million miles traveled and more than 152,000 [kilograms] hydrogen produced or dispensed.\u201d\u00a0 The agency tested 180 vehicles over a six-year period.<\/p>\n

With United States Department of Energy expectations that fuel cell powered vehicles could achieve:<\/p>\n

\u2022 250-mile driving range<\/p>\n

\u2022 2,000-hour fuel cell durability<\/p>\n

\u2022 $3\/gallon gasoline equivalent (gge) hydrogen production cost (based on volume production)<\/p>\n

At least two fuel cell manufacturers report results exceeding these numbers, so the major impediment to wide-spread implementation of this clean technology seems to be lack of an effective distribution network.\u00a0 The NREL lists 54 existing H2 sites, with 15 projected for the near future, nowhere near the estimated 159,000 outlets (including convenience stores) that sell gasoline and other petroleum products.<\/p>\n

Hydrogen distribution can take many forms, though, and only really works from a \u201cgreen\u201d standpoint if the total processing and distribution do not require the use of \u201cdirty\u201d fuels or exceed the energy expected to be derived from the hydrogen.<\/p>\n

1. On-site hydrogen production through natural gas reformation<\/p>\n

2. On-site hydrogen production through water electrolysis<\/p>\n

3. Delivered liquid hydrogen<\/p>\n

4. Delivered compressed hydrogen through tube-trailers<\/p>\n

5. Delivered compressed hydrogen through a fixed pipeline;<\/p>\n

Two British firms have promising results that could make it worthwhile to increase H2<\/sub> production and expand the distribution network.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

ACAL fuel cell and self-contained energy source<\/p><\/div>\n

ACAL Energy<\/a>, a chemical engineering company, has announced test runs over 10,000 hours, equivalent to 300,000 miles of driving, for one of its PEM (proton exchange membrane) fuel cells.\u00a0 This is \u201ccomparable to the best light-weight diesel engines under such test conditions, according to ACAL, and \u201cfar exceeds\u201d DOE\u2019s 2017 target of 5,000 hours or 150,000 road miles.\u00a0 ACAL\u2019s FlowCath\u00ae technology does not use expensive platinum catalysts and seems not to have degraded during its long run, much better than DOE\u2019s expected 10-percent loss of its shorter run time.<\/p>\n

ACAL Energy has tested its \u201cproprietary design fuel cell\u201d with \u201can industry standard stress test protocol with a start-stop at the end of each cycle.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0The cycle was repeated 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and simulated a vehicle trip with frequent stops, starts and a highway cruise. The test accelerates aging and stress wear on car engines and fuel cell systems over time.<\/p>\n

Instead of employing a platinum catalyst as in more conventional fuel cells, ACAL Energy uses FlowCath\u00ae, a patented liquid catalyst that acts as both catalyst and coolant while reducing the cost of the system and eliminating most of the known decay mechanisms.<\/p>\n