Hydrogen News

Munich Airport

The hydrogen project H2argemuc at the airport of Munich is to be closed, as we reported already last summer (see „Munich“ in No. 3/06). After a two year phase for planning, getting approvals, and building the project members had tested different technologies for producing and using hydrogen. With support from the Bavarian ministry for economy the twelve partners proved the suitability of hydrogen for everyday purposes. On 5. May 1999 they opened the first public hydrogen filling station worldwide at the airport Munich, the second station at all in Germany (see „Munich“ in No. 3/99). The hydrogen project H2argemuc was supported with a total of 18 M€ from state funds. The project partners provided the same sum from own funds.

The results gained will now be transferred to other hydrogen projects with other partnerships. The plans of the former project partners for the future are focused on the installation of a hydrogen infrastructure. Plans include tests with carmakers of a small series of city buses up to the building of a hydrogen fuel infrastructure.

(ArgeMUC press release of 12. December 2006)

Frankfurt filling station

After two years of preparation a hydrogen filling station was opened on 17. November in the frame of the Zero Regio project near the gate of the Hoechst Industrial Compound near Frankfurt am Main. The project „Zero Regio“, which is financially supported by the European Union and coordinated by Infraserv Hoechst, brings together 16 European companies and research institutes from four countries. The project started two years ago; in two European agglomerations, namely in the Rhine Main-area and in the region of Lombardy around Mantova, infrastructure systems for hydrogen fuel were installed and integrated into conventional filling stations. During the three years to come the infrastructure and test fleets of fuel cell vehicles will be tested.

In the Hoechst Industrial Compound about 30 million m³ of hydrogen are available per year as by-product from chlorine production. For the supply of the Agip operated filling station near the southern border of the compound a 1.7 km long pipeline had to be built. Hydrogen is compressed to 900 bar using a new compression technology be Linde for the first time in the world. Filling can be done with gas under 350 or 700 bar pressure. There is also the option to fill up with liquid hydrogen.

Wind power and hydrogen

A wind / hydrogen infrastructure can provide hydrogen from clear sources and at the same time contribute to a more regular feed of power from wind parks into the grid. On 2. November 2006 representatives of economy, science, and politics from a number of German states founded a working group „Wind / Hydrogen Infrastructure“ in cooperation with the federal ministry for transport. Participants are from the North German states of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg- Western Pomerania, and Brandenburg. Other representatives of German industry have indicated their interest in participation. The objective is to intertwine the activities in the different states and to get an agreement on a common roadmap for the development of an economically relevant wind / hydrogen infrastructure for the use of sustainably produced hydrogen. The participants of the working group plan a close cooperation with the Strategy Council of the federal government as well as with the economy and ecology ministries of the north German state governments with the aim of a „North German Wind / Hydrogen Alliance“ politically supported by the states. A considerable part of the energy generation in the north German states comes from wind power, and both on land and offshore there are optimal conditions for further expansion of wind energy.

(Press release of 10. November 2006)

Clean alliance

Representatives of the cities of Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Hamburg, London, and the Canadian province of British Columbia have signed an agreement in Brussels indicating their plan to buy hydrogen city buses jointly in the future. The new network for an attractive and emission free public transport is to guarantee to the vehicle makers the necessary number of sales which they need for the economical and technical maturity of serially produced hydrogen buses.

Beijing

The first hydrogen filling station in Beijing started operation on 8. November. It is to supply buses that will shuttle participants and attendants to the Olympic Games 2008. BP operates the station, the technology comes from Air Products.

(Air Products press release of 8. November 2006)

Fuel Cells

Volkswagen

In late October Volkswagen announced an important progress in the development of a fuel cell for automotive purposes. It is about a new type of fuel cell membrane operating at 120 instead of 80 °C. This is achieved by using phosphoric acid for proton conduction. The new cell is associated with a much simpler cooling system and water management. New electrodes were developed which do not permit the water generated by the fuel cell to enter the electrodes and dilute the phosphoric acid. The fuel cell works reliably and stable. Volkswagen plans to optimise the system and to operate it in research vehicles around 2010. Maybe in 2020 there could be the first VW with an affordable fuel cell drive for everyday use.

Study

The world's leading fuel cell industry associations, namely USFCC, H2FCC (Canada), Fuel Cell Commercialization Conference of Japan and Fuel Cell Europe, released the results of their fourth annual global survey of the fuel cell industry. The figures are based on a voluntary survey done during September and October. All parameters indicate a significant increase. Sales were up by 7 % to 353 M$, research and development spending by 11 % to 796 M$. The number of employees rose by 12 %. The figures suggest that investments in fuel cell R&D and manufacturing has started shifting away from Europe to USA, Canada and China.

(Press release of Fuel Cell Europe of 27. November 2006)

Sale

BASF Future Business GmbH from Ludwigshafen, a subsidiary of BASF, ha bought PEMEAS GmbH. PEMEAS was founded in April 2004 as outsourcing of the former fuel cell activities at Hoechst. At this time PEMEAS works on projects for fuel cell use like portable electronics, housing applications, or uninterrupted power supply. The best-known products of the company are membrane electrode assemblies (MEA) for high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells. These modules work between 120 und 180 °C more safely and economically than conventional low temperature fuel cells.

(PEMEAS press release of 14. December 2006)

Instructive

Heliocentris Fuel Cells AG from Berlin and the Canadian Angstrom Power Inc. have entered a partnership for joint development and marketing of fuel cell learning systems. While Angstrom will provide the fuel cell stacks and the data acquisition technology Heliocentris will care for product development, system integration, and distribution.

(Heliocentris press release of 17. November 2006)

Chargers

The Taiwanese Antig company has developed a methanol charger for mobile phones that could be in the marked in the second half of 2007, according to company statements. The device delivers 2 W of power from a direct methanol fuel cell. At first it will be distributed in small numbers for test purposes. Mass production will start in late 2007. The initial price will be 375 €, but is expected to drop rapidly by more economic production and larger volumes. (PC-Welt, 8. December 2006)

Another two or three years the customer will have to wait for a similar device from Samsung with similar characteristics. A mature inner structure of the fuel cell stacks, using nanomaterials, will lead to a very efficient combustion. A special water management makes it possible to use concentrated methanol. The developers say that the system will thus deliver high power from a small volume. But for the time being they must make it smaller and lighter.

Energy and Climate

Climbing to the top

Before 2010 the USA will no longer be the greatest CO₂ emitters on earth. The Chinese will take over on the basis of their stunning economical growth. This forecast is taken from the World Energy Outlook of the International Energy Agency (IEA) published early November. It further says that until 2030 the global emissions of the greenhouse gas will reach the value of 40 Gt, 55 % above the present level. A particular danger for the future climate development is seen in uncontrolled greenhouse gas emissions from threshold countries like China or India. If the present trend simply continues the energy supply of the future will be „dirty, insecure, and expensive“, according to IEA head Claude Mandil during the presentation of the report in London. Since the last major revision of the IEA forecasts in the World Energy Outlook 2004 the picture of energy supply has changed considerably. The situation on the energy markets has become more difficult. The prices for oil and gas were about three or four times those of 2002.

Politics

Parliamentary Evening

A parliamentary evening organised by DWV and the Senate of Hamburg with additional support from the Forum for Future Energies was held on 21. November in the representation of the state of Hamburg in Berlin. Attendance was high, the statements interesting, discussion persisted for quite some time, and there was agreement: we need hydrogen and fuel cells, we need them soon, and the present progress is encouraging.

Hamburg's environment senator Dr. Michael Freytag as host described in his opening speech the general significance of the topic and its role in the policy of the senate of Hamburg. Hamburg has already a very active private initiative and now with HyCity also a state instrument like other states. The federal investment program was dealt with by Ulrich Kasparick, state secretary in the federal ministry for transport. The federal government expects from the support of the hydrogen and fuel cell economy to accelerate the market development which is important for the German economy. The objective is to reach the market threshold for hydrogen and fuel cell applications within the next ten years.

For the strategy council of the federal government Werner Tillmetz described the fundamental political objectives, its role, and the work done so far in the context of the innovation program. Hydrogen and fuel cells are not just an option for the distant future but can provide a contribution for the solution of the energy and climate problem already in the short term, mainly due to the high efficiency of the fuel cell.

These positions were supported by representatives of the gas industry (Linde), energy providers (Vattenfall), transport utilities (Hamburger Hochbahn) and fuel suppliers (Deutsche Shell). This program block was chaired by Marianne Haug, chairwoman of the Forum for Future Energies who in the past had important posts at the World Bank and the International Energy Agency. She remarked that the German innovation program and the activities about it work almost as well as corresponding programs in Japan — which can be considered as a great praise.

Back in the boat

The Federal Ministry for Economy and Technology (BMWi) has notified the International Energy Agency that Germany will again take part in the Hydrogen Implementing Agreement (HIA). Germany will be represented by the Research Centre Juelich, program group STE. STE head Juergen Friedrich Hake was nominated by BMWi as ExCo member.

Further Reading

The Freedom Element: Living with Hydrogen

by Addison Bain; Blue Note Books (Cocoa Beach, Florida, USA), 302 Seiten, paperback, ISBN 1-878398-97-0 (english)

Few people on earth probably had as much to do with hydrogen as Addison Bain. He was a key figure in the installation of the hydrogen infrastructure of the Kennedy Space Center of NASA in Florida and elsewhere. For many years he was a top address in the world for safe hydrogen handling. This is about one half of the content of the book. The other half is about the Hindenburg accident in Lakehurst in 1937. Bain has become known by several publications disproving the popular position that the airship was destroyed due to the large amounts of hydrogen on board. This matter is discussed in the book in even more detail than earlier.

What else we have found ...

Handy

From Süddeutsche Zeitung on 18. November in a news item on the new BMW Hydrogen 7: „The problem is just: the fingers of one hand are enough to list the H2 filling stations in Europe“.

Remark: Shall we congratulate the writer or call the ambulance? He must have a truly remarkable hand. According to the publicly available survey on www.h2stations.org there are more than 40 stations in Europe now, about half of them in Germany (though most of them are not public).