Hydrogen News

Zero Emission Ship steaming across Hamburg

The naming ceremony for the world's first passenger ship running on fuel cells, FCS Alsterwasser, was performed on 29. August by Hamburg's senator for the environment, Mrs. Antje Hajduk, in the presence of Wolfgang Tiefensee, federal minister for transport, building, and city development. FCS stands for Fuel Cell Ship. Two fuel cell systems delivering 48 kW each together with a lead-gel battery were integrated by Proton Motors into the ship to provide hybride driving power without emissions. The systems were certified by Germanischer Lloyd for operation in ships. The European Union supports the operation of the ship in scheduled service on the river Alster in Hamburg until 2010 with a total of 2.4 M€. Apart from Proton Motors eight other partners support the project with know-how. The project is coordinated by the city of Hamburg and started in November 2006.

Every two or three days the ship must moor at a filling station which was especially built for more than 1 M€. Here hydrogen is stored as cryogenic liquid. For filling it is compressed under high pressure and pumped into the tanks comprising 50 l within 12 minutes.

H2-Expo in Hamburg

The H2 Expo was held in Hamburg on 22. and 23. October. The City of Hamburg took the opportunity to present itself as protagonist for climate protection and clean energy. H2 Expo visitors had could travel a bit on the river Alster and the channels across the city on the clean steamer (see above).

HyCity, the group of the relevant Hamburg companies and researchers plus the senate of the city, presented its projects. One of them is a forklift running on hydrogen and fuel cells, others are a few vehicles running on the airport of Hamburg. Another attraction was the latest stage of development of a transporter by Wilhelm Karmann GmbH running with a fuel cell from Proton Motors.

The next H2 Expo will be held in October 2010.

Filling station in Berlin now equipped for 700 bar

On 26 September the 700 bar hydrogen filling station of TOTAL in Berlin was opened with the filling of the fuel cell car Hydro-Gen4 by GM/Opel. For the first time in the world at a public station an infrared interface was used for data communication between filling station and vehicle. Ramping up the station to 700 bar was done by the Linde Group and makes it the most modern and efficient of its kind in the world. The basic plant on the ground of the public bus depot Heerstrasse has been there for a while already; it comprises an innovative cooling system (Ultra Low Cold Fill) for precooling of the hydrogen to shorten the filling time. The station can fill up vehicles with five kg hydrogen gas in only three minutes.

(Press release of 26. September 2008)

Head of Sixt car rental demands hydrogen infrastructure

Erich Sixt, head of Germany's greatest car rental company Sixt, demands the installation of a hydrogen filling station network in Germany. Sixt told Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung on 7. September: „Politicians must finally bring themselves to throw their weight behind a certain technology.“ He said the network of filling stations were too small: „We need more financial support.“ And: „Change can only come with subsidies.“ Hydrogen cars would sell better when the network were present. He does not have a very positive opinion of battery cars, at least not for the Sixt customer, because they have a range of only 100 km. „But Sixt customers drive about 300 km per day.“

Fuel Cells

New research facility opened at Duisburg

About 200 guests were present to celebrate the opening of the new „Test, Application, and Assembly Center“ (TAZ) of the Center for Fuel Cell Technology at Duisburg on 15. September. The new test center unites production know-how and process technology with latest installations, tools, and robotics. TAZ provides the possibility to present the technical realisation of the whole fuel cell production chain under one roof. Christa Thoben, minister of economy of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, commented during the opening ceremony: „The many successes in the field of fuel cell and hydrogen technology in North Rhine-Westphalia will be presented in 2010 in the frame of the 18. World Hydrogen Energy Conference at Essen.“ In order to meet the expectations set in the conference a new framework project is being made, the NRW Hydrogen HyWay, extending from Aachen over Cologne, Dusseldorf, and Essen to the North of the Ruhr area. More than 40 new project ideas have been developed under this project roof which are now getting shape in more detail.

f-cell in Stuttgart feels push for fuel cell technology

Fuel cell technology takes off: this was the impression of speakers and exhibitors during the eighth international fuel cell expert forum „f-cell“ held on 29. and 30. September at Stuttgart. Some 650 visitors from 20 countries met to gather information about the latest from research and application of this environmentally friendly technology in 68 presentations, some of them in parallel sessions, and at 47 exhibition booths. The share of international guests this year was 20 %. One key topic of the forum was the National Innovation Program Hydrogen and Fuel Cells (NIP).

A tour of the simultaneous exhibition gave the same impression: Fuel cell business gains attraction. The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE at Freiburg together with VDE Beratung will offer advice on standard design and certification of portable and micro fuel cells. A few handy devices are already in the market providing power off the grid. Very small fuel cells are already a competition for batteries.

The next f-cell will be held again in September in Stuttgart 2009.

Aircraft running on fuel cell alone

On 30. September 2008 the German Aerospace Center (DLR) presented the world's first manned aircraft which is able to start with a fuel cell drive. The experimental aircraft developed jointly by the DLR institute for Technical Thermodynamics and Lange Aviation GmbH under the name Antares DLR-H2 will make its first flight before the end of this year, using energy from the fuel cell system on board. Other prototypes needed a battery for the peak energy demand during the start phase. The high tech experimental platform Antares DLR-H2 is based on the one-seated gliding plane with auxiliary motor Antares 20E built by Lange. The span is 20 m, the weight 660 kg. The primary energy source for the Antares DLR-H2 is a fuel cell system especially developed by the DLR institute for Technical Thermodynamics. Two additional containers fitted under the reinforced wings house it together with the hydrogen tank. It delivers electrical energy for Lange Lange Aviation's drive train comprising power electronics, motor, and propeller.

(DLR press release of 30. September 2008)

SFC sells 10,000^th fuel cell

On 8. October SFC Smart Fuel Cell from Brunnthal announced the sale of the 10.000th EFOY fuel cell. The device is already offered by 37 mobile home makers as either standard or additional equipment. There are four types ranging between 600 and 1600 Wh per day being used on boats, in mountain cabins or holiday homes. The methanol is available in either 5 or 10 l packs. Since September there is also a Pro series for commercial customers who need off grid energy.

(Press release of 8. October 2008)

Toshiba announces fuel cell phone

Within the next five months the Toshiba electronics company plans to market a mobile phone getting its energy from a fuel cell, according to a report by the technology portal Tech-On referring to company members. Market introduction was said to be within the current fiscal year which at Toshiba ends in March 2009. The Direct Methanol Fuel Cell is integrated into the phone and provided energy, Toshiba was quoted. It will be used in the model W55T. The fuel cell is under the keyboard, making the phone a bit thicker, and charges a Lithium ion battery. The running time of the phone will double. Methanol is provided by Toshiba in 50 ml units. This will be enough to „fill up “ the phone about ten times. The fuel is 99,5 % methanol. Toshiba was able to lower the price per unit to 100 Yen (0,72 €).

Callux: light house project for stationary fuel cells in NIP

On 23. September the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development and nine commercial partners started the greatest practical test of fuel cell home heating appliances in Germany, called Callux. Industry and government will invest one billion Euro in the framework of the National Innovation Program Hydrogen and Fuel Cell, coordinated by NOW GmbH. Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee is convinced: „Fuel cells are an important option for a sustainable and economical home energy supply. The ‚lighthouse project Callux‘ is the start of an exemplary and practically relevant initiative with industrial partners; it is one of the world's greatest field tests for the use of fuel cells in buildings." Partners are ZSW as coordinator and EnBW, E.ON Ruhrgas, EWE, MVV, VNG, BAXI Innotech, Hexis, Vaillant, and Viessmann.

Until 2012 German energy companies will install a total of some 800 fuel cell appliances from different manufacturers at pioneer customers. Callux, a word formed from the Latin words for heat and light, means that the expenditures for test plants will grow by a factor of ten. NOW manager Kai Klinder explains the function of the „lighthouse“: „The comparably high numbers will enable the supplier companies, which are also part of the program, to develop plants and structures for the manufacture of components. So we can overcome the cumbersome individual production, create the basis for serial production, and cut costs.“

Energy and Climate

Highest temperatures since 1300 years

It is very likely that the temperatures on the northern hemisphere of the earth are as high as they have not been for the past 1300 years at least. Climatologist Michael Mann from Pennsylvania State University is a specialist to reconstruct the climate of the past. Since thermometers were unknown in the past he uses substitutes: tree rings, corals, stalactites from caves, sediments from sea and lakes, and ice cores. This is the basis of his statement that it was not as warm as it is on the northern hemisphere for 1300 years; using the tree ring data as well the period grows even to 1700 years.

(M. E. Mann et al., PNAS 105 (2008) 13252-7)

Boiling arctic ocean

Rising temperatures in the polar areas make the arctic permafrost ground melt so that the methane stored in it can escape. This was observed in an unprecedented and dramatical way in September by a Russian / Swedish arctic expedition on board of the research ship Jacob Smirnitskyi. The sea around the ship appeared to boil, reported the participants. It appeared that somebody somewhere had opened a huge soda water bottle. „We could detect the chimneys of methane bubbles by means of the echo sounder and seismic instruments“, one of the scientists describes. This was the first time that the alarming process of the bubbling sea was observed directly by researchers.

(DER SPIEGEL online, 25. September 2008)

Politics

Start event of European fuel cell and hydrogen JTI

The first official meeting of the participants to the „EU Joint Undertaking for Fuel Cells and Hydrogen“, also known as JTI (Joint Technological Initiative), was held in Brussels in October. JT participants are the European Commission, the European industry represented by an especially founded association, and research, represented by a similar association. Industry has the lead since the task of the JTI is to bring the technology and the products to the market. The JTI is an instrument of a novel type which has been created by the EU in the context of the 7. research and development framework program in order to promote certain important fields even more, both financially and politically.

Further Reading

Safety Considerations on Liquid Hydrogen

by Karl Verfondern; Schriften des Forschungszentrums Jülich, Reihe Energie & Umwelt, volume 10, Jülich 2008. ISBN 978-3-89336- 530-2, 167 pages

This publication is a spin-off from the summer school on hydrogen safety which has been held three times by the University of Ulster in the framework of the European Network of Excellency HySafe. Of particular interest is the closing chapter on the behaviour at accidental release. Formation and spread of pools as well as evaporation and combustion are studied experimentally and theoretically. The reader finds many data here which are difficult to access when he tries to find them on his own.

Hydrogen as a Future Energy Carrier

by Andreas Züttel, Andreas Borgschulte, Louis Schlapbach (editors); Wiley, Weinheim 2008. ISBN 978-3-527-30817-0, 427 pages

While there is a lot of literature about the use of hydrogen as energy carrier there is a marked gap when you ask for a comprehensive standard book. The three editors have the merit that they tried it nevertheless. The focus of the book is clearly on the scientific side. Under the title „Properties of Hydrogen“ the reader finds extensive discussions of the equation of state and the Joule-Thomson inversion curve, of the interaction with surfaces, dissociation, and recombination. The part on „Hydrogen Storage“ comprises a wealth of information about hydrides and adsorbed states.

H2 – mobility of the future

Bayerische Motoren-Werke (BMW), Munich, Germany

This is the much praised school material by BMW on the topic of mobility based on hydrogen in a new edition. The contents have been brought up to date and revised. The folder contains 55 copy templates with practical information on central questions of sustainable energy and hydrogen. Numerous graphics, pictures, diagrams, and tables complement the information. The folder is available for free from BMW (also in English!).