FuelCellsWorks

A great many international lecture highlights await the participants in the fuel cell specialist forum “f-cell” on September 28 / 29 in Stuttgart. Alongside European experts, numerous experts from the USA, Canada, and above all from Japan will be giving talks. For the first time, the program also includes a lecture from India.

Stuttgart (eos) – German and European programs support the development and market launch of fuel cells: Dr. Klaus Bonhoff, CEO of the National Organization for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology (NOW) in Germany, and Philippe Vannson, head of the project group for execution of the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking in Brussels, will report on the current situation during this year’s specialist forum “f-cell” on September 28 and 29 in Stuttgart. “After this, it will be particularly exciting to hear what is currently happening on other continents. The f-cell program has never been this international,” says Peter Sauber, chief executive of the Peter Sauber agency for trade fairs and conventions, which is organizing the f-cell for the ninth time together with the Wirtschaftsförderung Region Stuttgart, the regional economic promotion body.

From North America, for example, the CEO of the US Fuel Cell Council, Robert Rose, and CEO of the California Fuel Cell Partnership, Catherine Dunwoody, will be making appearances. They will report on the effects of the Obama administration on the American (fuel cell) industry and provide an up-to-date overview of the hydrogen-driven fuel cell vehicles on California’s roads. John W. Tak, president and CEO of the Canadian Canada Hydrogen & Fuel Cells association in Vancouver, will be presenting “Hydrogen Village”“ – a public-private partnership project that is driving forward the sustained commercialization of hydrogen and fuel cell applications in the Toronto region.

For the first time this year, there will also be a guest speaker from India at the “f-cell”: Dr. R.K. Malhotra, CEO for research and development at the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) in Haryana, India, will report on the efforts his country has been undertaking since 2006 within the framework of the “National Hydrogen Energy Roadmap” to convert a total of one million vehicles for operation with hydrogen.

Dr. Rittmar von Helmholt of General Motors, Katsuhiko Hirose of Toyota, Dr. Akihiro Iiyama of Nissan, Fabian Ottmann of Honda, and Dr. Hiroshia Tanaka of Daihatsu will all be talking about their progress in the development and testing of fuel cell vehicles.

In the field of stationary application, the lecture by Kunihiro Nishizaki of Tokyo Gas is expected to be of great interest. In Japan, one-kilowatt fuel cell heaters are already available on the market and deployed in approximately 3,000 private households. Industry consultant Takehiko Kato, president of the Interlink Corporation from Osaka, will explain in his lecture how marketing the technology worked in Japan.

Peter Sauber Agentur Messen und Kongresse GmbH
Sibel Kadioglu
Wankelstraße 1
70563 Stuttgart
Tel.:  0711-656960-51
E-mail: f-cell@messe-sauber.de
Internet: www.f-cell.de

FREMONT, Calif.–Oorja Protonics, the leader in ultra-powerful liquid methanol fuel cell technology, today announced general availability of its Model H OorjaPac™ on-board battery charging system. The Model H can be refueled in less than one minute, 60% faster than its predecessor. By achieving a significant engineering achievement and eliminating waste water generated by the fuel cell, Oorja has succeeded in doubling the fuel (methanol) storage capacity. Additionally, the Model H is 25% smaller than previous models, enabling it to be retrofitted easily on a wider range of material handling vehicles. The Model H substantially increases shift productivity and accelerates return-on-investment.

“OorjaPac considerably reduces the refueling time for forklifts, pallet loaders and other material handling vehicles, immediately increasing productivity and reducing downtime associated with battery changing,” said Sanjiv Malhotra, Founder and CEO of Oorja Protonics. “With the Model H, we are excited to continue leading the next generation of fuel cell technology for the material handling industry.”

OorjaPac addresses low vehicle runtime and operational cost challenges facing material handling fleet managers, OorjaPac eliminates the time and labor costs associated with battery swapping and reduces the number of batteries required, resulting in significant productivity and equipment savings. Continuously trickle-charging the on-board battery in a material handling vehicle, OorjaPac ensures the battery never reaches a state of deep discharge. Battery charge and power are maintained at high levels and the battery is not subject to heat damage caused during recharging, increasing battery life and reducing battery maintenance needs.

OorjaPac’s reduction of electricity costs, battery and forklift maintenance, green house gas emissions, and accidents from battery acid spills leads to an array of infrastructure, maintenance, environmental and safety savings.

The Model H has been evaluated by a number of leading customers during the early part of 2009 and it is currently being sold commercially and shipped to several customers in the food and beverage and automotive industry. For more information on the Model H OorjaPac, visit www.oorjaprotonics.com.

About Oorja Protonics

Oorja Protonics designs, develops, and manufacturers the most powerful direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) in the world. In development for three years and on its fifth generation of technology, Oorja’s products are customer proven, reliable, affordable, and available today. Oorja’s customers include Fortune 50 companies in retail, automotive, logistics, and food processing. Founded in 2005, Oorja is a privately-held company and is backed by venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and DAG Ventures. For more information, visit www.oorjaprotonics.com.

Professor Yitung Chen shows the certificate won by he and his former students for their research.
Photo by Mike Kelly.

Just prior to a series of UNLV conferences on energy, university researchers have placed their work in the national spotlight.

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers awarded mechanical engineering and Center for Energy Research professor Yitung Chen, postdoctoral scholar Taide Tan and master’s graduate Zhuoqi Chen a “best paper” award for their work in the field of renewable energy.

“It’s very nice to be recognized,” Yitung Chen said.

The research, which was conducted as part of UNLV’s larger Solar Hydrogen Generation Research project, was done to further the exploration of clean hydrogen production and the efficiency of a particle receiver.

“[The paper was] a renewable energy project which aimed to design an efficient and feasible solid particle solar receiver for the solar-driven, water-splitting, thermo-chemical…cycles to produce hydrogen,” Tan said.

UNLV researchers worked in cooperation with Sandia National Laboratories in Arizona to create a scale model of the particle receiver for experimentation.

Yitung Chen said the ultimate goal of this type of research is to create an instrument that would allow a less expensive, zero-pollution method of hydrogen production.

At the third ASME conference on July 22, Yitung Chen picked up a certificate and a $500 monetary prize given by the Advanced Energy Systems Division of ASME.

“This is a very important conference,” Tan said. “There are many scientists and researchers from all around the world [who attend].”

The paper was originally presented at the second International ASME Conference on Energy Sustainability in 2008 alongside more than 250 other research articles on a variety of energy topics. Yitung Chen said he hopes the award will help bring attention to the research being done at UNLV and around the Las Vegas Valley.

“Las Vegas is the most important solar energy resource in the area,” he said.
He added that he would like this type of research brought to the national attention to stop cuts to hydrogen research funding.

President Barack Obama’s administration attempted to zero out hydrogen funding after worries over the high cost of hydrogen cars production and lack of sufficient fuel stations.

“If the government thinks this is important,” Yitung Cheng said, “we’ll keep working on it.”

If not, he believes researchers will move into other, better-funded areas.

ON THE WEB:
Solar Hydrogen Generation Research:
shgr.unlv.edu/v2/

An illustration shows the hydrogen refueling facility proposed for an unused parking lot owned by Toyota.

When Shell representatives breezed into a Torrance Planning Commission meeting early last month, they expected quick approval for a state-of-the-art hydrogen refueling facility.

Instead, they were rapidly rebuffed.

Chairman Richard Browning chided the company for doing virtually no community outreach, especially to the residents of the north Torrance tract neighborhood directly adjacent the project.

The one resident closest to the proposed facility fretted about his property values.

And some older residents in the area, unaware of the groundbreaking technology involved, apparently had visions of volatile hydrogen bombs, burning zeppelins and other wildly inaccurate perceptions.

The company returned to the drawing board, at least when it came to its public relations approach.

The result Thursday was an elaborate presentation on Toyota’s Torrance campus for residents and city leaders alike complete with fruit, cheese and crackers and rides in the high-tech hydrogen-powered vehicles that are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece.

The modest facility is proposed for an unused half-acre parking lot owned by Toyota at West 190th Street and Gramercy Place.

Part of a pilot project with Toyota, the federal government and South Coast Air Quality Management District, the gas stationlike facility will operate for at least three years.”It is not like a conventional gas station where we will see hundreds of thousands of gallons (of gas pumped) a day and hundreds of cars a day,” said James Volk, business development manager for Shell Hydrogen. “This is quiet, very quiet.”

Only about a dozen vehicles a day are expected to refuel at the completely automated facility’s four pumps, which will be accessible 24 hours a day. The facility will dispense the equivalent of 50 gallons of gas daily, although that will double within a year.

It will also boast a modest education center where perhaps 30 schoolchildren at a time will learn about the clean-

burning technology. Hydrogen vehicles emit only water vapor and heat, not polluting exhaust fumes.

Both Toyota and Honda, which have the headquarters of their North American operations in Torrance, are investing heavily in the technology.

The two companies, which already have similar facilities on their campuses, envision that in fewer than 10 years almost 50,000 Californians could be driving such vehicles. That will require 50 to 100 such stations; currently only 26 exist in the state and all but a half-dozen are private.

To accommodate the anticipated growth, the plan is to build 46 strategically located stations in the state on what’s being dubbed the “hydrogen highway” at a cost of $180 million over the next five years.

The reason automakers are interested is simple: fuel cell vehicles are not only nonpolluting, they are at least twice as efficient as gasoline-powered cars; the latest generation of vehicles get the equivalent of 80 miles to the gallon and can cruise up to 500 miles on a single fill.

But the Torrance location is seen as a demonstration project rather than a busy station. Eventually, hydrogen will be dispensed at conventional gas stations.

However, the site is seen as a “perfect location” because it can be tied into an existing hydrogen pipeline.

Within 500 feet of the site are about 110 homes built in 1951 and now sandwiched between 190th Street and the San Diego (405) Freeway. About 35 of those homes are immediately adjacent the site.

The closest belongs to Chris Cognac and his family, whose yard backs onto the property. The education facility, not the pumping station, is closest to his home.

“I feel it’s going to affect my property values,” said the 10-year resident of the area.

The reason he feels that way is not because he opposes the technology – in fact, he’s in favor of it. But he fears some people may have misconceptions about it and that could affect his home’s value.

Indeed, Tom Marshall, who grew up in the tract one street over from where Cognac now lives, was dispatched to the meeting by his 87-year-old mom, who initially didn’t like the sound of it. She has lived in her home since it was built more than 50 years ago.

But, it turns out, hydrogen fuel is actually safer in some respects than potentially explosive gasoline because of its intrinsic properties, experts contend.

And the Hindenburg exploded back in 1937, research has found, not because of the hydrogen that was initially blamed for the disaster, but because of its highly flammable fabric outer cover.

“I’m going to go back and say it’s a wonderful facility,” Marshall, a high school teacher, said of the report he plans to give his mother.

“I personally think this is better than a parking lot,” he added. “There’s people there, it cuts down crime, there’s positive traffic there.”

Cognac is unconvinced, but concedes he wouldn’t have such an issue if he were just a little further – five homes or so – away from it.

In any event, the facility is tentatively scheduled to go back to the commission Aug.19. If approved, it will likely be operational before year’s end.