FuelCellsWorks

The Department of Energy announced today a job opening for a chemical or environmental engineer at DOE Headquarters in Washington, D.C. This position is located in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)—Office of Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and Infrastructure Technologies (HFCIT) Program. The call for applications closes September 14, 2009.

The selected candidate will serve as a Technology Development Manager on a team responsible for fuel cell technology development, focusing on polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, but also including other fuel cells, such as alkaline and solid oxide fuel cells.

This position offers the selected candidate flexibility and freedom to explore many possibilities through exciting and challenging career opportunities. By joining DOE, you can hone your career skills while helping to secure the U.S. future and make a real difference in the lives of Americans and people around the world.

Key Requirements

• U.S. Citizenship is required.
• Background and/or Security Investigation is required.
• This position is in the bargaining unit covered under NTEU.
• All education must be verified by transcripts. Copies are acceptable.
• Submit online applications and supplemental documents by the closing date.
• This position requires some overnight travel.

For more information and to apply online, access the job posting at USAJobs.

“It’s been a real education,” says the CHFCA’s Ron Harmer, in reference to how battery recharging characteristics have been altered to suit the hilly driving topography of B. C.

Being in Canada has also exposed the Focuses to cold weather conditions, which have traditionally been the bane of hydrogen fuel cell operation. That’s because the fuel cell by-product — water — is apt to freeze in the fuel cell stack, destroying it through expansion. Researchers at the NRC centre in Vancouver have partially tackled the problem by retaining the heat in the stack with a heat retention shield. “The stack is so dense, it retains heat overnight in temperatures down to -10C,” Cook says.

But the hitch regarding below-zero starting has still not been entirely solved, adding fuel to the argument for a continuation of the test program. The $9-million budget for the Vancouver Fuel Cell Vehicle program officially comes to an end on March 31, 2010.

“We hope the program continues, and Ford has expressed an interest in going forward with it,” Cook says. The researchers had expected more problems with the cars — for instance, they anticipated replacing the fuel cell stacks after three years, but there have been no failures so far.

“So, it makes a lot of sense to keep on testing these vehicles to find the problems,” Cook says.

I have seen the future, and it is today.

The Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car Tour recently stopped in Portland, and it let us devotees get some behind-the-wheel experience.

Hydrogen fuel-cell cars are the way to go. As a zero-emission vehicle, they will save us from air pollution and greenhouse gases. They refuel with hydrogen liquid much like our current gasoline-guzzling cars.

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, but it’s always bonded to other elements, forming water, natural gas and other fossil fuels. In Oregon, hydrogen can be made from wood/biomass waste.

The drive and ride of these cars is a silent dream, with no noise. Even though they are silent, it’s just like driving a regular automatic-transmission car.

The cars look much the same.The difference is in the mechanics, an electric engine under the hood.They use a fuel-cell stack to create electricity instead of requiring a battery that must be recharged. This is the revolutionary change or paradigm shift.Combustion engines are so last century.

TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA / AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Honda’s FCX Clarity, foreground, and Nissan’s X-Trail FCV, rear.

I first drove the Honda FCX Clarity, the only car that is actually available to the public, in Southern California by lease for about $20 a day or $600 a month for three years. It’s by far the best that I drove, with a futuristic dashboard panel and new bio-fabric on the car seats. It was a noiseless dream to drive.

Then I drove the Nissan X-Trail FCV, also silent, but like an automatic SUV. Their point is to show the “future” cars are like current cars, and they did.

Thirdly, I drove the Chevy Equinox FCV, also like an SUV. Chevy should be doubling up to get this car to the masses so they don’t slide under the rug, but I was told by the engineer they hadproblems to work out.

Chevy/GM is having a huge challenge. Why don’t they just do fuel-cell cars, and get going?Honda is leasing their car. Why can’t Chevy do something? Is Honda smarter than Chevy?

I want America to win Car Wars.

Finally I drove the Toyota FCHV-adv, SUV-like, and nice. I have been very partial to Toyota because I have a Camry, but they are not out there yet. These last three and the other cars on the tour were concept cars (not generally available).

It’s good that the cars look very much like today’s cars, because people might feel a little nervous driving a space-age- looking car. To bring these vehicles to market, automotive and energy companies must meet consumer expectations for convenience, ease of use and familiarity.

Most vehicles average 100 to 150 miles on a tank of hydrogen. American consumers expect cars to average 300 miles before refueling.

Fuel cells must last the lifetime of a vehicle, about 150,000 miles. Hydrogen fueling stations must be convenient and plentiful, making it easy to fill a fuel-cell vehicle near home, work or school.

Refueling stations can produce hydrogen fuel on site, then a compressor compacts the hydrogen molecules, and high-pressure tanks safely store hydrogen until needed for fuel. How’s that for a convenient refueling operation?

I don’t like to see the U.S. auto industry in trouble, but why haven’t they been pursuing these other options like crazy, instead of doing the same old, same old? There are some challenges with fuel-cell cars, but I believe that we should just bust it through and get things going and work out the kinks.

Look at Henry Ford. He made cars available to the masses. Let’s do the same for hydrogen fuel-cell cars. They are a longterm solution to air- quality, energy-dependence and climate-change issues. They have great acceleration, are fuel-efficient and only emit heat and water.

Every region of the world can produce hydrogen from a variety of sources, using multiple methods. Hydrogen can be made from renewable sources of energy with almost no environmental impact.

When I look at the cars on the freeways, I imagine what if all the cars on the highways were fuel-cell cars? We would create the ultimate in green jobs, almost solve our air-pollution problem.

We need to look beyond the fluctuations in gas prices, and realize that we have a national security issue by being dependent on foreign oil.What if the Arabs and others decide to terrorize us by withholding their oil reserves to hurt us?

We need to throw off this oil addiction, develop fuel-cell vehicle technology now and hydrogen fuel production, so we are not at their mercy. We need to shake off the internal oil companies that would enslave us to foreign oil, because they are getting fantastically rich from it also.

Let’s get our American ingenuity to free us from this oil bondage and be energy independent, please.

Undergraduate students participated in the third annual Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) in sustainable energy from solar hydrogen.

Eight undergraduates participated in the third annual Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) in sustainable energy from solar hydrogen at the University of Delaware this year. SURE is one facet of a comprehensive interdisciplinary effort funded by the National Science Foundation through its Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) Program.

The solar hydrogen IGERT at UD includes students at all levels in not only science and engineering disciplines but also in areas such as economics and policy as they relate to sustainable energy.

This year’s SURE program included two UD students, five undergraduates from other schools, and a recently graduated high school student.

According to program coordinator Mo Bremner, the group participated in a range of activities to augment their individual research projects, including a fuel cell seminar, a solar power seminar, an abstract writing and poster development seminar, and an ethics workshop. They also took some field trips with an ongoing chemical engineering NSF-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program at UD in energy and sustainability, including site visits to ExxonMobil, DuPont Solar, GE Solar, and Air Liquide.

For Rebecca Roelofs, who just graduated from the Charter School of Wilmington and will soon start her freshman year at Swarthmore College, the summer program was an opportunity to learn more about the field of engineering. “I learned how to ‘read’ a professor’s background on a Web page and know what I’m looking for now,” she said. “At Swarthmore, the engineering program is general, and the summer experience here at UD, with all of the disciplines involved, gave me a better idea of how I might specialize later.”

“The program gave me the experience to make a grad school decision,” said Derek Falcone, a chemical engineering student at UD. “I got my feet wet with research and reaffirmed my decision to continue my education.”

Several of the SURE participants mentioned the value of their interactions with the IGERT grad students.

“They’re a really spectacular group,” said Brian Reindl, a student at the University of Florida. “Just interacting with them and talking with them about their experiences was really valuable.”

“They have a really good perspective on life,” added Ellen Reifler, who attends the University of Virginia. “They provided great insights into what path you should follow and what you should focus on. I have a much better sense now of what my options are, and I’ve gained some great contacts.”

Melissa Forand, a student at Roger Williams College, found the IGERT-organized conference at UD, Energy and Sustainability 2009, to be a valuable source of information and contacts. “The conference was a great mix of technical and policy talks,” she said, “and it was a good opportunity to learn about the research going on in other departments.”

Despite its short duration, the program had a big impact on the participants’ knowledge base. “I went from knowing nothing about organic solar cells to being kind of specialized in the field,” said Natalie Dawley, an undergrad from the University of Virginia.

“But it’s a teaser,” said Forand. “The more you know, the more you realize you don’t know.”

The following is a complete list of SURE participants, project titles, and advisers:

• Ellen Reifler, Temperature Dependence of the Efficiency of a CuInSe2 Based Solar Cell (Robert Birkmire, materials science and engineering);
• Sarah Laufer, Transport Processes in Fuel Cells (Suresh Advani and Ajay Prasad, mechanical engineering);
• Melissa Forand, Novel Materials for PEM Fuel Cells (Suresh Advani and Ajay Prasad, mechanical engineering);
• Natalie Dawley, Nanostructured Solar Cells (Ismat Shah, materials science and engineering);
• Brian Reindl, Metal/Polymer Interfaces for PV Applications (Robert Opila and Matthew Doty, materials science and engineering);
• Derek Falcon, Non-Linear Dynamics of Reactions (Jochen Lauterbach, chemical engineering);
• Parag Jalan, Reverse Micelles Synthesis of Nanoparticles (Jochen Lauterbach, chemical engineering); and
• Rebecca Roelofs, Semiconductor Alloys for Higher Efficiency Solar Cells (James Kolodzey, electrical and computer engineering).

Riverside Calif. A major innovation in the world of fuel cells was published today in the German Chemical Engineering Journal Angewandte Chemie. Professor Yushan Yan of UC Riverside and associates have developed an alkaline membrane that they believe will one day replace Nafion® and enable non-precious metal fuel cell catalysts that are composed of elements such as cobalt, nickel, iron and silver.

These metals cost between $2 and $12 per ounce as compared to platinum that currently trades in the range of $1,200/ounce and peaked at over $2,000/ounce last summer. As this innovation is commercialized it will lead to a massive drop in the cost of goods needed to produce fuel cells. This price reduction will allow fuel cells to have a lower price point per watt than internal combustion engines and batteries. Currently fuel cells are considered to be superior to internal combustion engines and batteries in terms of size, weight, temperature, noise, safety, scalability and carbon footprint. However, cost and durability Fuel cells are currently used to power backup generators, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s), scooters, golf carts, cell phones, laptops, emergency generators and in next generation automobiles like the Honda FCX Clarity.

Despite the many advantages and demonstrated uses of fuel cells, they are expensive because they require platinum and other precious metals as catalysts. The best way to eliminate platinum while maintaining the many benefits is through the use of a high performance hydroxide exchange membrane, the Nafion® equivalent for a alkaline fuel cell. Recently, Dr Yan’s lab has demonstrated a power density of 250 mW/cm2 using an alkaline membrane composed of quaternary phosphonium based polymers. His team expects to improve this in the near future.

By switching from an acidic medium to a basic one, hydroxide (OH-) exchange membrane fuel cells (HEMFCs) have the potential to solve the problems of catalyst cost and durability while achieving high power and energy density. In a basic environment, the cathode oxygen reduction over-potential can be significantly reduced, leading to high fuel cell efficiency, and non-precious metals can be used as catalysts which are also more durable in a basic medium. Further, HEMFCs can offer fuel flexibility using hydrogen, methanol, ethanol, ethylene glycol, and other inexpensive, easily produced and biodegradable fuels because of their low overpotential for hydrocarbon fuel oxidation and reduced fuel crossover. “This is a breakthrough that will make fuel cells so efficient and inexpensive that it will revolutionize energy conversion and storage on a global scale.” said Dr. Yan.

Dr. Yan and UC Riverside have licensed this invention to Full Cycle Energy, a California start-up that is leading the revolution in low-cost high-durability fuel cell technology. Currently Full Cycle is commercializing another of Yan’s inventions, a platinum nanotube fuel cell catalyst (PtNT) that reduces cost by 2/3 and increases durability by a factor of 10. Production of PtNT is currently being scaled up for integration into a range of fuel cell products. According to CEO Andrew Behar, “The only thing stopping fuel cells from replacing fossil fuels and batteries is cost and durability. Dr. Yan’s innovations will enable a world powered by inexpensive, clean and abundant energy.”

Bio of Yushan Yan, Ph.D.
Professor, Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Riverside; Inventor of core patents.  Professor Yan (44) received his B. S. in Chemical Physics from the University of Science and Technology of China in 1988, and his M. S. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 1995 and 1997, respectively. He worked for AlliedSignal Inc. as a Senior Staff Engineer from 1996 to 1998. He came to the University of California, Riverside in 1998 as Assistant Professor. He became Associate Professor in 2002 and Professor in 2005. He was given the title of University Scholar in 2006. His research has been widely cited in the scientific community and also frequently covered by the news media including New Scientist, Business Week, and CNBC

Link to publication in Angewandte Chemie
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/26737/home/co …

The Dublin Entrepreneurial Center will soon have another occupant if Dublin City Council approves an economic development agreement with the Ohio Fuel Cell Coalition.

Council heard the first reading of the agreement Monday night. According to a staff report, Cleveland-based OFCC is trying “to make Ohio the center of the emerging global fuel cell industry. É Fuel cells are clean and efficient in their use of energy and have a low carbon footprint.”

Director of economic development Dana McDaniel told council “the OFCC is the largest state fuel cell company in the country.”

A spot in the entrepreneurial center on Post Road would give the company “access to a collaborative environment and meeting space,” McDaniel said.

“OFCC seeks to encourage federal funding that will leverage state resources in the development of fuel cell technology and the locating of commercial development, manufacturing assets and job creation in Ohio,” according to its Web site, fuelcellcorridor.com.

The economic development agreement is a two-year location grant for $10,000 that will pay for an office in the entrepreneurial center. OFCC would keep its headquarters in Cleveland.

Mayor Marilee Chinnici-Zuercher called the agreement “another fabulous opportunity for us.”

Council will hold a second reading of the economic development agreement at its Sept. 8 meeting; staff has recommended approval.

In other news, council unanimously approved an economic development agreement with Columbus and the resulting modifications to water and sewer contracts.

The agreement covers a 277-acre area near Hyland-Croy Road, U.S. Route 33 and Industrial Parkway that is included in the city’s plan for a research and innovation park.

The land currently lies in Jerome Township, but City Manager Terry Foegler has said the agreement eventually would allow Dublin to annex land.

Standing in the way are permits granted to Marysville to provide sewer and water services to the area. Dublin and Columbus have filed appeals with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

According to the agreement, Columbus and Dublin will share income-tax revenue from the 277 acres, “less the percentage to Dublin for governmental services (and) less the percentage to Dublin for capital improvements,” according to a staff memo to council. Dublin will be in charge of infrastructure improvements in the area.

The agreement also includes a non-compete clause that means Columbus businesses that move to the area will still pay income taxes to Columbus, and likewise for Dublin businesses.

One resident from the Post Preserve subdivision near the land told council she was concerned about high density and an increase in traffic once the land is developed.

Foegler said if Dublin has control of the land, the plan would be to develop “according to the community plan.”

The 2007 community plan identifies land in the area for high density office and said goals for the U.S. Route 33 corridor are to “enhance the area as a key employment and service center and as a prominent gateway to Dublin with high quality development, strong gateway treatments and overall design features that exemplify the office and technology focus of the area.”