FuelCellsWorks

We are pleased to inform you that Suzuki will have a major presence at the Tokyo Motor Show 2009, which will be held at the Makuhari Messe International Convention Complex in Chiba City from 21 October to 4 November 2009. It will be organized by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association.

At the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show, the Suzuki booth will bring together automobiles, motorcycles, power-assisted bicycles, and electric wheelchairs under an overall theme of “small cars for a big future”. As well as showing Suzuki products, it will highlight the company’s future-oriented initiatives. Visitors will see how Suzuki’s automaking spirit and technologies realize exciting lifestyle possibilities.

* SX4-FCV (Fuel-Cell Vehicle)

The SX4-FCV combines a General Motors-produced high-performance fuel cell with a Suzuki-developed high-pressure (70MPa) hydrogen tank and a light, compact capacitor, which promotes driving performance by recovering energy during brake application and using it to reduce fuel-cell loading during acceleration. With a view to commercializing the SX4-FCV, Suzuki is testing it on public roads with government approval and using the resulting data in ongoing development.

* MIO (Fuel-Cell-Powered Electric Wheelchair)

Suzuki’s MIO electric wheelchair is powered by a direct-methanol fuel cell rather than by a conventional lead-acid battery. The methanol solution is held in a cartridge-type bottle that’s easy to replace with a full spare one, so the user gains extra freedom and doesn’t need to worry about running out of fuel on the road. Suzuki began joint trials of the MIO with the Shizuoka prefectural government in November 2008 with a view to enhancing its reliability ready for commercialization.

* Burgman Fuel-Cell Scooter

Having stunned the motorcycling world with the Crosscage fuel-cell bike at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show, Suzuki applied the technologies to a more practical and accessible form of two-wheel transportation: a scooter. The result is the Burgman Fuel-Cell Scooter. The fuel cell is air-cooled and concomitantly light, compact, and structurally simple. A 70MPa hydrogen tank (the highest-pressure tank used on a bike thus far) allows a usable riding range. And the tank is mounted within a robust frame for safety.

Lewis Center, OH –NexTech Materials, Ltd. announces its selection for a U.S. Department of Energy Phase I SBIR Award on “Manufacturing Analysis of SOFC Interconnect Coating Processes.” In this effort, NexTech’s Commercial Services Division will perform a techno-economic analysis of oxide coating processes for the metallic interconnects of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stacks, leveraging proprietary materials and process technology.

NexTech, which has developed several interconnect coating processes, will evaluate these methods independently and in collaboration with SOFC developers, to determine which are best suited to large-scale manufacturing. Interconnect coatings are essential for long-term stable operation of SOFCs, providing protection against corrosion by process gases and seal materials, while maintaining electrical contact between cells in the stack. The coatings must be stable for 5,000 to 40,000 hours to meet the demands of mobile and stationary applications. Future activities will focus on removing technical barriers to scale-up, performing coating trials on production-intent equipment and interconnects, and demonstrating interconnect performance in collaboration with SOFC developers in the DOE SECA program and other manufacturers world-wide.

Mr. Bill Dawson, NexTech’s CEO, stated, “This award highlights the technical strength of our Commercial Services business. Our team’s design-neutrality, coupled with NexTech’s vertical integration from raw materials to volume-manufactured components is unique in our markets. We are thrilled to have this award–it will allow NexTech to continue to offer clients access to market-leading materials and process technology.”

Dr. Matthew Seabaugh, Director of Commercial Services, commented “This award marks an important milestone in NexTech’s Commercial Services growth. The technical and economic analysis outlined in this program will allow us to provide even better solutions to our customers. It will allow us to build on our track record of innovation and of providing value-added solutions to developers of all sizes.”

About NexTech Materials

NexTech’s vision is to be a global leader in the development and manufacturing of innovative products for energy and environmental markets. NexTech is a leading developer and supplier of materials, components and services for the fuel cell industry and is dedicated to reducing the manufacturing and operating costs of fuel cells and other electrochemical devices. NexTech’s customers are located in over 35 countries and include leading researchers, developers and manufacturers throughout the world. NexTech Materials, Ltd. was founded as a privately held company in 1994 and has grown into one of Ohio’s leading technology companies. NexTech recently expanded its manufacturing and R&D facilities located in Lewis Center Ohio. NexTech has many products in the pipeline including fuel cell stacks for military and residential power applications, sensors for gas detection and control systems, catalysts for energy conversion systems, and membranes for gas separation devices. www.nextechmaterials.com

Researchers created material under enormous pressures by squeezing samples between two diamonds. (Photo courtesy Wendy Mao, SIMES.)

Researchers at the Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Science, a joint institute of DOE’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University, have produced a hydrogen-rich alloy that could provide insight into the properties of metallic hydrogen. The work is a step toward materials with revolutionary implications for energy science, enabling lossless power transmission, next-generation particle accelerators and even magnetic levitation.

Metallic hydrogen is a state of hydrogen predicted to form under ultra-high pressure. If achieved, it could function as a room-temperature superconductor—a material capable of conducting electricity with no resistance at temperatures above 0 degrees Celsius. But because the pressure required to make metallic hydrogen is so enormous—much greater the pressure experienced by materials in the center of the earth—researchers have had little luck in producing it.

To better understand how metallic hydrogen behaves, researchers are becoming increasingly interested in hydrogen-rich compounds that might have properties similar to those seen in pure hydrogen, but at more accessible pressures. One of the most promising candidates is called silane, which contains an atom of silicon bound to four atoms of hydrogen. The goal for the SIMES group was to study the properties of alloys composed of hydrogen and silane together.

The group found that the alloys solidified at much lower pressures than would be required for hydrogen alone, with the hydrogen-rich alloy forming a solid containing more than 99 percent hydrogen. They also discovered that even though the amount of silane in the hydrogen-rich sample was minimal, it had a dramatic effect on hydrogen-hydrogen interactions.

According to Shibing Wang, a SIMES graduate student and the lead author on the paper, the finding is significant because it could contribute to a better understanding of the properties of atoms in hydrogen alloys, which are commonly used in hydrogen storage and could have implications for hydrogen fuel storage.

Frankfurt– Carmakers around the world are trying to come up with a workable hydrogen fuel source which will help solve one of the major problems facing electrically-driven cars, namely the limited range they offer. Lithium-ion batteries are the power pack of choice but these tend to run down quickly, with the result that most electric cars cannot travel for long distances between recharges. A hydrogen-powered car using a fuel cell to convert chemical into electrical energy is seen as a viable alternative.

Germany’s Daimler has put its faith in the new technology and the company has successfully operated a fleet of hydrogen fuel-cell-driven buses in Hamburg for the past three years. From 2015 it intends to team up with other concerns such as Shell or gas manufacturer Linde to set up a countrywide network of hydrogen refuelling stations.

Automotive researchers admit that the road to a hydrogen-powered future is not without obstacles. The production and storage of the ethereal gas can cause headaches, said Ulrich Hoepfner of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research in Heidelberg.

Hydrogen must first of all be obtained from water using a process of electrolysis which consumes large quantities of energy. The hydrogen enters the fuel cell which operates very much like a battery, producing electricity directly from the electrochemical reaction between the hydrogen and oxygen in the air. This energy needs to be stored in batteries and the transfer leads to a larger loss of electricity than if a battery was charged up by being simply plugged into the mains electricity supply.

“You have to use up three times as much energy,” said Hoepfner. If the energy used to make hydrogen comes from a conventional coal-fired power station the advantage of using the futuristic fuel are quickly cancelled out. The car industry is aware of the problems but solutions are at hand.

“Looked at from today’s point of view hydrogen has the potential to replace fossil fuels such as petrol and diesel,” said the German Automobile Federation in a brochure at the recent Frankfurt IAA car show.

At the same time, producing hydrogen only makes sense if this can be done with regenerative energy sources.

Storage is another bugbear. Hydrogen is a very volatile substance which is easily dispersed. “Hydrogen seeps out everywhere,” said Hoepfner. It has to be kept under high pressure or in liquid form. In order to liquidise hydrogen it must be cooled to minus 250 degrees celsius.

This devours energy and large tanks are need to store the hydrogen. “The whole storage issue is tricky,” said Maximilian Prager who carries out research into combustion engines at the technical university in Munich. The necessary equipment uses a lot of energy too since it has to neutralise the considerable temperature variations. Pressure storage is cheaper.

Prager played down the potential security risks of tanks containing the highly-combustible substance: “My personal view is that hydrogen is no more dangerous than petrol, since it dissipates very quickly.”The fuel cell method favoured by Daimler, by which hydrogen reacts with oxygen, does not represent the last word on the subject.

Rivals BMW in Munich have pinned their hopes on burning hydrogen in a conventional combustion engine and have been experimenting with the technology for two decades. “Hydrogen-power can be realised more quickly using a conventional engine which has the advantage of being able to operate even with mildly contaminated hydrogen,” said Prager. Such engines have also been shown to cope better with power peaks such as periods of hard acceleration on the motorway.

Dr. Gerardine Botte watches a hydrogen fuel cell run in her lab at the Stocker Center at Ohio University.

Driving home from a seminar on fuel cell technology, Gerardine Botte was struck with a notion.

Her idea was based on water electrolysis, a process used to produce hydrogen energy from water. Botte, an associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering in the Russ College of Engineering and Technology, took the concept to the next level: Instead of clean water, what if it were possible to use wastewater?

“You could remove the ammonia from wastewater, convert it to hydrogen energy, and it would be better, because you’d be remediating and producing clean energy,” says Botte.

What resulted was a first-of-its-kind fuel cell technology, known as the “ammonia electrolytic cell,” that allows hydrogen to be produced on demand. It’s an efficient and environmentally sound process; compared to water electrolysis, ammonia electrolysis consumes 95 percent less energy and produces more hydrogen.

The ammonia itself comes from a renewable supply. Botte estimates more than 5 million tons of ammonia enter the waste stream as human and animal urine each year in the United States.

If it seems like an unlikely fuel source, Botte will do her best to convince you otherwise. “I think ammonia is our future fuel,” she says. “It’s green, renewable, and we know how to transport it and work with it.”

Since its inception, Botte’s idea of ammonia electrolysis has blossomed into several projects. At Ohio University, she enlists the help of five graduate students who each cover specific branches of ammonia electrolysis research, including potential automobile and residential applications.

In November, Botte’s Electrochemical Engineering Research Laboratory received a $2.23 million federal grant to adapt the concept for military use. Under the “Silent Camp Initiative,” she’ll work with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s Construction, Engineering Research Laboratory to provide backup power for training facilities and soldier camps at night.

The system could cut long-term costs for fuel and decrease susceptibility to attacks against fuel supply lines.

If successful, there could be promising potential for the commercialization of the ammonia electrolytic cell.

Botte takes pride in the fact that the cell had its beginnings at Ohio University. “It was born here and is unique to this university,” she says.