- Email: [email protected]
OWI project reports success in testing fuel cell APU using diesel
NEWS / EDITORIAL taking part in the ADAC Zurich Nürburgring 24-Hour race [FCB, June 2013, p5]. Forze Hydrogen Electric Racing Team: www.forze-delft.nl Video of the lap: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZjbfZvXm2c
MOBILE APPLICATIONS
Plug Power announces GenKey deals with two new customers
I
n the US, premium food distributor Dietz & Watson will deploy Plug Power’s GenDrive fuel cells in the entire fleet of Class 2 and Class 3 lift trucks for its new warehouse building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania under a full-service GenKey agreement. Plug Power has also signed a deal with a large – but unnamed – North American footwear manufacturer, which outlines purchase terms and defines site-specific agreements for deployment of the GenKey hydrogen and fuel cell solution. Dietz & Watson is one of the largest manufacturers and distributors of premium delicatessen meats, artisan cheeses, and related products in North America. The company will utilise the GenDrive, GenFuel, and GenCare solutions provided through the GenKey package in its newly constructed facility in Philadelphia. The 200 000 ft2 (18 600 m2) warehouse and distribution centre is located next to the company’s existing headquarters and manufacturing plant. Previously, Plug Power customers typically saw positive economic value with large-scale lift truck fleets, upwards of 50 trucks. Now, however, through technology improvements and streamlined supply chain management within the GenDrive and GenFuel product lines, Plug Power customers with as few as 20 lift and reach trucks are able to achieve positive payback. ‘Plug Power’s investment in the GenFuel business is showing great progress in the materials handling market, and we’re now able to provide economically viable solutions to a diverse customer base in the materials handling market,’ says CEO Andy Marsh [see the Plug Power feature in FCB, December 2011]. Plug Power has also announced a Master Sales Agreement (MSA) with a large footwear manufacturer in North America, following a successful demonstration at one of its distribution centres. The customer has defined the first three sites where the GenKey hydrogen and fuel cell solution will be implemented, and is analysing wider adoption of the technology
June 2015
in its 30 sites globally. GenKey enables seamless implementation of hydrogen fuel cells by materials handling customers, combining GenDrive fuel cells, GenCare aftermarket service, and GenFuel hydrogen storage and dispensing infrastructure. Plug Power recently announced that Wisconsin-based Uline will deploy more than 130 GenDrive-powered lift trucks at two facilities [FCB, May 2015, p1], and won a GenKey contract for the FreezPak Logistics cold storage distribution centre under construction in Carteret, New Jersey [FCB, April 2015, p4]. Plug Power, Latham, New York, USA. Tel: +1 518 782 7700, www.plugpower.com
OWI project reports success in testing fuel cell APU using diesel
A
German project has achieved an important milestone in the development of a modular, diesel-driven fuel cell system for use in an auxiliary power unit (APU), with successful demonstration of system functionality in isolated operation of the fuel cell stack and the electronics module. The Möwe III (Seagull) project aimed to prove the technical maturity of a modular, diesel-driven 3 kW fuel cell system by developing a self-sufficient prototype. The three-year project, which recently concluded, was coordinated by the OWI Oel-WaermeInstitut GmbH – part of RWTH Aachen research university – working with research partners Inhouse Engineering GmbH, Enasys GmbH, and Mahle Behr GmbH. It was funded by the federal ministry for economic affairs and energy (BMWi). The system consists of diesel and water tanks, a steam reformer module, and a fuel cell module featuring a low-temperature PEM fuel cell with 90 cells, as well as a battery and power electronics. The system is intended for use in caravans and yachts, and creates 3–4 kW of electric power, which is sufficient to power air-conditioning or a refrigerator on a boat or in a caravan. Diesel from the regular fuel tank is converted into a hydrogen-rich fuel gas (reformate) by steam reforming, and then turned into electric power by the fuel cell. The system is started using the energy stored in the battery, which is automatically recharged after the system is started up. OWI has previously worked on developing a compact system comprising a methanol steam reformer coupled with a high-temperature PEM fuel cell stack, and completed life-span
EDITORIAL
M
ultiple-value streams are increasingly being used to enhance the proven economic benefits of fuel cell systems, by adding to their provision of combined heat and power (CHP, also called cogeneration). FuelCell Energy has been working on this enhanced value proposition for some time. In this issue we report that the company’s commercial molten carbonate fuel cell power plants now also offer affordable onsite generation of high-purity hydrogen for transportation and industrial applications [see pages 7 and 9], which is referred to as trigeneration (heat, power, hydrogen). The company recently completed an industrialscale trigeneration project at its manufacturing plant in Torrington, Connecticut [FCB, May 2015, p1]. FCE has also been operating a 250 kW DFC-H2 project at the Orange County Sanitation District in Fountain Valley, California, converting renewable biogas into hydrogen for vehicle fueling [FCB, August 2011, p1]. And it is participating in the first renewable energy ‘quad-generation’ installation, which in addition produces food-grade CO2 for greenhouses in British Columbia [FCB, April 2014, p5]. Last month we had an item on the deal between AFC Energy and Dubai Carbon to assess the deployment of 300 MW of alkaline fuel cell generation capacity in Dubai by 2020 [FCB, May 2015, p6]. The deployment offers a significant economic opportunity to monetise not only energy generated by the fuel cell power plants, but uniquely also from the sale of water by-product from the catalytic process. We have three news features in this issue. In the first, we report on a new process developed at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology to synthesise platinum ‘nanoraspberries’ for improved DMFC catalysts [page 12]. These microscopic clusters of nanoscale Pt particles, 100 nm in diameter, could help make direct methanol fuel cells more practical. In the second, France-based McPhy Energy has signed a contract to supply a ‘Wind to Hydrogen’ (i.e. Power-to-Gas) system to recover surplus energy generated by a 200 MW wind farm site currently under construction in the Chinese province of Hebei [page 13]. The system will combine McPhy’s advanced electrolysis and hydrogen storage products. And in the third one, Toyota and the Japan Fine Ceramics Center have developed a new observation technique that allows researchers to monitor the behaviour of nm-sized particles of platinum during chemical reactions in PEM fuel cells [pages 14–15]. This will allow observation of the processes leading to reduced catalytic reactivity. Steve Barrett
Fuel Cells Bulletin
3
NEWS testing of a reformer and offgas burner for a truck APU fuel cell system [FCB, November 2013, p10].
Hydrogenics Europe – Fuel Cell Power Systems, Hydrogenics GmbH, Gladbeck, Germany. Tel: +49 2043 944133.
OWI Oel-Waerme-Institut GmbH, Fuel Cell Systems: http://tinyurl.com/owi-fuelcells
Alstom Rail Systems: www.alstom.com/transport
Horizon launches Hycopter fuel cell Hydrogenics, Alstom to multirotor UAV commercialise fuel cell company Horizon trains in Europe Energy Systems (HES) unveiled Singaporean Möwe III project: http://tinyurl.com/owi-moewe3
I
n Germany, Hydrogenics GmbH has signed a 10-year exclusive agreement to supply Alstom Transport with hydrogen PEM fuel cell systems for regional commuter trains in Europe. Alstom Transport is a unit of Francebased Alstom, a global leader in power generation, transmission, and rail infrastructure. The agreement, valued at over E50 million (US$56 million), includes the supply of at least 200 engine systems, along with service and maintenance as necessary over the 10-year period. Hydrogenics was selected by Alstom following a rigorous technical review process. The fuel cell systems, based on the company’s HD series heavy-duty PEM fuel cells, will be developed to meet European train compliance regulations. The first units are expected to be delivered in 2016, following prototype work planned for late 2015. Alstom recently signed a Letter of Intent with the Calw district in southwestern Germany, for the planned use of new fuel cell powered trains on the Hermann Hesse scenic railway line in the Black Forest [FCB, April 2015, p5]. The company has done likewise with the German states of Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and Baden-Württemberg, and the Hesse public transport authority, for the use of its new generation of zero-emission trains [FCB, October 2014, p11]. Last autumn Hydrogenics introduced its Celerity heavy-duty fuel cell system for buses and trucks [FCB, November 2014, p3], and will demonstrate the CelerityPlus™ fuel cell drive system in a drayage truck and a SunLine Transit bus in California [FCB, April 2015, p3]. Hydrogenics also manufactures electrolysers – it has just built a 1.5 MW PEM electrolyser system for E.ON’s Reitbrook site in Hamburg, as part of a Power-to-Gas hydrogen injection plant that utilises excess renewable energy [see page 9]. Hydrogenics Corporation, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Tel: +1 905 361 3660, www.hydrogenics.com
4
Fuel Cells Bulletin
its Hycopter unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) at the recent AUVSI 2015 event in Atlanta, USA. The Hycopter is a hydrogen PEM fuel cell powered multirotor UAV, and is being readied for a record flight endurance of 4 h, which is 8–10 times the average flight duration of current equivalent systems. Hycopter uniquely makes use of its frame structure to store hydrogen gas, eliminating energy storage weight. This platform stores the equivalent energy of 3 kg of lithium batteries as 120 g of hydrogen. Requiring less lift power, Hycopter’s ultralight fuel cell converts the 120 g of hydrogen stored inside its structural frame into 4 h of electric power for its rotors. HES – a subsidiary of Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies – says that this breakthrough technology will extend today’s 20–30 minute multirotor UAV missions to flights lasting several hours. Aerial surveys will become significantly cheaper and quicker, and drone delivery more feasible over longer distances. The special fuel cell powering the Hycopter was designed by HES, which also recently announced a new solid chemical hydrogen-ondemand fuel cell that achieves up to 700 Wh/ kg at system level [FCB, April 2015, p1]. ‘By removing the design silos that typically separate the energy storage component from the UAV frame design teams, we opened up a whole new category in the drone market, between battery power and combustion power drones,’ says Taras Wankewycz, CEO of the Horizon Group. This has led to the creation of a new sister company, Horizon Unmanned Systems (HUS), which will apply lightweight fuel cells in optimised platforms and vehicles. HUS brings together experience in energy storage optimisation and carbon composite expertise to design a new breed of high-performance, mini-electric UAVs. HUS will also embed proprietary GPS-independent, precision navigation and collision avoidance technologies, to match the need for power-autonomous UAVs in off-grid and remote areas.
Multirotor applications are attracting wider interest – Canadian-based EnergyOr Technologies recently demonstrated its PEM fuel cell powered multirotor vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) UAV [FCB, April 2015, p5]. Parent company Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies has recently launched the MFC 3000, a 3 kW PEM fuel cell system combined with a methanol reformer, for use as a highcapacity uninterruptible power supply for telecom sites [see page 5]. Horizon Energy Systems, Singapore. Tel: +65 6872 9588, www.hes.sg Horizon Unmanned Systems, Hycopter: www.hus.sg
SMALL STATIONARY
PowerCell fuel cell for energy-efficient house in Gothenburg
N
ordic fuel cell developer PowerCell Sweden has received an order from H-O Enterprise AB, to deliver a fuel cell system for a low-energy house in Gothenburg, Sweden with the project being implemented in the autumn. The Gothenburg facility is a ‘self off-grid’ low-energy house, which includes 23 kWp of solar photovoltaic cells on the roof and facades, energy storage in batteries and hot water tanks, a 2 Nm3/h electrolyser, hydrogen tanks (storing 4 m3 at 700 bar), and a 1 kW fuel cell. The solar cells will generate electricity during daylight hours, and the electricity will be used both to run the house and recharge the batteries, and to produce hydrogen from water using an electrolyser. ‘This is a breakthrough order for this type of energy-smart house, a use that we see that our fuel cell system has great potential to operate within, as increasing electricity prices, climate change, and the desire for more energy independence means that the interest in energyefficient houses is growing,’ says PowerCell CEO Magnus Henell. In the evenings, at night, and during the winter the electric power will come from the 144 kWh of batteries and the 1 kW PowerCell S1 hydrogen fuel cell. The fuel cell also produces heat that is channeled to the house’s 3800 litre hot water tanks, and used for heating and hot water. The stored hydrogen will also be used as a refueling station for the household’s planned hydrogen car. In other news, PowerCell is one of four Swedish companies displaying innovative environmental technology in a special fullscale facility in Qatar’s capital, Doha. This
June 2015
MOBILE APPLICATIONS
Plug Power announces GenKey deals with two new customers
I
n the US, premium food distributor Dietz & Watson will deploy Plug Power’s GenDrive fuel cells in the entire fleet of Class 2 and Class 3 lift trucks for its new warehouse building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania under a full-service GenKey agreement. Plug Power has also signed a deal with a large – but unnamed – North American footwear manufacturer, which outlines purchase terms and defines site-specific agreements for deployment of the GenKey hydrogen and fuel cell solution. Dietz & Watson is one of the largest manufacturers and distributors of premium delicatessen meats, artisan cheeses, and related products in North America. The company will utilise the GenDrive, GenFuel, and GenCare solutions provided through the GenKey package in its newly constructed facility in Philadelphia. The 200 000 ft2 (18 600 m2) warehouse and distribution centre is located next to the company’s existing headquarters and manufacturing plant. Previously, Plug Power customers typically saw positive economic value with large-scale lift truck fleets, upwards of 50 trucks. Now, however, through technology improvements and streamlined supply chain management within the GenDrive and GenFuel product lines, Plug Power customers with as few as 20 lift and reach trucks are able to achieve positive payback. ‘Plug Power’s investment in the GenFuel business is showing great progress in the materials handling market, and we’re now able to provide economically viable solutions to a diverse customer base in the materials handling market,’ says CEO Andy Marsh [see the Plug Power feature in FCB, December 2011]. Plug Power has also announced a Master Sales Agreement (MSA) with a large footwear manufacturer in North America, following a successful demonstration at one of its distribution centres. The customer has defined the first three sites where the GenKey hydrogen and fuel cell solution will be implemented, and is analysing wider adoption of the technology
June 2015
in its 30 sites globally. GenKey enables seamless implementation of hydrogen fuel cells by materials handling customers, combining GenDrive fuel cells, GenCare aftermarket service, and GenFuel hydrogen storage and dispensing infrastructure. Plug Power recently announced that Wisconsin-based Uline will deploy more than 130 GenDrive-powered lift trucks at two facilities [FCB, May 2015, p1], and won a GenKey contract for the FreezPak Logistics cold storage distribution centre under construction in Carteret, New Jersey [FCB, April 2015, p4]. Plug Power, Latham, New York, USA. Tel: +1 518 782 7700, www.plugpower.com
OWI project reports success in testing fuel cell APU using diesel
A
German project has achieved an important milestone in the development of a modular, diesel-driven fuel cell system for use in an auxiliary power unit (APU), with successful demonstration of system functionality in isolated operation of the fuel cell stack and the electronics module. The Möwe III (Seagull) project aimed to prove the technical maturity of a modular, diesel-driven 3 kW fuel cell system by developing a self-sufficient prototype. The three-year project, which recently concluded, was coordinated by the OWI Oel-WaermeInstitut GmbH – part of RWTH Aachen research university – working with research partners Inhouse Engineering GmbH, Enasys GmbH, and Mahle Behr GmbH. It was funded by the federal ministry for economic affairs and energy (BMWi). The system consists of diesel and water tanks, a steam reformer module, and a fuel cell module featuring a low-temperature PEM fuel cell with 90 cells, as well as a battery and power electronics. The system is intended for use in caravans and yachts, and creates 3–4 kW of electric power, which is sufficient to power air-conditioning or a refrigerator on a boat or in a caravan. Diesel from the regular fuel tank is converted into a hydrogen-rich fuel gas (reformate) by steam reforming, and then turned into electric power by the fuel cell. The system is started using the energy stored in the battery, which is automatically recharged after the system is started up. OWI has previously worked on developing a compact system comprising a methanol steam reformer coupled with a high-temperature PEM fuel cell stack, and completed life-span
EDITORIAL
M
ultiple-value streams are increasingly being used to enhance the proven economic benefits of fuel cell systems, by adding to their provision of combined heat and power (CHP, also called cogeneration). FuelCell Energy has been working on this enhanced value proposition for some time. In this issue we report that the company’s commercial molten carbonate fuel cell power plants now also offer affordable onsite generation of high-purity hydrogen for transportation and industrial applications [see pages 7 and 9], which is referred to as trigeneration (heat, power, hydrogen). The company recently completed an industrialscale trigeneration project at its manufacturing plant in Torrington, Connecticut [FCB, May 2015, p1]. FCE has also been operating a 250 kW DFC-H2 project at the Orange County Sanitation District in Fountain Valley, California, converting renewable biogas into hydrogen for vehicle fueling [FCB, August 2011, p1]. And it is participating in the first renewable energy ‘quad-generation’ installation, which in addition produces food-grade CO2 for greenhouses in British Columbia [FCB, April 2014, p5]. Last month we had an item on the deal between AFC Energy and Dubai Carbon to assess the deployment of 300 MW of alkaline fuel cell generation capacity in Dubai by 2020 [FCB, May 2015, p6]. The deployment offers a significant economic opportunity to monetise not only energy generated by the fuel cell power plants, but uniquely also from the sale of water by-product from the catalytic process. We have three news features in this issue. In the first, we report on a new process developed at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology to synthesise platinum ‘nanoraspberries’ for improved DMFC catalysts [page 12]. These microscopic clusters of nanoscale Pt particles, 100 nm in diameter, could help make direct methanol fuel cells more practical. In the second, France-based McPhy Energy has signed a contract to supply a ‘Wind to Hydrogen’ (i.e. Power-to-Gas) system to recover surplus energy generated by a 200 MW wind farm site currently under construction in the Chinese province of Hebei [page 13]. The system will combine McPhy’s advanced electrolysis and hydrogen storage products. And in the third one, Toyota and the Japan Fine Ceramics Center have developed a new observation technique that allows researchers to monitor the behaviour of nm-sized particles of platinum during chemical reactions in PEM fuel cells [pages 14–15]. This will allow observation of the processes leading to reduced catalytic reactivity. Steve Barrett
Fuel Cells Bulletin
3
NEWS testing of a reformer and offgas burner for a truck APU fuel cell system [FCB, November 2013, p10].
Hydrogenics Europe – Fuel Cell Power Systems, Hydrogenics GmbH, Gladbeck, Germany. Tel: +49 2043 944133.
OWI Oel-Waerme-Institut GmbH, Fuel Cell Systems: http://tinyurl.com/owi-fuelcells
Alstom Rail Systems: www.alstom.com/transport
Horizon launches Hycopter fuel cell Hydrogenics, Alstom to multirotor UAV commercialise fuel cell company Horizon trains in Europe Energy Systems (HES) unveiled Singaporean Möwe III project: http://tinyurl.com/owi-moewe3
I
n Germany, Hydrogenics GmbH has signed a 10-year exclusive agreement to supply Alstom Transport with hydrogen PEM fuel cell systems for regional commuter trains in Europe. Alstom Transport is a unit of Francebased Alstom, a global leader in power generation, transmission, and rail infrastructure. The agreement, valued at over E50 million (US$56 million), includes the supply of at least 200 engine systems, along with service and maintenance as necessary over the 10-year period. Hydrogenics was selected by Alstom following a rigorous technical review process. The fuel cell systems, based on the company’s HD series heavy-duty PEM fuel cells, will be developed to meet European train compliance regulations. The first units are expected to be delivered in 2016, following prototype work planned for late 2015. Alstom recently signed a Letter of Intent with the Calw district in southwestern Germany, for the planned use of new fuel cell powered trains on the Hermann Hesse scenic railway line in the Black Forest [FCB, April 2015, p5]. The company has done likewise with the German states of Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and Baden-Württemberg, and the Hesse public transport authority, for the use of its new generation of zero-emission trains [FCB, October 2014, p11]. Last autumn Hydrogenics introduced its Celerity heavy-duty fuel cell system for buses and trucks [FCB, November 2014, p3], and will demonstrate the CelerityPlus™ fuel cell drive system in a drayage truck and a SunLine Transit bus in California [FCB, April 2015, p3]. Hydrogenics also manufactures electrolysers – it has just built a 1.5 MW PEM electrolyser system for E.ON’s Reitbrook site in Hamburg, as part of a Power-to-Gas hydrogen injection plant that utilises excess renewable energy [see page 9]. Hydrogenics Corporation, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Tel: +1 905 361 3660, www.hydrogenics.com
4
Fuel Cells Bulletin
its Hycopter unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) at the recent AUVSI 2015 event in Atlanta, USA. The Hycopter is a hydrogen PEM fuel cell powered multirotor UAV, and is being readied for a record flight endurance of 4 h, which is 8–10 times the average flight duration of current equivalent systems. Hycopter uniquely makes use of its frame structure to store hydrogen gas, eliminating energy storage weight. This platform stores the equivalent energy of 3 kg of lithium batteries as 120 g of hydrogen. Requiring less lift power, Hycopter’s ultralight fuel cell converts the 120 g of hydrogen stored inside its structural frame into 4 h of electric power for its rotors. HES – a subsidiary of Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies – says that this breakthrough technology will extend today’s 20–30 minute multirotor UAV missions to flights lasting several hours. Aerial surveys will become significantly cheaper and quicker, and drone delivery more feasible over longer distances. The special fuel cell powering the Hycopter was designed by HES, which also recently announced a new solid chemical hydrogen-ondemand fuel cell that achieves up to 700 Wh/ kg at system level [FCB, April 2015, p1]. ‘By removing the design silos that typically separate the energy storage component from the UAV frame design teams, we opened up a whole new category in the drone market, between battery power and combustion power drones,’ says Taras Wankewycz, CEO of the Horizon Group. This has led to the creation of a new sister company, Horizon Unmanned Systems (HUS), which will apply lightweight fuel cells in optimised platforms and vehicles. HUS brings together experience in energy storage optimisation and carbon composite expertise to design a new breed of high-performance, mini-electric UAVs. HUS will also embed proprietary GPS-independent, precision navigation and collision avoidance technologies, to match the need for power-autonomous UAVs in off-grid and remote areas.
Multirotor applications are attracting wider interest – Canadian-based EnergyOr Technologies recently demonstrated its PEM fuel cell powered multirotor vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) UAV [FCB, April 2015, p5]. Parent company Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies has recently launched the MFC 3000, a 3 kW PEM fuel cell system combined with a methanol reformer, for use as a highcapacity uninterruptible power supply for telecom sites [see page 5]. Horizon Energy Systems, Singapore. Tel: +65 6872 9588, www.hes.sg Horizon Unmanned Systems, Hycopter: www.hus.sg
SMALL STATIONARY
PowerCell fuel cell for energy-efficient house in Gothenburg
N
ordic fuel cell developer PowerCell Sweden has received an order from H-O Enterprise AB, to deliver a fuel cell system for a low-energy house in Gothenburg, Sweden with the project being implemented in the autumn. The Gothenburg facility is a ‘self off-grid’ low-energy house, which includes 23 kWp of solar photovoltaic cells on the roof and facades, energy storage in batteries and hot water tanks, a 2 Nm3/h electrolyser, hydrogen tanks (storing 4 m3 at 700 bar), and a 1 kW fuel cell. The solar cells will generate electricity during daylight hours, and the electricity will be used both to run the house and recharge the batteries, and to produce hydrogen from water using an electrolyser. ‘This is a breakthrough order for this type of energy-smart house, a use that we see that our fuel cell system has great potential to operate within, as increasing electricity prices, climate change, and the desire for more energy independence means that the interest in energyefficient houses is growing,’ says PowerCell CEO Magnus Henell. In the evenings, at night, and during the winter the electric power will come from the 144 kWh of batteries and the 1 kW PowerCell S1 hydrogen fuel cell. The fuel cell also produces heat that is channeled to the house’s 3800 litre hot water tanks, and used for heating and hot water. The stored hydrogen will also be used as a refueling station for the household’s planned hydrogen car. In other news, PowerCell is one of four Swedish companies displaying innovative environmental technology in a special fullscale facility in Qatar’s capital, Doha. This
June 2015