- Email: [email protected]
UTC, Van Hool to market fuel cell buses in Europe
FCBMay
14/06/2006
09:53
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NEWS humidifier designs. The Ballard technology involves an innovative planar membrane humidifier design and materials that have a significant cost and size advantage over other humidification technologies. This humidification technology has been successfully used in the Ballard Nexa® power module over the past four years. DPoint based its recently launched Dx5 (3–10 kW) humidifier, for the backup power and light mobility markets, on the Nexa 1.2 kW humidifier design. ‘The team from Ballard that designed this low-cost technology did an outstanding job identifying a membrane that is a fraction of the cost of fluorinated membranes, and designing the product for manufacturability using high-volume plastic injection molding,’ says James Dean, president/CEO of DPoint. Contact: DPoint Technologies Inc, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Tel: +1 604 488 1132, www.dpoint.ca Or contact: Ballard Power Systems Inc, Burnaby, BC, Canada. Tel: +1 604 454 0900, ww.ballard.com
USC, Rice on bacterial fuel cells for tiny drones
A
diverse team of microbiologists, engineers and geochemists from the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles and Rice University in Houston, Texas are joining forces to create bacteria-powered fuel cells that could power palm-sized spy drones. The US Air Force has long been interested in micro-scale air vehicles, but has been stymied by the lack of a suitably compact power source. With $4.4m from the Department of Defense’s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative, the USC/Rice research team hopes to prove its concept valid within five years by producing a self-propelled prototype. At Rice, geochemist Andreas Lüttge will spearhead the team’s efforts to understand how the bacteria Shewanella oneidensis attach to and interact with anode surfaces inside the fuel cell. To optimize its design, the team must understand how bacteria transfer electrons to anode surfaces under a variety of conditions. ‘There are three primary components in the system: the bacteria, the surface and the solution that the bacteria are digesting,’ explains Lüttge. ‘Any change in one variable will affect the other two, and what we want to do is find out how to tweak each one to optimize the performance of the whole system.’ Lüttge’s participation in the program grew out of a decade-long collaboration with principal investigator Kenneth Nealson, professor of earth sciences and biological sciences at USC. Nealson
May 2006
helped pioneer modern geobiology, and the investigation of the genetic pathways that some microbes rely on to maintain their respiratory metabolism in oxygen-poor environments. One such bacterium, Shewanella oneidensis, uses metals instead of oxygen to fully metabolize its food. ‘Since this organism is capable of passing electrons directly to solid metal oxides, it is not particularly surprising that it can do the same to the anode of the fuel cell, and since we are already in the business of understanding and optimizing the metal reduction capacity, it seemed a reasonable step to apply the same approaches to understanding current production,’ says Nealson. ‘What is new here is the incorporation of colleagues in chemistry, geology, engineering and evolutionary biology to optimize the entire system, not just the bacteria.’ Lüttge will use computer models to estimate how the bacteria will behave under different circumstances. Computer testing will save time and money by allowing lab experiments to focus on the best candidates. In addition to the modeling, Lüttge will use vertical scanning interferometry to resolve features down to 1 nm. Previously he used the imaging technique to examine how the cigarshaped Shewanella attach themselves to crystalline surfaces. The researchers found that Shewanella would lay flat and orient themselves relative to minute defects in the crystal’s surface. Contact: Professor Andreas Lüttge, Department of Earth Science, Rice University, Houston, Texas, USA. Tel: +1 713 348 6304, Email: [email protected], www.ruf.rice.edu/~aluttge Or contact: Professor Kenneth H. Nealson, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA. Tel: +1 213 821 2271, Email: [email protected], www.usc.edu/dept/earth/ people/faculty/nealson.html
UTC, Van Hool to market fuel cell buses in Europe
U
S-based UTC Power is working with Belgian bus manufacturer Van Hool to deliver a fuel cell-powered bus to DeLijn, the largest bus fleet operator in Belgium. The bus will operate there for six months before being leased to other transit agencies in Europe. ‘We believe ‘try-before-you-buy’ lease opportunities will accelerate sales of these zero-emission buses equipped with our PureMotion™ 120 fuel cells,’ says Jan van Dokkum, president of UTC Power, part of United Technologies Corporation. ‘Similar Van Hool buses with our fuel cell system are in revenue service today at AC Transit and
SunLine Transit Agency operations in Oakland and Palm Springs, California’ [see page 3]. The two companies hope to advance the use of fuel cell hybrid-electric technology by building a demonstration bus for the European market. ‘And we will do that without compromising any of the Van Hool bus features which have been embraced by major international customers,’ says Leopold Van Hool, managing director of the bus builder. The UTC Power PEM fuel cell system delivers up to 120 kW of electric power, and is easily integrated into other heavy-duty hybrid vehicles. The product’s modular design also ensures ease of maintenance, maximizing operating time. Contact: UTC Power, South Windsor, Connecticut, USA. Tel: +1 860 727 2200, www.utcpower.com Or contact: Van Hool NV, Lier Koningshooikt, Belgium. Tel: +32 3 420 2020, www.vanhool.be
EWI, Millennium Cell link on joining technology for fuel cartridge
N
ew Jersey-based Millennium Cell has signed a contract with EWI – formerly the Edison Welding Institute – in Ohio for a 15-month project to improve the manufacturing process for Millennium Cell’s Hydrogen on Demand® fuel cartridges. The work is being funded under a National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS)/ Department of Energy program with the objective of improving the manufacturability of hydrogen storage technologies. Millennium Cell is leading a team comprising Dow Chemical, EWI and NextEnergy which will focus on developing critical manufacturing technologies that reduce the overall process and product costs of hydrogen storage technology for near-term implementation in portable power applications. Under the agreement, EWI is tasked with the development of joining technologies for key fuel storage vessels within the fuel cartridges. ‘This award is validation that manufacturability, particularly materials joining, is an enabling technology for cost reduction in both fuel cells and hydrogen storage,’ says Stan Ream, fuel cell technology leader at EWI.
Contact: Millennium Cell Inc, Eatontown, New Jersey, USA. Tel: +1 732 542 4000, www.millenniumcell.com Or contact: EWI, Columbus, Ohio, USA. Tel: +1 614 688 5000, www.ewi.org
Fuel Cells Bulletin
7
14/06/2006
09:53
Page 7
NEWS humidifier designs. The Ballard technology involves an innovative planar membrane humidifier design and materials that have a significant cost and size advantage over other humidification technologies. This humidification technology has been successfully used in the Ballard Nexa® power module over the past four years. DPoint based its recently launched Dx5 (3–10 kW) humidifier, for the backup power and light mobility markets, on the Nexa 1.2 kW humidifier design. ‘The team from Ballard that designed this low-cost technology did an outstanding job identifying a membrane that is a fraction of the cost of fluorinated membranes, and designing the product for manufacturability using high-volume plastic injection molding,’ says James Dean, president/CEO of DPoint. Contact: DPoint Technologies Inc, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Tel: +1 604 488 1132, www.dpoint.ca Or contact: Ballard Power Systems Inc, Burnaby, BC, Canada. Tel: +1 604 454 0900, ww.ballard.com
USC, Rice on bacterial fuel cells for tiny drones
A
diverse team of microbiologists, engineers and geochemists from the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles and Rice University in Houston, Texas are joining forces to create bacteria-powered fuel cells that could power palm-sized spy drones. The US Air Force has long been interested in micro-scale air vehicles, but has been stymied by the lack of a suitably compact power source. With $4.4m from the Department of Defense’s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative, the USC/Rice research team hopes to prove its concept valid within five years by producing a self-propelled prototype. At Rice, geochemist Andreas Lüttge will spearhead the team’s efforts to understand how the bacteria Shewanella oneidensis attach to and interact with anode surfaces inside the fuel cell. To optimize its design, the team must understand how bacteria transfer electrons to anode surfaces under a variety of conditions. ‘There are three primary components in the system: the bacteria, the surface and the solution that the bacteria are digesting,’ explains Lüttge. ‘Any change in one variable will affect the other two, and what we want to do is find out how to tweak each one to optimize the performance of the whole system.’ Lüttge’s participation in the program grew out of a decade-long collaboration with principal investigator Kenneth Nealson, professor of earth sciences and biological sciences at USC. Nealson
May 2006
helped pioneer modern geobiology, and the investigation of the genetic pathways that some microbes rely on to maintain their respiratory metabolism in oxygen-poor environments. One such bacterium, Shewanella oneidensis, uses metals instead of oxygen to fully metabolize its food. ‘Since this organism is capable of passing electrons directly to solid metal oxides, it is not particularly surprising that it can do the same to the anode of the fuel cell, and since we are already in the business of understanding and optimizing the metal reduction capacity, it seemed a reasonable step to apply the same approaches to understanding current production,’ says Nealson. ‘What is new here is the incorporation of colleagues in chemistry, geology, engineering and evolutionary biology to optimize the entire system, not just the bacteria.’ Lüttge will use computer models to estimate how the bacteria will behave under different circumstances. Computer testing will save time and money by allowing lab experiments to focus on the best candidates. In addition to the modeling, Lüttge will use vertical scanning interferometry to resolve features down to 1 nm. Previously he used the imaging technique to examine how the cigarshaped Shewanella attach themselves to crystalline surfaces. The researchers found that Shewanella would lay flat and orient themselves relative to minute defects in the crystal’s surface. Contact: Professor Andreas Lüttge, Department of Earth Science, Rice University, Houston, Texas, USA. Tel: +1 713 348 6304, Email: [email protected], www.ruf.rice.edu/~aluttge Or contact: Professor Kenneth H. Nealson, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA. Tel: +1 213 821 2271, Email: [email protected], www.usc.edu/dept/earth/ people/faculty/nealson.html
UTC, Van Hool to market fuel cell buses in Europe
U
S-based UTC Power is working with Belgian bus manufacturer Van Hool to deliver a fuel cell-powered bus to DeLijn, the largest bus fleet operator in Belgium. The bus will operate there for six months before being leased to other transit agencies in Europe. ‘We believe ‘try-before-you-buy’ lease opportunities will accelerate sales of these zero-emission buses equipped with our PureMotion™ 120 fuel cells,’ says Jan van Dokkum, president of UTC Power, part of United Technologies Corporation. ‘Similar Van Hool buses with our fuel cell system are in revenue service today at AC Transit and
SunLine Transit Agency operations in Oakland and Palm Springs, California’ [see page 3]. The two companies hope to advance the use of fuel cell hybrid-electric technology by building a demonstration bus for the European market. ‘And we will do that without compromising any of the Van Hool bus features which have been embraced by major international customers,’ says Leopold Van Hool, managing director of the bus builder. The UTC Power PEM fuel cell system delivers up to 120 kW of electric power, and is easily integrated into other heavy-duty hybrid vehicles. The product’s modular design also ensures ease of maintenance, maximizing operating time. Contact: UTC Power, South Windsor, Connecticut, USA. Tel: +1 860 727 2200, www.utcpower.com Or contact: Van Hool NV, Lier Koningshooikt, Belgium. Tel: +32 3 420 2020, www.vanhool.be
EWI, Millennium Cell link on joining technology for fuel cartridge
N
ew Jersey-based Millennium Cell has signed a contract with EWI – formerly the Edison Welding Institute – in Ohio for a 15-month project to improve the manufacturing process for Millennium Cell’s Hydrogen on Demand® fuel cartridges. The work is being funded under a National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS)/ Department of Energy program with the objective of improving the manufacturability of hydrogen storage technologies. Millennium Cell is leading a team comprising Dow Chemical, EWI and NextEnergy which will focus on developing critical manufacturing technologies that reduce the overall process and product costs of hydrogen storage technology for near-term implementation in portable power applications. Under the agreement, EWI is tasked with the development of joining technologies for key fuel storage vessels within the fuel cartridges. ‘This award is validation that manufacturability, particularly materials joining, is an enabling technology for cost reduction in both fuel cells and hydrogen storage,’ says Stan Ream, fuel cell technology leader at EWI.
Contact: Millennium Cell Inc, Eatontown, New Jersey, USA. Tel: +1 732 542 4000, www.millenniumcell.com Or contact: EWI, Columbus, Ohio, USA. Tel: +1 614 688 5000, www.ewi.org
Fuel Cells Bulletin
7