- Email: [email protected]
Hexagon Composites new unit for hydrogen business development
NEWS
PowerCell wins first order for its 100 kW S3 prototype stack
N
ordic fuel cell developer PowerCell Sweden has received the first order for a prototype of its 100 kW PowerCell S3 fuel cell stack, from a European company that will use it in an automotive application. The PowerCell S3 prototype is expected to be delivered to the unnamed customer during the second quarter. The S3 stack is based on the platform developed by PowerCell in the Autostack Core project, in collaboration with its project partners. ‘This confirms that the results of the Autostack Core project are very promising,’ says Andreas Bodén, director of marketing & sales at PowerCell Sweden. ‘That the customer has chosen our stack also shows that the demand for our clean energy solutions increases, even if the order has a limited impact on this year’s result.’ The PowerCell S3 PEM fuel cell stack platform will complement the company’s first- and second-generation stack platforms: the PowerCell S1 is rated at 1–5 kW, and the PowerCell S2 is rated at 6–25 kW. The S2 stack was launched at last year’s Hannover Messe [FCB, May 2015, p10], with the first order coming soon after [FCB, July 2015, p10]. The S3 stack covers a larger power range, from 20 kW up to 100 kW, but this platform is designed to only use pure hydrogen as the fuel, and is intended for automotive applications. PowerCell Sweden has developed a modular system of PEM fuel cell platforms that can run on hydrogen reformed from biogas, natural gas, biodiesel, or standard diesel. The company has combined its fuel cell and reforming technology into the PowerPac generator, which runs on diesel. It is collaborating in a Norwegian project to reduce diesel consumption for electricity generation during grocery vehicle loading and unloading [FCB, April 2015, p3], and is working with TeliaSonera to install and operate a PowerPac generator at a telecom base station in Sweden [FCB, November 2015, p1]. The company is also hosting a pilot study to store hydrogen produced using excess wind and solar power [FCB, January 2016, p8].
PowerCell Sweden AB, Gothenburg, Sweden. Tel: +46 31 720 3620, www.powercell.se
10
Fuel Cells Bulletin
Anglo American Platinum invests in US FCEV value chain
S
outh Africa-based Anglo American Platinum is investing US$4 million to help reduce the delivered costs of hydrogen, and support the development of hydrogen refueling stations for fuel cell electric vehicles in the northeastern US. The investment in United Hydrogen Group (UHG), a hydrogen production and distribution business based in Georgia, aims to bolster the demand for platinum in fuel cells for FCEVs. The outlay forms part of Anglo American Platinum’s PGM Investment Programme, which provides early-stage and growth capital to companies that can demonstrate the commercial viability of their products or of a technology that in turn consumes or enables the consumption of platinum group metals (PGMs). Anglo American Platinum also has investments in Ballard Power Systems [FCB, April 2013, p10] and Altergy Systems, and is involved in several South African fuel cell projects, including providing standby power in several schools in Eastern Cape province [FCB, July 2015, p5], and trialing a methanol-fueled PEM fuel cell home generator system in an off-grid residential application in Free State province [FCB, August 2014, p3]. The investment in UHG aims to reduce the delivered costs of hydrogen, and support the development of hydrogen refueling stations in the northeastern corridor of the US. UHG will work closely with Hydrogenious Technologies, a PGM Investment Programme partner, on delivered hydrogen logistics and costs. Together these companies will reduce the cost of ownership for FCEVs, laying the foundation for their mass adoption. UHG currently distributes gaseous and liquid hydrogen to its industrial customers, and owns a hydrogen refueling station in New York. ‘We ultimately want to reduce the cost of delivered hydrogen and increase access to hydrogen refueling stations,’ says Andrew Hinkly, executive head of marketing at Anglo American Platinum. ‘Our investment in UHG goes a long way to achieving both of these goals, and supporting development of the FCEV market.’ ‘This investment will allow us to accelerate our participation in the hydrogen infrastructure buildup in the US, and provides us with capital to commercialise disruptive technology for the
storage and delivery of hydrogen,’ adds Vladmir Perad, CEO of UHG. United Hydrogen Group, Kennesaw, Georgia, USA. Tel: +1 866 942 7763, www.unitedlh2.com Anglo American Platinum: www.angloamericanplatinum.com
Hexagon Composites new unit for hydrogen business development
N
orwegian-based Hexagon Composites ASA, a global leader in lightweight composite cylinders for storage and transport of pressurised gases, has established a separate business unit to focus on hydrogen storage and transportation systems. The company is already playing a significant role in shaping the hydrogen storage industry, with contracts supporting OEMs, refueling station builders, and research laboratories in Asia, Europe, and North America. The company is well positioned across the hydrogen value chain, producing cylinders for passenger and commercial vehicles, ground storage, transportation, and backup power solutions. Hexagon Composites has a strong presence and experience in the natural gas vehicle (NGV) market, so it sees fuel cell electric vehicles as a natural expansion market. The introduction of FCEVs will drive the demand for hydrogen refueling stations, which will generate good market opportunities for the company’s Type 4 cylinder technology. Hexagon says that the fatigue-resistant cycling properties of composite pressure cylinders make them more suitable for storage than steel alternatives. Its Mobile Pipeline™ solutions will be certified for hydrogen distribution, with the Type 4 tanks allowing more gas to be transported in a given trailer space. ‘Based on our proven Type 4 technology, hydrogen cylinders are some of our most future-oriented products,’ says Jon Erik Engeset, CEO of Hexagon Composites. ‘The establishment of a separate business unit is done to further strengthen our organisational capability to lead the development of a new high-growth market niche.’ Rick Rashilla, currently VP of the Global Hydrogen Team at Hexagon Lincoln in Nebraska, USA, will head the new unit. Rashilla leads a strong team focusing on research, development, and marketing of existing products and solutions. The team members, located in the US, Germany, Austria and Norway, have strong relations with key industry players.
February 2016
NEWS / IN BRIEF Hexagon Composites ASA, Ålesund, Norway. Tel: +47 7030 4450, www.hexagon.no Hexagon Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA. Tel: +1 402 470 5000, www.hexagonlincoln.com
RESEARCH
Canadian team wins grant to develop lowcost alkaline fuel cells
A
n international clean energy technologies research project based at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada has received a C$4 million (US$2.9 million) grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). The team will develop a new class of threedimensional meso- and nanostructured nickel materials that will find application in advanced alkaline water electrolysis, glycerol electrolysis, and fuel cell technologies. The Engineered Nickel Catalysts for Electrochemical Clean Energy (Ni Electro Can) research team, led by Professor Gregory Jerkiewicz in the Queen’s chemistry department, will use the NSERC Discovery Frontiers grant to develop the next generation of nickel-based materials. The team aims to create affordable alkaline fuel cells for the production of energy, and develop new technologies for hydrogen-based energy storage. The research will also work on transforming glycerol into value-added chemicals that will make biodiesel production cheaper and greener. Currently, fuel cells employ acidic electrolytes, which are expensive because they require platinum catalysts. The Ni Electro Can team is developing nickel materials that will be used in new alkaline fuel cell technologies, making them cheaper to build. These nickel materials will also find application in alkaline water electrolysers, making this technology more energy-efficient. The new fuel cells and alkaline water electrolysers will assist Canada in transitioning to the hydrogen economy. ‘Canada faces challenges associated with declining reserves of non-renewable energy sources, environmental pollution, greenhouse gas production, and related societal issues,’ says Jerkiewicz. ‘Building on Canada’s strengths in the nickel, water electrolysis and fuel cell sectors, this project will lay the foundation for Canadian leadership in the next generation of electrochemical clean energy technologies.’ Ni Electro Can includes 14 Canadian researchers, seven universities (Queen’s plus the
February 2016
University of Victoria, Simon Fraser University, INRS Université de Recherche, University of Toronto, University of Ottawa, and McMaster University), nine international researchers from seven countries, and a number of industry partners. Contact: Professor Gregory Jerkiewicz, Department of Chemistry, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Tel: +1 613 533 6413, Email: [email protected], Web: faculty.chem.queensu.ca/people/faculty/jerkiewicz Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada: www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca
US DOE SBIR awards include four on fuel cell membrane R&D
T
he US Department of Energy has announced its 2016 Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) Phase I Release 1 Awards, including four projects focused on durable and inexpensive polymer electrolyte membranes (PEMs) for transportation and stationary fuel cell applications. These projects are awarded through the Office of Basic Energy Sciences. The winning projects are: UÊ NanoSonic Inc (www.nanosonic.com) in Pembroke, Virginia will develop and demonstrate high-temperature, hydrocarbonbased membranes that meet the chemical, thermal, and mechanical properties necessary to qualify for the demanding environments that exist within a fuel cell electric vehicle’s lifetime. UÊ NEI Corporation (www.neicorporation. com) in Somerset, New Jersey will develop a novel PEM, using highly proton-conducting heteropolyacids in an organic matrix. UÊ Amsen Technologies LLC in Tucson, Arizona will develop a new low-cost, protonconducting membrane for intermediatetemperature fuel cells based on a novel composite approach, which encompasses both the development of new, highly protonconducting ionomers and the integration of an innovative membrane support. UÊ Giner Inc (www.ginerinc.com) in Newton, Massachusetts will develop novel hydrocarbonbased ionomeric membranes with high conductivity and mechanical strength, for use in high-temperature fuel cell applications. DOE Fuel Cell Technologies Office: http://tinyurl.com/doe-fcto DOE Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Program: http://energy.gov/eere/transportation/hydrogen-andfuel-cells
IN BRIEF Workshop on Ion Exchange Membranes for Energy Applications, EMEA 2016 The 4th International Workshop on Ion Exchange Membranes for Energy Applications (EMEA 2016) will take place 27–29 June in Bad Zwischenahn, Germany. This workshop offers an opportunity for experts from research and industry around the world to discuss the latest developments in ion-exchange membrane materials and electrocatalysts for system integration [highlights of previous workshops were reported in FCB, October 2014 and September 2015]. Commercial products are already available containing proton-exchange membranes (PEMs), but recently anion-exchange membranes (AEMs) have been of growing interest, borne out by the increasing number of scientific publications on alkaline exchange membranes. The prospects of employing non-noble metal catalysts in alkaline media mean that newly developed electrocatalysts are needed for efficient system designs, so this will also be a focus of the workshop. The EMEA 2016 Workshop is organised by NEXT ENERGY – EWE Research Centre for Energy Technology in Germany, in cooperation with the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) and the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. Furthermore, selected papers from the workshop will be published in a special issue of the new ASME Journal of Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage, formerly the Journal of Fuel Cell Science and Technology. The planned special issue will highlight articles on ‘Anion Exchange Membranes and AEM based systems’ in association with the EMEA 2016 workshop, with authors invited to submit manuscripts until October 2016 (http:// tinyurl.com/asme-jeecs). More info: www.next-energy.de/emea-2016.html
Honda, GM for fuel cell production plant Honda and General Motors will set up a factory to jointly manufacture fuel cells for their fuel cell electric vehicles, according to a report in The Asahi Shimbun. Honda and GM have been jointly developing fuel cell systems and hydrogen tanks for FCEVs since 2013 [FCB, July 2013, p2], although they plan to develop their own commercial FCEVs. They plan to begin mass production of fuel cells at the new plant by 2025, with reduced production costs. The Japanese government plans to introduce measures to reduce FCEV prices to levels that can compete with gas-electric hybrid vehicles around 2025. ‘By cutting costs with General Motors, we hope to increase our [FCEV] production capacity to help achieve the government’s goal,’ said a senior Honda official.
Fuel Cells Bulletin
11
PowerCell wins first order for its 100 kW S3 prototype stack
N
ordic fuel cell developer PowerCell Sweden has received the first order for a prototype of its 100 kW PowerCell S3 fuel cell stack, from a European company that will use it in an automotive application. The PowerCell S3 prototype is expected to be delivered to the unnamed customer during the second quarter. The S3 stack is based on the platform developed by PowerCell in the Autostack Core project, in collaboration with its project partners. ‘This confirms that the results of the Autostack Core project are very promising,’ says Andreas Bodén, director of marketing & sales at PowerCell Sweden. ‘That the customer has chosen our stack also shows that the demand for our clean energy solutions increases, even if the order has a limited impact on this year’s result.’ The PowerCell S3 PEM fuel cell stack platform will complement the company’s first- and second-generation stack platforms: the PowerCell S1 is rated at 1–5 kW, and the PowerCell S2 is rated at 6–25 kW. The S2 stack was launched at last year’s Hannover Messe [FCB, May 2015, p10], with the first order coming soon after [FCB, July 2015, p10]. The S3 stack covers a larger power range, from 20 kW up to 100 kW, but this platform is designed to only use pure hydrogen as the fuel, and is intended for automotive applications. PowerCell Sweden has developed a modular system of PEM fuel cell platforms that can run on hydrogen reformed from biogas, natural gas, biodiesel, or standard diesel. The company has combined its fuel cell and reforming technology into the PowerPac generator, which runs on diesel. It is collaborating in a Norwegian project to reduce diesel consumption for electricity generation during grocery vehicle loading and unloading [FCB, April 2015, p3], and is working with TeliaSonera to install and operate a PowerPac generator at a telecom base station in Sweden [FCB, November 2015, p1]. The company is also hosting a pilot study to store hydrogen produced using excess wind and solar power [FCB, January 2016, p8].
PowerCell Sweden AB, Gothenburg, Sweden. Tel: +46 31 720 3620, www.powercell.se
10
Fuel Cells Bulletin
Anglo American Platinum invests in US FCEV value chain
S
outh Africa-based Anglo American Platinum is investing US$4 million to help reduce the delivered costs of hydrogen, and support the development of hydrogen refueling stations for fuel cell electric vehicles in the northeastern US. The investment in United Hydrogen Group (UHG), a hydrogen production and distribution business based in Georgia, aims to bolster the demand for platinum in fuel cells for FCEVs. The outlay forms part of Anglo American Platinum’s PGM Investment Programme, which provides early-stage and growth capital to companies that can demonstrate the commercial viability of their products or of a technology that in turn consumes or enables the consumption of platinum group metals (PGMs). Anglo American Platinum also has investments in Ballard Power Systems [FCB, April 2013, p10] and Altergy Systems, and is involved in several South African fuel cell projects, including providing standby power in several schools in Eastern Cape province [FCB, July 2015, p5], and trialing a methanol-fueled PEM fuel cell home generator system in an off-grid residential application in Free State province [FCB, August 2014, p3]. The investment in UHG aims to reduce the delivered costs of hydrogen, and support the development of hydrogen refueling stations in the northeastern corridor of the US. UHG will work closely with Hydrogenious Technologies, a PGM Investment Programme partner, on delivered hydrogen logistics and costs. Together these companies will reduce the cost of ownership for FCEVs, laying the foundation for their mass adoption. UHG currently distributes gaseous and liquid hydrogen to its industrial customers, and owns a hydrogen refueling station in New York. ‘We ultimately want to reduce the cost of delivered hydrogen and increase access to hydrogen refueling stations,’ says Andrew Hinkly, executive head of marketing at Anglo American Platinum. ‘Our investment in UHG goes a long way to achieving both of these goals, and supporting development of the FCEV market.’ ‘This investment will allow us to accelerate our participation in the hydrogen infrastructure buildup in the US, and provides us with capital to commercialise disruptive technology for the
storage and delivery of hydrogen,’ adds Vladmir Perad, CEO of UHG. United Hydrogen Group, Kennesaw, Georgia, USA. Tel: +1 866 942 7763, www.unitedlh2.com Anglo American Platinum: www.angloamericanplatinum.com
Hexagon Composites new unit for hydrogen business development
N
orwegian-based Hexagon Composites ASA, a global leader in lightweight composite cylinders for storage and transport of pressurised gases, has established a separate business unit to focus on hydrogen storage and transportation systems. The company is already playing a significant role in shaping the hydrogen storage industry, with contracts supporting OEMs, refueling station builders, and research laboratories in Asia, Europe, and North America. The company is well positioned across the hydrogen value chain, producing cylinders for passenger and commercial vehicles, ground storage, transportation, and backup power solutions. Hexagon Composites has a strong presence and experience in the natural gas vehicle (NGV) market, so it sees fuel cell electric vehicles as a natural expansion market. The introduction of FCEVs will drive the demand for hydrogen refueling stations, which will generate good market opportunities for the company’s Type 4 cylinder technology. Hexagon says that the fatigue-resistant cycling properties of composite pressure cylinders make them more suitable for storage than steel alternatives. Its Mobile Pipeline™ solutions will be certified for hydrogen distribution, with the Type 4 tanks allowing more gas to be transported in a given trailer space. ‘Based on our proven Type 4 technology, hydrogen cylinders are some of our most future-oriented products,’ says Jon Erik Engeset, CEO of Hexagon Composites. ‘The establishment of a separate business unit is done to further strengthen our organisational capability to lead the development of a new high-growth market niche.’ Rick Rashilla, currently VP of the Global Hydrogen Team at Hexagon Lincoln in Nebraska, USA, will head the new unit. Rashilla leads a strong team focusing on research, development, and marketing of existing products and solutions. The team members, located in the US, Germany, Austria and Norway, have strong relations with key industry players.
February 2016
NEWS / IN BRIEF Hexagon Composites ASA, Ålesund, Norway. Tel: +47 7030 4450, www.hexagon.no Hexagon Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA. Tel: +1 402 470 5000, www.hexagonlincoln.com
RESEARCH
Canadian team wins grant to develop lowcost alkaline fuel cells
A
n international clean energy technologies research project based at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada has received a C$4 million (US$2.9 million) grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). The team will develop a new class of threedimensional meso- and nanostructured nickel materials that will find application in advanced alkaline water electrolysis, glycerol electrolysis, and fuel cell technologies. The Engineered Nickel Catalysts for Electrochemical Clean Energy (Ni Electro Can) research team, led by Professor Gregory Jerkiewicz in the Queen’s chemistry department, will use the NSERC Discovery Frontiers grant to develop the next generation of nickel-based materials. The team aims to create affordable alkaline fuel cells for the production of energy, and develop new technologies for hydrogen-based energy storage. The research will also work on transforming glycerol into value-added chemicals that will make biodiesel production cheaper and greener. Currently, fuel cells employ acidic electrolytes, which are expensive because they require platinum catalysts. The Ni Electro Can team is developing nickel materials that will be used in new alkaline fuel cell technologies, making them cheaper to build. These nickel materials will also find application in alkaline water electrolysers, making this technology more energy-efficient. The new fuel cells and alkaline water electrolysers will assist Canada in transitioning to the hydrogen economy. ‘Canada faces challenges associated with declining reserves of non-renewable energy sources, environmental pollution, greenhouse gas production, and related societal issues,’ says Jerkiewicz. ‘Building on Canada’s strengths in the nickel, water electrolysis and fuel cell sectors, this project will lay the foundation for Canadian leadership in the next generation of electrochemical clean energy technologies.’ Ni Electro Can includes 14 Canadian researchers, seven universities (Queen’s plus the
February 2016
University of Victoria, Simon Fraser University, INRS Université de Recherche, University of Toronto, University of Ottawa, and McMaster University), nine international researchers from seven countries, and a number of industry partners. Contact: Professor Gregory Jerkiewicz, Department of Chemistry, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Tel: +1 613 533 6413, Email: [email protected], Web: faculty.chem.queensu.ca/people/faculty/jerkiewicz Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada: www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca
US DOE SBIR awards include four on fuel cell membrane R&D
T
he US Department of Energy has announced its 2016 Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) Phase I Release 1 Awards, including four projects focused on durable and inexpensive polymer electrolyte membranes (PEMs) for transportation and stationary fuel cell applications. These projects are awarded through the Office of Basic Energy Sciences. The winning projects are: UÊ NanoSonic Inc (www.nanosonic.com) in Pembroke, Virginia will develop and demonstrate high-temperature, hydrocarbonbased membranes that meet the chemical, thermal, and mechanical properties necessary to qualify for the demanding environments that exist within a fuel cell electric vehicle’s lifetime. UÊ NEI Corporation (www.neicorporation. com) in Somerset, New Jersey will develop a novel PEM, using highly proton-conducting heteropolyacids in an organic matrix. UÊ Amsen Technologies LLC in Tucson, Arizona will develop a new low-cost, protonconducting membrane for intermediatetemperature fuel cells based on a novel composite approach, which encompasses both the development of new, highly protonconducting ionomers and the integration of an innovative membrane support. UÊ Giner Inc (www.ginerinc.com) in Newton, Massachusetts will develop novel hydrocarbonbased ionomeric membranes with high conductivity and mechanical strength, for use in high-temperature fuel cell applications. DOE Fuel Cell Technologies Office: http://tinyurl.com/doe-fcto DOE Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Program: http://energy.gov/eere/transportation/hydrogen-andfuel-cells
IN BRIEF Workshop on Ion Exchange Membranes for Energy Applications, EMEA 2016 The 4th International Workshop on Ion Exchange Membranes for Energy Applications (EMEA 2016) will take place 27–29 June in Bad Zwischenahn, Germany. This workshop offers an opportunity for experts from research and industry around the world to discuss the latest developments in ion-exchange membrane materials and electrocatalysts for system integration [highlights of previous workshops were reported in FCB, October 2014 and September 2015]. Commercial products are already available containing proton-exchange membranes (PEMs), but recently anion-exchange membranes (AEMs) have been of growing interest, borne out by the increasing number of scientific publications on alkaline exchange membranes. The prospects of employing non-noble metal catalysts in alkaline media mean that newly developed electrocatalysts are needed for efficient system designs, so this will also be a focus of the workshop. The EMEA 2016 Workshop is organised by NEXT ENERGY – EWE Research Centre for Energy Technology in Germany, in cooperation with the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) and the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. Furthermore, selected papers from the workshop will be published in a special issue of the new ASME Journal of Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage, formerly the Journal of Fuel Cell Science and Technology. The planned special issue will highlight articles on ‘Anion Exchange Membranes and AEM based systems’ in association with the EMEA 2016 workshop, with authors invited to submit manuscripts until October 2016 (http:// tinyurl.com/asme-jeecs). More info: www.next-energy.de/emea-2016.html
Honda, GM for fuel cell production plant Honda and General Motors will set up a factory to jointly manufacture fuel cells for their fuel cell electric vehicles, according to a report in The Asahi Shimbun. Honda and GM have been jointly developing fuel cell systems and hydrogen tanks for FCEVs since 2013 [FCB, July 2013, p2], although they plan to develop their own commercial FCEVs. They plan to begin mass production of fuel cells at the new plant by 2025, with reduced production costs. The Japanese government plans to introduce measures to reduce FCEV prices to levels that can compete with gas-electric hybrid vehicles around 2025. ‘By cutting costs with General Motors, we hope to increase our [FCEV] production capacity to help achieve the government’s goal,’ said a senior Honda official.
Fuel Cells Bulletin
11