- Email: [email protected]
Saarland sensor system safeguards fuel quality at hydrogen stations
NEWS Ltd to establish a joint venture, Nel-Deokyang Ltd, to market and sell the H2Station in Korea [July 2017, p8]; last summer it took full control of the JV, renaming it Nel Korea Co Ltd [July 2018, p11]. The company recently won a E2.8 million (US$3.2 million) contract to supply two H2Stations for Gangwon Technopark [March 2019, p7], and has now received a purchase order for the two stations from the Public Procurement Service. The installations in Gangneung and Samcheok are scheduled for later this year. Nel acquired the H2Station technology when it bought Danish company H2 Logic in 2015 [June 2015, p8, and see the H2 Logic feature in May 2013]. Nel ASA: www.nelhydrogen.com
OneH2 for dedicated hydrogen production hub, California trucks
N
orth Carolina-based OneH2 has completed construction of the first stage of a dedicated hydrogen fuel plant, designed to provide deliveries of ready-to-use bulk hydrogen to the industrial forklift truck and heavy vehicle markets. The stage one project for the hydrogen fuel plant in Long View, North Carolina, will provide hydrogen for about 1000 industrial forklift trucks throughout the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Georgia. OneH2 expects that with completion of stages two and three, the facility will also service the burgeoning hydrogen powered semi-tractor market, particularly for trucks conducting linehaul runs between Charlotte, Atlanta, and Nashville. The company’s total capital investment in the Long View hydrogen hub, believed to be the first on the US East Coast, will approach $16 million. OneH2’s business is based on a fuel production hub-and-spoke model, where central ‘production hubs’ produce low-cost, ready-to-use hydrogen which is then transported by trailer to refueling locations at industrial centres such as factories, port precincts, and warehouses. Regional distributors, such as OneH2 Southeast, then play a direct role in fuel marketing and distribution. OneH2 anticipates that the Long View facility will serve as a template for future hubs planned across North America, the UK, and Australia in the coming years, with Pontiac, Michigan the next facility in the pipeline. Meanwhile, OneH2 has received a $250 000 economic development grant from the North Carolina Department of Commerce and the Town of Long View, to support the renovation
April 2019
of its headquarters. The grant will also help facility renovations necessary to put the recently acquired Nuvera PowerTap® hydrogen generator range into long-run production [FCB, January 2019, p14]. In other news, OneH2 has been selected to supply hydrogen for a fleet of fuel cell electric trucks to be operated at the Ports of Los Angeles and San Diego. The Fast Track Fuel Cell Truck Project is managed by the Gas Technology Institute (GTI), working with technology partners including TransPower, Frontier Energy, the Center for Sustainable Energy, and Loop Energy [August 2018, p4]. OneH2’s role is to provide both mobile and fixed hydrogen infrastructure to allow truck refueling, as well as the hydrogen required to power the fleet. The fleet of hydrogen powered on-road heavy trucks has been funded through a California Air Resources Board grant with $6.8 million of matched funds from CARB and the technology partners. OneH2: www.oneh2.com
Saarland sensor system safeguards fuel quality at hydrogen stations
R
esearchers at Saarland University in Germany are collaborating with partners to develop a sensor system that can provide continuous in situ monitoring of hydrogen quality at hydrogen refueling stations, to ensure that hydrogen supplied to fuel cell electric vehicles is free of any contaminants that could damage the fuel cell. The new sensor system features an infrared measuring cell installed inside the hydrogen station, which will have to operate reliably despite the very high pressures and short refueling times. The high pressures to which the sensors are exposed are in fact utilised to further improve the sensitivity of the process. Impurities such as sulfur-containing compounds, ammonia, or hydrocarbons can all contaminate the hydrogen during the production process, during transportation to the hydrogen station, or during the refueling process. Even low levels of impurities can damage the fuel cell membranes, reducing the power output and ultimately causing irreversible damage. The research team, led by Professor Dr Andreas Schütze, head of the Lab for Measurement Technology, have been working with research partners – including the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, Hydac Electronic GmbH, and the ZeMA Center for Mechatronics and Automation
Technology – to develop technology that ensures that the fuel cells are only fed with high-purity hydrogen. The team showcased the system at the recent Hannover Messe trade fair. The project is being supported with a E2.5 million (US$2.8 million) grant from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). ‘The challenge is twofold: measuring at the required level of precision, and coping with the conditions under which the sensor system needs to operate,’ says Schütze. The refueling process uses hydrogen pressures of 700–900 bar, and takes less than three minutes. The research team is currently conducting experiments and assigning specific infrared absorption signals to the various contaminants, as well as determining which wavelengths of the infrared spectrum are most suitable for the measurements, and calibrating the system. These important preparatory stages need to be completed before this autumn, when the sensor system will be installed in a hydrogen refueling station for operational trials. Saarland University, Lab for Measurement Technology: www.lmt.uni-saarland.de/index.php/en ZeMA Center for Mechatronics and Automation Technology: www.zema.de [in German]
ENERGY STORAGE & P2G
UNSW Sydney plans home hydrogen storage for renewable energy
R
esearchers at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia have received a A$3.5 million (US$2.5 million) investment from Providence Asset Group to develop a first-of-its-kind hydrogen storage system with partner H2Store that should mean cheaper, safer renewable energy storage for home use. Professor Kondo-Francois Aguey-Zinsou and his team in UNSW’s School of Chemical Engineering have developed a unique system that provides cheap storage and transportation of hydrogen, which they expect will provide a new alternative for energy storage within two years. The new funding will help them deliver phase one of a four-stage project that includes the creation of prototypes of their hydrogen energy storage solution for residential and commercial use, demonstration units, and testing and optimisation that will enable full commercialisation of the product. Aguey-Zinsou, who heads the Materials Energy Research Laboratory in nanoscale
Fuel Cells Bulletin
9
OneH2 for dedicated hydrogen production hub, California trucks
N
orth Carolina-based OneH2 has completed construction of the first stage of a dedicated hydrogen fuel plant, designed to provide deliveries of ready-to-use bulk hydrogen to the industrial forklift truck and heavy vehicle markets. The stage one project for the hydrogen fuel plant in Long View, North Carolina, will provide hydrogen for about 1000 industrial forklift trucks throughout the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Georgia. OneH2 expects that with completion of stages two and three, the facility will also service the burgeoning hydrogen powered semi-tractor market, particularly for trucks conducting linehaul runs between Charlotte, Atlanta, and Nashville. The company’s total capital investment in the Long View hydrogen hub, believed to be the first on the US East Coast, will approach $16 million. OneH2’s business is based on a fuel production hub-and-spoke model, where central ‘production hubs’ produce low-cost, ready-to-use hydrogen which is then transported by trailer to refueling locations at industrial centres such as factories, port precincts, and warehouses. Regional distributors, such as OneH2 Southeast, then play a direct role in fuel marketing and distribution. OneH2 anticipates that the Long View facility will serve as a template for future hubs planned across North America, the UK, and Australia in the coming years, with Pontiac, Michigan the next facility in the pipeline. Meanwhile, OneH2 has received a $250 000 economic development grant from the North Carolina Department of Commerce and the Town of Long View, to support the renovation
April 2019
of its headquarters. The grant will also help facility renovations necessary to put the recently acquired Nuvera PowerTap® hydrogen generator range into long-run production [FCB, January 2019, p14]. In other news, OneH2 has been selected to supply hydrogen for a fleet of fuel cell electric trucks to be operated at the Ports of Los Angeles and San Diego. The Fast Track Fuel Cell Truck Project is managed by the Gas Technology Institute (GTI), working with technology partners including TransPower, Frontier Energy, the Center for Sustainable Energy, and Loop Energy [August 2018, p4]. OneH2’s role is to provide both mobile and fixed hydrogen infrastructure to allow truck refueling, as well as the hydrogen required to power the fleet. The fleet of hydrogen powered on-road heavy trucks has been funded through a California Air Resources Board grant with $6.8 million of matched funds from CARB and the technology partners. OneH2: www.oneh2.com
Saarland sensor system safeguards fuel quality at hydrogen stations
R
esearchers at Saarland University in Germany are collaborating with partners to develop a sensor system that can provide continuous in situ monitoring of hydrogen quality at hydrogen refueling stations, to ensure that hydrogen supplied to fuel cell electric vehicles is free of any contaminants that could damage the fuel cell. The new sensor system features an infrared measuring cell installed inside the hydrogen station, which will have to operate reliably despite the very high pressures and short refueling times. The high pressures to which the sensors are exposed are in fact utilised to further improve the sensitivity of the process. Impurities such as sulfur-containing compounds, ammonia, or hydrocarbons can all contaminate the hydrogen during the production process, during transportation to the hydrogen station, or during the refueling process. Even low levels of impurities can damage the fuel cell membranes, reducing the power output and ultimately causing irreversible damage. The research team, led by Professor Dr Andreas Schütze, head of the Lab for Measurement Technology, have been working with research partners – including the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, Hydac Electronic GmbH, and the ZeMA Center for Mechatronics and Automation
Technology – to develop technology that ensures that the fuel cells are only fed with high-purity hydrogen. The team showcased the system at the recent Hannover Messe trade fair. The project is being supported with a E2.5 million (US$2.8 million) grant from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). ‘The challenge is twofold: measuring at the required level of precision, and coping with the conditions under which the sensor system needs to operate,’ says Schütze. The refueling process uses hydrogen pressures of 700–900 bar, and takes less than three minutes. The research team is currently conducting experiments and assigning specific infrared absorption signals to the various contaminants, as well as determining which wavelengths of the infrared spectrum are most suitable for the measurements, and calibrating the system. These important preparatory stages need to be completed before this autumn, when the sensor system will be installed in a hydrogen refueling station for operational trials. Saarland University, Lab for Measurement Technology: www.lmt.uni-saarland.de/index.php/en ZeMA Center for Mechatronics and Automation Technology: www.zema.de [in German]
ENERGY STORAGE & P2G
UNSW Sydney plans home hydrogen storage for renewable energy
R
esearchers at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia have received a A$3.5 million (US$2.5 million) investment from Providence Asset Group to develop a first-of-its-kind hydrogen storage system with partner H2Store that should mean cheaper, safer renewable energy storage for home use. Professor Kondo-Francois Aguey-Zinsou and his team in UNSW’s School of Chemical Engineering have developed a unique system that provides cheap storage and transportation of hydrogen, which they expect will provide a new alternative for energy storage within two years. The new funding will help them deliver phase one of a four-stage project that includes the creation of prototypes of their hydrogen energy storage solution for residential and commercial use, demonstration units, and testing and optimisation that will enable full commercialisation of the product. Aguey-Zinsou, who heads the Materials Energy Research Laboratory in nanoscale
Fuel Cells Bulletin
9