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Hydrogen Mirror 4/98

News from Hydrogen and Fuel Cell

compiled by the German Hydrogen Association

 

The topics of issue 4/98:
Hydrogen

 

Fuel Cells

 

Energy And Climate

 

Politics

 

And What Else Have We Found...

 

Further Reading

 

 

 

Hydrogen

 

Conference
The 12. World Hydrogen Energy Conference was held on 21.-25. June in Buenos Aires. A great number of papers dealt with commercial use of hydrogen in energy economy, particularly in connection with fuel cells. Islands or countries with many inhabited islands (Spain / Canary Islands, Iceland (see no. 3/98 "Iceland"), Croatia / Dalmatia) investigate the involvement of hydrogen in local or regional energy systems on the basis of renewable energies. Many other papers were about progressive methods for the production of hydrogen from fossil raw materials. There seems to be a growing conviction that hydrogen energy will gain importance not only after the general establishment of renewable primary energies.

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Shell
Shell had sent 16 high-ranking managers from different countries to Buenos Aires who had a meeting with top representants of hydrogen behind closed doors for a whole day. 1997 Shell founded a new business sector  for renewable energies with a capital of 500 M$ (see no. 6/97 "Shell"). Since March they are collecting data about the possibilities of hydrogen technology to submit them soon to the board of the mother company. Possible fields of activity for Shell will be identified afterwards, and an entry in hydrogen projects might be prepared.

Shell introduces technological know-how in a joint research project with the Daimler/Ballard daughter dbb for the development of fuel cell vehicles. Main objective of the project is reformer technology.

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Taxi
The first emission-free Taxi is running in London. Inconspicuous in appearance, the car is running on hydrogen gas and an alkaline 5 kW fuel cell and a buffer battery. It is said to be not only cleaner, but also more economical than a comparable conventional car. While purchase costs are 2500 pound higher, operating costs over the whole lifetime are said to be 30.000 pound less. Shell cares for the supply of the project.

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Buses
The public transportation companies of Berlin (Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe AG, BVG) and Hamburg (Hamburger Hochbahn AG, HHA) will transfer their bus fleets (1500 or 950 vehicles, resp.) from diesel to fuel cells. The transition will start not later than 2005, if appropriate technical solutions are available by then. While both companies know from own experience the advantages of natural gas vehicles as well, they apparently have no intention to shoulder the costs associated with changing the considerable bus fleets first to natural gas and then to fuel cells. Both MAN and Daimler-Benz work on such prototypes which carry hydrogen in pressure vessels as fuel.

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Going fishing
The mussel fishers in the North Friesian sea want to protect the sensitive biotope from which they make their living by silent and clean drives for their boats. In the long run the fleet will be converted to solar hydrogen. The results of a study made in 1996 and of a meeting held 1997 at Niebuell are now available in print.

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Levitation
Messer Griesheim GmbH and their partners at Hoechst and the university of Brunswick use the low temperature of liquid hydrogen to improve the heat insulation. In their new tank the inner tank is levitated in the outer tank by means of a magnetic field which is generated by high-temperature superconductors (transition temperature without field about 90 K). The heat load through the tank suspensions is reduced considerably. The holding time until the safety valve reacts approximately doubles this way. BMW is interested in the use of such tanks in its hydrogen cars.

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Fuel Cells

 

Opel
The General Motors subsidiary has opened a center for alternative driving systems at Mainz-Kastel (see no. 2/98 "Opel competes"). This and two other centers in the USA are to lay the foundations for GM to market a fuel cell car in six years. 160 new jobs have been created for the project so far, about half of them at Opel.

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Private Cells
On 17. June the US company Plug Power presented at Latham (New York, USA) in the presence of governor Pataki a home which is supplied with electricity by a PEM cell only. It is equipped with all usual electric appliances. Starting in 2000 the units will be marketed for 3 to 5 k$. Electricity costs are promised to drop by 20 %. Analytic Power in Boston will start a field test this year with 25 units of a new PEM cell at 2 kW (peak load 10 kW). If it is successful the units will be marketed in two years at 3 k$. Operating costs are estimated to be 0.08 $/kWh. The market size is estimated to be 25 million units.

A similar experiment in Germany will start at the beginning of the next heating season in the city of Machern, near Leipzig. The home of a city of four will be supplied by a PEM cell which was produced by American Power Corporation at Boston and developed further by Hamburg Gas Consult GmbH (HGC). Other project partners are Verbundnetz Gas AG and the Institute for Air and Cryogenic Technology GmbH at Dresden.

Sulzer Hexis AG (CH-Winterthur) will start 2001 to sell a solid oxide fuel cell at 1,5 kWel which can cover the basic demand of electricity and a part of the heat demand of a household. Tests with samples at Winterthur and Dortmund were successful. Further field experiments are planned at Basle, Oldenburg, Duisburg, and Tokyo. All partners agreed to cover the whole project costs of 200 kSFr/year each for three years so that Sulzer Hexis can use all resources for research and development.

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Bewag
The Berlin electricity utility and DWV member Bewag will install until mid-1999 a PEM cell (250 kWel + 230 kWth) made by Ballard in cooperation with Alstom Energietechnik in the city district of Treptow. The project, which is unparalleled in Europe and which costs a total of 3.25 million Euro, will be performed except by Bewag by Hamburgische Electricitäts-Werke, PreussenElektra, VEAG, Electricité de France and the European Commission. Bewag board member Bechtold called it the beginning of a new form of decentral electricity generation. The hydrogen will be made from natural gas. An additional 10 kW photovoltaic plant supplies a small electrolyser.

Alstom and Ballard will invest a total of 17.5 million Euro for a production site for such plants in Germany. The exact location is not yet known.

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Small is beautiful
Another patent (US-Patent No. 5759712; see no. 1/98 "Pocket cells") has been granted to the American inventor David Hockaday for a process for the production of very small direct methanol fuel cells for portable phones, computers, and similar appliances. Methanol as fuel improves the energy density, but no pressure vessel as for hydrogen is necessary. The cell itself mainly consisting of a flexible membrane, it can be wrapped around the fuel storage or brought in other convenient shapes. Together with a small bottle of methanol it will fit in the profile of a common battery for an electric torch (D cell). Of particular interest appears to be the mass production potential of the patented development.

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Energy and Climate

 

Change of the guard
Many countries of South America and South East Asia are still suffering from the consequences of the weather anomaly El Niño. The forecast for the near future is not too good either. Off the coast of South America something like a reaction develops which is called "La Niña" (little girl) and begins with a warming of the surface water, in contrast to the "little boy". First obvious consequences are expected again for the turn of the year. Weather researchers are still uncertain how exactly they will be like. They agree, however, that the little sister will be not less vicious than the big brother.

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Politics

 

Admonition
The first seven months of 1998 were the warmest each in its class since 1880, and July was the warmest ever — after 1997 was already the warmest year until then. US Vice President Gore urged the Congress on 10. August on the basis of these data to block up no longer the politics of the administration for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the promotion of clean energies. Whether or not the USA will ratify the Kyoto agreements is very questionable. The present development, however, will lead to more and more extreme weather events like heat waves, floods, storms, and droughts.

A similar statement was made by Secretary of State Albright on 30. July in Australia. She said that the warnings are well-founded; though many tried to brake on the basis of the costs of corresponding measures, there is one thing we certainly can not afford: just waiting. The price for this would be infinitely higher. Measures for the protection of the environment, on the other hand, so far always contributed to the economic growth and created jobs.

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Bavaria
Bavaria's minister for economy Wiesheu and the coordination office of the Hydrogen Initiative Bavaria hat invited for a Hydrogen day on the 27. June at Munich. He told more than 170 participants that it were necessary to save money, but also to invest it in the right place, for example for the future energy technologies. Among these are hydrogen and fuel cells, which had been supported with about 235 million Euro between 1991 and 1997.

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Answer
Federal Research Minister Ruettgers said in the answer to a parliamentary query of the Social Democratic Party that his house considers its job in the field of hydrogen technology as done. The components for an environmentally compatible generation and use of hydrogen are principally existent. Direct subsidiaries (without Cryoplane) were 1.25 million Euro in 1997 and will remain on this level (1996: 2,2 M, 1995: 3,0 M). Japan and the USA spend about 16 M$ per year for this purpose — for results which are already known in Germany for a long time, according to the minister. For fuel cells, however, there have been almost 25 million Euro been spent as direct support since 1995, and for there is a medium term reservation of 8.5 million Euro/year.
Remark: "German scientists were the first to develop computer, micro processor, telefax, and compact-disk; but Japanese and American countries were the first to market these key technologies. Again the question arises: What are we making wrong)" (Federal President Roman Herzog on 21. June 1996.)
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And What Else Have We Found...

 

Pioneers
Mr. Karl Benz may have invented the car in 1885, but the first ride with it on public roads was done on 16. July 1888 by Mrs. Bertha Benz — and truly a ride it was! Around 5 a.m. she and her two sons started without knowledge of her husband to go from Mannheim to see the grandmother at Pforzheim. This is a distance of 80 km, for which the unsprung 2.5 horsepower three-wheeler was by no means made. Some slopes could not be managed, the shoemaker had to cover the brake-blocks with leather for three times, a blacksmith repaired the driving chains, the ignition cable was provisionally insulated with mother's garter, and the fuel line had to be poked with her hat needle until is was free again. Of course there were no filling stations. In a pharmacy the travelers stupefied the chemist by buying the enormous amount of two liters of Ligroin (today better known as "Benzene"). In the dark they finally arrived at Pforzheim, in spite of all obstacles.
Remark: Just as at those crazy people with carts and no horses at their time some people look today when they are told of cars with hydrogen or fuel cells. In 100 more years our descendants will have a lot of amusement when they hear about it. The vehicles will by then presumably have made a similar development as the gasoline cars since the days of Mr. and Mrs. Benz.
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Further Reading

 

Solarer Wasserstoff — Technologie der Zukunft
Editor: Erzeugergemeinschaft für Muschelzüchter e.V., Signet-Verlag, Rote Str. 17c, 24937 Flensburg, 1998

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The Sourcebook for Hydrogen Applications
Contact TISEC Inc., 2113a St. Regis Blvd., Dollard, Montréal, QC H9B 2M9, Canada. Folder with CD-ROM, 249 US$ + postage

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International Directory of Hydrogen Energy & Fuel Cell Technology (3. edition)
The Hydrogen Letter Press, P.O. Box 14, USA-Rhinecliff, NY 12574-0014; Tel.: (+1-914) 876 5988; Fax: -7599; 70$ postage included

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Hydrogen Mirror 4/98
Published by German Hydrogen Association, Berlin
Editor: Dr. Ulrich Schmidtchen, Berlin