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DOE webinar: How top 5 hydrogen economy states did it
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DOE webinar, June 21
For two consecutive years, Fuel Cells 2000 has named California, Connecticut, New York, Ohio and South Carolina to its list of top five fuel cell states (see last week’s post about the just-released 2010 “State of the states” report (pdf)).
DOE is sponsoring a lunch-time webinar tomorrow on how local policies enabled these states to become leaders in fuel cell technology development and deployment.
From DOE:
“Webinar June 21: Top Five Fuel Cell States - Why Local Policies Mean Green Growth
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Fuel Cell Technologies Program will co-host a webinar with the Technology Transition Corporation and the Clean Energy States Alliance titled “Top Five Fuel Cell States - Why Local Policies Mean Green Growth” on Tuesday, June 21, from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. EDT.
Hydrogen fuel cells are currently powering stationary applications, backup power, buses, forklifts, and commercial fleets in municipalities across the country. In this webinar, participants will hear from organizations in states with top-performing hydrogen fuel cell projects and learn about how these states’ local policies have increased the use of innovative fuel cell technologies. Participants will also see why fuel cell technologies can be a great choice for businesses, and what they can do to help foster growth of the fuel cell market.
Speakers:
Public Technology Institute representative - moderator
Pat Valente - executive director, Ohio Fuel Cell Coalition - will discuss business development, including promotion of the fuel cell manufacturing supply chain and potential sources of assistance and incentives.
Jennifer Gangi - program director, Fuel Cells 2000 - will give an overview of successful state policies.
Julia Donoho - major project architect, County of Sonoma, California - will talk about a 1.4 megawatt fuel cell operating in Sonoma County, California. This fuel cell is the largest in the state and is expected to save the county up to $50 million in energy costs over the next 30 years.”
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Report released on state-by-state fuel cell activities
Praxair hydrogen fueling station at LAX. Credit: Fuel Cells 2000.
Fuel Cells 2000 has just released its latest report, “State of the States: Fuel Cells in America,” (pdf) which is available free from their website. The 106-page report was assembled by the Washington-based nonprofit organization from public records, websites and communication with state and industry representatives with support from DOE’s Fuel Cell Technologies Program.
The report summarizes the status of fuel cell activity in the categories of new policies and funding, recent FC and hydrogen installations, planned FC and hydrogen installations, and recent activity by state industry and universities.
California, Connecticut, New York, Ohio and South Carolina are named top five FC states - all of which were top five states last year, too. The top five states were chosen based on criteria including “incentive policies to attract fuel cell business to their state, present or planned deployments of hydrogen fueling stations and FC-powered vehicles, buses and forklifts, and university research projects that attract funding to the state while also advancing the industry.” Based on those criteria, five up-and-coming states were also identified: Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Maryland and Texas.
States with no appreciable FC activity are Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota and Vermont.
The report’s introduction provides a nice overview of the industry and provides some useful, general metrics. For example, in the last year, more than 50 megawatts of FC stationary power were installed or purchased, more than 1,500 FC forklifts were purchased or deployed, hydrogen stations were opened in three states and California, alone, plans to have 20 public hydrogen stations in place by the end of 2011.
The general overview does not break out information based on FC type, although some of the state-by-state information refers to specific technologies. The individual state summaries are not intended to be directories of organizations or companies active in the field, but some of the omissions seem surprising. In a spot check of Ohio, for example, the only college-level institution listed individually Stark State College (a two-year degree granting college that is developing FC prototypes and technicians), but is missing several of Ohio’s powerful academic FC research engines, such as Ohio State University and Case Western Reserve University. Those universities are major participants in some of the industry projects that are listed, so some extra research would be needed to tease out the full picture of academic activity in Ohio and probably in other states, too.
The report does provide a valuable high-level snapshot of the nation’s FC activities. The catalog of installations and deployments was interesting, and should be of value to anyone interested in the commerce side of FCs. The report makes it easy to identify which states are making serious efforts to build their hydrogen economy infrastructure and are supporting that priority with funding and incentive policies.
The DOE’s Fuel Cell Technologies website has a lot of business-related reports, many written by Fuel Cell 2000 staff.
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Layered graphene found to provide stable storage of hydrogen
Change in the wt percent of hydrogen in few-layer graphene sample created via exfoliation (EG) and arc evaporation of graphite under hydrogen (HGH). (Inset) The evolution of hydrogen as recorded by gas chromatograph. Credit: Subrahmanyam et al.
A group of researchers from the Jawaharlal Nehru Center for Advanced Scientific Research in Bangalore, India say they have come across a new approach for using graphene for hydrogen storage. They say in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences they have been able to create samples containing up to 5 wt percent hydrogen, which they say can be completely released through heating or by irradiating with a laser or UV light source. For comparison purposes, the maximum amount of hydrogen that can be contained in graphene is 7.7 wt percent.
This isn’t the first time researchers have looked at graphene. Much of this work has been done in the context of trying to find some sort of suitable solid body for hydrogen storage. Previously, some investigators began thinking about carbon nanotubes. Some storage effects were achieved, but overall the results have been disappointing.
Other research also has been done at Columbia University using single-layer graphene showing that hydrogenation can occur and be reversed through a photothermal heating process, but apparently the amount of hydrogen that is stored in the single layer was not measured (the work was focused on methods to manipulate the charge transport properties of the graphene).
The JNCASR group, led by C.N.R. Rao, looked at additional research that suggested that hydrogen loading might be better accomplished through the use of multiple layers of graphene, and decided to do some detailed studies in this area.
In brief, the group used two methods to form few-layer graphene samples: exfoliation of graphite oxide (forming 6–7 layers) and arc evaporation of graphite under hydrogen (forming 2–3 layers). The researchers hydrogenated both samples (using Birch reduction), and both samples displayed a hydrogen content of approximately 5 wt percent.
They found that the hydrogen-containing graphene is stable at room temperature “and can be stored over long periods.”
When the samples are heated, the hydrogen begins to be released around 200°C and is totally released at 500°C. As mentioned above, they also used laser and UV irradiation to break the C–H bonds and free the hydrogen.
The group feels this storage system may have potential applications, and that a better storage system may be achievable. The authors note, “Although Birch reduction enabled us to incorporate 5 wt percent of hydrogen in few-layer graphenes, it may be possible to carry out hydrogenation more effectively by other methods.” They also report they have achieved 3 wt percent storage using graphene nanoribbons, which also fully releases its hydrogen at 500°C.
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Freedonia: Short-term hydrogen demand to grow 3.4%
Credit: Copyright 2010 by The Freedonia Group
The research company Freedonia Group predicts that worldwide hydrogen demand will continue to climb, growing at a 3.4 percent annual pace through 2013.
Oftentimes the term “hydrogen economy” is associated with emerging energy and transportation technologies, but a new report from Freedonia, World Hydrogen, indicates the growth primarily is being driven by petroleum refining enterprises that require more hydrogen to produce low-sulfur fuels. Other big drivers are chemical, semiconductor, float glass, metal components and food industries (remember the margarine commercials referring to hydrogenation?). The report predicts that 475 billion cubic meters will be required in 2013.
Geographically speaking, although North America currently is the world’s largest hydrogen consumer, Freedonia says trends indicate that the Asia/Pacific region will jump from third to first place in the consumption roster. In fact, consumption in the Asia/Pacific region, according to the report, is growing 300 percent faster than in North America.
The 336-page World Hydrogen report is available for $5,300 from Freedonia.
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