Hydrogen to play a key role in the transportation sector
30 Oct, 2009 11:48 am
Although much of the ink these days about innovative vehicles relates to plug-in hybrids, work continues to explore the potential for hydrogen-based fuel cells to play a key role in the transportation sector -- particularly in light of the recent decision by Congress to reauthorize funding for hydrogen autos.
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Of course, to achieve the full environmental benefits of the hydrogen economy vision the hydrogen will need to be derived by electrolyzing water via renewably-sourced electricity (e.g., from the sun or the wind) to power the electrolyzer.
Although conceptually straightforward, renewably powering electrolyzers turns out to be a non-trivial challenge. This is mainly because solar and wind electricity voltage and current are highly variable, and the electronics of the control systems in electrolyzers tend not to like fluctuations in input power.
To address this challenge, a team here in Cleveland is spearheading a project to install a solar/wind-powered electrolyzer to generate hydrogen from Lake Erie water, with the hydrogen to supply a refueling station that will power a fuel cell bus serving Cleveland-area riders.
With seed funding from the Cleveland Foundation, the project is being managed by the Ohio Aerospace Institute, and the team includes NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Cleveland’s Regional Transit Authority (RTA), the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland, Cleveland-based Parker Hannifin (NYSE: PH), and United Technologies (NYSE: UTX). The Great Lakes Science Center is already home to a 225 kw wind turbine and a 32 kw photovoltaics installation, and will be home to the electrolyzer-fed fueling station. RTA will run the fuel cell bus on the recently-renovated Euclid Corridor. United Technologies will be providing the fuel cell bus, and Parker Hannifin is providing key control systems for the fueling station. If all goes well – meaning, primarily, raising an additional $1 million or so to fully complete the project – the hydrogen fueling station and fuel cell bus will operate on a demonstration basis in a couple of years.
Of particular note, NASA is providing the intellectual expertise in developing the algorithms for controlling the electrolyzer to match the variable input power from the solar and wind generating systems. This expertise comes from considerable mission experience, in which photovoltaics systems generate electricity from the sun to power the spacecraft, and energy storage and charge control systems must accommodate power supply interruptions as planetary bodies transit in front of the sun.
To the team’s knowledge, because managing the intermittency of electricity supply in electrolyzer operation is non-trivial, there is only very limited experience with renewable electrolysis for hydrogen production, and virtually none involving more than a little bit of hydrogen production daily. So, this Cleveland project could be an important step along the path to developing truly carbon-free hydrogen-fueled transportation solutions.
Originally published on Cleantech Blog
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If busses are going to follow the same route every day then parts of it can be electrified and they can be powered directly by the grid use it as a fast charge system.
Or use the renewable electricity to power heat pumps and use the saved natural gas for transport (via hydrogen if you like)
Hydrogen is like using an electric element to boil water to make steam to generate electricity.
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