You better get on board. The barriers to Hydrogen keep falling,
by the way, nice website.
Northwest Power Systems Develops Diesel Fuel Processor
biz.yahoo.com
Northwest Power Systems Develops Diesel Fuel
Processor
BEND, Ore., July 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Northwest Power Systems
(NPS), under contract
to Sandia National Laboratories, a prime contractor to the U.S.
Department of Energy, announced today that it successfully
tested a new fuel processor that converts diesel into high-purity
hydrogen. Without need for further purification, the hydrogen
was fed to a proton-exchange-membrane (PEM) fuel cell that
produced electricity.
NPS developed the diesel fuel processor for use in fuel cell systems
that can generate electricity for use in homes, schools and
businesses in remotely located villages of Alaska. The technology
breakthrough enhances NPS's prospects for rapid
commercialization of fuel cells for both stationary and portable
applications, worldwide.
Northwest Power previously demonstrated a kerosene fuel processor
for Arctic applications. Both the diesel and kerosene fuel
processors will be automated and tested this fall with fuel cells that
NPS purchases from independent manufacturers.
''Our longer-term objective is to complete all field testing of a series of
fully-integrated fuel cell systems for residential
applications in rural Alaska in the year 2000,'' said Guggenheim.
''Diesel is a bonus for us and Sandia because of the
widespread distribution of this fuel in Alaska and elsewhere.''
The successful diesel fuel processor demonstration culminated a
week-long effort in which the Company produced hydrogen
from kerosene, bio-diesel, petroleum diesel and a proprietary
nonflammable liquid feedstock in a single fuel processor. The fuel
processor is a proprietary design that incorporates hydrogen
purification as part of the fuel processor. The product hydrogen
from all four of the test fuels was greater than 99.8% pure with less
than one part per million (ppm) of carbon monoxide and
less than one ppm of carbon dioxide. These contaminants can poison a
PEM fuel cell irreversibly. No further purification of the
product hydrogen is necessary with Northwest Power's fuel processor
before passing it into any conventional PEM fuel cell
stack.
NPS already has developed a fuel processor that converts methanol to
hydrogen. The Company is developing ethanol, propane
and, most recently, natural gas, models that provide needed hydrogen
for PEM fuel cell systems. PEM fuel cells run quietly with
no combustion cycle and no moving parts.
Founded in 1996, Northwest Power Systems is a subsidiary of
IDACORP Technologies, Inc., Boise, Idaho.
SOURCE: Northwest Power Systems |
