Hydrogen Highway
Venki Raman spent more than two decades researching hydrogen at Air Products. Now, as founder of a consulting firm, he continues to lay foundation for a hydrogen highway...
By Kurt Blumenau
Of The Morning Call
Where does a hydrogen researcher go after leaving the world's largest hydrogen supplier?
In Venki Raman's case, all over the world, working on new projects that might help turn hydrogen from a promising puzzle to a pollution-free energy solution.
Raman is founder and president of Emmaus's Protium Energy Technologies, a one-man consulting firm that works with a variety of clients on hydrogen and other alternative energy projects. Hydrogen is considered a possible replacement for gasoline, oil and other fossil fuels, though those uses are still in various stages of research.
Before that, he spent 28 years with Air Products and Chemicals of Trexlertown. He retired as business development manager of the company's hydrogen energy efforts — and as a widely known figure in the alternative energy world.
Raman joined Air Products in 1977 after earning degrees in chemical engineering from colleges in India and the United States. His first hydrogen project arrived just a year later, when he helped set up a lab where Air Products developed new materials for hydrogen storage.
Raman recently sat down to talk about his years at Air Products, his new company, his hopes for the hydrogen economy and other subjects. Edited portions of that conversation follow.
Q: Were you skeptical when you began researching hydrogen? Are there still times when you doubt whether the hydrogen economy will develop?
A: There was always a healthy bit of skepticism about how big the opportunity would be. But I can tell you, the work that is going on around the world is just exciting, just fascinating. You felt, Oh, boy, I'm actually, in some small way, contributing to a long-term solution to energy issues for the country and, really, for the world. You never could tell in what time frame something like that would happen. Obviously, I found the work extremely interesting, so I became passionate about what I was doing.
Q: How would you describe Air Products' hydrogen accomplishments while you were there? Are there things you are proudest of, or things you didn't quite get done that you would have liked to?
A: The large-scale production of hydrogen is well-established technology, highly efficient. That was never an issue. The issue was always: How do you distribute hydrogen to dispersed users, and store it efficiently, and make it convenient for the end user … to actually put it into their vehicle or whatever the other uses might be at the other end?
Part of that was integrating the technology … integrating a number of technologies and components to produce a device, a dispenser, that you could actually know exactly how much hydrogen you're putting in.
I would think the other thing is really getting the commitment within Air Products to pursue this in a serious way. Generally, people are skeptical about large-scale changes in our energy structure. … It's imperative that a company like Air Products be active, and have it in its portfolio of potential technologies for the future. I feel that was a significant achievement while I was there and trying to promote these technologies within the company.
Q: What led you to leave the world's largest hydrogen supplier and start your own company?
A: The timing was right to go out on my own, because I had established a very strong, credible position as a key player in the development of the hydrogen economy around the world. I'd been there 28 years. I was at a point in my life when I could make that transition relatively easily.
Right now what I'm doing is, because of my wide range of contacts, general recognition in the community and knowledge of various players, I'm in a position where I can advise people who are new entrants into the hydrogen development area of what makes sense, what doesn't, and go through some of my experiences in that area.
Q: Do you work with established companies? Start-ups?
A: I've had a wide variety of clients so far. I've done work for government laboratories, national laboratories. I've done work with projects such as, in California, they've got the Hydrogen Highway initiative. In New York, they have the Hydrogen Roadmap initiative.
I've done work for funding organizations. A number of states have almost like venture funds to fund energy start-ups in a number of areas, including hydrogen. I've done some work for them, looking at various fuel cell and hydrogen technologies and making recommendations to these agencies on the potential and long-term viability of some of these proposals.
I'm also in touch with a number of small companies. I'm trying to help some of these folks with identifying near-term business opportunities for some of the technologies they're developing.
Q: Have you worked on any projects in Pennsylvania? Does this state seem interested in hydrogen?
A: Yes, there is interest. Under the new administration in Harrisburg, I've had some meetings with them about their interest in hydrogen, and sure, there is. Certainly, states like California and New York have what seems like much larger initiatives in hydrogen than Pennsylvania does.
Q: What kinds of efforts would you like to see more of, to push hydrogen forward?
A: I would really like to see real-world end-use applications for hydrogen. The fuel cell certainly is sort of the ultimate objective for hydrogen use, because it's the most efficient way to use hydrogen. But you don't have to wait … for fuel cell technology to be fully developed before we start using hydrogen.
Recently, in my travels, I've been to India a lot. In India, there's a lot of interest in rural electrification. Tens of thousands of villages are far enough removed from the electric grid that there's very little likelihood that the electric grid will ever be extended to serve these populations. They're looking for alternative means of generating electricity locally.
Right now they use largely diesel gensets [generators]. There's issues of the quality of air with those. Things like some sort of renewable-produced hydrogen even running a straight genset, an internal combustion engine, producing electric power for remote communities would be a great application.
There are specific niches where I think you can get hydrogen in today, without waiting for the fuel cell technologies, and people would be getting some real value out of hydrogen technologies.
Q: Can you compare how the United States and India are approaching hydrogen research?
A: Certainly, from a research and development perspective, they're later comers to this than us. We've had a long history of looking at a number of hydrogen technologies. Having said that, they are very interested in near-term applications of these technologies. India … has more or less concluded they're not going to wait for fuel cell technologies. They're going to push ahead with hydrogen internal combustion engines, even hydrogen mixed with natural gas, rather than wait.
The city of Delhi's municipal bus fleet … through, really, a court order, was mandated to switch from diesel to natural gas because of air quality issues. They've done it, and they've done it rather well. They've installed over 150 natural gas fueling stations across the city. … If a government puts its mind to shifting in a certain way, it can actually do it. It's been done. I'm encouraged by that.
Q: Do you have any gauge of the hydrogen awareness of the average person? When you talk to someone outside the field, how much explaining do you need to do?
A: Initially, people would say, ''What's hydrogen?'' They would have no clue what it is.
Now when you mention hydrogen, there's an immediate connection between the word ''hydrogen'' and energy, and people have a general awareness. If you mention the words ''fuel cell,'' they sort of have a feeling, they know what it is. It's certainly not a foreign word.
Q: There have been all kinds of predictions about when hydrogen will enter widespread use. What do you think?
A: I certainly would be willing to bet that we will see some kind of hydrogen hybrid vehicle within 10 years, whether it has a fuel cell or not.
Q: Is there anything else you'd like to mention?
A: My younger son, who's now a senior at Carnegie Mellon University doing chemical engineering, this last summer decided to take a summer internship with Shell Hydrogen looking at hydrogen technologies. So I've had some influence on my own kids.
Q: Does it gladden you to see your son consider hydrogen a valid field?
A: Absolutely, yeah.
kurt.blumenau@mcall.com
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