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Gold/Mining/Energy : SOFC vrs PEM Fuel Cells (Debate Forum) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: CH4 who wrote (54)	7/12/1999 8:35:00 AM
From: Scoobah	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 79

" One small step for PEM's, One giant leap for Hydrogen ", this time in scooters, with long time DCHt friend DRI playing a role. ragingbull.com Taiwan Group Launches PEM Scooter Project With Help from Texas A&M, DRI Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Letter mhv.net COLLEGE STATION, TX/TAIPEI, TAIWAN - A major Taiwan industrial group that owns the country's largest motorcycle manufacturer, San Yang, is moving ahead with a program to develop PEM fuel cell- powered scooters. The Chinfong Industrial Group decided in mid-June to put together a joint venture which other major financial and industrial group as well as the Taiwan government are expected to join. The project had its start a year ago with a decision by the W. Alton Jones Foundation, Charlottesville, VA to sponsor such a project (H&FCL Oct. 98). Original participants include the Desert Research Institute, Texas A&M University, and the Taiwan Institute for Economic Research, the leader of this project, Dr. Douglas Loh, a professor at Texas A&M Agricultural Experiment Station, told H&FCL. Dr. Loh is a native of Taiwan. In Taiwan, the commercialization effort was spearheaded by Dr. Chunto Tso, of the Taiwan Institute for Economic Research and also a member of the original team. Lightweight PEM Stack, Cooling System are Keys The technological keys to the fuel cell scooter concept are a lightweight, compact fuel cell stack for a 3 kW PEM system and a compact air cooling system that would fit into the limited space on a scooter, Loh said. Both were designed by Dr. John Appleby, director of Texas A&M's Center for Electrochemical Systems and Hydrogen Energy (CESHR) and a member of the scooter development team. The scooters are expected to operate on hydrogen, stored in hydride canisters holding enough hydrogen for maybe an hour's worth of operation at full power and a range of some 50 miles (80 km), according to very early estimates. Hydrogen is likely to be supplied by China Petroleum Corp., a state-owned but commercially operated company, and also the Taiwan Salt Corp., according to Loh. Both are hydrogen producers and both expected to sign up with the joint venture. One way to distribute hydrogen, according to Loh, may be to sell hydride canisters through 7-11 type chain stores that are virtually on every Taiwan street corner, he added. Replace Two-Stroke Two-Wheelers With Electrics The project idea germinated with a initiative formulated a couple of years ago by the Taiwan government to replace 40% of the island's heavily polluting 2-stroke motorcycles and scooters with electric versions between next year and 2004, Loh explained. Taiwan produces about 1.5 million such vehicles, meaning that some 600,000 electric versions are supposed to be operating by 2004, according to Loh. However, beginning last year, it quickly became clear to both manufacturers and consumers that lead battery power was "highly undesirable and impractical due to weight, range and recharge problems," Loh said, making fuel cell power a "more appealing alternative." Loh says the new company is expected to be up and running by the end of this month. As many as four different prototypes, to be completed by the spring of 2001, are to be designed by San Yang's research and engineering facilities, drawing on U.S. technologies. A demonstration fleet may start operating some time between early 2001 and 2002, and the planners expect series production to start by 2003. Contact: Dr. Douglas K. Loh, phone 409/845-1551, 409/845-9749, e-mail loh@tamu.edu. ------

To: CH4 who wrote (54)	7/14/1999 12:33:00 PM
From: Scoobah	Respond to of 79

DCHT's PEM Fuel Cell designs and other information can now be viewed at dch-technology.com

To: CH4 who wrote (54)	7/17/1999 9:49:00 AM
From: Scoobah	Respond to of 79

Hydrogen and PEM's get closer to mass commercialization from this breakthrough. One by one the barriers are falling. 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