SRNL, Toyota collaborate on hydrogen project
By JOHN MOORE Staff writer
Sat, Sep 24, 2005
Researchers at the Savannah River National Laboratory will collaborate with researchers from Toyota Technical Center USA in hopes of developing hydrogen fuel storage systems for hydrogen-fueled automobiles.
SRNL and Toyota Technical Center USA, a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corp., announced Thursday that they will work together to develop a hydrogen storage material for potential automobile applications under a five-year cooperative research and development agreement.
Angeline French, SRNL spokesperson, said the first of two defined research and development tasks is developing new hydrogen storage materials that are low cost, high capacity and lightweight.
"The second current task is looking at ways to make hydrogen storage material less sensitive to things like air and moisture," French said. "Storing hydrogen is one of the key challenges that will have to be addressed for it to be practical for consumer use."
Toyota is putting $2 million into the project during the next two years through its Toyota Technical Center subsidiary, said a SRNL press release.
About half of the funding will come to SRNL for its portion of the research and development work; the other half will cover Toyota Technical Center's efforts, the release said.
French said the collaboration with the Toyota Technical Center is a very significant event.
"It is important especially in terms of recognizing the value of our hydrogen expertise and what we can contribute to meeting our future energy needs," French said. "This comes about because of our historic expertise in hydrogen. We have been doing hydrogen-related research for about 50 years to support SRS and its defense mission. In recent years we have taken that expertise in hydrogen and applied it for energy purposes."
According to the release, an area of particular SRNL experience is the use of metal hydrides, metal particles that absorb hydrogen, allowing it to be stored in a safe, stable, easily-handled and easily contained solid state form.
The release said traditional hydrides are very heavy, making them unsuitable for use in a vehicle.
"Hydrogen has a lot of potential for future," French said. "There are technical challenges to be addressed, but it shows tremendous potential for reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and providing clean energy source."
The release said the agreement provides a framework for SRNL and Toyota Technical Center to identify and collaborate on projects in areas such as hydrogen storage, battery technology, detection and measurement technologies, development of new materials, characterization of materials, reliability and failure prediction, modeling and simulation and waste treatment technologies.
French said the immediate work will be done with existing personnel.
Bruce Brownlee, general manager for corporate planning and external affairs for Toyota Technical Center, said the agreement could lead to other collaborative research projects as well.
"We have, of course, been involved in lot of our own fuel cell research, and SRNL has a lot of expertise and experience in hydrogen," Brownlee said. "We hope to use that experience to work toward some advanced technology."
Brownlee said a major part of the study has to do with the challenge of developing storage materials that are effective in storing hydrogen.
"The ultimate goal is to be able to deliver a viable application for future vehicles that could be cost effective and safe fuel cell vehicles," he said. "We have researchers collaboratively working with researchers at SRNL. This is our first step and we will see what it will ultimately lead to."
Brownlee said no other Toyota venture duplicates the research the laboratory will conduct in cooperation with Toyota.
"This is an exciting opportunity for Toyota to partner with this world renowned U.S. Government Research Laboratory," said Toyota Technical Center Vice President Jim Griffith in the press release. "We look forward to mutually advancing leading edge technologies."
French said in addition to the many years of hydrogen expertise at SRS, the University of South Carolina, South Carolina State University and Clemson University are all doing work in the area of hydrogen technology.
"The hydrogen economy has a huge potential for South Carolina as a whole," French said. "We hope this area will become the focal point for a hydrogen economy."
French said very soon all of the unclassified hydrogen research will be done just outside the Savannah River Site fence at the new 60,000-square-foot Center for Hydrogen Research built by Aiken County.
County Administrator Clay Killian said the center is scheduled to be up and running in about six weeks with SRNL occupying one side of the building.
"We're glad to see this agreement coming about," Killian said. "This announcement is really what we are hoping the whole center becomes one day."
"This facility and Toyota's participation will promote economic development and transfer technology into the private commercial sector, and that will benefit us all," said Fred Humes, director of the Economic Development Partnership for Aiken and Edgefield Counties.
"Hydrogen has tremendous potential to be the ultimate clean fuel of the future," said SRNL Laboratory Director Dr. G. Todd Wright of Washington Group International in the press release. "To make it a reality, however, we still must find answers to some very important technical challenges. Collaborations like this one – where we combine our strengths and skills – are crucial for developing those answers."
The release said the agreement will have benefits for Toyota Technical Center and SRNL.
"The National Nuclear Security Administration sees the collaboration between SRNL and private industry as mutually benefiting the commercial sector and NNSA," said Richard Arkin, NNSA Savannah River Site Office manager in the release. "This collaboration will ultimately provide NNSA and its contractors with improved and more cost-effective hydrogen storage technology that is essential to the long-term defense programs mission at SRS."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Contact John Moore at jmoore@aikenstandard.com
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