Fuel Cell Nation

Volkswagen Consent Decree Fallout: EPA Treats EVs better than FCEVs!

In the news release from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Headquarters announcing a major step towards resolving last year's VW diesel engine emissions scandal, emphasis is placed on the fairness of the $14.7 Billion partial settlement between Volkswagen, the EPA and California Air Resources Board (CARB). Yes, up to $10.03 billion is set aside to compensate consumers under the program, $2.7 billion will fund projects across the country that will reduce emissions of NOx, and VW will "invest" $2 billion toward improving infrastructure, access and education to support and advance zero emission vehicles (ZEVs). Unfortunately, it appears that in the EPA's eyes, the class of ZEVs that include plug-in electric vehicles (EVs) will receive more assistance than fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). In my eyes, this unequal footing of EVs and FCEVs is not fair.

The text of the partial consent decree details how the $2 billion "investment" by VW will be "invested" over the prescribed 10-year period. Appendix C details the allowable financial assistance for EV charging stations and FCEV hydrogen refueling stations:

• 60-100% of the cost for EV charging stations, depending on the level of public access, but only
• 25-35% of the cost for FCEV hydrogen refueling stations, depending on the size of the station (expressed in kg/day.)

Obviously, it appears that the EPA (and CARB) have decided to not use a level playing field, but instead have chosen to provide over twice the financial incentive percentage to electric vehicles, relative to hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

This is quite disappointing, especially due to the nascent state of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Anyone familiar with technoeconomic analysis knows that new technologies (e.g. FCEVs) are generally more expensive than more established technologies (e.g. EVs). This is due to the fact that costs always come down as technologies mature, coupled with the fact that the increasing adoption of new technologies leads to economies of replication (hello assembly lines!). On this basis alone, I would recommend that the EPA (and CARB) revise their plans, and allow financial incentives of 60-100% for FCEV refueling stations, matching the incentive rates for battery electric vehicles.

 To summarize, it is good that the first VW emissions scandal settlement includes financial incentives to speed the adoption of EVs and FCEVs. Unfortunately, it is bad that the VW settlement provides significantly larger rates of financial incentives for FCEV hydrogen refueling stations.

Looking for New Consulting or Employment Opportunities

Thanks for your help!

Hello Everyone!

Thanks to all of you for following my blog. Rather than writing about some hot clean energy topic, this message is more personal. The time has come where I am looking for new opportunities and challenges in my professional life.

Since graduating from MIT with BS and MS degrees in Chemical Engineering Practice, my experience in the clean energy/green energy/alternative energy industry has been broad and deep. My energy work spans much of the hydrocarbon and electricity value chains, with biomass and nuclear work included. A sampling of my projects includes laboratory- and commercial-scale fluidized bed gasification of biomass, designing an economical cogeneration/district heating/district cooling system for a university hospital complex, computer modeling to automatically determine the minimum system weight of a hydrogen fuel cell-powered unmanned air vehicle (UAV) flying a two-week mission at a 70,000 foot altitude, and developing a water electrolyzer that will be capable of directly filling a fuel cell vehicle’s tank with 5,000 psig hydrogen. That's just the beginning. Ask for my resume for a complete overview.

I have also done a fair amount of pharmaceutical and biotech device development work. My pharmaceutical work involved aseptic fill and finish operations of a controlled-release human growth hormone formulation, while my device development work has included developing the cooling subsystem for a new portable human organ persufflation/transportation device, as well as a portable methanol-fueled infusion fluid warmer. It seems that even my bio-related work involves energy!

My commitment to and interest in the energy field is evident. My recent participation in MIT Sloan’s “Clean Energy Ventures: Creating Innovative New Businesses Through Entrepreneurial Management,” as part of their Executive Certificate program, is testament to that ongoing dedication to the field.

Please contact me by posting a comment below if you have (or know of) consulting or employment opportunities that jibe with my experience, would like to network, or to request a copy of my resume. A good overview of my experience and interests can also be found in my LinkedIn profile HERE. Or feel free to contact me through LinkedIn; be sure to request a connection so we can stay in touch.

This is an exciting and upbeat time for me as I seek out new opportunities for work challenges. Thanks for your help and consideration.

 

Hello Everyone!

 

Thanks to all of you for following my blog. Rather than writing about some hot clean energy topic, this message is more personal. The time has come where I am looking for new opportunities and challenges in my employment life.

My experience in the alternative energy/green energy/clean energy industry is broad and deep. My energy work spans much of the hydrocarbon and electricity value chains, with biomass and nuclear work included. A sampling of my projects includes laboratory- and commercial-scale fluidized bed gasification of biomass, designing economical cogeneration/district heating/district cooling systems for a university hospital complex, computer modeling to automatically determine the minimum system weight of a hydrogen fuel cell-powered unmanned air vehicle (UAV) flying a two-week mission at a 70,000 foot altitude, and developing a water electrolyzer that will be capable of directly filling a fuel cell vehicle’s tank with 5,000 psig hydrogen. That's just the beginning. Ask for my resume for a complete overview.

I have also done a fair amount of pharmaceutical and biotech device development work. My pharmaceutical work involved aseptic fill and finish operations of a controlled-release human growth hormone formulation, while my device development work has included developing the cooling subsystem for a new portable human organ persufflation/transportation device, as well as a portable methanol-fueled infusion fluid warmer. It seems that even my bio-related work involves energy!

My commitment to and interest in the energy field is evident. My recent participation in MIT Sloan’s “Clean Energy Ventures: Creating Innovative New Businesses Through Entrepreneurial Management,” as part of their Executive Certificate program, is testament to that ongoing dedication to the field.

 

http://sloanm.it/I568RU

Please contact me by posting a link on this post if you have (or know of) employment opportunities that jibe with my experience, would like to network, or to request a copy of my resume. A good overview of my experience and interests can also be found my LinkedIn profile HERE. Or feel free to contact me through LinkedIn; be sure to request a connection so we can stay in touch.

 

http://www.linkedin.com/in/keithdpatch

This is an exciting and upbeat time for me as new opportunities for work challenges open. Thanks for your help and consideration.

Is Carbazole the Energy Carrier of the Future?

This post was originally published in the Hydrogen Fuel Cars and Vehicles Blog.

N-ethyl carbazole

According to Wikipedia, N-ethyl carbazole (C₁₄H₁₃N) was used as a chemical weapon (irritant) in World War I. Now it (and related organic compounds) is being investigated as a hydrogen transport material for fuel cell vehicles.

In 2011 I read some news out of Germany about a “new” method of carrying hydrogen in fuel cell vehicles: Professors Wolfgang Arlt and Peter Wasserscheid (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg) published “A future energy supply based on Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers (LOHC)”, which described a scenario where an organic liquid (such as N-ethyl carbazole, or carbazole) is used to carry hydrogen in unpressurized tanks on hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles. On-board the vehicle, a reactor uses a heated catalytic reactor to strip hydrogen gas from the carbazole, providing hydrogen fuel to the fuel cell. Later on at a gas station, the spent carbazole is removed from the vehicle’s fuel tank and replaced by fresh, fully-hydrogenated carbazole. The spent carbazole is returned from the gas station to a processing plant to have hydrogen added to it, preparing fresh hydrogen-rich fuel that is ready to be transported back to gas stations. It is a complicated process, but being touted as a potential solution to the problem of efficiently carrying hydrogen on-board vehicles.

The idea has been picked up by numerous German news outlets including Spiegel-online, Financial Times Deutschland and AutoBild. In addition to the flurry of interest in the German press, several German TV channels have broadcast stories. Furthermore, Rainer Bomba, State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development (BMVBS) has been quoted as saying "This is the future in the automotive industry." Accordingly, the BMVBS has pledged 400,000 euros to the project.

Professors Arlt and Wasserscheid admit that their “new” technology is based on a 2004 patent from Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. Arlt and Wasserscheid do not supply any new data, and apparently are only beginning to explore the utility of carbazole in the hydrogen economy.

Some history now: starting April 1, 2005, Air Products began a U.S. Department of Energy-funded study on using carbazole as a hydrogen carrier for fuel cell vehicles. Air Products worked on a reactor that used heat and a catalyst to strip hydrogen from the carbazole, as well as process economics and other tasks. To address toxicity questions with carbazole, Air Products conducted various tests. 2008 toxicity test results can be summarized by:

“Toxicology testing revealed that neither N-ethylcarbazole nor perhydrogenated N-ethyl carbazole are mutagenic, as judged by the negative Ames test. However, perhydrogenated N-ethyl carbazole was found to be corrosive and acutely toxic using other standard tests. Thus, while perhydrogenated N-ethyl carbazole remains a suitable model compound for reactor research, it could present concerns for commercial use.”

However, this is not why the DOE stopped work on this project. Carbazole research was halted because it was projected to have no hope of meeting the energy storage goals of the DOE. In the July 02, 2010 DOE Hydrogen Program Record #9017, On-Board Hydrogen Storage Systems – Projected Performance and Cost Parameters, the carbazole system capacities are well below the DOE 2010 targets of 4.5 wt% and 28 g-H2/L:

“Assessments of the liquid organic n-ethyl carbazole for vehicular storage yielded capacities in the range of 2.1-2.8 wt% and 18-21 g-H2/L that are also below the 2010 system targets indicating this will not be a viable vehicular option unless materials with much greater quantities of releasable hydrogen and lower reaction temperature can be found.”

Below is a graph from DOE Hydrogen Program Record #9017, which illustrates how inadequate carbazole is, relative to the universe of alternative hydrogen storage methods. The brown oval (in the lower left corner) labeled LCH2 (Liquid organic Carrier H2) uses data from a 2009 TIAX report to show that carbazole is well below the required 2010 U.S. DOE volumetric and gravimetric hydrogen storage goals. Only Cryo-Compressed Hydrogen [CcH2, or hydrogen pressurized (e.g., to ~350 bar) and stored at cryogenic temperatures] is able to meet the 2015 DOE hydrogen storage goals; all of the other storage methods fall well short of Cryo-Compressed H2.

Carbazole is Well Below U.S. DOE Hydrogen Program Hydrogen Storage Goals

A June, 2011 Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) report (Technical Assessment of Organic Liquid Carrier Hydrogen Storage Systems for Automotive Applications) discusses ANL’s latest technical and economic assessment of carbazole. ANL states:

“... The challenge has been to find suitable organic carriers that have sufficient hydrogen capacity, optimal heat of reaction (∆H), rapid decomposition kinetics, low volatility and long cycle life, and that remain liquid over the working temperature range. Air Products and Chemicals Inc (APCI) investigated many candidates for potential liquid carriers but no one material could satisfy all the requirements for a viable hydrogen storage system. … a practical storage system cannot be built with this polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon. The assessment, however, does show the potential of meeting the storage targets with other yet-undiscovered organic liquid carriers that may have the right properties.”

As the DOE and ANL analyses summarized above show, it will require one or more major breakthroughs in order to meet the 2015 DOE hydrogen storage goals, almost tripling the current hydrogen storage performance of carbazole. Good luck to Professors Arlt and Wasserscheid as they try to come up with such a significant breakthrough. The DOE has given up on carbazoles; hopefully the Germans can find an organic liquid that meets all the necessary requirements for a practical energy carrier!

New PNNL Nickel-Based Catalyst

The Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), has published details about another new catalyst (see previous post New PNNL Catalyst.) The work was conducted by Smith, S. E., Yang, J. Y., DuBois, D. L. and Bullock, R. M. (2012), "Reversible Electrocatalytic Production and Oxidation of Hydrogen at Low Overpotentials by a Functional Hydrogenase Mimic," Angewandte Chemie International Edition, doi: 10.1002/anie.201108461.

The new reversible hydrogen catalyst is based on a nickel-based complex, and has been developed for more than two years. Nickel was selected due to its low cost and abundance, relative to platinum (the conventional reversible hydrogen catalyst.) But unlike solid platinum, this new catalyst is a homogeneous catalyst. In other words, unlike platinum, this catalyst dissolves in a solution. This is a problem for a conventional fuel cell, in that a soluble catalyst will get "washed out" of the fuel cell, and not be available for chemical reactions. Future PNNL work will likely be aimed towards immobilzing the catalyst, so that it can be used in conventional electrochemical conversion devices.

The new bis(diphosphine) nickel(II) complex (see picture) is has a nickel core, with phosphine ligands extending from the nickel center. The catalyst has reversible electrocatalytic activity for hydrogen production and oxidation at low overpotentials, which are characteristic for hydrogenase enzymes.  "This [catalyst] has a lower overpotential than we usually find," said Morris Bullock, PhD, Director of the Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis. "Sadly, it is also slow."

Hopefully Bullock and associates can continue improving the catalyst, including improving its speed (the kinetics), and make a catalyst that is useful for electrochemical energy conversion. Good luck!

Electrolysis Suggestions for US DOE

In my recent blog post DOE Electrolysis Working Group Meeting, I described the Fall 2011 U.S. Department of Energy Fuel Cells Technology (FCT) Water Electrolysis Working Group Meeting. Industry, the National Renewable Energy Lab, and DOE participated. The aim of the Water Electrolysis Working Group, inaugurated in May 2007, is to bring industry, academia, and national laboratories together to overcome the technical barriers to commercializing electrolysis technology for the production of hydrogen for transportation and industrial use.

The Electrolysis Working Group has been tasked with helping to improve the Electrolysis sections of the current DOE Multi-Year Program Plan, which can be found at: DOE MYPP Hydrogen Production, 2011 Interim Update. The complete Interim MYPP/MYRDD can be found at: U.S. DOE Fuel Cell Technologies Program Multi-Year Research, Development and Demonstration Plan.

If you have any suggestions that you'd like me to forward to the Electrolysis Working Group, feel free to leave a comment on this post. If you'd prefer to not have your suggestion be visible as a comment, please ask, and I will only forward it privately to the DOE.

Renewable Energy Storage Webcast

There will be a Renewable Energy Storage Webcast on Friday, December 09, 2011 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM - EST on G+. It will involve a live discussion with Dr. Woodrow Clark (co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, along with his colleagues on the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), Matt Fronk (ex-General Motors), Henry Gnacke (ex-GM, current Board Member of Hydrogenics Corp.) and Dr. Byron McCormick (ex-GM).

They will discuss:

• Current demand and outlook for energy storage
• Hydrogen storage overview: technology and current economics
• Relative merits of hydrogen vs. other storage options
• Government policy and incentive programs

The announcement says:

"Utility scale energy storage will be crucial to the future success of renewable energy generation, yet the economics of energy storage remain to be proven. Hydrogen storage, which has made significant inroads in Europe, is now being explored as a cost effective technology in North America."

See you there!

DOE Electrolysis Working Group Meeting

I'm back from the Fall 2011 U.S. DOE Fuel Cells Technology (FCT) Water Electrolysis Working Group Meeting. Industry, the National Renewable Energy Lab, and DOE participated. The aim of the Water Electrolysis Working Group, inaugurated in May 2007, is to bring industry, academia, and national laboratories together to overcome the technical barriers to commercializing electrolysis technology for the production of hydrogen for transportation and industrial use.

In this 2-day meeting, the biggest news we were presented with were the changes in DOE's assumptions that have gone into updating Version 2.1.3 of the H2A (which stands for Hydrogen Analysis) program to get the all-new new H2A Version 3. (H2A is an Excel spreadsheet that is intended to allow the economics of various advanced hydrogen technologies to be fairly compared, through use of consistent, reasonable assumptions.) The big news on H2A is how with the switch from 5,000 psig to 10,000 psig hydrogen, compression, storage, and dispensing (CSD) costs have markedly increased. What was previously $1.82/GGE (gallon of gasoline equivalent) for 5,000 psig CSD is now $3.23/GGE for 10,000 psig! This significant increase in CSD costs is making it difficult for all hydrogen production pathways to match the energy cost of gasoline. A recommendation of the Working Group was to investigate the economic benefit of electrolytically generating hydrogen at a significant pressure, thereby potentially decreasing the corresponding CSD costs, and reducing the delivered cost of hydrogen.

I was able to find public versions of the Interim U.S. DOE Fuel Cell Technologies Program Multi-Year Research, Development and Demonstration Plan that were presented at the meeting:

• DOE MYPP Hydrogen Production, 2011 Interim Update
• DOE MYPP Hydrogen Storage, 2011 Interim Update 

As a footnote for the plan, the DOE says:

This document is currently being updated. The existing document on the Web shows the previous name of the Program within the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) ­ the Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and Infrastructure Technologies Program. The Program's name was changed to the Fuel Cell Technologies Program in 2009. Furthermore, the DOE-wide program formerly known as the DOE Hydrogen Program (which integrates hydrogen and fuel cell activities in the Offices of EERE, Science, Fossil Energy, and Nuclear Energy) has also been changed, to the DOE Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Program. 

Whew! That's a mouthful!

Hydrogen and Professional Bicycling

During my recent TV viewing of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, I had a good look at the jerseys of the Garmin-Cervélo team. (Full Disclosure: I own a Cervélo R3 that I love!) I noticed that one of the sponsors was Tata! Tata, in the form of Tata International's Tata Consultancy Services. I believe that this is the first time a company with a fuel cell tie-in has sponsored a professional bike team! (Tata also sponsored the Cervélo Test Team in 2010 before it was combined with Garmin's team.)

Tata's involvement in fuel cells is two-fold:

In the November 22, 2007 Times of India article Tata-ISRO team up to launch hydrogen-powered vehicle, we learn that Tata teamed with the Indian Space Research Organisation on a pilot project to see whether hydrogen can be used to fuel automobiles. Unfortunately, this project apparently got canceled, because I can't find any subsequent announcements by either Tata or ISRO of a hydrogen-powered demonstration vehicle.

October 07, 2010, in Sun Catalytix Corporation completes $9.5-million Series B funding round, Tata announced that it lead the latest round of Sun's funding. Sun Catalytix is a startup spun out from the MIT research lab of Professor Daniel Nocera, commercializing novel electrolyzer technology. In January, 2010, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) selected Sun Catalytix as one of only 37 recipients from over 3600 applicants for ARPA-E's first-round of funding for transformational energy technologies.

Among their conglomerate's activities, Tata also manufactures bicycles and components.

I wonder when the first company specializing in renewable energy will sponsor a pro sports team?

Electrolysis Explosions in California

By LA Fire Department Photo

On August 9, 2011, an apparent hydrogen/oxygen explosion occurred at the alternative energy firm Rainbow of Hope in the Sylmar section of Los Angeles. Timothy A. Larson, 42, an L.A. firefighter who was on disability leave due to an existing injury, was one of the two inventors critically injured in the blast, as they were thrown into an alley by the force of the explosion. Larson apparently lost an arm an a leg in the blast. In the hospital, William A. Stehl, 68, was induced into a coma with extensive shrapnel wounds in his face.

This latest accident occurred 14 months after Larson's brother (28-year-old Tyson Larson) was killed in a June, 2010 explosion at Realm Industries, in Simi Valley, their father's predecessor alternative fuel business. In 2008, there was an explosion at Realm Industries when it was located in a different building. The 2008 blast was smaller, and there were no serious injuries.

The father, Timothy A. Larson, was among the numerous investors in a New York company formed in 2001 by Stehl, (photo at left by the Adirondack Daily Enterprise) who was indicted in 2010 in New York on charges of bilking more than 300 investors out of $7 million. Stehl claimed he developed an economical process to create energy from water, and allegedly promised his investors guaranteed returns. When the business, BGX Technologies (formerly known as Rainbow Technologies), went under, Timothy A. Larson bought its equipment and had it shipped to California so he could set up Realm Industries with his sons.

Somehow Stehl (and Tyson Larson) got a patent issued for this "technology":

U.S. Patent 7,793,621, Alternative Fuel Engine.

Neither this patent, nor the predecessor patent application, mentions "Brown's Gas" (or "HHO Gas"), which is actually what they were producing. In brief, Brown's gas is produced by simultaneously capturing the two product gases of water electrolysis, hydrogen and oxygen, in a single, unstable product stream. They instead claim they were "modifying the bond angles of water." The slightest spark (or an errant piece of catalyst) will cause an explosion in the product gas mixture, as the hydrogen and oxygen violently recombine back into water. I have no idea why anybody would willingly produce such an unstable gas mixture, and especially why they might try to store it. It seems that Cal/OSHA believes that Stehl and the Larsons were trying to compress and store their hydrogen/oxygen gas mixture at pressure in a pair of 8-foot diameter pressure vessels! Of course, a pressurized hydrogen/oxygen mixture has even more explosive energy than an atmospheric pressure hydrogen/oxygen gas mixture.

One final note: notice how the name of one of Stehl's companies, "BGX", seems to be an acronym for "Brown's Gas"?

US DOE Electrolyzer Webinar Presentations

DOE has finally posted the slide presentations and audio from the May 23, 2011 Webinar titled "Hydrogen Production by PEM Electrolysis—Spotlight on Giner and Proton."

 

Overview presentation slides, Eric Miller, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

 

Monjid Hamdan's presentation slides, Giner Electrochemical Systems, LLC.

 

Katherine Ayers' presentation slides, Proton Energy Systems.

 

And (please excuse the audio) the webinar recording: (WMV 94 MB).