Transportation, fuel cells

Borup, R. et al., Fuel composition effects on transportation fuel cell reforming, Catal. Today, 99, 263,2005. 

The Shell studies imply that fuel cell sales will start with stationary applications to businesses that are willing to pay a premium to ensure highly reliable power without utility voltage fluctuations or outages. This demand helps to push fuel cell system costs below 500 per kW, providing the era of transportation which drives costs to 50 per kilowatt. But, can the high-reliability power market really drive transportation fuel cell demand and cost reductions, especially for proton- exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells ... 

For road transport, fuel cells are the most efficient conversion devices for using hydrogen. For the average drive cycle, which is dominated by a power demand that is only a fraction of the maximum available power, hybrid fuel cell systems offer a clear advantage over internal combustion engines, hybridized or not, when energy use, CO2 emissions and non-greenhouse pollutants are considered. 

Recently, the major activity in transportation fuel cell development has focused on the polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC). In 1993, Ballard Power Systems (Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada) demonstrated a 10 m (32 foot) light-duty transit bus with a 120 kW fuel cell system, followed by a 200 kW, 12 meter (40 foot) heavy-duty transit bus in 1995 (26). These buses use no traction batteries. They operate on compressed hydrogen as the on-board fuel. In 1997, Ballard provided 205 kW (275 HP) PEFC units for a small fleet of hydrogen-fueled, full-size transit buses for demonstrations in Chicago, Illinois, and Vancouver, British Columbia. Working... 

J. Milliken, The DOE Transportation Fuel Cell Program Recent Accomplishments and Future Plans, U.S. Dept, of Energy, Office of Transportation Technologies. Questions and Answers - California Fuel Cell Partnership, www.drivingthefuture.org. 

The requirements for plate materials in a fuel cell stack for different markets or applications can be quite different due to fuel cell working conditions and specific needs for the power, lifetime, weight, volume, size, and acceptable cost range. For example, in addition to basic requirements of all plate materials for their common functions, the plate material used in transportation fuel cells, such as that used in automotive applications, would be significantly different from requirements in stationary stacks in terms of working temperature range, density, durability, and lifetime. 

In this chapter, we will pay attention to the basic or common materials requirements of the plate according to its functions in fuel cells. The emphasis will be put on plate materials used in transportation fuel cells because these applications, more directly for automotive, have potentially the largest market for fuel cells and the related material requirements are most challenging [1]. The various plate materials, fabrication process, and major challenges will be introduced and analyzed. The underlying mechanism and development trends will also be discussed. 

DoE 2010/2015 Performance Targets of Bipolar Plates for Transportation Fuel Cells ... 

Hydrogen infrastructure development through the Canadian Transportation Fuel Cell Alliance. 

Canada s national program consists of three areas research and development hydrogen infrastructure development through the Canadian Transportation Fuel Cell Alliance and early market introduction of hydrogen and fuel cell technology through the Early Adopters Program. 

Sweden has several R D programs related to stationary and transportation fuel cell applications. Much of the government activity has been in cooperation with the automobile industry (Saab... 

Canadian Transportation Fuel Cell Alliance http //www.nrcan.gc.ca/es/etb/ctfca/index e.html The Canadian Fuel Cell Industry http //www.fuelcellscanada.ca/index2.html Canadian Hydrogen Association http //www.h2.ca/... 

But most of the issues involve the catalyst system itself. The catalyst must be active and selective for the fuel of choice, stable, and resistant to poisoning and attrition while subjected to variations in flow, temperature, and pressure." For successful operation at commercial scale, the reforming process must be able to achieve high conversion of the hydrocarbon feedstock at high space velocities, as well as high H2 and CO selectivities. The reforming catalyst has to meet performance targets (see Table 1) as identified by U.S. DOE before it becomes feasible for use in the fuel reformers of transportation fuel cell... 

M. Krumpelt, R. Wilkenhoener, J.D. Carter, J.-M. Bae, J. Kopasz, T. Krause and S. Ahmed, U.S. DOE Annual Progress Report Transportation Fuel Cell Power Systems, 2000, pp. 65-70. 

Although natural gas feedstock currently is preferred by some demonstration plants, alternative fuels, such as light distillates, coal gas. and fuel-grade methanol may be used. Methanol can be steam reformed at relatively low temperatures and. for this reason, can be adapted to smaller, transportable fuel-cell power plants of the type desired for certain military and commercial gear. 

In this chapter, I have focused on the commercialization of stationary fuel cells because it may be relatively close at hand. Equally important, this is a market for which there is a great deal of real-world experience and data. In contrast, the path to commercialization for transportation fuel cells—and the ultimate realization of a hydrogen economy—will take much longer and is far more speculative. The chapters that follow will examine the technical and logistical challenges involved in bringing about a hydrogen economy. 

On the minus side, hydrogen is not a readily accessible energy source, as are coal, oil, natural gas, sunlight, and wind.1 Hydrogen is bound up tightly in such molecules as water and natural gas, so it is expensive and energy-intensive to extract and purify. Transportation fuel cell costs in 2003 exceeded internal combustion engine... 

Finally, transportation fuel cells are typically being designed for about 4,000 hours of use, which might give a car a ten-year lifetime... 

If hybrids and diesels are the toughest competition for transportation fuel cells, then cellulosic ethanol is probably the tough-... 

OCTGain, 228-230 ODS. See desulphurization, oxidative Office of Transportation Fuel Cell Program (DOE), 137 olefins, 498-500, 505 Osaka Gas, 244... 

Parked fuel cell cars could be plugged into the grid to generate power and these transportation fuel cells would operate as stationary fuel cell power sources. If only a small percentage of drivers used their vehicles as power plants to sell energy back to the grid, many of the power plants in the country could be closed. 

Transportation fuel cells are being designed for about 4,000 hours of use, which gives a car a 10-year lifetime since they are used only a small percentage of the time. But 4,000 hours represents less than half a year under continuous use for generating electricity. Fuel cells for power plants are designed for 40,000 hours or more. 

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