Fuel Cell Energy's Hydrogen Separation Process

FuelCell Energy, Inc. (NasdaqNM:FCEL), has developed a cost-efficient system to separate pure hydrogen from a gas mixture that then can be sold as fuel for hydrogen vehicles or industrial uses. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded FuelCell Energy $1.36 Million to advance this Electrochemical Hydrogen Separator (EHS) project for use with the company's Direct FuelCell(R) (DFC(R)) power plants.

Unlike other means of separating hydrogen, which rely on compression, the company's proprietary EHS technology has no moving parts. FCEL anticipates that their process to be significantly more reliable and efficient than conventional methods and to save up to one-half of the energy required when compared to conventional compression based-methods of hydrogen separation.

A subscale prototype EHS unit is currently operating at the University of Connecticut Global Fuel Cell Center. The subscale EHS system currently produces 1200 liters per hour of pure hydrogen. With the DoD award, the unit will be scaled up by a factor of 25 and will operate in conjunction with a sub-megawatt DFC power plant in Danbury for testing.

"This product has the potential to support the market demand for fuel cell automobiles as well as onsite hydrogen supply for industrial applications" said Christopher R. Bentley, Executive Vice President, Government Research and Development Operations for FuelCell Energy.

FCEL claims that its EHS system is the most promising way of meeting the targets set by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to lower the price of hydrogen to be competitive with the cost of gasoline. Currently hydrogen is three to four times as expensive to produce as gasoline according to the DOE's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy statistics. Whether it be used for generating hydrogen for an energy station or for an industrial customer, being able to produce hydrogen onsite through EHS would eliminate the complex issues involved with transporting and storing hydrogen. There is a significant market for industrial customers such as chemical and petrochemical manufacturers, heat treaters, pharmaceutical companies, glass manufacturers and refineries that would recognize the benefit of producing onsite power and hydrogen.

FuelCell Energy, headquartered in Danbury, Conn, develops and markets molten carbonate fuel cells that generate electricity with higher efficiency than distributed generation plants of similar size and with virtually no air pollution.  FCEL claims that emerging state, federal and international regulations to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions consider fuel cell power plants in the same environmentally friendly category as wind and solar energy sources -- with the added advantages of running 24 hours a day and the capacity to be installed where wind turbines or solar panels often cannot.

FuelCell Energy Advances Cost-Efficient Method of Separating Hydrogen; Department of Defense Awards $1.36 Million to Develop Carbonate Hydrogen Generating System, Press Release, July 6, 2006

Comments

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[Nate Phillips]

I don't know why no one is thinking of this.

Basic chemistry tells us that when electric current is applied to water, it splits into hydrogen and oxygen. There has been talk of refueling stations using electrolysis as a way to refuel hydrogen fuel cell cars.

Why not just go a step further and do the electrolysis right in the car? It would eliminate the need for a bulky, dangerous pressure tank, and it would make it so you never had to refuel your car.

When you put hydrogen into a fuel cell, it produces energy, then combines with oxygen to form water. Why not send that water to be electrolyzed to form more hydrogen, restarting the cycle?

Oil prices are too high to keep on in our gas-guzzling clunkers. Ethanol is even less efficient than gasoline, and the corn that primarily supplies the ingredients for ethanol could be used to fight hunger in developing countries. Natural gas is a fossil fuel, so there is a limited supply. Methanol just pollutes the air. Electric vehicles need some kind of power source, which usually involves inefficient processes.

Besides, the PEM fuel cell uses the simplest chemical reaction known to man which, by the way produces no emissions whatsoever.

Water (or, more accurately, hydrogen and oxygen)
is the fuel of the future.

[Bob Wallace]

Basic physics tells us that one needs an energy input to extract hydrogen from fuel or water.

Where's this energy going to come from in your hypothetical car?

Remember that energy is lost in the process of creating the hydrogen and significant energy is required (used up) powering the car....

[Cyril R.]

Bob, that was discussed elsewhere on this blog.

It was concluded that the energy comes from a Photon Fairy.

[Cyril R.]

Or, in this case, an Electron Fairy would be more accurate (but still not less of a scam)

It sounds cool though. You might want to register it before someone else does ;)

[Bob Wallace]

Photon Fairy, Electron Fairy, bah!

Right now what I want is a Firewood Fairy.

Guess I'll have to boot up and head out to do some splitting....

--

Thanks for the link. The lifetime battery info was interesting.

BTW, a Prius (taxi) made it to 297,000 miles on the original batteries.

Might have gone further but was totaled in a wreck.

[chala]

Electric vehicles has been around for several years now. It was invented decades ago than the hybrid cars.

The first electric vehicles were direct conversion from cars fitted with electric motors and

a dozen of batteries. That was the first appearance of EV's that eventually lost popularity

coz of crude design and the inconvenience of long charging hours.

But with the introduction of fuel cells EV's got a new life and has a promising future to

become the main choice in urban transport.

Related Sites:

Electric Plug-in Cars;
Hybrid Electric Cars

[Jun]

I agree to Nate.
To you Bob, this is not a hypothetical car. Electricity is required to split Hydrogen and Oxygen via Electrolysis. The hydrogen serves as fuel to your combustion engine. Engine comes up with an alternator to charge up the battery. The battery then supplies electricity to electrolysis process. Now, can you see the cycle here? Nothing is loss here, my friend, during combustion, the hydrogen molecules reacts (creating enormous amounts of energy)with oxygen to form water(as a steam) that goes out through the exhaust. Then comes water cycle, where the steam (water vapor) is precipitated to rain (condensate). Then you add the water again for your hydrogen-oxygen separator or electrolysis chamber. You don't need a rocket scientist to explain this. For your "hypothetical car", type "water-powered car" to YouTube and you see that this "hypothetical car" is far from being hypothetical.

[Jun]

I agree to Nate.
To you Bob, this is not a hypothetical car. Electricity is required to split Hydrogen and Oxygen via Electrolysis. The hydrogen serves as fuel to your combustion engine. Engine comes up with an alternator to charge up the battery. The battery then supplies electricity to electrolysis process. Now, can you see the cycle here? Nothing is loss here, my friend, during combustion, the hydrogen molecules reacts (creating enormous amounts of energy)with oxygen to form water(as a steam) that goes out through the exhaust. Then comes water cycle, where the steam (water vapor) is precipitated to rain (condensate). Then you add the water again for your hydrogen-oxygen separator or electrolysis chamber. You don't need a rocket scientist to explain this. For your "hypothetical car", type "water-powered car" to YouTube and you see that this "hypothetical car" is far from being hypothetical.

[Jun]

I agree to Nate.
To you Bob, this is not a hypothetical car. Electricity is required to split Hydrogen and Oxygen via Electrolysis. The hydrogen serves as fuel to your combustion engine. Engine comes up with an alternator to charge up the battery. The battery then supplies electricity to electrolysis process. Now, can you see the cycle here? Nothing is loss here, my friend, during combustion, the hydrogen molecules reacts (creating enormous amounts of energy)with oxygen to form water(as a steam) that goes out through the exhaust. Then comes water cycle, where the steam (water vapor) is precipitated to rain (condensate). Then you add the water again for your hydrogen-oxygen separator or electrolysis chamber. You don't need a rocket scientist to explain this. For your "hypothetical car", type "water-powered car" to YouTube and you see that this "hypothetical car" is far from being hypothetical.

[Kit P]

“You don't need a rocket scientist to explain this.”

A high school student who has taken either chemistry or physics should be able to explain why a perpetual motion machine is not hypothetically possible.

[chris]

Thank you Kit for telling Jun how it is.

Seriously, Jun, are you kidding? Do you really think you just solved the country's transportation crisis with your drive-by physics?

Posting it 3 times doesn't make it any more true.

I mean Jesus Tap-Dancing Christ...

[William Baker]

Did the person thinking its a "hypothetical car" finish any schooling at all< I am doing just that using hydrogen as my fuel! We went from 19 to 38MPG!

[William Baker]

Did the person thinking its a "hypothetical car" finish any schooling at all< I am doing just that using hydrogen as my fuel! We went from 19 to 38MPG!

[run your car on water]

i am glad this company is doing this. lets move towards the future.