ThomasNet Industrial News Room, NY
10-04-06
An Alternatives Gridlock and Hydrogen Hike
By David R. Butcher
As energy costs escalate and oil resources decline, Congress recently left town
without adopting any significant legislation on energy. However, the Department
of Energy last month moved forward in funding a number of projects that will aid
in alternative hydrogen production and greater hydrogen utilization.
Against a backdrop of escalating energy costs and declining oil resources
projected to run out during the next 30 to 40 years, Congress left town without
passing an energy bill.
In the meantime, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is working through its
Advanced Energy Initiative to help fund alternative energy projects such as
biomass fuels, advanced hybrid cars, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, solar energy
and wind energy.
For instance, the Department last month awarded $6 million to state partnerships
to increase energy efficiency and helped fund six new projects aimed at
alternative hydrogen production and utilization.
DOE Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Alexander
Karsner, while speaking to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, announced that the
DOE will award $6 million to fund 22 federal-state partnerships that “will create
innovative initiatives to increase energy savings in residential and commercial
buildings.” The state partnership grants are intended to help implement training
programs and provide technical assistance and education that will ultimately
result in the construction of more energy-efficient buildings.
DOE’s Building Technologies Program, within the Office of Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy, will oversee funding for these partnerships. DOE anticipates
providing $3.9 million for these projects in FY 2006, with the remainder funded in
FY 2007 and FY 2008. The selection process for state projects to receive awards
was based on an evaluation of “the merit of their applications.”
Also last month, the DOE announced the selection of six cost-shared R&D
projects to aid in alternate hydrogen production and greater hydrogen utilization.
Hydrogen, considered a potential energy carrier for the future, may be produced
from hydrogen-containing materials such as water and fossil fuels.
These six new projects — the total value of which is nearly $18 million, with the
DOE providing $12.9 million and industry partners contributing more than $4.9
million — will focus on two different areas of interest:
• Alternate hydrogen production uses coal to create hydrogen-rich, zero-sulfur
liquid fuels or synthetic natural gas, with demonstration of an alternative pathway
and reforming system to produce hydrogen in decentralized locations anticipated
by the end of 2011.
• Hydrogen utilization seeks to demonstrate protocols for hydrogen or
hydrogen/natural-gas mixtures and modifications to reciprocating internal
combustion engines for advanced engine systems.
In the Louisiana State University project, researchers will develop a coal-based
process for the conversion of syngas to ethanol and higher alcohols using
rhodium-based catalysts. Clean coal-derived syngas will be produced using
Conoco-Phillips’ EGAS technology. The final step is the selective catalytic
conversion to ethanol. Louisiana State University researchers will be joined by
scientists from Clemson University, Conoco-Phillips and Oak Ridge National
Laboratory. Project duration: 36 months.
The Abengoa Bioenergy R&D, Inc. project seeks to improve the catalytic
conversion of coal-derived syngas into ethanol and investigate ethanol
reformability to hydrogen. The goal is to design new catalysts for higher alcohol
synthesis, with the research aimed at accelerating the crucial steps that limit the
selective conversion of synthesis gas to alcohols, especially ethanol. Project
duration: 36 months.
Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. aims to develop a low-cost method to convert
small (less than 25 horsepower) gasoline internal combustion engines to run on
hydrogen fuel, while maintaining performance and durability equivalent to the
unmodified gasoline engine. “There is a huge potential worldwide market for
reliable, low-cost small engines with near-zero emissions in stationary and
mobile applications including two- and three-wheeled vehicles, lawn and garden
care equipment, and small back-up generator sets,” according to the DOE’s
Fossil Energy Techline. Project duration: 27 months.
Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation will partner with Roush
Industries, Argonne National Laboratory, and Sacré-Davey Innovations to
evaluate the durability of a proven hydrogen internal combustion engine design
using both accelerated aging tests under laboratory conditions (maximum power
and torque for 300 hours) and field tests in diverse fleets (24,000 miles and 1,100
hours of operation per vehicle). Results of the durability evaluation will be
compared to current gasoline internal combustion engine standards, and
recommendations to reduce durability risk factors will be developed. Project
duration: 29 months.
The Hythane Company, LLC project will collaborate with two other organizations
— Hydrogen Components Inc. and the Engines and Energy Conversion
Laboratory at Colorado State University — to acquire three identical heavy-duty,
spark-ignited natural gas engines and subjecting them to stationary testing. Two
of the engines will be modified, one for operation on Hythane® (a hydrogen and
natural gas mixture) and one for pure hydrogen operation. The modified engines
will be optimized for emissions, efficiency, and power relative to the natural gas
baseline, using the experience and intellectual property of the project team. All
three engines will undergo durability testing to demonstrate their long-term
performance. Project duration: 36 months.
The objective of the Iowa State University project is to develop a process that
will convert syngas from coal into ethanol and then transform the ethanol into
hydrogen. Investigators will first synthesize, characterize, and evaluate
mesoporous manganese silicate mixed oxide materials supports for rhodium
nanocatalysts. They will then construct and demonstrate two reactor systems:
one for producing synthetic liquid fuel from a simulated syngas stream and one
for evaluating ethanol reformability. The data gathered will be used to analyze
the process and provide a preliminary economic evaluation. Project duration: 36
months.
Yet until other resources are available to produce hydrogen at lower costs,
production from coal remains the most economical source. Cost, of course,
remains the biggest impediment to large-scale production and widespread
adoption, as electricity is required by many hydrogen production methods, which
so far makes hydrogen more expensive than the fuels it would replace. Hydrogen
fuel must overcome a number of other stumbling blocks before it can replace our
oil-based economy. Not the least of these roadblocks, in cars, for example, is
how to safely store enough hydrogen fuel to cover a reasonable distance before
their supplies must be replenished; gasoline is still easier to store than hydrogen,
which needs to be compressed or kept at very cold temperatures.
As for Congress’ inability to adopt any significant legislation on energy, most
notably the Senate and House failed to bridge differences over how much
offshore oil and gas drilling to allow on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), with
angry negotiators blaming each other for the collapse of talks late last month.
Oddly enough, those efforts to open up U.S. coastal areas for drilling held out the
most promise for legislation, as offshore drilling made it further than other energy
proposals that came up during the long, hot summer of high gasoline prices.
Among the ideas that failed to gain any traction in Congress: a bipartisan move
to raise mileage standards, and a White House request for clearer authority to
set fuel efficiency targets under the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE)
program. The CAFE fuel economy standard hasn't changed since 1985. About
half of U.S. oil consumption goes to automobiles.
The current administration started the year by saying the U.S. is “addicted to oil”
in President Bush’s State of the Union address…yet another year has nearly
passed without any action on U.S. oil use and, specifically, on improving U.S.
fuel economy. Congress’ll be back, however, "for a lame duck session after the
elections," as the NAM blog notes.
Yet the time it takes to respond to these issues is long. Folks, the need for an
increased focus on energy issues isn’t one that popped up overnight...and look at
the "progress" made thus far.