Energy Department Launching $1 Million 'H-Prize' for Hydrogen Storage Advances
By John O'Dell August 25, 2009
(Article updated 8/28 to report H-Prize site has gone live; 8/26/09 to include Federal Register link and change future tenses to present)
DOE chief Stephen Chu might not think there's an immediate payback in providing $50 million or so in federal funding of hydrogen research for personal transportation, but someone in his agency has come up with a relatively cheap alternative that might continue pushing entrepreneurial R&D into fuel cells.
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Present hydrogen storage on vehicles relies on bulky pressurized tanks.
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The Department of Energy is launching a $1 million cash award program aimed at fostering development of breakthrough hydrogen storage materials that will enable fuel cell vehicles to operate more efficiently.
The so-called "H-Prize" borrows from the private "X-Prize" program that has fostered new developments in space flight and genetics research and is presently promoting development of a production-ready passenger vehicle capable of attaining a fuel economy average of at least 100 miles per gasoline-gallon, or the equivalent.
In a notice scheduled to be published Wedesday in the Federal Register, the Energy Department will outlines requirements for the prize, to be awarded in 2011 if anyone can come up with an improved hydrogen storage material that satisfies the department.
Storage of hydrogen is a stumbling block in commercialization of fuel cell vehicles: Those in test programs today stuff the gas into highly pressurized and very expensive tanks. It's a process that requires considerable amounts of electrical power to compress the hydrogen, and the size of the tanks limits the amount of fuel that can be stored on board a car or truck.
One rule, according to an article in the subscription-only E&E News, is that the competition isn't open to federal employees already working on hydrogen storage nor to individuals or companies that have received federal hydrogen research funding since October, 2008.
The Energy Department is scheduled to open and Hydrogen Education Foundation have opened a new Web site Wedesday morning - www.hydrogenprize.org - to provide competition information.
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The Department of Energy is offering a prize to solve a problem that has already been solved.
The Toyota FCHV-adv (mid-size SUV) hydrogen fuel cell vehicle achieved an estimated driving range of 431 miles in a recent real-world test with the Department of Energy. The vehicle has 10,000 psi high-pressure hydrogen tanks.
Furthermore, the Toyota FCHV-adv has the same trunk and passenger space as the gasoline-powered version.
Moreover, Justin Ward from Toyota recently made the following statement about the company's hydrogen fuel cell vehicle in a Ward's Automotive article that was published on July 16th:
?We have some confidence the vehicle released around 2015 is going to have costs that are going to be shocking for most of the people in the industry. They are going to be very surprised we were able to achieve such an impressive cost reduction.?
Moreover, Irv Miller from Toyota made the following comment on August 6th:
?In 2015, our plan is to bring to market a reliable and durable fuel cell vehicle with exceptional fuel economy and zero emissions, at an affordable price.?
Therefore, the cost of the high-pressure hydrogen tanks is not an issue either.
The information listed above (including links) can be found in the following article which is titled "7 reasons to love Toyota hydrogen fuel cell vehicles":
http://hydrogendiscoveries.wordpress.com/2009/08/17/7-reasons-to-love-toyota-hydrogen-fuel-cell-vehicles/
It is very obvious that the hydrogen storage problem has been solved.
The focus should instead be on optimizing and building the hydrogen fueling infrastructure which includes fueling stations, production, pipelines, etc.
Greg Blencoe
Chief Executive Officer
Hydrogen Discoveries, Inc.
Can anyone tell me how much energy it takes to produce one kilogram of compressed hydrogen? I like to video as it is the first time I have seen an equivalency stated (the energy contained in one gallon of gas roughly equals the energy contained in one kilogram of compressed hydrogen). I believe hydrogen will be the fuel of the future once we get the storage and production issued solved. However, fuel itself isn't energy and we still have to solve how we will liberate hydrogen from oxygen and compress it so it is in a usable form.
Halveb,
Here is information from an article I wrote in April 2008 titled "Hydrogen Fact #7 - The cost of hydrogen produced today from wind power (without any subsidies) would be less than the equivalent of gasoline at $3.50 per gallon":
"A kilogram of hydrogen can be produced by electrolysis with 50 kilowatt hours of electricity."
"In order to compress hydrogen to 10,000 pounds per square inch (psi), between 10-13% of the energy in a kilogram of hydrogen (which is 39 kilowatt hours of electricity) is required. A figure of 12% will be used which will equal approximately 5 kilowatt hours."
However, I should mention that I think I've seen different/lower compression numbers over the past 16 months. And different electrolyzers will require different amounts of electricity to produce a kilogram of hydrogen. Though, a lot of people typically use 50 kilowatt hours as a general rule.
But perhaps a rough estimate for both is 55 kilowatt hours.
http://hydrogendiscoveries.wordpress.com/2008/04/11/hydrogen-fact-7-the-cost-of-hydrogen-produced-today-from-wind-power-without-any-subsidies-would-be-less-than-the-equivalent-of-gasoline-at-3-per-gallon/
Greg Blencoe
Chief Executive Officer
Hydrogen Discoveries, Inc.
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