Spring 2004 – vol. 22, no. 1 logos home page Contact the logos editor Argonne home page Feature articles Superconductivity team wins top research prizes Creating stability in a world of unstable electricity distribution Argonne tests, creates fuel cells to power the future Fueling the hydrogen future with Argonne's ceramic membrane Nuclear plants may be clean hydrogen source Argonne Update Stars surrender secrets to supercomputers Electricity controls nanocrystal architecture

Argonne tests, creates fuel
cells to power the future

by Evelyn Brown

FUEL REFORMER – This Argonne-developed reformer releases hydrogen from commonly available fuels to power fuel cells in cars. Argonne's Shabbir Ahmed (left) explains the reformer to U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham and U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert, R-Ill.

Fuel cells are a key component of the nation's plan for a secure energy future. Fuel cells convert hydrogen gas into electricity and water. Since hydrogen can be produced from a variety of domestic resources, researchers are seeking cost-efficient ways to use it to meet the nation's growing energy needs and reduce the nation's oil reliance.

Argonne has been a leader in fuel-cell research for decades and is playing a critical role in increasing the technology's contributions to the nation's energy security.

Researchers have developed an R&D-award winning catalyst to convert fossil fuels to hydrogen for the earliest fuel-cell vehicles, designed new materials for fuel-cell production, and created computer modeling systems that have been adopted as Department of Energy (DOE) benchmarks and are being used to identify future research and development needs.

Fuel cell facts

While not a common household term, fuel cells are not new. Sir William Grove first described a fuel cell in 1839, but they did not emerge as a practical power source until the 1960s when the U.S. space program adopted the technology to power spacecraft. While still used in the space shuttles, more down-to-earth applications include stationary generators for remote facilities and for hospital backup power. In the future, they will power cars, cell phones, laptop computers and home electrical and heating systems. With the emerging distributed generation, fuel cells may also add power to the nation's electrical grid.

Many challenges must be met before fuel cells become mainstream, however; these include hydrogen production, storage, distribution and safety.

DYNAMIC TEST – Assistant U.S. Secretary of Energy David Garman (left) watches as Argonne's Advanced Powertrain Test Facility engineers track a car being tested on the dynamometer behind the glass.

For example, researchers need to find new methods to produce hydrogen for fuel cells. Current hydrogen-production technologies used in petroleum refining and fertilizer manufacturing require burning fossil fuel. Laboratory researchers are developing new, clean hydrogen production techniques covered in other stories in this issue.

A primary, short-term focus is on creating fuel-cell-powered cars and light trucks. DOE and USCAR – an industry consortium comprised of DaimlerChrysler, Ford and General Motors – are partners in FreedomCAR, an initiative to develop technology to power fuel-cell vehicles.

Almost all of the cars and trucks in this country are gasoline- and diesel- powered. Because transportation uses two-thirds of the 20 million gallons of oil Americans use daily, government officials see fuel cells as the best method to dramatically reduce dependence on foreign oil.

Argonne is leading a team of researchers from industry and from Los Alamos, Oak Ridge and Pacific Northwest national laboratories to develop a fast-starting reformer for converting gasoline to hydrogen as part of FreedomCAR. These partners are developing an integrated fuel processor that can start up from ambient temperatures in 30 seconds or less to full power. Fuel processor fabrication is scheduled to be completed in winter 2004, with testing to begin shortly thereafter.

Fuel-cell vehicles powered by hydrogen are projected to be clean and efficient. Water is the only waste product of a hydrogen-powered fuel cell. Since transportation is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, fuel-cell vehicles are predicted to cut emissions up to 500 million metric tons of carbon equivalent each year by 2040. A hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle can be up to two and one-half times more energy efficient than a conventional gasoline-fueled, internal-combustion engine car.

Advanced vehicle's energy use

A recent Argonne study was commissioned by General Motors to examine energy use for advanced vehicle technologies. The study included the total fuel cycle from "wells-to-wheels" – that is considering all of the energy used to get the fuel from the source to driving. The technologies investigated ranged from gasoline, diesel and alternative-fuel engines to hybrid-electric, battery- and fuel-cell powered engines. The study showed that a fuel-cell powered hybrid vehicle running on cellulose-derived ethanol would emit the least amount of greenhouse gases among 75 different car-powering technologies.

Argonne conducted the analysis in partnership with BP, ExxonMobil and Shell using Argonne's Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions and Energy Use in Transportation (GREET) software. GREET was originally developed with support from offices within DOE's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy secretariat.

Fuel reforming

Not all car-owners will be able to "fill-it-up" with hydrogen when the first fuel-cell cars come on the market in the 2010s, because there won't be a nationwide hydrogen-supply infrastructure in place yet. Also, hydrogen-storage devices are heavy and bulky. While researchers are working on this problem, Argonne scientists have developed an alternative.

TUFFCELL – Argonne has developed TuffCell, a solid-oxide fuel cell to be used as an auxiliary power unit. Chemical engineer Joong-Myeon Bae works with a TuffCell sample.

A team of Argonne scientists and engineers has developed and patented a transitional technology. Their compact fuel processor reforms gasoline from the pump or other conventional fuels such as diesel, methanol or natural gas, into a hydrogen-rich gas to power fuel cells.

The fuel reformer works somewhat like catalytic converters in cars. In the gasoline reformer, vaporized gasoline is mixed with steam and air before traveling through a cylinder packed with the new Argonne catalyst. The result is a hydrogen-rich gas that is further processed in subsequent chemical steps and is then fed to the fuel cell.

The catalyst that drives the gasoline-to-hydrogen reaction is critical. The development of this catalyst benefited from Argonne's earlier work in developing advanced solid-oxide fuel-cell materials. "If these types of materials worked in a fuel cell," principal investigator Romesh Kumar said, "then they should work as catalysts in the reformer."

Researchers used metal and oxygen compounds similar to those used in fuel-cell research as a support and coated it with platinum compounds. When the gasoline-air-water mix contacts the catalyst, it forms hydrogen, along with other gases.

Scientists are working to shrink the size and cost of the reformer, particularly by improving catalyst activities and reducing the amount of expensive materials in them, such as platinum. Argonne's reforming catalyst has been licensed to Sud-Chemie in Louisville, Ky., a major supplier of catalysts to the petrochemical industry.

The Argonne reformer is energy efficient, capable of rapid start-up and shut-down, and is dynamically responsive to load changes. It is compact and operates at lower temperatures than other fuel processors being developed for reforming gasoline. Power demands can be handled by adjusting the feed rates to the reformer, much like today's fuel-injected internal combustion engines. DOE's Office of Hydrogen, Fuel Cells, and Infrastructure Technologies funds this research.