수소연료전지 시스템 전문 기업 에스퓨얼셀이 2kW급 연료전지와 액화수소용기를 채용한 수소 드론을 개발하는데 성공했다. 27일 에스퓨얼셀은 2kW급 수소 드론을 개발했다며 수소 모빌리티 진출에 대한 본격적인 행보를 시작하게 됐다고 의미를 부여했다. 기존 배터리를 채용한 드론은 30분 이내의 짧은 비행시간으로 인해 장거리 및 장시간 임무수행 등에 한계가 있어 활용도가 떨어졌다. 사업 현장에서는 드론에 대한 해당 성능향상과 함께 드론의 범용적 활용 촉진에 걸림돌이 되고 있는 짧은 비행거리를 늘려달라는 내용을 주요골자로 획기적인 기술 개발을 요구하는 의견이 많았다. 이러한 현장의 목소리를 수렴한 에스퓨얼셀은 올해 2월부터 희망기업들을 대상으로 수요조사를 실시해 관련 DB를 구축하고 그 결과를 심층분석, 최종적으로 설계에 반영함으로 드론 이용자의 편의성과 범용성이 제고된 수소 드론을 개발하게 됐다고 강조했다. 에스퓨얼셀이 이번에 개발한 액화 수소연료전지 드론은 비행시간을 비약적으로 늘림으로 현재 배터리 드론으로 불가능 했던 수색, 정찰, 물류 운송, 농업 방재 등의 사업분야에 폭 넓게 활용이 가능할 것으로 기대된다. 이번 수소 드론에 주목되는 점은 수소연료전지 파워팩 개발에도 이용자의 편의성 및 범용성을 높였다는 점이다. 이용자가 상황에 맞게 고압기체수소와 액화수소 연료를 모두 사용할 수 있는 제품개발로 편의성 및 범용성을 높였으며, 수소드론 비행에 사용된 드론과 모터 또한 세계에서 가장 많이 이용되는 제품을 사용하여 시험 비행을 했다.
에스퓨얼셀은 2018년에는 연료전지 업계에서 처음으로 코스닥 상장을 한 수소연료전지 전문기업으로 건물용 연료전지의 기술력을 바탕으로 수소 모빌리티 시장에도 연료전지 파워팩 시스템 개발을 통해 진출을 하고 있다. 이번 수소 드론 개발 성공을 시작으로 지게차, 선박 등의 연료전지 파워팩 개발도 추진하고 있다고 에스퓨얼셀은 설명했다. 향후 수소 연료전지를 기반으로 다양한 응용 분야를 창출하고, 글로벌 시장에서 매출을 확대해 나갈 계획이다. 에스퓨얼셀 관계자는 "현재 진행중인 유상증자를 통해 유입되는 자금을 통해 수소 연료전지 파워팩 시스템의 개발과 원천기술 확보, 상품화에 적극적으로 투자해 시장에 빠르게 진입할 예정"이라고 밝혔다.
As the fuel cell community knows, October 8, 2020 isHydrogen and Fuel Cell Day–a day that’s celebrated every year, and that reflects the increasing importance of zero-emission hydrogen fuel cells in the future of transportation.
At Ballard, we are proud of our role in bringing PEM fuel cells to their current level of global prominence. For over 40 years, we have led the world in hydrogen fuel cell technology developments.
this blog, you’ll learn about Ballard’s role in developing the core PEM fuel cell technologies, and our ongoing fuel cell innovations that are increasing performance while dramatically lowering the costs of fuel cell vehicles. You’ll also get a sneak peek into our product roadmap, and what the future holds for anyone planning to develop or purchase zero-emission buses or trucks.
Delivering fuel cell technology for a cleaner planet: From core PEM technologies to complete systems
Our proprietary proton exchange membrane (PEM) technology efficiently creates zero-emission electricity from air and hydrogen, without the use of toxic materials. This core PEM technology still leads the industry—and we continue to refine it. In fact, we have invested more than $1.5 billion in PEM development.
One of our key assets is our people. Together, we are a collective team of specialized fuel cell developers. Nearly 400 scientists and engineers draw upon 4,700 person-years of experience to advance our product designs. Research and development activities are ongoing to develop new technology that is fed into each product iteration.
Our research and development activities have successfully advanced our designs.We have leveraged our work in technically challenging automotive applications, improved component robustness, scaled up our manufacturing and product processes, and developed our supply chain. These activities have contributed to the launch last year of our8th generation fuel cell modulethat leads the industry in power, cost and durability.
We continue to innovate, with a focus on practical commercial advantages
We at Ballard are not content to rest on our successes. We are continually improving our technologies—both the fuel cell engine and the manufacturing processes that create them. To expand our reach to serve a broader range of bus and truck applications, we are continuing to improve those aspects of fuel cell performance that are most critical to commercial vehicles:
Power density—packing more power in lighter, smaller modules reduces material costs. It also means we can fit fuel cell powertrains under more hoods, even in heavy-duty trucks. Our recently released new FCgen®-HPS fuel cell stack leads the industry with a power density of 4.3kW/L.
Cost reduction— lowering the total cost of ownership (TCO) of commercial vehicles, from increased efficiency (which lowers fuel consumption) and better powertrain integration to recycling and refurbishing fuel cells. Lifecycle cost reductions have now made vehicles powered by Ballard technology competitive on a TCO basis for several heavy duty motive applications.(Learn more inFuel Cell Price to Drop 70-80% as Production Volume Scales.)
Durability—With over 30,000 hours of service lifetime powered on the road, Ballard-powered vehicles require only one fuel cell module overhaul during their entire service life, which results in major TCO savings. And, we see a path to even longer life fuel cells.
Looking ahead: What’s next for Ballard?
Continuous improvement to meet the market requirements for commercial vehicles requires an evolution in key fuel cell stack technology attributes. Our technical targets for the next four years are clear, as demonstrated in the chart below.
Ballard, with its vast experience, has the ability to address the trade-offs necessary at the core fuel cell component level to meet market requirements. To put it simply, we know what the technology levers are and we know how to move them to achieve these targets. One such lever is the bipolar plate design.
Proprietary bipolar plate designs deliver sustainability, long life and low cost
Within a PEM fuel cell stack, the bipolar plates are a key component that uniformly distributes fuel and air, removes heat, and prevents leakage of gases and coolant. Our proprietarycarbon bipolar plate designsprovide a strong competitive advantage.
As you can see in the chart above, Ballard is on the path to achieving a 35% reduction in cell pitch, or bipolar plate assembly thickness in our latest fuel cell stack designs. This brings the cell pitch in alignment with our competitors using metal plates. Metal bipolar plates from automakers, however, are far higher in cost.Ballard bipolar platesare:
the most durable on the market, with a service life of 35,000 hours.
the most sustainable, with reusable graphite plates.
the most cost-effective, graphite is the lowest cost material at any manufacturing volume.
So, with these advances in bipolar plate cell pitch we can deliverindustry-leading power densityat a lower cost with much higher durability. This all translates into lower lifecycle costs for the vehicle operator.
Growing our product portfolio
High power modules with scalable power levels
Our product roadmap includes the development of high-powered, scalable modules that serve a broad range of power levels, from 45 to 450kW. Scalable power levels, with shared technologies across product lines, allow us to serve markets ranging from commercial light duty truck and medium-duty vehicles (such as medium-duty trucks and buses) to heavy-duty truck applications.
Shared components simplify manufacturing and lower costs for customers. As we continually improve the performance of our fuel cell stack technologies, the improvements will be applied across all power levels, to improve vehicle performance in every one of our markets.
Partnerships will be key to our success. The heavy duty products (150-450kW) for instance, will be developed through a partnership with MAHLE, a leading international Tier 1 supplier to the commercial vehicle and automotive industry.
Ballard has prime responsibility for system design and the fuel cell stack sub-system, while MAHLE’s scope of responsibility includes balance-of-plant components, thermal management and power electronics for the complete fuel cell system. The combination of technology improvements and product industrialization will help us to achieve our 70% cost reduction target.
Why choose Ballard?
Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Day is a perfect opportunity to reflect on Ballard’s pivotal role in zero-emissions transportation. We developed the core PEM technologies and, through continual innovation, we remain the global technology leader in the PEM fuel cell space. More than 3,000 Ballard-powered buses, trams, trucks, and trains are in commercial use today.
Anyone designing a fuel cell vehicle—or selecting the zero-emission trucks or buses for their fleet—should seriously consider Ballard fuel cell products for their industry-leading durability, power density, reliability, sustainability and low total life cycle cost.
NEDO、東芝エネルギーシステムズ（株）、東北電力（株）、岩谷産業（株）が、2018年から福島県浪江町で建設を進めてきた、再生可能エネルギーを利用した世界最大級となる10MWの水素製造装置を備えた水素製造施設「福島水素エネルギー研究フィールド（Fukushima Hydrogen Energy Research Field （FH2R））」が2月末に完成し、稼働を開始しました。
このような背景のもと、国立研究開発法人新エネルギー・産業技術総合開発機構（NEDO）、東芝エネルギーシステムズ株式会社、東北電力株式会社、岩谷産業株式会社は、再生可能エネルギーの導入拡大を見据え、ディマンドリスポンスとしての水素活用事業モデルと水素販売事業モデルの確立を目指した技術開発事業※1に取り組んでいます。本事業において、2018年7月から福島県浪江町（同町大字棚塩地区 棚塩産業団地内）で建設を進めていた、太陽光発電を利用した世界最大級となる10MWの水素製造装置を備えた水素製造施設「福島水素エネルギー研究フィールド（Fukushima Hydrogen Energy Research Field （FH2R））」が2月末に完成し、稼働を開始しました。
GenCell Energy, a leading Israel-based manufacturer of fuel cell energy solutions, has announced that it successfully completed integration between the Enapter AEM electrolyser and the GenCell alkaline fuel cell. The project demonstrated the successful performance of the GenCell fuel cell and Enapter electrolyser and validated that the electrolyser successfully generates the amount and quality of hydrogen needed to operate the alkaline fuel cell in a hybrid or backup power solution, strengthening the value proposition of both products to successfully fill the power requirements of many use cases, both on and off-grid.
As the energy sector around the world increases the uptake of intermittent solar and wind power and raises its decarbonisation goals, there is growing feasibility, justification, and demand for hybrid power and green microgrid systems. Hybrid power systems today, whether operating entirely or partially on-grid or off-grid, increasingly recognise the value of incorporating electrolysers, fuel cells, and hydrogen storage for long-duration power to offset intermittent power generation sources, charge short-lived batteries and achieve decarbonisation goals. Integrating the Enapter AEM electrolyser together with the GenCell alkaline fuel cell in a hybrid or microgrid power system prevents curtailment of surplus intermittent energy and instead leverages the electrolyser to convert that energy to industrial-grade hydrogen.
This industrial-grade hydrogen can be economically stored and used on-demand as fuel to run the GenCell alkaline fuel cell when intermittent, grid or battery power is not available, both to charge the batteries and to provide electricity for as long as needed, until the other power sources return to production. The ability of each Enapter electrolyser to feed the alkaline fuel cell without costly filtration or purification simplifies and eliminates additional costs from the power system. Producing hydrogen-on-demand with an electrolyser next to the fuel cell both eliminates the often-significant logistical operations and operating expenses of the hydrogen supply chain and makes fuel cells relevant for long-duration back-up in locations where hydrogen is not readily available. In many poor grid systems or hybrid environments where hydrogen is either not available or very costly to supply, today the integrated Enapter-GenCell solution can deliver crucial and emission-free back-up power at a cost that is equivalent to or lower than the cost of diesel power. Both Enapter and GenCell offer TCO calculations demonstrating already today that the cost of the joint solution is equivalent to or less than the cost of back-up power from diesel generators, wherein the costs of the equipment of both manufacturers are expected to drop further as technologies mature and lifetimes extend.
As we broach the future of energy networks following the impact of Coronavirus, there are many factors that add impetus for change. With uncertainty and decline in prices of fossil fuels and an increased ratio of intermittent renewables in the energy mix both to combat climate change and to stimulate new jobs, utilities and businesses are looking for new and better solutions to ensure power resilience to counter this greater volatility. Many of them are considering local microgrids, which according to the International Energy Association (IEA) will deliver 30% of our future electricity. More and more of these microgrids are incorporating hydrogen and fuel cells to enable long-duration energy storage and generation. Producing more ‘green’ hydrogen when renewable energy is plentiful by means of electrolysis, storing the hydrogen and converting it to energy-on-demand by means of the fuel cell to complement short-duration batteries and to resolve seasonal fluctuations makes microgrids resilient and energy and fossil fuel-independent.
“We are pleased and not surprised to learn the results of GenCell’s validation of the satisfactory performance of our electrolysers,” remarks Sebastian-Justus Schmidt, CEO, Enapter. “While our versatile equipment can easily be paired with most any fuel cell on the market, as Enapter, we look to minimise the costs and maximise the reliability of our solutions for our customers. Bottom line, GenCell’s unique capacity to run on 99.9% purity hydrogen will save customers more money.”
Comments Rami Reshef, CEO, GenCell, “The advent of the hybrid power solution and green microgrid is changing the future of our energy economy for the better. Production of green hydrogen at scale will significantly increase the demand for renewable energy, creating jobs and accelerating decarbonisation. Utilities are achieving faster and more reliable grid modernisation in weather-sensitive regions by replacing traditional pole and line systems with renewable microgrids. Now that in addition to being reliable, weather-resistant and emission-free, hybrid power solutions incorporating Enapter AEM electrolysers and GenCell alkaline fuel cells are becoming more economic than diesel, it is even more relevant to Say No to Diesel.”
Researchers at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) have developed a steam-carrier-adopted composite membrane reactor system to produce pure H2 (>99.99%) from ammonia with high productivity (>0.35 mol-H2 gcat−1 h−1) and ammonia conversion (>99%) at a significantly reduced operating temperature (<723 K). A paper on their work is published in the Journal Of Membrane Science.
Membrane reactor for production of H2 from NH3. Credit: KIST
Coupling of a custom developed palladium/tantalum composite metallic membrane and ruthenium on lanthanum-doped alumina catalysts allowed stable operation of the membrane system with significant mass transfer enhancement. Various reactor assemblies involving as-fabricated membranes and catalysts are experimentally compared to suggest the optimal configuration and operating conditions for future applications. Steam is adopted as a sweep gas, presenting efficient H2 recovery (>91%) while replacing conventionally utilized noble carrier gases that require additional gas separation processes. The steam carrier presents similar membrane reactor performance to that of noble gases, and the water reservoir used for steam generation acts as an ammonia buffer via scrubbing effects.
—Park et al.
Although the need to build a global clean energy supply network has been noted worldwide, there are constraints when it comes to transporting renewable energy in the form of electricity across long distances. This has resulted in a growing demand for a technology that can convert surplus renewable energy into hydrogen and transport the hydrogen to the target destination for utilization.
Hydrogen gas, however, cannot be transported in large amounts due to the limitations in the amount that can be stored per unit volume. A strategy suggested to overcome this issue is the use of chemicals in liquid form as hydrogen carriers, similar to the current method of transporting fossil fuels in a liquid form.
Liquid ammonia (hydrogen storage density per volume: 108kg-H2/m3) is capable of storing around 1.5 times more hydrogen than liquefied hydrogen under the same volume. Unlike the conventional hydrogen production method of natural gas steam reforming in which large amounts of carbon dioxide is emitted in the production process, the hydrogen production method using ammonia only leads to the generation of hydrogen and nitrogen.
Despite the many advantages presented by ammonia, there has been relatively little research on producing high-purity hydrogen from ammonia and generating electricity in conjunction with fuel cells.
The research team at KIST developed a low-cost membrane material and a catalyst for decomposition of ammonia into hydrogen and nitrogen. By combining the catalyst and membrane, the research team created an extraction device that is capable of decomposing ammonia and separating pure hydrogen at the same time. With the developed technology, it is possible to continuously produce high-purity hydrogen. The system can even be applied to small power generation devices by directly connecting it with fuel cells without any additional hydrogen purification processes.
The research team substantially reduced the ammonia decomposition temperature from 550 ˚C to 450 ˚C, thereby lowering energy consumption and doubling the hydrogen production speed compared to the conventional technology. Also, using the low-cost metal membrane, it was able to produce at least 99.99% pure hydrogen without any high-cost isolation process such as pressure swing adsorption (PSA).
Currently, storage- and transportation-related infrastructure for ammonia has been commercialized and used worldwide for intercontinental transportation. If the newly developed technology from KIST is applied to such infrastructure, it will help Korea take a step closer to the hydrogen economy.
“We’re planning a follow-up study to develop a compact hydrogen power pack that does not emit any carbon dioxide, based on the recently developed technology, and apply it to urban aerial mobilities (e.g. drone taxis), unmanned aerial vehicles, ships, and other modes of transportation.
—Dr. Jo Young Suk from KIST
This study was carried out, with a grant from the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT), as Institutional R&D Program of KIST and the Core Renewable Energy Technology Development Project of the Korea Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning.
Resources
Yongha Park, Junyoung Cha, Hyun-Taek Oh, Taeho Lee, Sung Hun Lee, Myung Gon Park, Hyangsoo Jeong, Yongmin Kim, Hyuntae Sohn, Suk Woo Nam, Jonghee Han, Chang Won Yoon, Young Suk Jo (2020) “A catalytic composite membrane reactor system for hydrogen production from ammonia using steam as a sweep gas,” Journal of Membrane Science, Volume 614, 118483 doi: 10.1016/j.memsci.2020.118483.
