Beijing SinoHytec Co Ltd began trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange STAR Market on Monday at a public offering price of 76.65 yuan (US$11) per share.

The share price of the first Chinese hydrogen fuel cell engine company to list on the board surged 144.12 percent and SinoHytec closed at 187.12 yuan, with an intraday high of 261.11 yuan.

Fuel-cell vehicles use a fuel cell instead of a battery. Automotive fuel cells generate electricity to power a motor, generally using oxygen and compressed hydrogen.

China is actively promoting the development of the hydrogen fuel cell industry. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said that hydrogen cars are an important technological route which will coexist with the development of electric vehicles.

Compared with traditional gasoline vehicles, fuel-cell vehicles are said to have short refueling times, a long cruising range and are pollution-free.

In April this year, four ministries and commissions issued a notice to promote the development of new-energy vehicles. It said that China will strive to establish a hydrogen and fuel cell vehicle industry chain in around four years. The country will make breakthroughs in key core technologies and form a good industry layout and coordinated development, it said.

SinoHytec cautioned investors about the risks of the hydrogen fuel cell sector in an announcement. It said that the penetration rate of fuel-cell vehicles is currently relatively low in China. The sector is in the early stages of industrialization, with the high cost of fuel cell stations and the immaturity of key technologies.

In 2019, sales of fuel-cell vehicles in the Chinese market totalled 2,737 units, a relatively small figure compared with the 1.2 million new-energy vehicles sold across the country.

Founded in 2012, SinoHytec is a high-tech enterprise focusing on research and development as well as manufacturing of hydrogen fuel cell engines and related products such as fuel cell stacks, hydrogen systems and test platforms.

The company's products are mainly used in commercial vehicles such as passenger cars and logistics vehicles. Its fuel cell products are used in vehicles from automakers such as Zhengzhou Yutong Group Co, Shanghai Shenlong Bus Co and Foton Motor.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange STAR Market, which was launched in July last year, is seen as a foundation for deepened reforms in China's A-share market, as well as an attractive market for high-profile Chinese tech companies to list at home.

https://www.shine.cn/biz/auto/2008103880/

Preface. No, you object, sugar in the gas tank will destroy the engine. Not true. Snopes.com says that won’t happen because sugar doesn’t dissolve in automotive fuel or caramelize, and so it does not turn into the debilitating gunk this well-known revenge calls for. Also, the sugar can’t reach the engine because of protective filters, though it can clog the fuel filter or fuel injector, which would stop the car. The “breakthrough” below is for a sugar fuel cell, so no worries at all.

Alice Friedemann www.energyskeptic.com author of “When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the Future of Transportation”, 2015, Springer, Barriers to Making Algal Biofuels, and “Crunch! Whole Grain Artisan Chips and Crackers”. Podcasts: Collapse Chronicles, Derrick Jensen, Practical Prepping, KunstlerCast 253, KunstlerCast278, Peak Prosperity , XX2 report

***

Riordan, T. June 21, 2004. A Sweet Way to Fuel Cars. For a group of researchers at Sandia National Labs, sugar in the gas tank isn’t such a bad idea. New York Times.

You may not be able to refuel your car with corn syrup or charge your computer by plugging it into a bottle of Coca-Cola anytime soon. But to Stanley H. Kravitz and a group of researchers at Sandia National Laboratories, sugar looks like the new oil.

Dr. Kravitz and his colleagues have begun to apply for patents covering ways to convert glucose, a basic form of sugar, into energy.

Glucose seems an obvious potential source for fuel. Unlike hydrogen, for example, it is renewable, cheap and abundant.

”The problem with hydrogen is that it isn’t just found in the air or lying around,” Dr. Kravitz said. ”You have to do something quite energy-intensive to break apart some molecule in order to get hydrogen.” So why aren’t other researchers trying to power their fuel cells with glucose rather than hydrogen? Glucose molecules, it turns out, are not easily persuaded to give up their energy.

Over time, naturally occurring enzymes have turned mammals into glucose-burning machines. The human body, for example, metabolizes glucose in a delicately choreographed dance. Twelve different enzymes partner in succession with the glucose molecule, each enzyme sending two electrons spinning offstage into cellular power sources and thereby fueling the body. (If the body does not need this energy when it is made, the body stores it as fat.)

One approach that Sandia researchers are taking is to genetically engineer enzymes that mimic those in the human body. ”If evolution figured it out, we should be able to figure it out,” Dr. Kravitz said.

Another approach is nonbiological, using metals like platinum to liberate electrons.

Early potential applications of glucose fuel cells would require only small amounts of energy. For example, security systems to detect movement or the presence of chemicals could use sensors that would be plugged into trees, siphoning glucose from sap for energy.

Sandia researchers are ”making electricity for electricity’s sake — as a power source.”

Dr. Kravitz and fellow Sandia researchers are developing an array of tiny glass needles, as slim and sharp as a mosquito’s proboscis, that could, for example, be imperceptibly ”plugged in” to a soldier’s arm and used to convert glucose from the human body into energy.

”Suppose you could make a patch that went on the arm and had little micro needles that didn’t hurt,” Dr. Kravitz said. ”Now the soldier just needs to eat an Oreo cookie to keep his radio going.”

So this research could solve both the world’s energy problem and the obesity epidemic simultaneously? ”That’s sort of a wild and crazy idea,” Dr. Kravitz said. ”But then again, maybe not.”

”The efficiency stinks right now,” Dr. Kravitz acknowledged, noting that so far Sandia researchers were able to produce power in the milliwatt range, enough to power a tiny light-emitting diode — while a car would require kilowatts of power.

”We’ve increased the efficiency by a factor of a thousand in a period of three years,” he said. ”But we need to go up by a factor of a million.”

***

Yet another researcher proposes to hydrogen from a water sugar mixture at 86 Degrees F with a mix of natural enzymes in just 5 to 10 years, which was said back in 2008, so like most promised breakthroughs, don’t hold your breath (Velasquez-Manoff 2008).

References

Velasquez-Manoff. 2008. Sugar-powered cars. Christian Science Monitor

https://energyskeptic.com/2020/far-out-3-sugar-power/

「E-TAC」水素製造についての解説図

近年、CO2排出量削減による地球温暖化の抑制がグローバルな課題となっているなか、水素は利用段階でCO2を排出しないため、将来の重要なエネルギーの一つとして期待されている。また、水素はエネルギー貯蔵・運搬が可能で有用性も高いことから、水素市場は今後大きく伸びると予測されている。

　一方、現在の水素製造は、低コストで製造できる天然ガスなどの化石燃料を用いた方法が主流だが、製造過程でCO2を排出します。製造過程でCO2を排出しない方法として、水の電気分解があるが、製造コストが高いことが実用化の課題の一つである。

　H2Pro社は、水の電気分解を改良した新たな水素製造技術「E-TAC」（注1）を開発している。通常の水の電気分解による水素製造では、酸素と水素が同時に発生するが、「E-TAC」はH2Pro社が開発した電極を用いて酸素と水素を別々に発生させる技術。これにより、酸素と水素の混合を防ぐための隔離膜（注2）が不要になることや、製造時のエネルギー効率が高くなることで、低コストでの水の電気分解の実現を目指す。「E-TAC」を実用化させ、一般的な電気分解での製造方法に比べ製造コストを大きく下げることで、水素エネルギーの普及に貢献する。

　住友商事は、2018年5月に「水素関連ビジネスワーキンググループ」を立ち上げ、水素関連ビジネスの可能性を追求している。住友商事グループは、H2Pro社への出資および今後の協業を通じ、さらなる水素社会の実現に向けた取り組みを加速させていく。また、今後も、IN VentureをはじめとするCVCによるスタートアップへの投資を通じ、住友商事グループのデジタルトランスフォーメーションを推進し、事業の強化および高度化、新規事業の創出を目指す。

注1　E-TAC：Electrochemical, Thermally Activated Chemicalの略
注2　隔離膜：酸素と水素が同時に発生する通常の水の電気分解において、 酸素と水素の混合を防ぐための仕切り

https://motor-fan.jp/tech/10015802

E-TAC (Electrochemical, Thermally Activated Chemical) is a revolutionary method for splitting water. Similar to electrolysis, E-TAC uses electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. However, unlike conventional electrolysis, hydrogen and oxygen are generated separately at different phases - an Electrochemical phase and a Thermally Activated Chemical phase.

Phase 1

In the Electrochemical Phase, electricity is consumed and hydrogen is generated. At the same time, the nickel-based anode, similar to the one found in Ni-MH batteries - is “charged”.

Phase 2

In the Thermally Activated phase, the anode is heated up - spontaneously “discharging” it, releasing oxygen.

The process is highly energy efficient.
E-TAC doesn’t require expensive rare-earth metals, and is relatively simple to manufacture, promising low capital costs. The solution’s architecture yields longer durability as well as an overall more robust system. As such, H2PRO’s solution is expected to become the most efficient and effective way to produce sustainable hydrogen at scale

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-019-0462-7.epdf?author_access_token=rI0UIzcWotdOs_GwwDeG7tRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0MVEpapPv7W-5kAqqh2YgqlOMFMZXxrNIu9LDZh3CQPITR1rkU16DBZoHbIISRY-rUvgc88FiLOL4xKSyxI6T7yvURm0RKvof2jXeSc3r311Q%3D%3D

Ballard Power Systems announced that its proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell technology and products have now powered Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs) in commercial heavy- and medium-duty motive applications for acumulative total of more than 50 million kilometers on roads around the globe, an increase of more than 5-times since 2017.

Ballard PEM fuel cell technology and products—with the 8th generation power module launched in 2019—have been integrated for many years into FCEVs to provide zero-emission power for vehicle propulsion in 15 countries around the world. This includes approximately 1,000 Fuel Cell Electric Buses (FCEBs) and 2,200 commercial trucks.

Approximately 70% of the more than 50 million kilometers has been achieved in FCEVs deployed in China, with the remaining vehicles deployed in Europe and North America.

For the first half of 2020, FCEVs monitored by Ballard delivered fuel cell uptime of approximately 98%. Ballard’s unmatched field experience—through a wide range of duty cycles, climate and road conditions—has been leveraged through an effective feedback loop into product design and development efforts, resulting in the fuel cell industry’s highest performance products designed for Heavy- and Medium-Duty Motive applications.

Some of the FCEBs that operated over 8-years in the field exceeded 38,000 hours of revenue service with no major fuel cell maintenance requirements.

https://www.greencarcongress.com/2020/08/20200805-ballard.html