New Energies, new possibilities

Plug Power, a provider of hydrogen engines and fueling solutions, is expanding its support of Walmart’s eCommerce network. Plug Power currently supports more than 9,500 GenDrive fuel cell-powered vehicles used by 37 Walmart distribution centers across North America.

Plug Power has provided GenKey hydrogen and fuel cells since 2010 for Walmart’s material handling fleet. The company began expanding into Walmart’s eCommerce network, with the first deployments in August 2020, and additional expansion planned in 2021.

Flexibility, scalability, and fast fueling make Plug Power products positioned for growth and the peak demands of eCommerce applications. Operating at 99 percent uptime with constant power performance in Walmart’s material handling fleet, Plug Power enabled Walmart to fulfill increased demand from customers during the pandemic.

ProGen and GenDrive fuel cell solutions power a variety of vehicles including material handling trucks, tuggers, automated guided vehicles, airport ground support equipment, and Class 3-8 commercial fleet vehicles for middle and last-mile delivery applications.

“This application expansion signifies the next step as we support Walmart’s eCommerce business while helping them meet the operational goals important to both Walmart and consumers,” said Andy Marsh, Plug Power CEO.

“The challenges this year have increased demand on leading brands providing necessary goods and services to customers. At our distribution facilities across the country, our decision to be an early adopter of hydrogen fuel cells has helped us manage and meet the increased demand for food and basic supplies,” said Jeff Smith, Senior Director Walmart Supply Chain. “This is why we’re excited to expand these solutions into our eCommerce network in 2021.”

Creating the first commercially viable market for hydrogen fuel cell (HFC) technology, Plug Power deployed over 38,000 fuel cell systems for e-mobility and has become the largest buyer of liquid hydrogen. A significant value proposition to end-customers, this includes environmental benefits, efficiency gains, fast fueling, and lower operational costs.

Leveraging its know-how, modular product architecture, and foundational customers the company is expanding into other markets including zero-emission on-road vehicles, robotics, and data centers.

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- With clean hydrogen gaining recognition worldwide as the carbon-free fuel capable of making a significant contribution to addressing climate change, Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) today announced it will field test a new technology that can simultaneously separate and compress hydrogen from a blend of hydrogen and natural gas. At scale, the technology would allow hydrogen to be easily and affordably transported via the natural gas pipeline system, then extracted and compressed at fueling stations that provide hydrogen for fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). Created by Netherlands-based HyET Hydrogen, the technology is designed to provide pure highly-compressed hydrogen wherever a natural gas distribution system exists.  A video illustrating the technology may be found here. 

SoCalGas also recently announced a program to study blending hydrogen into its natural gas pipelines. If approved by regulators, the program would be the first step toward establishing a statewide standard for injecting hydrogen into the natural gas grid.

"This innovative technology could be a game-changer, allowing hydrogen to be distributed to wherever it is needed using the natural gas grid," said Neil Navin, vice president of clean energy innovations at SoCalGas. "As demand increases for zero-emissions vehicles such as fuel cell electric cars, California will need thousands more hydrogen fueling stations—and this technology may help make that possible."

"We are excited to deploy our newest technology in collaboration with SoCalGas," said Alexis Dubois,  director of HyET Hydrogen USA. "Our gas separation system is designed to allow hydrogen to be transported across long distances affordably using existing natural gas pipelines. With this technology, hydrogen can become a commonly used fuel for transportation, industrial applications and more."

"Hydrogen will be an important part of our clean energy future, and exciting new technologies like this will pave the way for zero emissions transportation in California," said Sen. Bob Archuleta (D-Pico Rivera).  "I am fighting for investments in both hydrogen infrastructure and clean transportation programs in the state Legislature and will continue to do so. I am excited that the testing of this cutting-edge innovation will take place in the 32nd Senate District and I look forward to continuing to work with SoCalGas as we pursue our clean energy goals."

"This is innovative technology," said Bill Elrick, executive director of the California Fuel Cell Partnership. "It may provide a unique and strategic way to distribute large volumes of hydrogen fuel, helping decarbonize the transportation sector." 

The new technology, called Electrochemical Hydrogen Purification and Compression (EHPC), works by  applying an electrical current across a hydrogen-selective membrane to allow only hydrogen to permeate it while blocking the natural gas components. Continuously applying the electrical current builds up and pressurizes the hydrogen.

To test the technology, SoCalGas will blend hydrogen, in concentrations from 3 to 15%, with methane, the primary component of natural gas. That blend of gases will then be injected through a simulated natural gas pipeline testing system into the EHPC system to continuously extract and compress the hydrogen at a rate of 10 kg per day. SoCalGas' testing will provide performance data that will enable fine-tuning and optimization of the EHPC system to accelerate scaling up the technology. Within the next two years, the EHPC technology is expected to be scaled to produce 100 kg of hydrogen a day or more from a single EHPC system, enough to fill 20 fuel cell electric vehicles.

The project is scheduled to begin in March at SoCalGas' Engineering Analysis Center in Pico Rivera, California and slated to be complete by the third quarter of 2021.

About SoCalGas Headquartered in Los Angeles, SoCalGas® is the largest gas distribution utility in the United States. SoCalGas delivers affordable, reliable, clean and increasingly renewable gas service to 21.8 million customers across 24,000 square miles of Central and Southern California, where more than 90 percent of residents use natural gas for heating, hot water, cooking, drying clothes or other uses. Gas delivered through the company's pipelines also plays a key role in providing electricity to Californians— about 45 percent of electric power generated in the state comes from gas-fired power plants. 

SoCalGas' mission is to build the cleanest, safest and most innovative energy company in America, delivering affordable and increasingly renewable energy to its customers. In support of that mission, SoCalGas is committed to replacing 20 percent of its traditional natural gas supply with renewable natural gas (RNG) by 2030. Renewable natural gas is made from waste created by dairy farms, landfills and wastewater treatment plants. SoCalGas is also committed to investing in its gas delivery infrastructure while keeping bills affordable for our customers. From 2015 through 2019, the company invested nearly $7 billion to upgrade and modernize its pipeline system to enhance safety and reliability. SoCalGas is a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), an energy services holding company based in San Diego. For more information visit socalgas.com/newsroom or connect with SoCalGas on Twitter (@SoCalGas), Instagram (@SoCalGas) and Facebook.  

About HyET GroupHyET Hydrogen, headquartered in Arnhem, The Netherlands, is a leading company in the development and delivery of electrochemical hydrogen processing technologies that enable large-scale implementation of hydrogen transport modalities and high-pressure hydrogen storage. HyET Hydrogen is part of the HyET group that creates solutions to make renewable energy sources commercially viable. HyET group is focused on large-scale buffering of intermittent renewable energy, such as solar and wind, using high pressure hydrogen.  

SOURCE Southern California Gas Company

Featuring the same breathalyser tech as used by several UK, US and European police forces, the AlcoSense Ultra is put to the test by Fleet World.

World.

The Ultra Fuel Cell Breathalyser is AlcoSense’s top-end solution, aimed at professional and business drivers and with a large number of extra features

You know it’s the festive season when you’re asked to test a breathalyser – not least when the message about drink driving is still not getting home to drivers and has become even more of an issue due to the pandemic.

Last year saw over one in nine drivers fail or refuse a breath test when stopped over the Christmas period – more than 3,200 motorists out of a total of some 30,000 tests.

But this year could be higher as a result of coronavirus crisis, due to more people drinking at home but also due to people drinking more.

A recent report by the Royal College of Psychiatrists on the back of Public Health England data has revealed that the number of people drinking at high-risk levels has doubled to nearly 8.5 million since February – and it’s the middle classes where the problem is particularly acute, implicating company car drivers.

‘Morning-after’ drink driving remains a major risk among this; analysis by AlcoSense has found that almost one in five drink drive convictions are on the morning after and a third of all breath tests conducted by police after an accident are between 7am and 1pm.

Part of this is undoubtedly due to a lack of awareness of the time taken to sober up. Research carried out by AlcoSense last year found 44% of respondents would drive before 11am despite drinking five large glasses of wine or five pints of medium-strong beer the night before. Only one in six (17%) would wait until noon; about the time they are likely to be completely clear of these amounts of alcohol if they stopped drinking at 1am. Worryingly, a lot of drivers thought they could speed up the rate alcohol leaves their system – for example by a good night’s sleep or a strong black coffee.

Many drivers also don’t know the true size of pub measures and tend to overdo it here too.

It’s not just the risks of being caught for drink driving that are of major concern here, it’s also the risks of causing a potentially fatal collision. Information published by road safety charity Brake reveals that even when someone is only just over the legal limit they are still six times more likely to be involved in a fatal collision than someone who has drunk nothing. And even one alcoholic drink can impair your reaction times, judgement and motor skill – increasing the likelihood of an accident.

All of which builds a case for testing yourself at home before setting off in the car the morning after a few drinks.

One solution available on the market is the AlcoSense Ultra Fuel Cell Breathalyser. It’s the firm’s top-end device, aimed at professional and business drivers, priced at £249.99 and available from Halfords or www.alcosense.co.uk.

While the full range actually starts from £44.99, the top-spec product comes with a range of extra features particularly aimed at professional drivers. It uses exactly the same professional 200mm2 fuel cell alcohol sensor as several UK, US and European police breathalysers, has a professional grade sampling system – and gives advanced coaching on how to blow into it correctly, via a full-colour 1.8-inch screen.

It also gives clear traffic light coloured alerts, with detailed readings of your alcohol level in both blood and breath measurements.

And if you’re over your limit, it will not only tell you not to drive, it will even calculate how long it will take until you’re sober and set an alarm to re-test you again later.

There’s also many other advanced features to aid use and accuracy but too numerous to detail here.

Tested – as the device is intended – on mornings, and over a couple of weekends, we found it extremely easy to use and highly accurate but we were also surprised at just how high-tech and high-quality it was.

From the packaging, which makes it look like a premium tech gift such as a top-end mobile, to the device itself, it actually looks completely the job for a professional.

The breathalyser is a dinky compact unit that feels extremely robust and well put together, with a very clear display, automatic set-up to suit the country of location and instant display and response. Literally, all you need to do is set up the time and data – batteries are even included along with 100 blow tubes.

Actual use of it was also amazingly simple – including very clear guidance on how long and how hard to blow.

As I expected, I was completely fine to drive under the tests but the reassurance was very much welcome. And our other attempts to test the system indicated it was spot on every time.

What we also liked was the compact case for it, which meant you could easily keep it in a glove compartment to make sure it’s at hand before you get behind the wheel in the morning.

For anyone who thinks they could be at risk of morning-after drinking – and many people who don’t realise the risks – this could be a highly worthwhile investment.

British Airways has signed a partnership agreement with ZeroAvia, the company which operated the world’s first hydrogen fuel cell powered flight of a commercial-size aircraft in the UK in September.

The partnership is part of BA parent IAG’s Hangar 51 accelerator programme, which works with start-ups and scale-ups from around the world, providing them with an opportunity to develop and test their products on real world business challenges on a global scale. 

ZeroAvia says it expects to achieve the commercialisation of hydrogen-electric power for aircraft as early as 2023 with flights of up to 500 miles in up to 20-seater aircraft. By 2027, it plans to have powerplants in service capable of powering commercial flights of over 500 miles in aircraft with up to 100 seats and by 2030 more than 1,000 miles in aircraft with 100+ seats.

Sean Doyle, CEO of British Airways, said: “British Airways is committed to a sustainable future and achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050. In the short-term this means improving our operational efficiency and introducing carbon offset and removal projects, while in the medium to longer term we’re investing in the development of sustainable aviation fuel and looking at how we can help accelerate the growth of new technologies such as zero emissions hydrogen-powered aircraft.”

Louise Evans, director of external communications & sustainability, said: “During the partnership, as well as assessing the environmental advantages of the technology, we will also be exploring the operational, commercial and customer experience improvements that can be achieved.”

Sergey Kiselev, ZeroAvia’s head of Europe, said: “ZeroAvia’s mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to truly zero emissions flight and we believe hydrogen is the best way to quickly and practically achieve this. Earlier this year, we proved that passengers will soon be able to board an emissions free, hydrogen-powered aircraft for commercial services. In the years to come, we will scale that technology up to power larger aircraft over longer distances."

PNNL leads effort to improve reaction activity, increase durability of cobalt as a fuel cell catalyst

By Mary Ann Showalter

A multi-institutional research team led by materials scientists from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has designed a highly active and durable catalyst that doesn’t rely on costly platinum to spur the necessary chemical reaction.

The new catalyst contains cobalt interspersed with nitrogen and carbon. When compared to a similarly structured catalyst made from iron—another promising, well-studied platinum substitute, the team found that the cobalt catalyst achieved a similar reaction but with four times the durability.

The team’s research, which shows promise for fuel cells in transportation, was published in the November 30, 2020 issue of Nature Catalysis.

Seeking a replacement for costly platinum

Proton exchange membrane—or PEM—fuel cells are typically envisioned to be paired with hydrogen for multiple applications across different sectors, including transportation, stationary and backup power, metals manufacturing, and more. These highly efficient, clean energy conversion devices require very active catalysts for the chemical reaction—the oxygen reduction reaction, or the “lifeblood” that makes a fuel cell efficiently function.

Platinum group metals serve as the most productive catalyst material for PEM fuel cells, but they account for about half of the fuel cell cost.

So, scientists are studying transition metals such as iron as a promising alternative to platinum, but they have found that they quickly degrade in the acidic PEM fuel cell environment.

Enter cobalt, a transition metal that is—relative to platinum—inexpensive and abundant. Previous studies had shown that cobalt is far less active than iron-based catalysts.

“We knew that the configuration of cobalt with nitrogen and carbon was key to how effectively the catalyst reacts and that the active site density was critically important for performance,” said PNNL materials scientist Yuyan Shao, who led the study. “Our goal was to really improve the reaction activity of cobalt-based catalysts.”

Fencing in the atoms

The team immobilized cobalt-based molecules in the micropores of zeolitic imidazolate frameworks, which served as protective fences to decrease the cobalt atoms’ mobility and prevent them from clustering together. They then used high-temperature pyrolysis to convert the atoms to catalytically active sites within the framework.

Within this structure, they discovered that the density of the active sites significantly increased, in turn increasing the reaction activity. This, in fact, achieved the highest activity in fuel cells reported for non-iron, platinum group metal-free catalysts to date.

The team also found the cobalt-based catalyst to be much more durable than the iron-based catalyst synthesized using the same approach. They discovered, for the first time, significant differences in demetallation, where metal ions are leached out of the catalyst and that catalyst then loses activity. They also found that oxygen radicals from hydrogen peroxide, a byproduct of oxygen reduction in fuel cells, attack the catalysts and cause performance loss.

High activity, greater durability

“In the end, we were able to not only improve the activity of the cobalt-based catalyst, but we significantly improved the durability,” said Shao. “Our further investigation led us to discover the mechanisms that typically degrade these types of catalysts.”

Along with PNNL, researchers from Washington University in St. Louis; Argonne National Laboratory; Los Alamos National Laboratory; Oak Ridge National Laboratory; University at Buffalo, The State University of New York; the University of Pittsburgh; and Northern Illinois University collaborated on the research.

The study is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE's) Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office through the Electrocatalysis Consortium, or ElectroCat. The scientific team used capabilities at three DOE Office of Science user facilities: The Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory at PNNL, the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory, and the Center for Nanophase Materials at Oak Ridge National Laboratory—along with the University of Pittsburgh Center for Research Computing and the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment, supported by the National Science Foundation.