Hydrogen Power

“Paving the way to a brighter new future in fuel”

Erin Mckeon
Chris Burger
Will Wheeler
 Replacing Fossil Fuels

 “I believe fuel cell vehicles will finally end the 100

year reign of the internal combustion engine as the
dominant source of power for personal
transportation.”- Ford CEO William C. Ford Jr.
 Hydrogen is…
•existing freely in nature
•an invisible, extremely flammable gas
•highly reactive and essential in many
chemical and biological processes
•not an energy source, but rather an energy
carrier from which a secondary form of
energy must be created
 Hydrogen..
A Plentiful Element
 Hydrogen is the most abundant substance within the
universe, making up 3/4 of all matter.
 The sun still being in the early stages of it’s life is
made up of 75% hydrogen.
 Millions of years ago Hydrogen reacted to produce
Helium and all the energy was emitted to space, but
a small amount was captured on Earth by plants that
had died and have now become the fossil fuels that
are now the basis of today’s leading world industry.
 Exists in nature, an invisible gas which is extremely
flammable, can produce secondary energy
 Read from Hydrogen Power pp.2
 Sources of Hydrogen

Sources that Hydrogen can be extracted from:

 Natural Gas, Water, Coal, Gasoline,
Methanol, Biomass
 Other sources being researched include the
uses of solar energy, photosynthesis,
decomposition, and fuel cells themselves can
tri-generate electricity, heat, and hydrogen.
Hydrogen Production

 H is difficult and costly to compress, store, and

transport; it has one of the lowest energy densities of
any fuel, 1/3rd of any natural gas. Hydrogen has major
safety issues; it’s flammable over a wide range of
concentrations and is very easily ignited. Hydrogen is
one of the most leak prone gases, set to a strict set of
regulations and standards.
-Currently in US at 8 billion kg (energy equivalent of 8
bil/gal. of gasoline), Americans consumed 180 bil/gal.
gasoline in 2000, hydrogen demand is growing.
The Beginning of Hydrogen
Power
 William Grove first experimented with
electrolysis in 1839. This is the process of
separating water into it’s core elements:
hydrogen and oxygen, in an attempt to
produce an electrical current.
 50 years later the term “fuel cell” would be
coined for a modernized version of this
process, and would be the birth of hydrogen
power.
Fuel Cell Basics

 Fuel Cells use hydrogen with oxygen from air

to produce electricity. The electricity
generated powers a vehicle’s motor.
 In principle, a fuel cell operates like a battery.
A fuel cell converts chemical energy directly
into electricity by combining oxygen from the
air with hydrogen gas. However, unlike a
battery, a fuel cell does not run down or
require recharging. It will produce electricity
as long as fuel, in the form of hydrogen, is
supplied
Modern Fuel Cell Structure

 [Link]
[Link]/
fuelcells/[Link]
Why Hydrogen? Why Now?

 Hydrogen production is already large

– It is used to synthesize ammonia for fertilizer production
– It is used in high-pressure hydro-treating petroleum in
refineries
 The U.S. uses 30% of total energy consumption on
transportation
 Transportation and energy-intensive processes
depend on oil, which is a finite, non-renewable
energy source
 Hydrogen promises to lead “better, faster, more
efficient, environmentally clean transportation
designs.
Hydrogen Emissions
 Environmentally
speaking, the use of the
Hydrogen Fuel Cell car
would produce no
harmful emissions, just
a trickle of water.
 The only other
emissions are the
burning of natural gas
used to produce the
hydrogen
Hydrogen Initiative in the U.S.
 President Regan’s State of the Union Address in 1986
initiated NASA to begin research and development of the
hydrogen atom.
 Inaugural Speech January 2003, President George W. Bush
made a claim towards advancing renewable energy sources
in the Freedom CAR campaign.
 GM and other members of the Big Three, Ford and
DaimlerChrysler provide the prototype minivan HydroGen3.
The Future of Hydrogen?

 Hydrogen could resolve the fluctuating

seasonal and day lighting issues behind storing
solar energy.
Geopolitically the use of the fuel cell would
create freedom from the US’ dependence on
foreign oil.
Hydrogen-producing units can be stored
virtually anywhere. BP and Shell have
committed millions of dollars to hydrogen
production and storage, while other oil
companies are extracting hydrogen from
gasoline around the nation.
Hydrogen Vehicles
 Stores energy more
efficiently than batteries
 Burns twice as
efficiently in a fuel cell
as gasoline does in an
engine
 Doesn’t rely on any
fossil fuel
 It’s only waste product
is water
Other Modes of Hydrogen
Transport
Bush’s Quest to Replace Fossil
Fuels
Under President Bush’s
visionary Hydrogen Fuel
Initiative, the
Department supports
early, high-risk research
to overcome the
technical barriers to a
hydrogen economy and
seeks to make it
practical and cost-
effective for Americans
to choose to use clean,
hydrogen fuel cell
vehicles by 2020.
Hydrogen Highway
 The "Vision 2010" for
California's Hydrogen
Highways is to ensure
that by the end of the
decade every
Californian has access
to hydrogen fuel along
the State's major
highways, with a
significant and
increasing percentage
of that hydrogen
produced from clean,
renewable sources.
On-Site/Stationary Hydrogen
Power
 1stNational Bank of Omaha $3.4 million
800 kw fuel-cell system.
 Refueling stations for vehicles
 Could potentially produce
electricity for homes, businesses,
institutions, and industry through
stationary power plants
The Pros and Cons of Hydrogen
 Abundant- will never  One gallon of hydrogen
deplete. produces an equal
 Will be a viable amount of energy as
replacement for fossil 1/4 gallon of gasoline.
fuel.  Difficult to extract
 Used widely in industry
 Expensive, renewables
with much experience.
 Can be generated by more so
renewable energy.  Flammable, leak-prone
 It’s only emission is  Strict standards
pure, drinkable water.
Websites
 [Link]
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 [Link]