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Hydride slurry as safe hydrogen carrierSafe Hydrogen LLC receives second of two R&D grants to further
perfect a technology that holds promise to provide a feasible delivery system
for hydrogen using existing infrastructure.
The company is in the process of demonstrating this groundbreaking storage and distribution technology. This system is designed to address several key road blocks to a hydrogen economy, namely: storage safety, storage and distribution efficiency, and eliminating the need for a new infrastructure. The company says that the core ingredients of the pumpable chemical hydride slurry are environmentally friendly and completely recyclable. The slurry, both before and after yielding the hydrogen, is not flammable, is safe to handle, is easy to store, and can use the same kind of pumps and tanks that are used for diesel fuel, gasoline or water. Safe Hydrogen's efficient hydrogen storage technology enables broad-based use of renewable energy sources, and pollution-free conversion of hydrogen to electricity by fuel cells for off-grid, back-up and portable power. The technology also enables the use of hydrogen for vehicle power. Making hydrogen from slurry with the addition of water in a mixing device confirms that the idea works," said Sig Tullmann, President of Safe Hydrogen. Tullmann further explains that the ultimate costs of the yielded hydrogen is driven by the costs of reconstituting the depleted slurry. "The slurry materials are not consumed, they undergo a chemical change when yielding the hydrogen. Changing the materials chemically so they will again yield hydrogen is the critical cost driver in this technology. The primary cost ingredient for reprocessing slurry is the cost of energy. Consequently we have to build numerous models projecting a variety of energy costs and efficiency cycles in order to project the ultimate costs of hydrogen available to fuel a vehicle." R&D Funding Installment Safe Hydrogen has been awarded $308,000 from the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust SEED Program (Sustainable Energy Economic Development), a division of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC). That funding represents the remaining costs of completing a three-year, $2.4 million "technology demonstration project" awarded to Safe Hydrogen by the U.S. Department of Energy. The entire funding for the current operation of the company is from the DOE and SEED. Safe Hydrogen began work on the project in April of 2004. Its objective is to confirm the functionality and efficiency of Safe Hydrogen's proprietary compound to generate, store, transport and of course reconstitute this hydrogen-containing slurry. Another purpose would be to validate the costs involved and ultimate pricing. At the end of 2005, Safe Hydrogen had completed half of the DOE demonstration
project. The first prototype of the company's hydrogen-generation device has
been tested, and several functional slurry versions have been produced. The
second half of the project targets further improvements in the prototypes, and
aims to complete detailed costs and efficiency measures specified in DOE cost
and efficiency targets. Representatives of several car and oil companies sit on a DOE committee called the Freedom Car Group. That group has been closely monitoring Safe Hydrogen's progress. The committee reviews a number of DOE projects and provides input as to what specifications they believe the market will require. According to Tullmann, the SEED funding insures the company will be able to
complete the tasks of the DOE project. According to Tullmann, DOE funds covered
only 80 percent of the cost of the project, and the MTC SEED funds will cover
most of the rest. "This is an absolutely perfect and welcome application of
the Renewable Energy Trust Industry SEED program," according to Tullmann.
The SEED funding program is designed to support Massachusetts companies
developing critical energy technologies that may still be too far from
commercialization to attract normal venture-capital funding. In 2006, Safe
Hydrogen expects to be seeking further funding and strategic partnerships to
build commercial-scale test and evaluation prototypes.
Safe Hydrogen's owners and investors hope that if such a user-friendly, safe version of hydrogen is confirmed as cost-effective and viable, and new vehicles are designed to be able to use it, the market for their product is more likely to grow. # # # Mary-Sue Haliburton provided editorial input SOURCES
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D. Allan, commencing Jan. 18, 2006 |
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