Breakthrough in H2 refueling techniques

Stuttgart (eos) – Consumers have every right to be excited: Not only that automobile manufacturers will be offering the first environmentally compatible fuel cell vehicles by 2012, but also that the infrastructure for refueling will be ready for series deployment. At this year’s international fuel cell specialist forum “f-cell” (www.f-cell.de), which will take place on September 29 and 30 in Stuttgart, Jaco Reijerkerk, who is responsible at Linde Gas in Pullach for the ongoing development of refueling techniques, will be reporting on the technical innovations that will reduce refueling time to an acceptable three minutes. The event, which combines a convention and trade fair, is addressed to producers as well as users of the fuel cell, covering the entire range of fuel cell deployment in mobile, portable, and stationary applications. The Wirtschaftsförderung Region Stuttgart GmbH (WSR – ecomomic promotion) and the Peter Sauber Agentur Messen und Kongresse GmbH are organizing the “f-cell” for the eighth time this year. They will be supported by EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG (power supplier) and the Ministry for the Environment of the state of Baden-Württemberg.

Breakthrough technologies for refueling with hydrogen

A total of 60 lectures will inform the audience of experts regarding international lighthouse projects and exciting new developments. One of the ten theme forums will deal with the production and manufacture of hydrogen as well as with infrastructure issues that will play key roles in launching the technology onto the market. This topic will also be covered in the lecture to be given by the Linde expert Jaco Reijerkerk regarding a new type of 700- bar refueling procedure. Here, supercold liquid hydrogen is converted energy-efficiently into high-pressure hydrogen and supplied to the vehicle fuel tank within a very short time. “Speed is the great challenge in refueling with hydrogen,” explains Reijerkerk. A first filling station is to go into operation with this technology in Berlin at the end 2009. The company already has the corresponding process for refueling with hydrogen in gaseous form. “We use an ionic liquid with our ion compressor technology to compress gaseous hydrogen up to refueling pressures of 700 bar,” says Reijerkerk. He says this is energy-efficient, lowmaintenance, and it ensures the purity of the hydrogen, which is essential for the fuel cells to function. Reijerkerk will also be reporting on this breakthrough technology at this year’s “f-cell”.