Fuel cell forum “f-cell” − “The time has come for optimization!”

Stuttgart (eos) – “Hydrogen combined with fuel cells – that’s the best solution for emission-free and sustainable mobility,” said professor Werner Tillmetz in his speech during the international fuel cell forum “f-cell” held September 24 and 25 in Stuttgart, which was attended by around 600 specialists from 18 nations. The focus of the seventh meeting of the fuel cell sector, organized by the Wirtschaftsförderung Region Stuttgart GmbH (WRS – Stuttgart Region Economic Development Corporation), in conjunction with Peter Sauber Agentur Messen und Kongresse GmbH, was on mobile applications of fuel cells. DaimlerChrysler AG and the Umweltministerium BadenWürttemberg (Baden-Wuerttemberg Ministry of the Environment) were cooperation partners of “f-cell”, which featured a large congress offering a total of 56 lectures, a fair with 400 m2 rented display booths, as well as many concomitant events – addressed at groups such as teachers, start-ups and companies intending to go public. Baden-Wuerttemberg Minister of the Environment Tanja Gönner has high hopes regarding fuel cell technology – “Baden-Wuerttemberg is excellently positioned in terms of science, research and applications. These are outstanding prerequisites for further progress,” she said. The fuel cell can significantly contribute to the decrease of emissions of air pollutants and to climate protection. WRS managing director Dr. Walter Rogg expressed his pleasure with the increased interest among members of the automotive supplier industry: “The market launch phase for automobiles is approaching, which makes fuel cells also interesting for automotive suppliers.” Professor Tillmetz, head of the Zentrum für Sonnenenergie- und Wasserstoffforschung (ZSW − Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research) of Ulm, quoted the most recent “World Energy Outlook” of the International Energy Agency (IEA): “If we carry on with the current pattern of energy consumption, we are facing a dirty, insecure and expensive future. We must therefore base the globally increasing energy demand on a different energy source.” However, only hydrogen has the potential of meeting the great global demand for fuel. Dr. Johannes Töpler, Chairman of the Board of the Deutscher Wasserstoff- und Brennstoffzellen-Verband (DWV − The German Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association) in Berlin, who recently introduced the study “Where is the energy for hydrogen production derived from?” supported this conclusion. “With Biodiesel, each hectare of cultivated land can only support a mere three cars, while the hydrogen generated with wind energy in fuel cell vehicles yields 1.5 times as much output. For hydrogen generated by solar energy, the scenario is even more favorable − we get an increase in efficiency of six to seven times.”

Countering the climate collapse!

Professor Dr. Hartmut Graßl, former director of the Max Planck Institut für Meteorologie in Hamburg (MPI-M − The Max Planck Institute for Meteorology), and Chairman of the Bayerischer Klimarat (Bavarian Climate Council) also supported the use of solar and wind energy. “This is the only way to achieve the goal of substantially lowering the per capita pollution in the industrial nations. In Germany, we have to lower this level from ten tons of carbon dioxide per person annually to around three tons.” Today, many regions of the globe already clearly feel the climate change. For example, in the arid regions of Northern Africa or the Middle East, precipitation has decreased by as much as 40 percent, while in the Alps 70 percent of ice deposits have disappeared since 1850. “This is the result of a median global warming of 0.8 degrees since the beginning of the 20th century. If we continue this way, our climate will change at a speed and to a degree unprecedented in the earth’s history,” warned Graßl.

Fuel cell car preparing for marketing

Dr. Christian Mohrdieck, in charge of the development of fuel cell drives at DaimlerChrysler, therefore considers the decrease of dependency on fossil fuels, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and stepped-up supply security to be the main drivers for the introduction of new fuels and propulsion systems. He said that DaimlerChrysler Corporation, which commands the world’s largest fleet of fuel cell vehicles, has been dealing with this challenge for years. “Our more than 100 different cars, delivery vehicles and buses have by now travelled in excess of 3.6 million kilometers and impressively documented their suitability for everyday use,” Mohrdieck said. “However, there are still various challenges ahead of us. They primarily consist of lowering the production costs and setting up a fuelling infrastructure.” The fuel cell vehicle itself was substantially optimized again recently by Mercedes-Benz based on its experiences with the Mercedes-Benz F-Cell A-Class. The new fuel cell powered Mercedes-Benz B-Class, which was shown at the “f-cell” as a cross section model, is equipped with a more compact yet 30 percent more powerful fuel cell system, which at the same time consumes 16 percent less. “In 2010, we will begin serially producing this car with a local zero emission fuel cell drive”, explained Mohrdieck. However, the vehicles are intended for delivery only to select motor pool and fleet customers with whom the corporation is already in contact. “We expect the fuel cell car to be available for everybody around the year 2015”, said Dr. Ulrich Bünger, of Ludwig-BölkowSystemtechnik GmbH in Ottobrunn near Munich in his lecture on the market launch of hydrogen and fuel cells.

Hybrid vehicles not rivals

John Tak, president and CEO of Hydrogen & Fuel Cells Canada in Vancouver, who presented impressive Canadian beacon projects at the “f-cell” such as the Hydrogen Highway or the Hydrogen Village, disclaimed a common preconception. “Hybrid vehicles, which combine an internal combustion engine with an electric motor, do not rival the fuel cell drive. On the contrary, the fuel cell will also be introduced in combination with the electric motor,” said Tak. “We can then benefit from the insights gained from these combustion hybrids.”

Starting under freezing conditions problem solved

The Swabian company NuCellSys GmbH of Kirchheim/Teck-Nabern near Stuttgart transferred the basic findings of the DaimlerChrysler research on starting fuel cell stacks under freezing conditions to the application in cars. This method is applied in the new B-Class with fuel cell drive, which will launched as of 2010 as a limited lot production. “Since the fuel cell is by nature always damp, this proved to be particularly challenging,” said Gerald Hornburg, Senior Manager System Engineering of NuCellSys. “We had to initially find out when and where and under what circumstances the water freezes in the system. Once we had discovered this, we were able to come up with a creative solution.” For this innovation, NuCellSys was presented at the “f-cell” evening event with the “f-cell” award in gold coupled with 12,000 euros in prize money. The award is offered by the Baden-Wuerttemberg Ministry of the Environment in conjunction with WRS and endowed with a total of 25,000 euros.

Power and heat for single-family homes

Concrete dates were not only presented for the launch of the mobile applications of the fuel cell, but stationary systems that provide single-family homes with power and heat are also expected to be serially introduced at the beginning of the next decade. The manufacturers announced that production numbers will continuously increase until the year 2015. Markus Edel, Manager Fuel Cells at EnBW Vertriebs- und Servicegesellschaft mbH in Stuttgart, which tested 23 fuel cell systems in single-family homes, announced a record during the “f-cell” − “One of our systems has been in operation for almost five years now and has run a total of 42,000 operating hours”, he said. “This alsoconstitutes the longest running system for the manufacturer Hexis.” However, before serial production can be launched, the heart of the system, the fuel cell stack, must increase its useful economic life. In addition, Edel considered it desirable for the devices to be ultimately more compact and easier to handle.

Portable applications already available today

Dr. Christopher Hebling, head of the department for energy technology at the Fraunhofer Institut für Solare Energiesyteme (ISE − The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems) in Freiburg, presented in his lecture an overview of the market for portable fuel cell applications. “Currently, 1.5 billion cellular phones, laptops, photo and video cameras, MP3 players, as well as organizers are sold annually”, he said. “Experts expect the market to expand even further.” Yet fuel cells do not have an easy stand in this sector. “They are a rival technology to batteries. In their favor is the fact that they can be precisely tailored to the end device and are variable in size and shape so that they can be easily integrated.” At the same time the portable fuel cell is the type of fuel cell already available in finished products on the market today. This is because it can be applied in any situation where the power grid is not available yet electricity is needed for an extended period of time such as in recreational vehicles or boats. In this leisure segment in particular, portable fuel cells are expected to be available in large volumes between 2009 and 2012.

National innovation program for hydrogen and fuel cell technology

“The national innovation program for hydrogen- and fuel cell technology (NIP) will support the market launch of fuel cells in the transport, home energy, industrial applications and special market sectors and at the same time advance demonstration projects along with necessary research and development activities”, said Dr. Klaus Bonhoff of Nationale Organisation Wasserstoff- und Brennzellentechnologie of Berlin (NOW – national organization of hydrogen and fuel cell technology), which is coordinating and implementing the plans. “To further our goals, we shall receive an additional 500 million euros from the German federal government within the next ten years. If we add the ongoing financial support and complementary means supplied by the industry and users, we have a financial support totaling up to 1.4 billion euros available from 2006 to 2015.”

“Now is the time for optimization!”

“Each one present in this room owns a functioning fuel cell,” said Erich Gülzow, head of the cells and stacks department at the Deutsche Institut für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR − German Aerospace Center) of Stuttgart, addressing the attendants of the fair. “We are now in a phase in which optimization is the main focus of attention.” To achieve this, the developers need on the one hand more precise data that provides them with detailed insight into the processes within the fuel cell, and on the other hand information regarding how changes in the surrounding environment exactly affect the system. “We developed a test booth that allows us to exactly simulate the situation on board of an airplane”, explained Gülzow at the DLR booth at the “f-cell” fair. “The low air pressure which only amounts to 200 mbar at cruising altitude and the low humidity which is no more than ten percent instead of the common 50 or 60 percent, negatively affect the fuel cell. Its efficiency drops to 30 percent”, he said. “Now we have to better adjust the cell to the surrounding conditions to allow it to cope with low air pressure and low humidity – since simply installing a larger fuel cell is not a suitable solution.”

A look inside

An important insight into the interior of a fuel cell, i.e. into the proton conductivity of its membrane, is provided by a new method – electrochemical atomic force microscopy. Within the scope of her doctoral thesis at the Universität Stuttgart, Elena Aleksandrova demonstrated that the membrane is not at all uniformly conductive. The new measuring method, with a resolution of up to ten nanometers, reveals large ionic inactive areas. For this work, the two involved institutes, the Institut für Physikalische Chemie (Institute of Physical Chemistry) of the Universität Stuttgart, as well as the Faculty of Basic Sciences as a partner of the Institut für Brennzellentechnik (IBZ − Institute of Fuel Cell Technology) of the Hochschule Esslingen (Esslingen University of Applied Sciences), received a special “f-cell” award amounting to 1,500 euros.

Optimistic Sector

“This example shows the number of small steps that constitute progress in our sector,” said Töpler, the Chairman of the DWV. “This is difficult to convey to the general public. Many findings are also not readily publicly accessible. This occasionally leads to the impression that nothing is happening. But this is wrong.” Overall, the “f-cell” indicated that the sector is optimistic regarding the future. Organizer Dr. Walter Rogg, Managing Director of WRS, can see “a light at the end of the tunnel.” According to Töpler, “some problems are merely created in theory.” “For example, the question of the hydrogen infrastructure − we have managed to set up fuelling networks for gasoline, for natural gas and for liquid gas. We will certainly be able to do the same for hydrogen!” The date of the next “f-cell” forum has already been fixed – it will take place September 29 and 30 in Stuttgart.