62 ARTICLE / MAKALE FUELLING THE HYDROGEN ECONOMY Others contend that the 21 s t century fuels are already here, and it is the power generation technology which lags. Dr Ravi Randhava, President of United Technologies, says the technologies to reform hydrogen are here today. "lt's a question of whether we can get industrial and government sponsorship to start moving the technologies, but the technologies for hydrogen production for ethanol and biomass are almost there." The obstacle, Randhava says, is that the next generation power technologies, notably wide-scale commercial deployment of fuel cells is stil another fıve or ten years away. H 2 Fuels, the subsidiary of United involved in alternative fuel research, and 70% owned by fuel celi developer Avista Labs, believes that the future for hydrogen production lies in bio-derived fuels. it supports biomass as the cheapest and one of the cleanest methods of making hydrogen; a closed-loop cycle which avoids carbon dioxide emissions. H 2 expects ethanol to lead the way for use in transportation, and biomass to be the dominant hydrogen source for use in power generation. Yet H 2 Fuel's bio-derived hydrogen economy is competing with a number of other technologies. Paul Grant, a science fellow at the Electric Power Research lnstitute (EPRi), argues that the only viable way of fuelling the hydrogen economy is through nuclear power, a concept which he says is the beneficiary of a lot of research and development activity. "The amount of land required for renewable energy production would be massive. And so if you say no carbon, no sequestration and no massive land usage, you are really only left with nuclear," says Grant. One way of extracting hydrogen from nuclear power is through electrolysis. But Grant supports a second process, the thermal catalytic cracking of water with heat from a high-temperature gas reactor (HTGR) to split the water molecule into hydrogen and oxigen. Grant says it is an economically viable alternative. Although if the price of hydrolysers were to fail, using nuclear plants to generale electricity and then using the electricity to electrolyse water would be commercially feasible as well, he says. EPRl's analysis concludes that hydrogen production via HTGR-driven steam-methane reforming is cost-competitive today with natura! gas prices. And with "modest" increases in natura! gas prices, hydrogen production via thermo-chemical water splitting will be competitive. EPRi adds the economic incentives to reduce carbon dioxide emissions would improve the competitiveness of these technologies further. The current Energy Bili contains a provision to begin research on the use of nuclear reactors to produce hydrogen at the ldaho National Energy Laboratory. The Bili alsa addresses additional fınancing for nuclear plants. it contains a provision to encourage construction of new nuclear plants by providing a US government guarantee for up to 50% of the capital costs of utility loans for nuclear planı construction. "With that kind of encouragement and streamlined licensing procedures where a license has to be denied or issued in 18 months, it is going to bring back the American nuclear power industry," Grant says. The US Department of Energy (DOE) alsa is making big investments in a future for clean coal technology, including a role for clean coal in the hydrogen economy. But the use of coal and nuclear to produce hydrogen remain contentious, particularly in Europe where it was a major source of disagreement during the formation of the Hydrogen Energy Partnership. Europe continues to support a "clean" strategy utilizing renewables, while the US's so-called "dirty" hydrogen makes use of abundant coal reserves and nuclear capacity. The US has ENERJi & KOJENERASYON DÜNYASI actually dedicated half of its 2004 hydrogen research budget to renewable sources, with the remainder allocated to natura! gas, nuclear and gas. HYBRID TECHNOLOGIES What is clear is that the gap which was already narrow i ng on costs, performance and environmental standards between DG and conventional technologies is being squeezed harder by high natura! gas prices. And as these technologies become more competitive, in many instances they are actually becoming more complemantary. lndeed, most of these technologies are moving to a market concept not unlike that of the DOE's "21st Century Prototype" planı - a multi-fuel, flexible, highefficiency plant with low to zero pollutant emissions. The DEO's prototype planı is the Wabash River Coal Gasifıcation Plant, which went on-line in 1995. The 262 MW integrated gasifıcation combined-cycle plant converts coal into a combustible syngas which is then burned in high-efficiency gas turbines, while exhaust gases produce steam to power a steam turbine. The gasifıcation process removes 98% of the sulphur from the high-sulphur coal and over 90% of nitrogen oxide emissions are alsa removed. Other by-products from the planı are used as fertilizers and in industrial processes. The planı alsa has the potential to sequester carbon dioxide. Receiving push from President Bush's Clear Sky lnitiative, which promotes fuel cells and clean coal technology. Fuel Celi Energy will dedicate a 2 MW fuel celi power plant at the Wabash River Energy L.t.d. The planı will be the fırst fuel celi to run on synthetic gas from coal. On a smaller scale, higher efficiencies are being extracted in hybrid technologies such as Siemens Westinghouse's fuel cell/microturbine hybrid. The mini power planı delivers electrical efficiencies of 54% with the potential to reach 70%. Meanwhile, following Proton Energy Systems' recent acquisition of Northern Power Systems, Proton plans on leveraging Northem 's expertise in hybrid fosil fuel -renewable power generation systems to develop hybrid hydrogen-renewable power systems. GE Fuel Celi Systems alsa is experimenting with hybrid fuel celi gas turbine systems using solid oxide fuel cells. Plug Power's Salliant says it is these types of synergies that have attracted partners such as GE Fuel Celi Systems and DTE Energy to Plug Power. GE has the worldwide distribution rights for Plug Power's PEM fuel cells. Both companies, says Salliant, foresaw high natura! gas prices and their impact on natura! gas-fıred DG, and the industry trend toward the highest effıciency technologies. As high natura! gas prices narrow the spread between the cost of solar and natura! gas. Stirling Engine Systems hopes to have its flagship product, a hybrid solar Stirling dish engine, on the market within the year. Stirling envisions at 24/7 solar farm based on its hybrid power generation system. The system would produce electricity during the daytime, a portion of which would go to the grid and portion towards electrolysing water to produce hydrogen. Some hydrogen would be stored on site and used in gensets during nan-solar hours, while excess hydrogen could be piped to other markets and used in lieu of natura! gas in large-scale utility applications. Whatever the confıguration, the possibilities and potential are expanding as these technologies mature. Yet, with 86% of the world's power generated by hydrocarbons these are likely to remain a signifıcant part of the fuel mix for a long time. The goal is to optimize efficiencies and achieve low to zero emissions across multiple fuels and technologies. High natura! gas prices are accelerating the development of alternatives. How that is accomplished. US policymakers appear to be technologyand fuel-agnostic. 1 Source: Cogeneration&On-Site Power 9/1 O 20031
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