Bought gas versus Refueler hydrogen from ITM
Its a known fact that 50% of all US cars run 25mls per day or less
This may be people commuting to work or more likely Mom taking the kids to school and going shopping
If the car gets 20 mpg it can probably run for about 2 to 3 weeks on a full tank
The Hydrogenics electrolyser converts electricity to hydrogen at about 50% efficiency.
It could run at 80% efficiency but it would need more cells and hence more high cost nafion and platinum so Hydrogenics have come to the conclusion that 50% efficiency is the optimum level to keep the overall cost down
The ITM electrolyser is made from very low cost materials
The basic cell membrane is only 1% (one per cent) of the cost of nafion and is 25% more conductive So it can run at 80% efficiency without being propotionately more expensive
The ITM Power 10 Kw Home Refueler (HRU) will cost around $4000 in the US
The HRU will use an electrolyser that has been tested successfully for well over 10000 actual hrs
Although ITM have hinted it may be built to a 50% efficiency size like Hydrogenics it is more probable that it will be sized for 80% efficiency The cost will still be a fraction of the cost of a Hydrogenics electrolyser possibly as low as 20% or so on a like for like basis
The HRU is about the size of a Refrigerator It can be sited outdoors in the yard or in the garage It could even be somewhere handy for sharing with the home next door
At 80% efficiency the HRU can make 1 kg of hydrogen for around 40 Kwhrs
So if the night time power rate is 6 cents/Kwh it will make 2kg in 8 hrs for about $4.80 on the power bill
If you are fortunate enough to have access to wind turbine energy you can make about 5kg of hydrogen per day At 4 cents/Kwh this would cost $8 per day or $1.60 per kg
Those communities who rely on wind energy, frequently can`t use all the power coming off the turbine So they are forced to waste some of this energy by reducing the power taken off the turbine or even switching it off
This is where a genuine free lunch is available
Excess wind power can be used to make hydrogen at zero cost
A 10Kw Home Refueller would probably be adequate to handle unwanted energy for all wind turbines rated at up to 100Kw
It would be reasonable to assume an average of 2Kw of unwanted wind energy is lost from a 100Kw wind energy system If this was converted to hydrogen it would provide about 48 Kwh or 1.25 kg of genuinely free hydrogen every day
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The hydrogen can be made and transferred to the car at the same time This would mean hooking up the car to the refueler overnight
Alternatively the hydrogen can be made and stored in an outdoor gas tank Any home which have an unused outdoor gas storage tank could use this tank with minimal modifications to store their hydrogen
1kg of hydrogen will burn in a normal gas engine and deliver the same mileage as one gallon of gas
So if you get 20mls on 1 gal of gas you will get 20mls on 1 kg of hydrogen
The car itself needs to have a tank fitted to carry the hydrogen so it will have both a gas tank and a petrol tank
Alternatively the car can have a dedicated space in the trunk to hold a portable hydrogen tank The home owner could have say 3 tanks which can be swopped around This would take maximum advantage of night time power rates
A small panel on the dashboard will signal when the car is running on hydrogen or has automatically switched back to gas when the hydrogen tank is empty
So to summarize
The Home Refueler Unit from ITM will help people manage their gas costs by giving them the option of making their own fuel
And all of this can be done using existing gas cars on the road today
At some point in the future hydrogen fuel cell cars will become affordable
When this happens, the home owner with an HRU will only have one fuel tank in his car
And he will be able to compare the cost of hydrogen being sold at the hydrogen gas station with the hydrogen he makes himself
That ought to make the hydrogen gas companies keep prices down
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