Hydrogen researchers step on the gas

John W. Schoen Senior Producer • Profile • E-mail

It’s been described as the Holy Grail of alternative energy sources: The most widely abundant element in the universe that can be produced, stored, and transported anywhere on earth. When used to produce electric power with  fuel-cell technology, its only byproduct is water, eliminating the carbon and other pollutants produced by burning fossil fuels. Now, backed by increases in private and government funding, the pace of hydrogen research and development is picking up speed.

But there’s a catch. Despite the recent urgency to develop hydrogen as an energy source — driven by rising oil and natural gas prices and concerns about global warming — a number of major scientific and engineering hurdles remain before this wonder fuel can compete economically with fossil fuels. Even its strongest proponents concede it may be decades — if ever — before hydrogen fulfills the promise of providing a clean, renewable source of energy to power the coming century.

When President Bush pulled up to one of the first U.S. hydrogen filling stations earlier this year, the photo-op message was clear: The Hydrogen Economy is coming. To support the White House’s hydrogen ambitions, this year’s hard-fought energy bill boosted funding for hydrogen research and development by nearly $2 billion over the next five years, authorized another $1.3 million for demonstration projects and added tax incentives for customers who buy hydrogen fuel cells. At the center of this effort is the government’s FreedomCar project, a partnership that includes the Department of Energy, auto makers, energy producers and others working to develop a commercially-viable car powered by hydrogen.

The latest round of government funding comes on top of billions already spent by vehicle manufacturers, fuel cell makers, energy producers, university researchers and others around the world to accelerate the replacement of fossil fuels with hydrogen.

General Motors recently set one of the most aggressive targets: To build a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle by 2010 that can compete economically with conventional gasoline-powered car. It’s a huge bet. So far, the company has invested $1 billion in the program and will probably have to spend another $1 billion to pull it off, according to Larry Burns, who heads the project as GM’s vice president of Research and Development.

“One of the reasons we embarked on this pathway was to find out whether it’s possible or not,” said Burns. “And so far, we believe it’s possible.”

But even some of hydrogen’s most enthusiastic proponents say it will be quite some time before you pull up to a pump and say “fill ‘er up with hydrogen.” An influential report last year by the National Research Council, in calling for additional funding for hydrogen research, warned that “success is not certain.” Some skeptics argue that, despite the billions being invested, there are simply too many fundamental scientific breakthroughs that will have to happen before a commercially viable hydrogen car can be produced.

On top of the list of hydrogen hurdles is the problem of developing onboard storage for a fuel cell car.  Gasoline is very hard to beat as a transportation fuel. It’s very dense, packing a lot of energy in a small space, and it’s stable at normal air pressure and a wide range of temperatures. You can ship it long distances in large quantities via pipeline and dispense it safely at filling stations to consumers with no special training in handling volatile materials.

Hydrogen, on the other hand, is the lightest element on earth, which makes it very diffuse. To pack enough onboard a car, you need to compress and store it under extreme pressure or liquify it at extremely cold temperatures — both of which present daunting engineering and safety issues. Some researchers believe the solution may lie in storing the gas in a family of materials known as metal hydrides, which act something like a sponge, allowing you to charge up and release hydrogen as needed. But metal hydrides may prove to be to heavy. So far, no one has come up with a workable solution.

“If we can’t solve the problem with storage on the car, then that could kill the whole thing,” said Gene Nemanich, a Houston-based energy consultant and a member of NRC committee that wrote last year’s report.

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