Hydrogen is still a long way off

Hydrogen may one day be the mainstay of the world energy economy, but that day is still decades in the future. Tom Shelley reports Many engineers think that future road vehicles are likely to be fuelled by hydrogen, either powering conventional engines or fuel cells. Experts we have spoken too, however, consider that there is still much to be done before this happens. Dr Jong Won Kim, director of a $100 million, ten year program into the development of hydrogen technology at the Korea Institute of Energy Research, told Eureka, "The costs are still too high and storage remains a problem. Maybe these problems will be solved in ten years time, but most people will say that." The Hydrogen Energy R&D Center (HERC) was launched as a member of the 21st century Frontier R&D Program, led by the Ministry of Science and Technology in October 2003. Dr, Kim, who was encountered at the Fifth UK-Korea High Technology Forum in London, said Korea considered hydrogen a national priority, because the country has no oil or natural gas. 40% of Korea's electricity is generated by nuclear energy, and Dr Kim considered nuclear energy as one of the prime candidates for obtaining hydrogen by the electrolysis of water. Longer term are the possibilities of biological, thermochemical, and photocatalytic water-splitting. On the subject of storage, Dr Kim considered that, "There is no economical method at present. Compressing hydrogen at high pressure does not store enough energy per unit mass." He mentioned storage in carbon nano structured materials and in inorganic materials, but concluded that, "None are near future." The Institute works closely with the Korean motor industry. The Center lists its hydrogen storage research topics as: high-pressure gas storage, metal hydrides, nano materials, chemical hydrides, new materials for the storage of hydrogen and characteristics of hydrogen adsorption/desorption. A very similar view was taken by Dr Armin Pfoh, managing director GE Global Research Europe, when questioned at a recent press conference. "We are looking at nanotubes. We have some nice technologies for putting hydrogen away but its tough to get it back. We do expect to see some major breakthroughs, but I don't see anything I could personally put my finger on." GE Global Research Europe has recently established itself on the Garching campus of the Technical University of Munich. Dr Pfoh had previously mentioned hydrogen storage as being one of its priority research topics. His centre currently employs 43 researchers, which it plans to increase to 150 by the end of 2005. Meanwhile, BOC delivered a liquid hydrogen tank to the proposed hydrogen refuelling station at Hornchurch in Essex just before Christmas. Building work began in November on the station to refuel the three hydrogen fuel-cell buses currently operating in London. The station is expected to be operational by early February. The buses are part of the EU-financed Clean Urban Transport for Europe (CUTE) project. The two-year trial, involves DaimlerChrysler, BP and bus companies in nine European cities. Hydrogen Energy R&D Center Korea Pointers * Hydrogen may well be the vehicle fuel of the future, but the problems of generating it at low cost and storing it economically remain to be solved. * Nanotubes and nano structured carbon seem to be the current hot topics in hydrogen storage but they are far from the alternatives * The proposed refuelling station for London fuel celled buses will store hydrogen in the form of liquid