By Shelia Watson

The Department of Energy’s Savannah River National Laboratory has successfully completed a 100-hour demonstration that will produce hydrogen from water, which officials say represents a significant milestone in the development of an efficient process to generate hydrogen for fuel.

William Summers, program manager for nuclear hydrogen production programs at SRNL, said the development of the hybrid sulfur thermochemical process could lead to “sustainable, large-scale, economical hydrogen production using advanced nuclear reactors with no greenhouse gas emissions.”

The demonstration proved that a sulfur dioxide depolarized electrolyzer, which was designed and fabricated by SRNL, can operate continuously for a long period of time without loss of performance.

“The technology is still at a very early stage, but the research is aimed at being able to use heat and electricity to break apart water,” Summers said.

The electrolyzer is a key component of the process, he said.

“Some electrolyzers use electricity, but ours runs with much less electricity and when combined with the second step in the process that uses heat, it allows a much more efficient process,” Summers said. “It can convert 50 percent of the energy in a nuclear reactor to hydrogen, which is twice the rate of using the existing technology.

“We hope to eventually produce twice as much hydrogen fuel out of nuclear reactors.”

Summers said the primary role of SRNL is developing the hydrogen process and working with the various reactors, particularly the new advanced generation of reactors, to find the means to produce hydrogen that can be used in several projects.

“When we did this demonstration, it was the first time we could operate this process for a long period of time,” he said. “Prior to the 100-hour test, we weren’t able to operate continuous for long at all, so this is quite a major step.”

The next step, he said, is building an integrated demonstration that will combine electricity within the hybrid sulfur process in a “closed-loop” demonstration.

“We’ll put water in with the heat and produce hydrogen, then we’ll expand that to larger and larger demonstration units and eventually a large-scale sustainable unit,” he said. “Beyond that, we think it’ll be available for commercialized use.”

Summers estimated that the process is “about 10 years away from market” and cited the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which mandates a nuclear hydrogen demonstration unit by 2017.

“What we’re doing is not necessarily for the auto industry, but it’s early-market, long-term R&D for hydrogen that will be used for major industrial markets like fertilizer and oil,” he said.

Summers said in addition to the full-size nuclear reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory, South Carolina is a crucial area for hydrogen work.

“We think the first commercial nuclear hydrogen plant may be built in South Carolina,” he said. “We have the largest ammonia plant in South Augusta, and ammonia is a key ingredient in fertilizer. So what we’re doing could play a significant role. We have the potential to have a large impact on a significant market using nuclear energy.”

By Shelia Watson

The Savannah River National Laboratory is the Department of Energy’s leading lab in the area, but other hydrogen work in the state is making significant strides as well.

“The University of South Carolina is doing similar work, but we’re pursuing different approaches,” said William Summers, program manager for nuclear hydrogen production programs at SRNL.

Russ Keller, senior director for alternative energy programs at the South Carolina Research Authority, which is working with USC on the hydrogen fuel project, said all the efforts in hydrogen research are complementary.

“There is a wide range of near-market technologies, and they’re all connected in one way or another,” said Keller. “If one or more of these segments (of work in hydrogen) takes off, it’s eventually good for everybody. The real win is capturing an early market, then companies want to relocate here and that drives secondary demand for components that go into the research.”

The model for that type of economical development, he said, is in the Upstate with the automotive industry.

“Once we’d established an auto presence in the state, it spawned a huge number of related spin-off companies,” he said. “That’s what we see happening with the hydrogen industry.”

Keller said one of the current projects under way at USC is the deployment of two fuel cell-powered forklifts.

“These are one-for-one replacements for battery-powered units that are required to operate indoors,” he said.

The project involves partnering with LiftOne, a division of Carolina Tractor, and Hygrogenics, a Canadian-based company that makes fuel cell power packs.

“The economics of fuel cells over batteries shows a viable economic payback period that should make them attractive in the market,” he said.

The project will market-test in and around Columbia for four or five months.

“This isn’t future R&D. This is a market that we’re on the leading edge of right now,” he said. “Our hope is that after testing in real-world operations, they’ll make the economic decision to place contracts for orders.”

Hydrogen fuel for automobiles, he said, is “a little further downstream.”

In the meantime, Keller said, the USC lab is also focusing on a regenerative fuel cell that will provide available backup power on demand for critical loads that need to be powered during emergencies.

“In a hurricane prone area there are some powered elements that you can’t protect if the grid goes down,” he said. “You’re basically out of luck unless you’re able to use diesel power. We’re working on a process that will use an electrolyzer similar to the one at Savannah River that will take water and break it into hydrogen and oxygen and then put it into the fuel cell, to be stored and used whenever we need it.

“It’s has a niche applicability, but there’s definitely a market for that.”