The December 2017 issue of the Fuel Cell Technologies Office (FCTO) newsletter includes stories in these categories:
In the News
Fuel Cell Cars and Hydrogen Technology Highlighted at the 2017 Smithsonian Ingenuity Festival in D.C.
As part of the 2017 Smithsonian Ingenuity Festival Activities at the National Air and Space Museum, FCTO showcased two of the world's first commercial fuel cell cars and a demonstration of a fuel cell converting hydrogen to electricity. The event took place on Thursday, November 30, and nearly 150 people from various backgrounds—from middle-school field trip groups to engineers in the aerospace industry—had the unique opportunity to see the fuel cell cars, understand how the technology works, and learn more about the potential of hydrogen and fuel cells in enabling a more secure, flexible, and cleaner energy future.
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Webinars and Workshops
Webinar December 13: U.S. Shale Revolution and Chemicals Industry Generates Low-Cost Large-Scale Supply of Hydrogen
FCTO presented a live webinar titled "U.S. Shale Revolution and Chemicals Industry Generates Low-Cost Large-Scale Supply of Hydrogen" on Wednesday, December 13. In this webinar, Argonne National Laboratory explained how the U.S. shale revolution is creating thousands of tonnes of hydrogen supply per day, in parallel with rapid growth in the chemicals industry. Growth in the production of natural gas has created a supply of natural gas liquids (NGLs), which are recovered from natural gas streams. NGLs are currently "cracked" to produce high-value chemicals, such as ethane, that satisfy both domestic and export demands. A by-product of petrochemical cracking is high-purity hydrogen that is currently burned or vented. Recovery of these by-product streams has a strong value proposition to meet the hydrogen demands of emerging industries, such as fuel cell electric vehicles. The webinar covered analysis of the expected quantities and costs of by-product hydrogen supply by 2020. See slides and a recording of the webinar.
Visit our website to see webinar archives or workshop presentations.
Studies, Reports, and Publications
Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Program Record Shows Fuel Cell System Cost to be $45/kWnet
DOE Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Program Record #17007, Fuel Cell System Cost 2017, shows that the cost of an 80-kWnet automotive polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell system based on next-generation laboratory technology and operating on direct hydrogen is projected to be $50/kWnet when manufactured at a volume of 100,000 units/year and $45/kWnet at a volume of 500,000 units/year.
Visit our website to access technical information about hydrogen and fuel cells. This information is provided in documents such as technical and project reports, conference proceedings and journal articles, technical presentations, and links to other websites.