H2 Generation and Fueling at Home: Honda’s Home Energy System II
16 November 2004
Honda R&D Americas and Plug Power have began successful operation of their 2nd-generation prototype home hydrogen system, the Home Energy Station II (HES II). HES II is the latest evolution of a joint development effort by Honda and Plug Power to produce a home system that generates hydrogen from natural gas for use in fuel cell vehicles while supplying electricity and hot water to the home. Testing of the HES II system will be done in conjunction with demonstration of Honda’s 2005 FCX fuel cell car on public roads in the Northeastern U.S.
The HES II system contains the following elements:
A reformer to extract hydrogen from natural gas
A fuel cell unit that utilizes some of the extracted hydrogen to provide power for the system
A refiner to purify the hydrogen
A compressor for pressurizing the extracted hydrogen
A high-pressure tank unit to store the pressurized hydrogen
HES II incorporates several subsystems which utilize Plug Power’s proprietary technology and allow for a reduction in the space required for the system. Originally two separate units, the HES now combines all the elements into one smaller package that includes the natural gas reformer, hydrogen purifier, fuel cell stack, compressor, fuel storage and delivery system.
The initial version of the HES, shown in October 2003, produced hydrogen at a maximum rate of 2 normal cubic meters per hour (2Nm3/hour) with a purity of 99.99% or higher. The system had a storage capacity of 400 liters @ 420 atmospheres (425.6 bar or 6,172 psi).
Honda and Plug Power are not the first to demonstrate or to explore small-scale generation of hydrogen. Shell Hydrogen, for example, has been working with Stuart Systems on home-scale electrolyser technology. Honda, however, is establishing a pattern of developing home alternative fuel systems that tie directly to their vehicle development. Earlier this year, Honda introduced Phill, a home natural gas fueling system for CNG vehicles in conjunction with announcing its plans to begin retail sales of the Civic GX natural gas vehicle beginning in California in spring 2005. (Earlier post.)
Supporting the distributed (and presumably low-cost) generation of alternative fuels makes enormous sense for an automaker. There should be more of it. I’m eager to see further performance and cost figures on the HES II work, and to see which other automakers pick up on the idea.
Because I have a 3.3 KW solar panel array that produces more electricity than I can use, a better alternative for me would be a fuel cell that seperates water to hygrogen/oxygen and compresses them. (a lot simpler, a lot cleaner, and a lot cheaper too!)
Posted by: tony malone | 30 March 2005 at 11:39 AM
Fuel Cell? Another landfill nightmare?
It would be much better in my mind to use simple electrolysis from the solar panels to heat your home(hydrogen burning furnace), cook your food (hydrogen burning stove, or grill), mow your lawn and use it as a suppliment to gasoline instead of ethanol (Ozone, burning food with increasing world population).
While cooking on stove or grill or heating your hot water or running your heater, water re-capture devices catch the exhaust (water) and return into the water that is being used for the electrolysis.
Think about it HONDA.. Hydrogen from "natural gas", why? You still must drill for that, you can get water from you tap and then from the holding tank of recaptured exhaust.. seems to be running around robin hoods barn..
Go to www.fatheromalley.com look at the pages on Hydrogen, and open up to burning Hydrogen in internal combustion engines (70% of our oil usage is in transportation, why are we concentrating on electrical?)
Hydrogen presents cleaner, safer alternatives if we burn it.. there is nothing wrong with combustion!
Got it?
Hah..
Good Post,
Don't forget to write your reps about repealing those laws mandating CO2 constraints.. 31,000 scientists, 9,000 of them PHD's say there is no evidence that proves our current CO2 levels are optimum now. .history shows that in the past higher CO2 concentrations provided vegetation where now there is none.. not only Greenland but in other areas that were "green" and are now barren.
We have an expanding world population in danger of massive starvation and it is so unnecessary..
You might want to ask owners of greenhouses before we start mandating mercury filled light bulbs as our ONLY choice because of the Socialist U.N./ Al Gore tag team of fear mongering.. wow, everyone that screamed that Bush was "fear mongering" won't own up to Fat Al, flying in his jets raking in the money off of carbon offsets and says we have a moral imperative to buy them.. wow...
Lenins useful idiots abound and are in high places, Pelosi, Boxer, Reid, Udall, Salazar, Kennedy, Obama, Clinton, and the appeasing Republicans are no better, McCain being the front runner.. but Romney was the same.. appeasing the left and selling their b.s. "universal healthcare", another government mandate for us.. yipppeeeeeeeeeee! Ki Yey!
Heil the Greenies, which are really not the "green shirts" but in all actuality just a 21 century version of the "brown shirts". Less CO2 = More Brown..
What is so hard to understand Sparky?
May God Bless,
Posted by: Father OMalley | 11 June 2008 at 09:12 PM