March 2004

E-Mail This Article Printer-Friendly Version

FREEPORT, TX - By-product hydrogen moved a step closer as fuel for industrial electricity production with the flip of a switch, activating a General Motors fuel cell at the sprawling Dow chemical complex here last month.

U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham did the switch-throwing together with Texas Gov. Rick Perry, lighting up the control module for the 75 kW GM fuel cell housed in a colorfully snazzy trailer parked some distance away from the ceremony in the part of the 5,000 acre facility known as the Oyster Creek plant. Also on hand for the occasion was Theo Walthie, Dow's global business group president.

Pledging the government's support for projects such as this, Abraham said "it is these types of industry-supported demonstrations and initiatives that will transition the technology to the marketplace.

"The fact that such a facility as this can exist clearly demonstrates the rapid progress being made in polymer-based fuel cells," Abraham added.

Added Perry, "Now Texas is at the forefront of the development of fuel cell technology.......All Texans should be grateful that Dow and General Motors are exploring the commercial viability of fuel cell power."

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, left, and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham pose for photographers with the control module for GM's 75 kW PEM fuel cell at the Dow chemical plant in Freeport, TX. GM r&d vice president Larry Burns is on the right. Visible at upper left is part of the 3-axle trailer housing the fuel cell.

GM's Burns: Pathway to Affordable Fuel Cell Car

Said Larry Burns, GM's vice president for r&d and planning, "people need to understand the significance of this event. The pathway of getting an affordable fuel cell vehicle in your driveway sometime in the next decade runs right through Texas. What Dow is doing will directly impact the date when the hydrogen economy will become a reality."

The PEM fuel cell is essentially the same type that has been powering experimental GM fuel cell vehicles for some time now. Following the 4-6 months launch phase with this first fuel cell that produces enough electricity for 50 homes, GM and Dow will install a total of almost 2 MW of fuel cells during the next stage for more tests, scheduled to be completed next year, Burns added.

Next, GM plans to ramp up to 20 80 kW modules by either next year or early 2006, start of the actual commercial phase. If all goes according to plan, Dow and GM plan to install up to 400 fuel cells at this site that "could" generate 35 MW of electricity, or enough to power 25,000 homes, the joint GM-Dow release said.

For GM, the deal represents an unusual opportunity to test its transportation fuel cells on the grand scale. The company expects each unit to exceed 8,000 hours of operation by 2010, equal to more than 175,000 miles of road testing in an automobile. Burns reiterated that fuel cells have to come down to costs of about $50/kW to be commercially competitive. At present, he also said, they are still about ten times too expensive - about $500/kW, if "we had to build them right now" with current production methods and in volumes of about 1,000 units, he said.

It's also a unique opportunity to understand hydrogen handling on the grand scale, Burns told H&FCL. Dow is very focused on the safety culture, and the company has "decades and decades of experience in handling hydrogen. So that's a great opportunity for us to learn from them with respect to hydrogen safety." As GM continues to develop new stacks - and it's a safe bet that newer generations are already up and running on test beds - "we can transfer this (knowledge) to new generations of stacks and develop our systems further."

Meets 2% of Energy Needs, Lots More Available

For Dow, those 35 MW account for only about 2 % of the total used at Dow's Texas operations. Hydrogen is generated in a number of operations, in this initial instance primarily from chlorine production in the well-known industrial chlor-alkali process. Until now, Dow either burned the hydrogen in industrial boilers or sold it, whenever possible, to industrial gas companies such as Air Products and Chemicals.

Asked whether use of the word "could" implies that the eventual level of electric output might be less than that at the end of the 7-year project, Burns told H&FCL, "the intent is to go to 35 (MW). Obviously, we will learn a lot as we proceed, and obviously, with any agreement like that, you provide flexibility. Our hope is that it will be so successful that we can go beyond that. There is more hydrogen on this site than 35 MW worth. I think there is plenty of opportunity beyond that."

Neither Dow nor GM would say what the total amount of byproduct hydrogen generated here is, but a "Houston Chronicle" story on the launch said that 35 MW represents the equivalent of less than one-sixth of the facility's total hydrogen output, putting the grand total presumably at something like the equivalent of 200 MW.

Nor would officials reveal the size of the total investment in this project. However, when the project was first announced last summer (H&FCL June 2003), some reports said the total value of electricity produced in this venture would be around $50 million. Contacts: GM, Scott Fosgard, 586/947-3295, scott.fosgard@gm.com; Dow, Harold Nicoll, 989/636-5162, hgnicoll@dow.com.