Hydrogen – the future hybrid fuel

The much talked about California Hydrogen Highway project, initiated by Governor Schwarzenegger, is intended to promote the use of hydrogen as the future fuel in vehicles. The project provides funds for public as well as private partners to install hydrogen fuelling stations and to lease and purchase hydrogen-fuelled vehicles.

Hydrogen hybrid cars work with the help of fuel cells. A fuel cell is an electrochemical energy conversion device. In a fuel cell, electricity is produced, when hydrogen and oxygen are combined to form water. It works similar to a battery inside a torch cell, except that the fuel used is different. But unlike the battery, a fuel cell never becomes dead as there is an external fuel supply whenever needed.

There are a few technical difficulties involved with the working of fuel cells, the most important being the availability and storage of hydrogen gas. Though oxygen can be directly pumped into the engine from air, the feasibily of installing hydrogen fuelling stations and storing the fuel safely inside the vehicle are grave concerns. A solution to this obstacle may be a ‘reformer’ which produces hydrogen from a hydrocarbon or alcohol fuel inside the cell and then supplies it to the fuel cell.

Is water the future fuel? That is what Hydrogen Technology Applications, Inc. (HTA) has to tell the world. They have come up with the latest technology of extracting hydrogen gas from water. The gas named AqugenTM, otherwise called HHOS, is separated from water through electrolysis. This technology is exactly the reverse of the fuel cell technology. HTA claims that this technology can be applied in hybrid cars too; it has been successfully tested in two sample vehicles - a 1994 Ford Escort Wagon and a 1998 Ford Ranger pickup.

And the result? They offer a better pickup than their gas hybrid counterparts with a considerable increase in the horsepower and an increase of about 20-30 percent in fuel efficiency. This is an alternative to fuel cell, in which hydrogen is stored at a dangerous 10,000 PSI, while HHOS can be stored at less than 60 PSI. The technology needed to install an HHOS hybrid in your car is also not new. With a little modification in the existing piston engine, HHOS system can be easily installed in any models. There are little or no emissions from this fuel.

Though HTA has tested HHOS technology in two sample vehicles, it is not the only company to come up with this innovation. A New Zealand company named Vision Energy has come up with a claim about launching a similar technology, the Hydro Fuel System Hydro-charger, which was developed by two US companies Global Energy Options and H to-go. Using this technology, they claim that, fuel consumption can be reduced up to 70%.

The advantage of using hydrogen as a future fuel cannot be ruled out considering its efficiency and zero-emission characteristics. Global warming, increasing tension on borders to find additional fossil fuel resources and decreasing fuel efficiency will lead to more innovations in this direction. Watch out for this column.

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February 19, 2007 | Filed Under Fuels