13th June 2006 – Today, Air Products, Gaz de France and Hygear, unveils France’s first hydrogen-fuelled public transport project, at the 16 th World Hydrogen Energy Conference in Lyon, France. Air Products, worldwide leader in hydrogen production, will also present new developments in hydrogen-economy technology.
France’s first hydrogen-fuelled transport project will take place in Toulouse. Gaz de France will test the operation of public buses fuelled with a blend of natural gas and hydrogen. Air Products will provide the blending and dispensing facilities. The project will also include the onsite production of hydrogen using a natural gas reformer, the HGV-S, provided by HyGear.
The reformer can be viewed at the conference and will feature on Air Products’ stand.
Ian Williamson, European Director, Future Energy Solutions Group, explains: “We are impressed with the reforming technology that HyGear offers. When you combine the high performance and small footprint of the HGV-S with our hydrogen compression, storage and dispensing technology, you have a full comprehensive fuelling infrastructure that can be deployed at many locations across Europe”.
Following the Toulouse project – which is expected to be on-stream in early 2007, Air Products and HyGear will look for other opportunities to partner together.
Ian Williamson explains: “Various international projects, including the recent initiative in Delhi*, have shown how the addition of hydrogen to natural gas can increase the environmental performance of vehicles compared to compressed natural gas alone. This type of project also helps with the development of hydrogen fuelling infrastructure. We are proud to be working with HyGear on the hydrogen onsite generation and GDF in encouraging the development of hydrogen fuelling infrastructure in France”.
At WHEC, Air Products will also present new key developments in the hydrogen economy, through presentation of papers. Dr Alan Cooper and Dr Puri Pushpinder from Air Products’ Science and Technology Centre will present two key research topics for the developing hydrogen economy. On Tuesday 13th June, Dr Pushpinder will present a paper on hydrogen leak detection, while on Thursday 15th Dr Cooper will present developments Air Products has achieved on storage using organic liquid phase carriers.
Dr Emma Guthrie, Market Development Associate, Future Energy Solutions Group and Mr Ian Williamson will present a paper on Wednesday 14th June on developments in hydrogen fuelling infrastructure. The presentation will concentrate on early transport markets for hydrogen and the infrastructure required to fuel the first hydrogen vehicles on our roads. In addition, Air Products will present a seminar on hydrogen safety as part of the European Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Platform’s ‘Education and Training’ workshop on the afternoon of Wednesday 14th June.
Air Products is strongly committed towards the future development of hydrogen in energy applications such as vehicle fuel and its use in a fuel cell to generate power. New technologies are being developed such as hydrogen fuelling stations. More than 30 fuelling stations have been built in the past 10 years and there are plans to build another 20 by the end of this year. Air Products has recently won a contract to supply the German Navy fuel cell submarines with hydrogen. |
|
