From coal to clean energy

31 March 2010

CRL Energy in Lower Hutt has successfully demonstrated the full chain from coal to hydrogen-fuelled electricity using a palladium-based membrane. Chief Executive Dr Rob Whitney says the palladium-based membranes, supplied by the Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN), were used in a unique experiment to convert coal gas to hydrogen with the high-purity level required by a fuel cell. 

“ New Zealand has an abundant supply of coal, this membrane experiment and our gasification technologies has shown that, combined with carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS), we can use this resource in an environmentally friendly way. Hydrogen is the cleanest fuel available, producing only water as a by-product,” says Dr Whitney.

The experiment was part of a Foundation for Research, Science and Technology-funded project aimed at developing hydrogen production technology utilising New Zealand ’s abundant coal and biomass resources. From coal, a hydrogen rich gas is produced by gasification. In subsequent steps, the gas is desulphurised, passed through a water gas shift reactor, compressed, and fed to the ECN membrane to produce the clean hydrogen which is converted into electricity in a fuel cell. The project demonstrated conclusively that using the palladium-based membrane technology (registered as “Hysep” by the Dutch) the whole chain, from coal to electricity, can be realised.

The fuel cell for the experiment was designed and supplied by Crown Research Institute IRL.

Senior researcher for the project, Dr Tana Levi, says that the successful experiment couldn’t be timelier as resources of oil around the world become limited. “We are very pleased with the results. The membrane has performed above expectations, and we look forward to the future when we may have a commercially viable means of hydrogen production.”

Oil prices are expected to increase strongly in the coming decades as demand for transportation grows faster than the supply of crude oil. Availability of coal is much larger and resources are distributed more evenly around the globe, making its price less sensitive to geo-political developments.

This means that replacing oil with coal as a primary fuel for transportation would be attractive. Converting coal to hydrogen offers new opportunities to achieve this. Hydrogen production from coal coupled with CCS is a way of decarbonising transport (or using cars without producing CO₂ emissions). CCS is a promising CO₂ mitigation option that separates CO₂ produced from combustion/gasification of fossil fuels and stores it securely in geological formations.

In the Netherlands, ECN’s research focuses on the development of hydrogen separation membranes. With the Hysep modules (www.hysep.com), based on thin-film palladium (Pd) composite membranes, it is possible to separate hydrogen from a wide variety of hydrogen-rich streams.

About CRL Energy

CRL Energy is an energy and environmental research and consulting company with specialist knowledge in new energy technologies, such as hydrogen and biomass conversion, and a strong history in all aspects of fossil fuel energy, particularly coal-related research. For more information about CRL Energy see www.crl.co.nz .

About ECN

ECN develops and brings to market high-level knowledge and technology for a sustainable energy system that is safe, efficient, reliable, and environment friendly. ECN is a non-profit organisation. For more information about ECN see www.ecn.nl.

For more information, please contact:

CRL Energy:

Dr Rob Whitney, Chief Executive CRL Energy Ltd

Phone: (04) 570 3703, , E-mail: r.whitney@crl.co.nz

Dr Tana Levi, Senior Researcher CRL Energy Ltd

Phone: (04) 570 3714, E-mail: t.levi@crl.co.nz

ECN:

Florentine de Maar, Press officer ECN

Phone: +31.224.564050, E-mail: demaar@ecn.nl

Yvonne van Delft, Project leader at ECN Efficiency & Infrastructure

Phone: +31.224.568178, E-mail: vandelft@ecn.nl