How safe is hydrogen? Filling station explodes [w/video]
Filed under: Hydrogen, GM
Hydrogen faces a number of challenges when it comes to supplanting gasoline as the world's transportation fuel of choice. A little reminder of that fact occurred last Friday when the Monroe County Green Fuel Station in Rochester, NY went ka-boom last Thursday afternoon. Luckily no one was killed, though two were injured. Praxair driver Robert Scruggs was transported to Strong Hospital with second-degree burns to his hands and face as a result of the incident, and a female Burger King employee was treated for ear pain in connection with the explosions.
According to local news outlets, Praxair is a supplier for General Motors' fleet of hydrogen vehicles, which refuel at the Rochester station. GM spokesperson Scott Fossgard told Autoblog that the company's fleet of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles have logged over 1.6 million miles with over 16,000 hydrogen fill ups by over 800 drivers. In all of that time, the company has never had an incident like the one in Rochester. While the GM fleet uses the filling station to top off its vehicles this incident did not involve any of GM's vehicles, personnel or customers.
The Greater Rochester International Airport was closed for about 50 minutes due the explosions, and some flights were diverted mid-air while authorities sorted out the cause of the incident. Check out security cam video of the explosion as well as an interview with R.I.T. Material Science Professor Michael Haselkorn concerning hydrogen safety after the break. Click on the YNN link below for local news video coverage, as well as on the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle for more information. (AB's Zach Bowman helped with this report.)
[Sources: YNN, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle]
Hydrogen bus in Hamburg - Click above to watch video after the jump
The ongoing debate between hydrogen advocates and supporters of battery-powered vehicles has kind of died down for now, but this latest video of the Hamburg hydrogen bus fleet might whip it up again. The video explains some of the well-known advantages and disadvantages of each technology and it also touches on the dirtier side of going green. There's some one-sidedness, such as when the discussion turns to the high costs of fuel cell technology and the inherent lack of energy efficiency of hydrogen vehicles, but it's still an interesting piece to watch.
The gist of the video is pretty simple: hydrogen is expensive, but it can be green; battery power is cheap, but unlikely to be as clean. The video also features the hydrogen-powered buses that roam the roads of Hamburg. As it turns out, those buses get their hydrogen fuel with a little help from the wind and emit nothing but water. How much cleaner can it get? Follow after the jump to watch the bus in action and to get your daily dose of hydrogen versus electric.
[Source: CNN]
Hessgen Hydrogen powered #88 - Click above for high-res image gallery
The number of adjectives and qualifiers it takes to be the "first" something these days is often pretty long. First person to fly? Been done. First person to fly while asleep and upside down in a rusted plane from 1965? That record is still waiting to be claimed. Maybe.
So, now, we present what is being calling the "first hydrogen powered eco race car." Sure, there have been other H2-powered race vehicles, but this was, according to Hessgen, the team behind the car, the first time in history when "hydrogen was mixed with race fuel to power a 700 HP Trophy Truck on the roughest 500 mile course" in Baja California. The truck and hydrogen powertrain survived a roll-over and covered the 500-mile distance in 21 hours and 40 minutes.
The rally truck was built by Brian Hess, the founder and inventor of Hessgen (the name applies to both the technology and the company promoting that technology). The Hessgen system uses electrolysis to add hydrogen to whatever liquid fuel the car's powertrain already burns. During the Baja race, the Hessgen truck supposedly burned "considerably less fuel and registered tremendously reduced carbon emissions exceeding all expectations." You can find the company's suitably vague informational PDF about the technology here. The Hessgen press release is after the break. It reads like something a WWE announcer would say.
Gallery: Hessgen bi-fuel truck at Baja
[Source: Hessgen]
The Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (AC Transit), which services the east San Francisco Bay area, is now operating a fleet of fuel cell buses and Linde North America is installing two new hydrogen fueling stations to fill them up. The hydrogen stations are being installed at AC Transit's Emeryville and Oakland depots and will use Linde's Ionic compression technology.
The ionic compressors are much more energy efficient than previous compression systems and can fill a bus with 30 kilograms of gaseous hydrogen in six minutes. Linde has been providing hydrogen fueling systems in Europe for several years with 70 installations in place both for fuel cell bus programs as well as BMW's Hydrogen 7 test program. The Linde system supports both 350 BAR and 700 BAR fuel systems. The stations will use liquid hydrogen produced off-site and brought in by Linde as well as gaseous hydrogen produced on-site by a 575 kilowatt solar installation for electrolysis.
[Source: Linde North America]