TRAVERSE CITY, Michigan -- Heading a new wave of joint environmental projects between auto-makers and oil companies, General Motors and ExxonMobil said that they have developed a highly efficient gasoline fuel processor for fuel cell vehicles.
The processor will lead to greatly reduced emissions and improved fuel economy, they said in making the announcement Thursday.
GM plans a vehicle demonstration using the technology within 18 months.
The processor uses gasoline as a fuel to create a high-quality stream of hydrogen that powers a fuel cell.
Consumers will be able to fuel these new vehicles the same way they do their present cars.
Hydrogen fuel, which can be obtained from natural gas, methanol, or petroleum, electrochemically combines with oxygen in the fuel cell to produce electricity. Heat and pure water vapor are the only by-products from the fuel cell's electrochemical reaction.
GM researchers and engineers believe that the new gasoline processor is a key to fuel cell production in this decade. Fuel cells of the future will use so-called "clean hydrogen" made by using renewable energy, rather than fossil fuels.
"The gasoline processor could be the bridge between today's conventional vehicles and tomorrow's hydrogen fuel cell vehicles," said Harry Pearce, GM's vice chairman.
"While we view hydrogen as the future fuel for automotive applications, we have significant commercial challenges, such as designing and building a large number of hydrogen refueling stations, developing feasible on-board fuel tanks, and agreeing to industry-wide specifications."
GM and ExxonMobil said that the results of a three-year collaborative research program have allowed their engineers to design, develop, build, and run a gasoline processor that exceeds 80 percent efficiency. By the end of this year, GM will demonstrate in a laboratory an integrated system with an advanced version of this processor and a GM fuel cell stack producing 25 kilowatts of power.
The 25 kW system begins to approach the overall efficiency requirements for automotive use. Peak fuel cell system efficiency is expected to achieve almost 40 percent in this early-generation design. This results in almost twice the efficiency of today's vehicles over a typical drive cycle.
"We've addressed an important technical challenge and accomplished what others thought wasn't possible," said Lawrence Burns, GM vice president for research and development and planning. "Consumers want practical solutions."
At the Globex 2000 conference in Las Vegas at the end of July, a panel of oil company representatives considered the question of how the oil and gas industry can cooperate with new technologies.
The big oil companies are very well aware of climate change problems created by the burning of fossil fuels, they all said.
Jean-Marie Bourdaire of France's oil giant TotalFinaElf said, "If the big oil and gas companies are like the dinosaur diplodicus, they will not evolve but disappear. But it is difficult for the big oil industry to adapt."
Eve Sprunt, senior science and technology coordinator for Chevron, pointed out that if electric vehicles are powered by electricity generated by coal, they are the source of "remote emissions." Sprunt predicted an era of improved engine optimization and improved fuels and said that the oil companies should not be faulted for working in the areas they know best -- fuels.
Other oil companies are also investing in fuel cells.
Texaco Vice President John Brady told Globex 2000 delegates that the company has formed a wholly owned subsidiary to commercialize fuel cells.
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2000. All rights reserved.
