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Hydrogen as an energy carrier is becoming an increasingly
important agenda for energy and research. Many countries
in the world have great expectations for hydrogen
and fuel cell technology as an important contributor
to a future with a sustainable energy economy and
a gradual reduction in the reliance on fossil fuels,
a reduction of the emission of greenhouse gases
and increased use of renewable sources of energy.
A global development has begun towards a widespread
use of hydrogen – the so called Hydrogen Economy.
The propagation of hydrogen as an energy carrier
and fuel depends on commercial availability of fuel
cell technology. This is an area in which Denmark
has a strong position internationally since ongoing
R&D since the beginning of the early 1990s.
Most hydrogen technologies are still too expensive
and ineffective to play a major role in the energy
system. At an international level, everyone agrees
that the challenges remain.
• to develop more effective and cheaper ways
of producing hydrogen
• to develop better storage systems
• to develop better and cheaper fuel cells
• to create a real infrastructure for the distribution
of hydrogen
Hydrogen technologies and
Danish capabilities
The hydrogen chain and the processes involved
are illustrated on the right.
The Hydrogen Chain – an illustration. Source:
The EU’s CUTE project
The hydrogen can be manufactured from a number of
sources both renewable and fossil fuel. Hydrogen
can normally be stored and distributed in liquid
or gaseous form. In recent years Risø national
Laboratory, DTU and the University of Aarhus have
participated in the development of technologies
for storage of hydrogen in metal hydrides. This
type of storage is considered very safe due to low
storage pressure.
When using hydrogen, fuel cell technology is one
of the most promising technologies due to its high
energy-conversion efficiency. A fuel cell converts
hydrogen to electricity and heating and the only
waste of this process is steam. The Danish R&D
in this field is primarily undertaken by Risø
National Laboratory, Haldor Topsøe, IRD Fuel
Cells, DTU and APC Denmark. The University of Southern
Denmark and Aalborg University also contribute.
A number of Danish companies are involved in the
development of the fuel cell technology market of
which a few will be mentioned below.
Amminex is developing a solid ammine carrier for
hydrogen Dantherm and APC are manufacturing power
back-up systems that in 2006 will be competitive
with normal battery back-up systems.
Danish companies among them Dantherm is also looking
into stationary fuel cell systems for power production,
and a number of demonstration projects will be initiated
in 2007.
H2 Logic is manufacturing power systems for special
transport vehicles. As far as the environment is
concerned, a fuel cell driven vehicle running on
hydrogen generated from a renewable source of energy
would be fully pollution free.
The future?
Considerable resources are used for the development
of new hydrogen and fuel cell technologies world
wide. The United States, Canada and Japan in particular
has invested large amounts in recent years. It is
anticipated that by year 2020 there will be established
global markets for battery substitutes for hand
held electronics equipment, established niche markets
for portable generators and growing markets for
stationary fuel cell systems for power production
(Source: Danish Energy Authority 2005). In the transport
sector is estimated that the market will still be
pre-commercial in 2020, but that a large number
of demonstration projects and test of various types
of hydrogen-driven vehicles will have taken place.
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DENMARK
