Breakthrough Technologies Institute - Fuel Cells 2000

Fuel Cells Texas is involved in the effort to bring one of the Federal DOT Fuel Cell
Transit Bus Demonstration projects to Texas. Working in conjunction with the University
of Texas and the Houston office of the Gas Technology Institute, this important
technology demonstration will show that fuel cell buses are a near term technology
solution.
Through a collaboration of industry and university research a project is moving forward
to provide turn-key retrofits of 12-volt battery powered material handling equipment with
fuel cell-based power systems. In addition to the fuel cell retrofit the project will provide
fully integrated hydrogen fueling infrastructure and technical service of the balance of
plant. Other systems associated with this project are fuel cell powered APUs for overthe-road
and long-haul trucks and fuel cell powered ground support equipment in
airports.
Another project FCTx supports is a Texas corporate effort to create an integrated
hydrogen fueling supply solution for hydrogen vehicle applications. This project will offer
a technically sound and commercially available hydrogen fueling infrastructure at the
point of consumption (fueling stations) at a lower cost than current technologies.
Contact:
Fuel Cells Texas
816 Congress Avenue, Suite 1400
Austin, TX 78701
E-mail: www.fuelcellstexas.org/contact.php
Web: www.fuelcellstexas.org
Texas Fuel Cell Partnership
www.tceq.state.tx.us/assistance/P2Recycle/FuelCell/TexasFuelCellPartnership.html
In 2001, the Texas Fuel Cell Partnership was established with the public and private
sectors to demonstrate the environmental and economic benefits of hydrogen fuel cells.
The goal of the partnership is to increase the awareness of fuel cell technology and to
demonstrate the benefits of fuel cells to air quality and energy conservation, and their
reliability.
The Partnership has sponsored two fuel cell projects:
Contact:
• 2001 Project: Demonstration using a 3-kW fuel cell to power all the
equipment in a continuous-air-monitoring station. Phase I demonstrated the
use of hydrogen fuel and. Phase II demonstrated the use of a reformer to
convert propane–natural gas into electricity.
• 2004 Project: Demonstration of the first propane-to-hydrogen fuel processor
integrated with a fuel cell to supply electrical power to the grid. This project,
which operated January-April 2004, was geared to quantify the emissions
and efficiency and gain experience in installing and running a fuel cell in a
building.
Technical contact:
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