FCV Learning Demonstration: Project Midpoint Status and First-Generation Vehicle Results (Presentation)
The “Controlled Hydrogen Fleet and Infrastructure Demonstration and Validation Project,” also known as the Fuel Cell Vehicle and Infrastructure Learning Demonstration, is a 5-year U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) project started in 2004. The purpose of this project is to conduct an integrated field validation that simultaneously examines the performance of fuel cell vehicles and the supporting hydrogen infrastructure. Four industry teams are currently operating more than 77 vehicles and 14 refueling stations, with plans to add over 50 additional vehicles and several additional refueling stations during the remainder of the project duration. This paper covers the progress accomplished by the demonstration and validation project since inception, including results from analysis of six months of new data. With three sets of public results having been presented previously, this paper comes at roughly the mid-point of the project, just as second-generation fuel cell stacks and vehicles are being introduced and some early vehicles are being retired. With many fuel cell stacks having accumulated well over 500 hours of real-world operation, there is now a higher level of confidence in the trends and projections relating to the durability and voltage degradation of these first-generation fuel cell stacks.Public results for this project are in the form of composite data products, which aggregate individual performance into a range that protects the intellectual property and the identity of each company, while still publishing overall status and progress. In addition to generating composite data products, NREL is performing additional analyses to provide detailed recommendations back to the R&D program. This includes analysis to identify sensitivities of fuel cell durability to factors such as vehicle duty cycle, number of on/off cycles, time at idle, and ambient temperature. An overview of this multivariate analysis and preliminary findings will be shared, with future project activities discussed.
Controlled Hydrogen Fleet and Infrastructure Analysis (2008 Presentation)
This presentation by Keith Wipke at the 2008 DOE Hydrogen Program Annual Merit Review Meeting provides information about NREL's Controlled Hydrogen Fleet and Infrastructure Analysis Project.
Redistribution of rare-earth elements during diagenesis of carbonate rocks from the Mid-Proterozoic Newland Formation, Montana, U.S.A.
Abstract REE data for carbonate rocks from the Mid-Proterozoic Newland Formation, Belt Supergroup, show variable degrees of relative REE enrichment when normalized to a composite shale of the Newland Formation. Most conspicuous are relative enrichments in LREE's and positive Eu anomalies. Possible coprecipitation of REE's in carbonates from seawater is much too small to account for the REE enrichment, thus only diagenetic REE enrichment has to be considered. By far the strongest LREE enrichment is observed in carbonates with interbedded shales. During diagenesis REE apparently moved from the shale partings to the adjacent limestone beds. Massive limestone units have considerably smaller REE enrichments (except in proximity to shales), suggesting that REE addition from formation waters is less efficient for supplying REE's than is local redistribution between shale and limestone beds. Early precipitation of diagenetic silica in pore spaces reduces REE enrichment in limestone beds by reducing their permeability. Dolostones are cemented by pervasive early-diagenetic silica and lack significant REE enrichment except for Eu, probably because silica cement prohibited access of REE-bearing pore waters. Positive Eu anomalies indicate reduction of Eu to the divalent state during diagenesis and relatively large mobility of divalent Eu.