By Roger Renstrom at ProMat

Discussions about fuel-cell technology reached many of those attending ProMat 2011.

A government-organised fuel-cell workshop involved presentations from product developers Nuvera Fuel Cells Inc and Oorja Protonics Inc and forklift manufacturers Crown Equipment Corp and Raymond Corp.

The Material Handling Industry of America of Charlotte, North Carolina organised the trade event on 21-24 March in Chicago.

Nuvera Fuel Cells Inc

A fourth-generation fuel cell system was displayed in the Nuvera booth.

"We have deployed three generations" in the past, says Brian Nowicki, manager of product engineering with Nuvera in Billerica, Massachusetts.

Nowicki suggested desirable fuel cell durability characteristics: a life of about 10 years, in-service operation for about 30,000 hours and fuel fill cycles of about 12,000. Most existing fuel cells have significant distances to meet any of those milestones.

Nuvera is an operation of Hess Corp of New York.

Oorja Protonics Inc

While most PEM fuel cells in forklifts use hydrogen fuel, direct methanol fuel cell systems are beginning to be sold for materials handling applications. PEM stands for polymer electrolyte membrane or proton exchange membrane.

Compared to hydrogen fuel, the total cost of a methanol system is lower, the payback is about five months and the cost of the infrastructure is "much lower," says Sanjiv Malhotra, president and chief executive officer of Oorja Protonics of Fremont, California. Infrastructure for a hydrogen project may cost USD1 million, but one for a methanol system may be USD20,000.

Malhotra notes the difference in runtime between charges or refueling: four to six hours for a battery, eight to12 hours for hydrogen fuel and 15 to 16 hours for methanol fuel.

Malhotra says Oorja represents the advent of what he calls Fuel Cell 2.0 and addresses lingering sentiments about the expense, operating difficulty, safety, size and infrastructure requirements of the technology. "Fuel Cell 1.0 disappoints," Malhotra opines.

Crown Equipment Corp

An opportunity exists to supply fuel cells for smaller operations, says Eric Jensen, director of new technology, research and development for Crown Equipment of New Bremen, Ohio.

Smaller operations - retailers or others with three to seven forklifts - lack access to a solution.

A possible option might allow accessing power for a walking truck from a replaceable canister or cell that could cost USD7-8 per kg of hydrogen. So far, "we have not found a willing vendor," Jensen says.

Hydrides are another option although the compound's high pressures may prove difficult. The process would involve use of a chemical that can absorb hydrogen and give it back.

"We think the game is changing," Jensen notes.

An optimal fuel cell installation may involve a 400,000 sqft (36,000 sqm) warehouse with a range of 50 to 100 forklifts in five or six models for various uses. "Thirty (forklifts) is the lowest now" using 50 kg of hydrogen daily, he notes.

Crown has sold more than 400 forklifts suitable for fuel cell applications, and the firm has retrofit about 200 other Crown forklifts to accommodate the technology.

Crown made a commitment to fuel cell technology in 2007, established an engineering and test centre in Huber Heights, Ohio in 2008 near technical, material and academic collaborators in the Dayton market, and inaugurated a qualification program.

Raymond Corp

Government funding supports current commercial customers - mostly early adopters - of fuel cell technology, says Frank Devlin, a marketing segment manager with Raymond of Greene, New York.

Raymond, an original equipment manufacturer of electric forklifts, started working with fuel cell suppliers in 2004, received a New York State grant in 2006 and began daily fork-lift operations in its Greene plant in 2007.

Two Raymond engineers are involved with the energy storage system committee of the Industrial Truck Association "to work on fuel cells and batteries" for the future, Devlin says.

Raymond has a sales and service agreement with Plug Power Inc of Latham, New York.

Devlin notes that some ProMat 2011 exhibitors showed automatic battery changing systems, "trying to take the pain out of changing batteries."

Air Products and Chemicals Inc

A hydrogen supplier found ProMat 2011 interest high and received 51 leads during the first two days of the show.

"We are pioneers and have customers-now early adopters-moving into fuel cell technology," says Nick Mittica, commercial manager for hydrogen energy systems with the supplier, Air Products and Chemicals Inc of Allentown, Pennsylvania.

One materials handling site may use 100 kg of hydrogen daily, Mittica notes, and Air Products can produce 5 million kg of hydrogen per day.

Air Products' hydrogen-supply installations often are integrated with Plug Power systems. Mittica mentioned eight existing US warehouse and logistics sites among those using Air Products' hydrogen services for fuel cells.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Chris Ainscough provided an overview of the workshop. He is senior engineer at the Golden, Colorado hydrogen technology and systems centre of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

The Alliance for Sustainable Energy LLC operates the NREL for an office of the US Department of Energy (DoE).

A fuel cell with PEM technology is the type typically used in transportation and specialty-vehicle applications as well as for backup power, portable power and distributed generation.

Other types include alkaline, phosphoric-acid, molten carbonate and solid-oxide fuel cells, in each case using higher operating temperatures.

As of February, the US Defence Logistics Agency in collaboration with DoE has deployed nearly 120 fuel cell-powered forklifts at high-volume distribution centres in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania (55 forklifts); Warner Robins, Georgia (22); San Joaquin, California (20); and joint base Lewis-McChord, Washington (19). The Susquehanna site has completed more than 15,000 hydrogen indoor refuelings, and the Warner Robins location has used the equipment for a total of 12,000 forklift hours.

The four sites use hydrogen from various sources including delivered hydrogen, on-site natural gas reformation, hydrogen from wastewater digester gas and hydrogen produced via solar-powered water electrolysis.

In comparison to batteries, a preliminary DoE analysis shows fuel cell technology has 1.5 times lower maintenance cost, eight times lower refueling and recharging labour cost and two times lower net present value of total system cost.