[Federal Register: August 24, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 164)]
[Notices]
[Page 50052-50054]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr24au06-40]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy; Carbon
Nanotubes for On-Board Hydrogen Storage Go/No-Go Decision
AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of
Energy (DOE).
ACTION: Notice of request for technical input to go/no-go decision.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (the Department or DOE), Hydrogen,
Fuel Cells and Infrastructure Technologies Program, is requesting
position papers or other technical documentation regarding carbon
nanotubes for on-board hydrogen storage systems by September 15, 2006.
This information will be used as part of DOE's go/no-go process in
determining the future of applied research and development of carbon
nanotubes for on-board hydrogen storage.
DATES: Written position papers or other technical documentation for
consideration by the Department regarding this decision are welcome.
Documents may be submitted via e-mail or as hard copies but must be
received by September 15, 2006.
ADDRESSES: For hard copies, please submit 2 copies of all documents to:
U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy, Mail Station EE-2H, Attn: Dr. Sunita Satyapal, 1000
Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585-0121. For e-mail
submissions, send documents to
[[Page 50053]]
brinda.thomas@ee.doe.gov and laura.verduzco@ee.doe.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Sunita Satyapal, U.S. Department
of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Mail
Station EE-2H, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585-
0121, Phone: (202) 586-2336, e-mail: sunita.satyapal@ee.doe.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The mission of the Department of Energy's
Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and Infrastructure Technologies Program is to
research, develop and validate fuel cell and hydrogen production,
delivery, and storage technologies, such that hydrogen from diverse
domestic resources will be used in a clean, safe, reliable and
affordable manner in fuel cell vehicles, central station electric power
production, distributed thermal electric, and combined heat and power
applications. The President's Hydrogen Fuel Initiative, launched in
2003, accelerates research, development and demonstration of hydrogen
production, delivery and storage technologies to enable technology
readiness. A critical requirement for achieving technology readiness is
the development of on-board hydrogen storage systems with enough
storage capacity to meet driving range expectations (more than 300
miles in the United States), while meeting a number of requirements
such as weight, volume and cost. Detailed technical targets developed
by DOE, with input through the FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership, are
available at: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells/mypp/pdfs/storage.pdf
.
The DOE Hydrogen Program initiated research to develop single wall
carbon nanotubes as a storage medium for hydrogen in the early 1990s.
At that time, the overall Program had limited resources and storage
research and development (R&D) was limited to just a few material
classes. Initial hydrogen capacity measurements on nanotubes had
appeared promising, but some of these results were subsequently found
not to be reproducible. Uncertainty in the performance of carbon
nanotubes as a storage material grew as other research groups initiated
their own efforts on this material and published hydrogen capacity
results ranging from 0 to well over 6 wt.%. Importantly, the
differences in hydrogen capacity could not be correlated with specific
carbon nanotube synthesis methods or with various properties of the
carbon nanotube structure. Although the number of publications and the
worldwide level of effort on carbon nanotube R&D have continued to grow
and important progress has been achieved, uncertainties remain
concerning hydrogen storage capacity.
Subsequent to the DOE's no-go decision for on-board fuel processing
of gasoline in 2004 (see: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells/pdfs/committee_report.pdf
), the strategy for
fueling fuel cell vehicles shifted from an on-board reformer-based fuel
system to the development of technologies and infrastructure to
produce, store, and distribute hydrogen for on-board storage and use in
direct-hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Development of viable on-board
hydrogen storage systems became a critical element within the Program.
Consequently, the hydrogen storage Program has greatly expanded and
restructured into a ``National Hydrogen Storage Project'' including
three Centers of Excellence and independent projects covering a diverse
portfolio of hydrogen storage R&D. Each Center of Excellence is
focusing on a class of storage materials--metal (reversible) hydrides,
chemical hydrides (non-reversible) and carbon (and other hydrogen
adsorbent) materials--and each has university, industry and national
lab partners pursuing and leveraging their specific expertise in
different areas. The Program has also expanded basic science efforts
and coordination between DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy and Office of Science (see http://www.hydrogen.energy.gov).
Within the current storage sub-Program portfolio, there are a
number of promising storage materials being studied which have the
potential for hydrogen storage capacities comparable to, or greater
than initially envisioned for carbon nanotubes. For example, modeling
studies of metal-modified carbon fullerene structures suggest that they
hold promise for achieving high hydrogen capacities. Non-carbon
structures, such as metal-oxide frameworks, are also being pursued in
the Center of Excellence for carbon-based materials. On-board hydrogen
storage systems must be developed which are safe, low cost and have
high volumetric and gravimetric energy capacities. Periodic assessments
and decision points on specific material technologies are included
within the hydrogen storage sub-Program to meet the required
performance targets within the Program timeframe.
The DOE will make a decision regarding the future of pure carbon
nanotubes for on-board hydrogen storage activities within the Hydrogen,
Fuel Cells and Infrastructure Technologies Program in October 2006. DOE
will review the current state of carbon nanotube activities against
technical criteria and base its pure carbon single-wall nanotube go/no-
go decision on an analysis of:
(1) The technical progress to date on the demonstrated capacity for
hydrogen storage in pure, undoped carbon single-walled nanotubes
(SWNTs) and whether SWNTs have met the criterion of 6 weight percent
hydrogen storage (on a materials basis) at room temperature, and
(2) Whether a technically viable pathway exists to meet the
original criterion of 6 weight percent at room temperature using either
pure, undoped SWNTs or a ``hybrid'' approach (e.g., metal doped
nanotubes).
DOE will consider whether its 2007 or 2010 system targets can be
met using available pure nanotube technology as demonstrated on the
laboratory scale. A single system that meets all criteria
simultaneously is desired; however, if integration with other
technologies is needed to simultaneously meet all targets, the
technologies must be compatible.
DOE will also take into consideration input on the following:
(1) Whether hydrogen adsorption in carbon nanotubes at low
temperature (77 K) should be considered at this early stage of the DOE
R&D Program (although the original criterion of 6 weight percent was at
room temperature), and
(2) Whether SWNTs may be used as model materials for fundamental
research, theoretical simulation and an improved understanding of
nanoscale hydrogen storage mechanisms and the interplay between factors
such as charge/discharge efficiency, thermodynamics/kinetics
considerations, and volumetric/gravimetric capacities.
Position papers or other technical documents relevant to the go/no-
go decision will be accepted by DOE for consideration in this decision.
Position papers are limited to 10 pages maximum, and should contain a
cover page with a point of contact, company name, address and e-mail
address. The cover page will not be counted in the 10 page limitation.
Technical documents, such as published journal articles or preprints,
are not restricted to the page limit. Position papers and other
technical documents will be made available to the public and should not
contain any proprietary information.
For more information about the Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and
Infrastructure Technologies Program and related on-board hydrogen
storage activities visit the Program's Web site at
[[Page 50054]]
http://www.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells.
Issued in Golden, CO on August 10, 2006.
Matthew A. Barron,
Acting Procurement Director, Golden Field Office.
[FR Doc. E6-14047 Filed 8-23-06; 8:45 am]
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