In the News...

DIESEL PROGRESS--November, 2003:
Could Slurry Be An Answer To Hydrogen Infrastructure Challenge?

The days of hydrogen-powered vehicles driving down Main St. are one step closer with the U.S. Departments of Energy's decision to award a contract for Safe Hydrogen's unique hydrogen storage technology.

President Bush has made hydrogen a research priority in this year's State of the Union Address. Safe Hydrogen's unique chemical-hydride slurry technology addresses the critical safety, storage and infrastructure challenges of using hydrogen powered vehicles and has been chosen to be part of the "National Hydrogen Energy Roadmap," according to Sig Tullmann, President and CEO of Safe Hydrogen, LLC. The Department of Energy (DOE) is facilitating this technology's development and implementation with an annual funding level that may hit $600,000 for three years.

Much more research, according to the DOE, is required to overcome the challenges of achieving a pollution-free, oil-free hydrogen economy. One critical challenge is the market's acceptance of hydrogen fueled vehicles and their need for new hydrogen storage technologies. The current storage options of carrying highly compressed hydrogen fuel in an automobile pose safety issues and provide limited driving ranges. According to Tullmann, the DOE has identified chemical hydrides as a very promising storage solution. Safe Hydrogen's unique chemical-hydride slurry technology can provide the storage safety and storage volume to give future hydrogen powered vehicles the "one-tank" 300-plus mile driving range required by American drivers.

Safe Hydrogen's safe and fully recyclable, patented, hydride slurry can be energy-cost competitive with gasoline. And, according to Safe Hydrogen's CTO, Andrew McClaine, the real killer benefit is that the Safe Hydrogen technology can use much of the current gasoline distribution infrastructure to deliver hydrogen to tomorrow's motorists. Safe Hydrogen's slurry - a liquid mix not unlike thick paint - both stores and generates 99.999 percent pure hydrogen on demand by the addition of water. This is achieved by a very simple and low cost mixing system using any available water. Additionally, the Safe Hydrogen slurry provides the handling and safety benefits of a non-explosive and non-flammable storage format, according to McClaine.

Safe Hydrogen storage technology provides that 300-plus mile driving range to a car in a fuel tank about 20 percent larger than the average gasoline tank. Or in general terms, according to Ken Brown, one of the founding investors and Vice-President of Business Development, Safe Hydrogen technology stores hydrogen ten times more compact than compressed hydrogen and twice as compact as liquefied hydrogen. Today, compressed and liquid hydrogen are the two most common ways of storing and transporting hydrogen, Brown explains.

Safe Hydrogen LLC is a start-up company based in Lexington, Massachusetts. The company was founded in 2001 and owns all intellectual property and relevant patents generated by a $3 million, three year research effort to evaluate the properties of various hydride slurries as potentially efficient and safe hydrogen storage and hydrogen generating fuels. Andrew McClaine, Safe Hydrogen's CTO, managed that research at a division of Thermo Electron Corporation in Waltham, Mass.

Safe Hydrogen is in discussion with several large energy companies who can act as a strategic partner and share some costs of executing the DOE project. DOE funding typically does not cover all costs associated with projects. The company will also seek additional funding as the project gets under way later in the year.

A company founded by two Lexington entrepreneurs owns a hydrogen storage solution to powering fuel-cells that could put fuel-cell powered automobiles on Lexington streets and on streets throughout the rest of the U.S. sooner than expected.

Safe Hydrogen, LLC was formed by investment partners Andy McClaine and Sig Tullmann of Lexington and Ken Brown, of nearby Reading. McClaine, The chief technology officer of the new firm, managed a three year, $3 million dollar development project funded by the Department of Energy to solve the most critical problem in the everyday use of hydrogen energy. That problem has been the storage of hydrogen.

According to McClaine, hydrogen is easily generated from plentiful raw materials and provides pollution-free energy but is notoriously difficult to store. Of the weight of a standard bottle of compressed hydrogen, the normal packaging of the product, only 1 percent is actual hydrogen. Currently, It takes an unwieldy 12 bottles of hydrogen to operate a car with a reasonably efficient fuel cell, says McClaine.

Safe Hydrogen storage technology provides hydrogen to a car with a fuel tank only about 8 percent larger than the average gasoline tank. Or in general terms, according to McClaine, Safe Hydrogen technology stores hydrogen ten times more compact than compressed and twice as compact as liquefied hydrogen. Today, compressed and liquid hydrogen are the two most common way of storing and transporting hydrogen.

According to Sig Tullmann, CEO of the business, the company's technology also offers a dramatic improvement in the security and safety of handling and storing hydrogen. He notes, the name of the company is: "Safe" Hydrogen. Concentrations of hydrogen pose a security problem in our new terrorist-conscious world, according to Tullmann. In fact, many communities do not allow large volume tank trucks of compressed or liquid hydrogen to drive through their densely populated centers. Safe Hydrogen technology removes that risk. As Tullmann puts it, "our package will not explode and our package stores more. We eliminate security risks, save the customer space and transportation costs and deliver a 99.999% pure hydrogen."

What makes the Safe Hydrogen storage solution work? Safe Hydrogen uses a slurry - a liquid mix not unlike thick paint - that both stores and generates hydrogen on demand by the addition of water. This is achieved by a very simple and low cost mixing system using any available water. For those with more technical interest, McClaine recommends a visit to the company website: www.safehydrogen.com.

According to Tullmann, the Safe Hydrogen technology provides benefits to both future and current hydrogen users. It saves storage and transportation cost and, especially in our new security conscious world, saves security risks and costs by providing a non-explosive and non-flammable stored hydrogen.

For automobiles, Tullmann explains, "you wouldn't just return an 'empty' tank, you'd return a 'full' tank - Safe Hydrogen slurry depleted of hydrogen. Because the 'full' and depleted 'slurry' is pumpable, the existing infrastructure of fuel supply including the local gas station can easily be utilized. The difference would be, in the case of a hydrogen fueled car that when you 'fill' up you first pump out the used-up 'material.' That material would be recycled and recharged with hydrogen."

While the widespread use of the Safe Hydrogen storage process in automobiles will take some time, the technology is now ready for power back up, remote power, and marine power applications, according to Tullmann. The risks of an oil dependent economy, and oil's limited and polluting nature, make hydrogen an attractive alternative, and our solutions to safety and storage important to its widespread acceptance, says McClaine.

Tullmann, previously CEO of DataStoreMedia Inc. in Billerica, says "I had a 30 year career in computer data storage and lived in a fast growth area that brought revolutionary changes in our ability to store and manage information. I believe that hydrogen will eventually show even faster growth as we go through revolutionary changes in our energy platform in the next 30 years."

But, while hydrogen may be hot, Tullmann admits the climate for capital is cold. We all know what the investment climate is like but we believe we have the solution to a critical technical problem that has to be solved for our energy future. We have targeted sources for sufficient capital to get us through some final development and into the first commercial production. But, Safe Hydrogen will need more capital to play a major role in the hydrogen storage market. "We understand our challenge and we are entertaining all options and can be contacted through our website," says Tullmann.

Safe Hydrogen, LLC believes it has solved the critical hydrogen storage problem, long considered a significant roadblock to utilizing hydrogen powered fuel cells. The chief technology officer of the new firm, Andy McClaine managed a three year, $3 million dollar development project funded by the Department of Energy and is building the new company based on storage technology developed in that project.

Safe Hydrogen uses a slurry - a liquid mix not unlike thick paint - that both stores and generates 99.999% pure hydrogen on demand by the addition of water. This is achieved by a very simple and low cost mixing system using any available water. Additionally the Safe Hydrogen slurry provides the handling and safety benefits of a non-explosive and non-flammable storage format.

According to Sig Tullmann, CEO of the start-up, this new technology provides benefits to both future and current hydrogen users. It saves storage and transportation cost and, especially in our new security conscious world, saves security risks and costs by providing a non-explosive and non-flammable stored hydrogen, he says. He estimates the cost of hydrogen to the consumer, if this technology were rolled out on a large scale, would be about 40% less than what Europeans are paying today to power their vehicles with gasoline refined from Middle East oil.

According to McClaine, hydrogen is easily generated from plentiful raw materials and provides pollution-free energy but is notoriously difficult to store. Of the weight of a standard bottle of compressed hydrogen, the normal packaging of the product, only 1 percent is actual hydrogen. Currently, It takes an unwieldy 12 bottles of hydrogen to operate a car with a reasonably efficient fuel cell, says McClaine.

Safe Hydrogen storage technology provides hydrogen to a car with a fuel tank only about 8 percent larger than the average gasoline tank. Or in general terms, according to McClaine, Safe Hydrogen technology stores hydrogen ten times more compact than compressed and twice as compact as liquefied hydrogen. Today, compressed and liquid hydrogen are the two most common way of storing and transporting hydrogen. An important plus is that both the loaded and depleted slurry are pumpable and easily adapted to fit into the existing gas station support structure. No special pressures or temperatures are required.

While the widespread use of the Safe Hydrogen storage process in automobiles will take some time, the technology can play a more immediate role in power back up, remote power, and marine power applications, according to Tullmann. Safe Hydrogen is in the process of seeking additional capital and can be contacted via its web site www.safehydrogen.com.