The Florida Solar Energy Center’s New Hydrogen Research and Applications Center: Bringing America’s Space Fuel Down To Earth

Since that famous “one small step for man,” Americans have proudly watched the ongoing successes and achievements of our country’s space program. Twelve men have walked on the moon while others have orbited overhead. Nearly 100 space shuttle missions have sent hundreds of men and women into space to conduct experiments, deploy and repair satellites, live and work on a Russian space station, and start to build an exciting new international space station that will be inhabited in just a few months. And during these years, unmanned missions have put satellites of all kinds into space to bring us cable TV, GPS signals, military communications, and many other benefits and capabilities.

One thing has remained constant with these missions over the years. NASA has used the best launch fuel available: hydrogen and oxygen.

Meanwhile, engineers and scientists are recognizing that hydrogen will be the fuel of the future for our down-to-Earth transportation needs as well. They’re asking how we can hope to fuel the world’s 635 million vehicles and produce 14 million new cars and trucks every year, and still rely on dwindling fossil fuel resources to provide the fuel these vehicles will need. They’re not just talking: they’re taking action, too. Daimler Chrysler and Ford have announced $800 million programs for fuel cell vehicles. Shell is investing $300 million in renewables. British Petroleum is planning a $1 billion program in solar commerce in the next decade. Siemens, BP, Texaco and others are investing in solar companies.

Hydrogen presents the exciting option for alternative fuels of the future. It can be used either as the fuel for direct combustion in an internal combustion engine or as the fuel for a fuel cell. It opens the door to all sorts of possibilities to reduce our country’s reliance on fossil fuels and turn to environmentally-friendly alternatives.

Today’s Challenge
The recent soaring prices of gasoline around the nation have once again focused people’s attention on fuel for their cars and trucks. The development of a renewable, cost-effective replacement fuel to power our vehicles is clearly a national priority. Haven’t we had enough of these gas crises that keep occurring every few years?

It is clear that we need to come up with alternatives to fossil fuels for our transportation needs. The reasons range from helping the environment to assuring the availability of fuels. At the same time, though, our country’s manned space launch team is dealing with some problems that need fairly quick solutions.

Every U.S. manned mission from Alan Shepard’s pioneering Mercury 1 flight in 1961 through the latest shuttle mission has lifted off from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. But the fuel used by these spacecraft is produced far from the launch site, and must be trucked to the space center for every launch — 45 semi-trailer loads of liquid hydrogen from New Orleans to the Kennedy Space Center — a distance of 670 miles, and 70 semi-trailer loads of liquid oxygen from Mims, Florida — a distance of 15 miles. This transportation distance, which not only adds significantly to launch costs and results in fuel losses on the way, could significantly impede a more rigorous launch schedule just at the time when growth is needed. Adding to these woes is the fact that current launches rely on hydrogen/oxygen production and storage processes that use 1960s technologies — a limitation that could actually make a future vigorous launch schedule impossible to achieve unless the space center gets the technologies for local production of hydrogen and oxygen, development of better storage mediums and improved production efficiencies.

Bob Dylan might have been singing about the space program when he said “the times they are a-changing.”

For the past few years, commercial space launches have been leaving the U.S. for our competitors in Europe, Japan and Russia. At least 17 states have announced they are competing directly with Florida to take over the role as the nation’s premier spaceport. And it is only a matter of time before the space shuttle gives way to a new-generation of space vehicles — spacecraft that will provide manned and unmanned space travel that will be faster, better, and cheaper. Though the exact design of these vehicles is not yet finalized, one thing is for certain — hydrogen will be their fuel.

To initiate positive action in response to these issues, Florida Governor Jeb Bush and national and state leaders met this past January to discuss steps to enhance the Kennedy Space Center’s capabilities as our country’s prime launch site. At this summit, the Florida Congressional delegation and NASA Administrator Dan Goldin issued a strong challenge for Florida universities to become major research and education partners with NASA. The Florida Solar Energy Center — a research institute of the University of Central Florida — has responded to this challenge by creating the Hydrogen Research and Applications Center (HRAC).

The Hydrogen Research and Applications Center
Researchers at FSEC’s new HRAC have started working with the U.S. Department of Energy to meet the challenge of developing hydrogen as the nation’s clean, abundant, and, most important, its locally-produced fuel. FSEC has had an ongoing hydrogen research program for many years, and in 1997, FSEC was designated a DOE “Center of Excellence” in hydrogen R&D. Today’s research efforts are being focused on research to produce, store and apply hydrogen for both space and Earth applications. The results of this research will help NASA meet the fuel needs of its space vehicles while helping auto makers and others make the transition from diminishing fossil fuels to this abundant alternative fuel.

While the hydrogen applications are obviously different for space and terrestrial uses, the scientific problems of production, storage and utilization are similar. This yields a unique synergism whereby advances in one area will provide benefits in the other.

FSEC’s new hydrogen center will be coordinated with other hydrogen research efforts within the State University System of Florida. Program activities will cover R&D on hydrogen produced from fossil feedstocks as well as from all forms of renewable energy. Major R&D; areas will be hydrogen storage and reformation technologies, along with utilization addressing fuel cells, internal combustion engines, space applications and transition technologies.

FSEC’s HRAC research staff is led by Dr. David Block, Director of the Florida Solar Energy Center, and researchers Dr. Ali T-Raissi, Dr. Clovis Linkous, Dr. Nazim Muradov, and Dr. Darlene Slattery — a team that brings the Center more than 80 collective years of research and development experience on hydrogen and other renewable energy technologies. HRAC researchers are also conducting studies on novel hydrogen production processes of both photocatalytic and thermocatalytic nature, and have conducted a number of major hydrogen technology assessment and system analysis studies.

On July 26, Dr. Block received official notice that the state’s Board of Regents had added the hydrogen center to its inventory of authorized centers, officially acknowledging the HRAC research activities.

Just a week later, FSEC announced that the Center had received its first externally-funded project — a research study entitled “Technoeconomical Analysis of Area 2 Hydrogen Production.” This U.S. Department of Energy-funded project will assess the technical feasibility and economics of hydrogen production from renewable, as well as conventional energy sources. Studies will be conducted on renewable energy production processes such as high-temperature, solar-driven water splitting cycles and conventional energy processes such as high-temperature hydrogen sulfide and methane splitting, and catalytic reforming of ammonia.

An important goal of the Center is to greatly encourage research and application partnerships and collaborations with NASA, the Department of Transportation, industry, and other agencies, as well as the Department of Energy.

HRAC researchers are already planning to expand their studies into new areas including hydrogen-based miniaturized power systems for portable applications, the use of nonostructured carbon materials for the production and storage of hydrogen, and fuel cell partnerships with research organizations and industry.

FSEC is located just a few miles from the Kennedy Space Center. The plan is to use the tremendous experience gained over the years by America’s space agency in the use and storage of hydrogen, together with the skills of HRAC researchers to help improve the efficiency of today’s space program and prepare for the demands of a growing manned space program as well as increased commercial launches. HRAC can then take this expertise to the auto manufacturers and designers who can help assure the future availability of a clean, reliable fuel source on Earth.

We don’t have much choice. There are only three forms of energy available to us: fossil fuel, nuclear, and solar. In just the past 100 years, we have used up about half of our total resources of fossil fuels. No one knows how many years we have left to use the remainder, but the problem looms large on the horizon. And in the meantime, America's reliance on imported oil has grown significantly — from importing 30 percent of our oil in 1979 to more than 55 percent today.

The problems of using nuclear energy, ranging from safety issues to waste disposal, have been well documented in recent years. That leaves solar as the more robust alternative because of its varied uses and its little-to-no environmental impact. Hydrogen offers the greatest potential as a transportation fuel replacement and the fuel for fuel cells. FSEC’s new Hydrogen Research and Applications Center has started work on meeting the challenges of developing this clean, abundant fuel.

It seems quite appropriate for another reason that the new Center has officially been established this year. FSEC is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2000, and is conducting a Center-wide effort to develop a strategic plan to lead the center into the new millennium. It’s been obvious to everyone for a while that hydrogen will play a major part in the Center’s research efforts for many years to come. The creation of the Hydrogen Research and Applications Center makes it official.

To find out more about the Hydrogen Research and Applications Center, contact Dr. David L. Block, Director, Florida Solar Energy Center, 1679 Clearlake Road, Cocoa, FL 32922. Telephone: +1.321.638.1001. eMail: block@fsec.ucf.edu. You can get more infomation on the Center at Website: www.fsec.ucf.edu.

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