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TOTAL UNVEILS NEW TECHNOLOGY AT BERLIN HYDROGEN STATION
TOTAL has unveiled its latest technological innovations at its hydrogen station at Berlin Heerstrasse.
The station is now generating hydrogen on-site from a Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) reformer which has been installed. The LPG reformer is the first of its kind to be demonstrated in Europe.
LPG and water are purified and then heated. Hydrogen is produced in a catalytic reaction and then purified through pressure swing adsorption (PSA). Enough hydrogen is produced on-site to fuel and operate 7 buses.
Another innovation at the TOTAL station is the use of stationary fuel cells to produce heat and electricity to heat and power the station. Boil-off from stored liquid hydrogen (also used to fuel hydrogen vehicles) powers two stationary fuel cells. The PEM fuel cells (proton-exchange-membrane) are operated by Vattenfall Europe. The performance amounts to around 5KW/ h.
The fuel cell supplied by Axane Fuel Cell Systems is air-cooled and provides electricity. The fuel cell supplied by Electro Power Systems (EPS) is water-cooled and produces heat through a heat exchanger, as well as electricity.
In the next development of this innovative station TOTAL intends to use Bio-Di Methyl ether (DME) to produce hydrogen. By carrying out CO2 capture in a collaborative project with the Technical University of Berlin, the hydrogen could then be considered to be effectively “CO2 free”.
Some 70 guests attended the presentation and tour of inspection of the TOTAL station. They were shuttled from Berlin City to the station by a MAN hydrogen powered bus operated by BVG. Several hydrogen powered cars were also demonstrated.
The picture below shows (from left to right):
- Mr Wolf-Dietrich Kunze: Vattenfall Europe, Head of Heating, Berlin
- Prof. Dr. Johann Köppel – Vice President Research TU Berlin
- Mr Michel Mallet – CEO TOTAL Deutschland
