LANL Researchers Honored for Fuel-cell Work
Five researchers from the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory (NM) are among 15 recipients of the 1998 Partnership for the Next Generation of Vehicles Award. Vice president Al Gore is expected to present the awards during a Mar. 17 ceremony in Washington, DC.
The Los Alamos team helped develop a fuel processor that transforms fuels such as natural gas, gasoline, ethanol and methanol into hydrogen-rich gases needed by the fuel cell to generate electricity. However, this process generates contaminants such as carbon monoxide that could degrade fuel cell performance.
To manage those contaminants the Los Alamos team also developed a preferential oxidation, or PROX, unit that reduces carbon monoxide levels from about 2000 ppm to near-undetectable levels. The end result is a particulate-emission-free power system that meets ultra-low emission vehicle standards.
The team also received a Distinguished Performance Award from Los Alamos last year for this significant achievement. The team is supported by DOE's Office of Advanced Automotive Technologies.
The team consisted of project leader Nick Vanderborgh, Jose Tafoya, James Hedstrom, and Michael Inbody of Los Alamos's Energy and Process Engineering Group and Kenneth Stroh of Los Alamos's Nuclear Systems and Design Analysis Group
Vanderborgh said his team currently is expanding its efforts to define the precise specifications of the candidate clean fuels for use in these fuel cell engines and determine which fuel offers the most environmental benefit.
Begun in 1993, PNGV is a White House initiative involving partnerships among the Big Three automakers and the federal government to design more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly vehicles. DOE and Los Alamos are among the seven agencies and 20 federal laboratories that participate in it.
Other 1998 award recipients were from Arthur D. Little/Epyx, Plug Power LLC, Argonne National Laboratory and the General Motors Corp.
The University of California operates Los Alamos National Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy.