Shell opens first US pipeline-fed hydrogen fueling station for fuel-cell vehicles
Shell on Tuesday opened the first-ever US pipeline-fed hydrogen fueling station, using hydrogen, a West Coast pipeline system, and fueling technology from Air Products.
The station in Torrance, California - a collaborative effort between Air Products, Shell, Toyota, South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) and the US Department of Energy (DOE) - will supply hydrogen for several automobile manufacturers' fuel cell vehicles in the Los Angeles area, the companies sad.
"This fueling station will be a tremendous model to show how effortless a pipeline supply of hydrogen can be to an automobile fueling station and other hydrogen fuel cell applications. It will add another mode of supply, on potentially a very large scale, to Air Products' portfolio of distribution technologies in meeting the emerging fueling applications of today," said David J. Taylor, vice president of energy business at Air Products.
"Pipeline distribution of hydrogen offers the lowest delivered and dispensed price for hydrogen supply on a mass scale, and this site will be a model to be able to learn and expand these types of stations as opportunities arise,” he added.
Air Products said it believes this station will show the cost-competitiveness of hydrogen delivered in this manner relative to the gasoline costs of today.
The station, which received project funding assistance from SCAQMD and DOE prior to 2011, is situated on land adjacent to the Toyota’s US sales and marketing headquarters.
It is fed by Air Products' hydrogen pipeline located less than 50 feet from the station and connected to Air Products' Wilmington and Carson, Calif. hydrogen production facilities.
In addition to the hydrogen for the fuel cell vehicles, Air Products' hydrogen compression, storage and dispensing technology are also integral components in the fueling station. The station includes several technology advancements, and among them is the ability to simultaneously fuel four hydrogen fuel cell vehicles from the four dispensers at the site.
The station currently has the requested fueling capacity of 50 kilograms of hydrogen per 12-hour day (50 gal/day of gasoline), has the technical capability to reach 100 kilograms per day, and is expandable, the companies said.
"Building an extensive hydrogen re-fueling infrastructure is a critical step in the successful market launch of fuel cell vehicles," said Chris Hostetter, group vice president of Toyota.
"We plan to bring a fuel cell vehicle to market in 2015, or sooner, and the infrastructure must be in place to support our customers' needs,” he added.
Air Products describes itself as a top global supplier of hydrogen to refineries to assist in the production of cleaner burning transportation fuels.
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