Researchers hope to put Montana at forefront of hydrogen power

Leaders of Montana’s research institutes were pleased to hear President Bush propose $1.2 billion in funding to advance the development of clean, hydrogen-powered automobiles in his State of the Union address last week.

By MARTIN J. KIDSTON, IR Staff Writer

Montana’s chemists, engineers, and scientists from various fields are already working to make the president’s vision a reality. But they also know the president’s dream is a long way off.

"One reason you won’t see it anytime soon is that you can’t drive up to your nearest Exxon to fill up with hydrogen," said Robert Marley, dean of engineering at Montana State University in Bozeman. "We’re not there yet, but we’re within eyesight."

To get the technology online, Marley said, fuel cell materials need to last longer and the cell itself — which generates electricity through a chemical reaction — must become more affordable and efficient.

How to produce and distribute hydrogen on a large scale — the way gasoline is today — while creating the infrastructure to do it, also needs to be resolved.

Lee Spangler, a chemist at MSU and director of special programs, said getting the new technology going presents a real challenge. It’s hard to get people excited about something with a long-term payoff, he said, as most technologies don’t develop overnight.

But both Marley and Spangler agree that funding hydrogen research is a step in the right direction.

Marley said Bush’s $1.2 billion pledge for hydrogen research is good news for MSU, and could create a beacon of economic hope in Montana’s distant future. Bush’s vision of moving hydrogen-powered automobiles from the laboratory to the showroom could open unseen doors in the state and place Montana on the forefront of technology.

"There are a lot of very interesting problems and challenges," Marley said. "But what the president has done is lay down the gauntlet, saying let’s solve these things. We’ve got a leg up at MSU and we know what we’re doing."

Marley said MSU stands well poised in its current hydrogen research. Initiated by federal grants, several programs are already under way, including a $1 million high-temperature fuel cell technology program, and studies on polymer electrolyte membranes.

"At the molecular level, there are some real sciences that need to be done to create materials that last longer," Marley said. "The good news is there is some fascinating science going on at that level, and some of that is taking place at MSU."

The school’s electrical engineers are also studying ways to link hydrogen energy to the existing power grid.

"In rural states like Montana, we think the future lies in multiple energy sources," Marley said. "The mathematical algorithm needed to switch power sources back and forth is the technology we’re working on right now."

MSU has a head start in educating a workforce in hydrogen technology as well, Marley said. A workforce versed in the new technology could prove to be a boon to the state’s future economy when such a workforce becomes necessary.

"The cutting edge research and engineering that’s going on will lead to some new fields of endeavor and that always drives the educational component," Marley said. "We’ll need the work force to go out and do it."

One of the obstacles to Bush’s dream of a hydrogen-powered automobile fleet is that pure hydrogen doesn’t exist naturally on Earth. It must be combined chemically with something else, and it must be extracted before it can be used to power the pollution-free fuel cells Bush described in his State of the Union address.

"You have to get the hydrogen from somewhere," Spangler said. "You can get it from fossil fuels but you tend to create the same greenhouses gases as other power sources when doing so."

The other way, Spangler said, is electrolysis of water. This process of "cracking water" with electricity creates hydrogen. But generating the electricity also requires an outside power source, be it coal, natural gas, solar power or wind energy.

"The long-term issues are, can we develop all these renewable technologies so they can be applied in a widespread manner and be cost-effective?" Spangler said. "It’s a real challenge, and looking at a hydrogen-based economy makes sense. But we’re not going to get there without government investment."

Reporter Martin Kidston can be reached at 447-4086, or [email protected].

http://helenair.com/articles/2003/02/04/montana/a01020403_04.txt

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