Distributed hydrogen generation
Intelligent Energy has created distributed hydrogen reforming and fuel purification technologies that interface with existing fuel infrastructures to accelerate and de-risk the introduction of hydrogen as a fuel, presenting real business opportunities to fuel suppliers and retailers and increased choice and cost saving opportunities for vehicle operators and in the field of distributed power generation.
Our technologies represent low CAPEX transition assets, offering near term hydrogen supply business opportunities in environments familiar to the consumer, at the end of existing fuel infrastructure.
Fuel flexible in nature they allow many different fuels to be used as feedstocks and provide CAPEX optionality to the fuel provider through their ability to work with many different and already available fuels.
Our hydrogen generation technologies are capable of producing hydrogen from a wide range of sources such as:
- ammonia
- bio-diesel
- bio-ethanol
- ethanol
- Desulphurised fossil fuels
- GTLs (gas-to-liquids)
- methanol
- natural gas
- propane
- LPG
Pictured above: Introductory stage: stored hydrogen
Pictured above: stored hydrogen
In the transportation sector for example, small numbers of hydrogen-fuelled vehicles could initially be supplied from bottled storage, sited at conventional fuel stations.
Pictured above: Phase two: distributed hydrogen generation
Pictured above: Phase 2 distributed generation: transition assets
As the number of alternatively-fuelled vehicles grows, distributed hydrogen generators will be introduced to fuelling stations already supplied with natural gas, enabling the supply of HCNGs (hydrogen and compressed natural gas blends) as well as pure hydrogen.
As the number of commonly available fuels grow (LPG, ethanol, methanol, biofuels etc), these can all be provided directly as fuels or converted into hydrogen.
So, as fuel supply options grow so do the revenue, arbitrage or cost saving opportunities for a variety of players, the oil and gas companies, industrial gas companies, retailers and fleet vehicle operators, plus, of course – and never to be forgotten – the consumer.
In the military arena, where fuel cell vehicles would offer a range of advantages, fuel flexibility in hydrogen generation would mean the freedom to use a variety of fuels on the battlefield (potentially whatever is locally available).
So too for users of distributed generation fuel cell systems, where access to natural gas grids may not be possible, locally sources alternative fuels such as kerosene, LPG or propane can be utlised.
Our technologies are based on the steam reformation of hydrogen containing fuels, followed by purification into hydrogen of at least 99.95%.
This purification – which removes all of the constituents of the reformate gas except for hydrogen – is achieved either by the use of our proprietary membrane technologies or by pressure swing adsorption.
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Pictured above: Hestia fuel reformer
Compact hydrogen generator Hestia distributed hydrogen generator
