The growth of the renewable and sustainable energy sectors will be a key feature of the coming years. However, the global economy is still a fossil fuel based economy.Intelligent Energy believes that it is vital to move to a more diverse energy mix while making the best and cleanest use of existing fuels.
In a climate of declining supply, booming global demand and politically volatility, a more versatile alternative to energy supply and security has many advantages. Hydrogen offers the potential to decouple the geopolitics of fuel supply from growing energy demand. It can also play a key role in reducing our reliance on diminished supplies of fossil fuels, as hydrogen can be produced from a diverse range of sources. These include conventional hydrocarbons, biofuels, and as a byproduct of the chemical industry. Hydrogen can also be produced cleanly from the electrolysis of water using electricity from renewable or nuclear sources. In short, hydrogen can help to ensure that supply diversity is energy security.
Intelligent Energy is developing a range of clean fuel processing technologies to be key transition assets in the move to a more diverse range of energy sources, which can co-exist alongside hydrocarbons for the provision of energy in the 21st century.
Pictured below: Hestia fuel reformer
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Distributed generation of hydrogen
Producing hydrogen from a range of fuels on-site, where it is required for refuelling or power provision has the advantage of allowing energy suppliers to make maximum use of their existing fuelling infrastructures. They are able to offer hydrogen to their customers without the need for the high capital expenditure associated with central generation and pipeline construction costs.
Distributed hydrogen generation and clean fuel technologies, such as those developed by Intelligent Energy, will ensure that the increasing demand for hydrogen can be met in a manner that is both incremental and cost effective.
Pictured below: Compact hydrogen generators
Desulphurisation
Sulphur in fuel poisons catalysts, causes increased engine wear and is harmful to health. Further reduction of the contaminant at refineries is uneconomical.
Intelligent Energy is developing desulphurisation technologies which can provide solutions for the distributed and cost effective removal of sulphur from a range of fuels. These technologies enable fuels to be converted into pure hydrogen or used more cleanly in internal combustion engines.
Intelligent Energy has developed two parallel fuel desulphurisation technologies. They can work independently of each other, or concurrently, depending on requirements. The first membrane-based technology is a physical separation system designed to harvest a low-sulphur fuel stream from a bulk fuel feed. The second utilises an oxidation-based chemical separation system that also removes sulphur from a bulk fuel feed. The technology platforms can also be integrated to create a unified desulphurisation system.
NIST Advanced Technology Program case study
