Air Products' Hydrogen Station Now Fueling Flint Fuel Cell Bus
FLINT -- A hydrogen fueling station in downtown Flint, built by Lehigh Valley, Pa.-based Air Products (NYSE: APD), is now fueling the Flint Mass Transportation Authority's hydrogen fuel cell powered bus now in service for riders. Air Products built the fueling station and infrastructure as part of MTA's alternative fuels test program.
"We have had successful involvement and taken a leadership position in hydrogen fueling for mass transit," said Bob Kelly, business development manager for hydrogen energy systems at Air Products. "We congratulate Flint's MTA for seeking this zero emission form of transportation and participating in the increasing trend in the evolution of mass transit that we see nationally."
Kelly also noted this Flint hydrogen fueling station is not the company's first in the state as it has, and continues, to provide hydrogen fueling and infrastructure for several of the automobile companies in Michigan.
At the site, Air Products is supplying its hydrogen compression, storage and dispensing technology to fuel the bus with hydrogen produced from a PEM (proton exchange membrane) electrolyzer provided by Proton OnSite. Details on Air Products' portfolio of hydrogen fueling station technologies are provided at www.airproducts.com/h2energy.
Air Products has a proven global record of providing reliable fueling systems in working with the mass transit industry. Some of this work includes: a mobile hydrogen fueling system for fuel cell powered buses on the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District bus system in the San Francisco Bay Area in California (2011, 2010); commissioning a fueling station in London to fuel a fleet of five hydrogen buses as part of the Transport for London Project (2010), and the same station will fuel the first fleet of London hydrogen taxis planned for 2012; and fueling a fleet of more than 50 hydrogen fuel cell shuttle-bus vehicles that transported athletes and government officials at the Asian Games and Asian Para Games in Guangzhou City, China (2010). The China project was similar to Air Products filling hydrogen buses at a fueling station in the Beijing Hydrogen Park during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, which marked the first demonstration project for new-energy vehicles in China.
The company has placed more than 150 hydrogen fueling stations in the United States and 19 countries worldwide. Cars, trucks, vans, buses, scooters, forklifts, locomotives, planes, cell towers, material handling equipment, and even submarines have been fueled with trend-setting technologies that involve Air Products' know-how, equipment and hydrogen. Use of the company's technology is increasing and is currently over 350,000 hydrogen fills per year.
Air Products has more than 50 years of hydrogen experience and is on the forefront of hydrogen energy technology development. Air Products has an extensive patent portfolio with over 50 patents in hydrogen dispensing technology. Air Products provides liquid and gaseous hydrogen, and HCNG (hydrogen/compressed natural gas) fueling, and has developed a variety of enabling devices and protocols for fuel dispensing at varied pressures. Hydrogen for these stations can be delivered to a site via truck, produced by natural gas reformation, biomass conversion, or by electrolysis, including electrolysis that is solar and wind driven.
More at www.airproducts.com.
