"I want to congratulate the Office of Naval Research, the Naval Facilities Engineering Command and Hoku Scientific. It is a partnership that I believe will pay great dividends to our nation's effort to reduce its dependence on oil."
- Senator Daniel Inouye, August 25, 2006
On August 25, 2006, Hoku Fuel Cells officially dedicated
the fuel cell power plants that will be demonstrated for
one year under contract for the U.S. Navy. In recognition
of the significance of this milestone a special ceremony
was held at the Greater Mid-Pacific Branch Office of the
Office of Naval Research at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Keynote
speeches were delivered by the Honorable Senator Daniel
Inouye and Captain Taylor Skardon, Chief of Staff, Navy
Region Hawaii. The highlight of the ceremony was the untying
of the ceremonial Hawaiian lei by Senator Inouye and Mr.
Dustin Shindo, CEO of Hoku Scientific.
Senator Daniel Inouye addresses the audience with (left
to right) Scott Paul, VP Business Development, Hoku Scientific,
Inc.
Captain Taylor Skardon, Chief of Staff, Navy Region Hawaii
and Ryan McCauley, Project Manager, Hoku Scientific, Inc.
Senator Inouye turns on the Fuel Cell Power Plant
Dustin Shindo, Karl Taft and Ryan McCauley with Hoku
Scientific, Inc. discuss the demonstration project
with honored guests (left to right) Captain Dennis Sorensen,
Assistant Chief of Naval Research for the Office of Naval
Research
Captain Clifford Maurer, Commanding Officer, NAVFAC Hawaii
and Captain Scott Gureck COMPACFLT Public Affairs Officer
You can also watch a video release by the U.S. Navy news service about the project at Pearl Harbor by clicking on the link below
• Navy Marine Corps News Fuel Cell Technology - July 15, 2006
Under U.S Navy contract, this Proton Exchange Membrane (“PEM”) Fuel Cell
Demonstration Project is designed as a technical validation of Hoku Scientific’s new membrane electrode assembly (“MEA”) which incorporates Hoku’s novel
non-fluorinated membrane for use in low operating temperature PEM fuel cells. The current industry standard membrane formulation for PEM fuel cell MEA’s is a
polytetrafluoroethylene (“PTFE”) based polymer. Although this formulation is the
industry standard, it does not meet the performance, durability or cost requirements that are necessary to enable widespread commercial adoption of PEM fuel cells, and their availability for Navy applications. This demonstration is designed to validate the Hoku MEA as an alternative to PTFE-based commercial MEAs in an operating fuel cell power plant which outputs a minimum of one kilowatt of power.
The key performance objective is to demonstrate a state-of-the-art
PEM fuel cell power plant that incorporates Hoku MEA within
IdaTech fuel cell stacks and integrated fuel cell systems.
Ten of these units have been installed at Pearl Harbor for
a one year field demonstration.
During the course of the demonstration the fuel cell power plants will power selected electrical circuits operating under various load conditions at two Pearl Harbor facilities, specifically the home of the NAVFAC Hawaii Navy Energy Team and Wastewater
Division, and the Greater Mid-Pacific Branch Office of the Office of Naval Research. The demonstration commenced mid-June 2006 and will continue through August of 2007.
During the prototype phase of the project, which began
in March, 2005, Hoku Scientific scaled its MEA from a single
cell at a size of 25cm² to a full stack over 400 times larger
than the single cell. In addition to the highly successfully
scaling of the Hoku MEA, it was observed that the MEA also
demonstrated performance levels comparable to industry standard
PTFE based MEAs.
Following successful scaling of the MEA a prototype fuel cell
power plant was built and tested using Hoku MEA. The power
plant surpassed the minimum 1kW net power output requirement
and delivered a full 1.5kW of power. This prototype has been
replicated in the construction of ten demonstration units
which serve as the testing platforms for Hoku MEA.
The fuel cell power plants each quietly generate approximately 1.5kW of net electrical output by reforming a water and methanol blended fuel into hydrogen which is fed to the fuel cell portion of the system. The fuel cell generates sufficient electrical power to run the system’s balance of plant (“BOP”) and produce 1.5kW of net power out.
The systems are self-sufficient and capable of operating without any supporting equipment or safety devices. A diagram which provides an overview of how the power plants operate is shown below.
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