Developing a Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Integrated R&D Platform in Romania

1. Hydrogen Developing a Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Integrated R&D Platform in Romania Dr. Vasile STANCIU Dr. Roxana Elena LAZAR ICSI Rm. Valcea Brussels, 20 May 2005

2. Outline of presentation • The Romanian Paltform for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells • New launched research programme • New project proposals

3. The Romanian Paltform for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells . • In November 2004, the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research promoted the Sectorial Plan of Research & Development which aims are the support of Romanian economy competitiveness and the preparing of integrating in the European research space and accessing EU. • “Developing a Hydrogen and Fuel Cells R&D Integrated Platform” was one of the Sectorial Plan projects. The financial support, of 351,000 €, is provided by the Ministry of Education and Research – 270,000 €, and by the partners themselves – 81,000 €.

4. Platform Coordination • Managed by National R&D Institute for Cryogenics and Isotopic Technologies – ICIT Rm. Valcea. • The platform it is networking nine R&D organizations acting in the area of Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in Romania, in order to develop the Romanian capabilities in this domain and to reach the level permitting the connection with the European HFP • The partners of the consortium are both public entities (national R&D institutes and universities) and private companies.

5. The project is based on Hydrogen and Fuel Cells researches and technological capabilities already achieved by the partners in other National R&D Programs, as MENER (Environment, Energy and Resources Program) or CERES (Fundamental Research of Social, Economical and Cultural Interest Program). Those activities made feasible an experimental-demonstrative pilot plant for energy conversion using hydrogen PEM fuel cells which building started in ICIT Rimnicu Vilcea in 2002 and finished in 2004. • There were also started researches on Solid Oxide Fuel Cells by National R&D Institute for Electrical Engineering-Advanced Research - ICPE-CA Bucharest and ICEMENERG SA Bucharest, mainly regarding preparation and characterization of ceramic materials for medium temperature SOFC.

6. Main objectives • To ascertain the scientific and technological capabilities of the partners involved in the area of Hydrogen and Fuel Cells • To determine the directions of the future development in this domain, in connection with the European strategy • To increase the national scientific and technological capabilities in hydrogen and fuel cells • To increase the national and European platform visibility

7. Management and Co-ordination Equipment renewal & upgrade Common strategic issues Prepare joint RTD proposals in the frame of FP7 Systematic exchange of information and best practice between partners Implement joint activities Disseminate the research results The Platform Main Activities

8. CHALLENGES Hydrogen production via reforming The main objectives are: obtaining and characterization of some performance reforming catalysts; designing of a membrane reformer which is achieving the simultaneous generation and separation of hydrogen, permitting the hydrogen purification unit to be cancelled and lowering the reaction temperature. Hydrogen purification The main objectives are: obtaining and characterization of microporous inorganic membranes as competitive substitutes for costly palladium membranes. Hydrogen storage on metal hydrides The main objectives are: increasing the storage capacity by: designing of some alloys systems on the base of transition metal (Ti, Zr) and/or alkaline metal (specially Mg with additives from the Fe group); the improvement of the obtaining method for micro and nano-crystalline powdery materials; kinetics studies of H2 absorption; safety issues.

9. CHALLENGES Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell The main objectives are: synthesis and experimental characterization of membrane electrode ensemble for proton exchange membrane fuel cells; design, modeling and experimental study of a H2/Air PEM fuel cell stack; development of a coupled system, hydrogen storage unit-fuel cells stack, used in mobile and stationary applications; optimizing the gas and water economy. Solid Oxide Fuel Cell The main objectives are: obtaining of ceramic materials for anode (cermets from Ni and ZrO2 stabilized with Y2O3 (Ni-YSZ)) and for cathode (La1-x(Sr, Ca)MnO3) where x = 0,2 – 0,6; processing and characterization of oxide materials for medium temperature SOFC (7000C –8000C).

10. Project stages • The first stage of the project ascertained the scientific and technological capabilities of the partners in the mentioned R&D lines and outlined their needs in order to connect their activity with the European efforts and achievements in this field • The second stage of the project will increase the technological capabilities of the partners by renewing and up-grading their scientific and technological equipments. • The third stage of the project deals with: • - Consolidation and improvement of the professional skills and communication opportunities offered to the researchers by training programs and workshops. Two courses, addressed to young scientists, MSc and PhD students, one on Hydrogen generation and storage technologies, and one on computational modeling of fluid dynamics in energy systems and optimization of MEA, are organized by ICIT Rimnicu Vilcea and “Politehnica” University Bucharest. A Workshop on Hydrogen and Fuel Cells, organized by the same entities, will proceed within The International Conference on Energy and Environment- CIEM 2005 in Bucharest. • - Increasing the national and European platform visibility by preparing the project website under present ICIT web portal and creating a database covering the Hydrogen & Fuel Cells related organisations in Romania.

11. New launched research programme • A new Research of Excellence Programme will be launched on 1st June 2005 by the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research • One of the main research domain will be the energy: • - Hydrogen and Fuel Cells; • - Renewable electricity generation; • - Renewables for heating and cooling; • - CO2 capture and storage technologies for zero • emission power generation; • - Smart energy netwarks; • - Energy efficiency and savings.

12. Main activities in the new project proposals • Hydrogen production using a membrane reformer for PEM applications. The membrane reformer will achieve the simultaneous generation and separation of hydrogen, permitting the hydrogen purification unit to be cancelled and lowering the reaction temperature. • Developing a complementary system for power generation using fuel and solar cells. • Synthesis and experimental characterization of membrane electrode ensemble for proton exchange membrane fuel cells. New materials.

13. Hydrogen End of Presentation THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!