Automotive Engineering - November/December 2021 - 27

Innovating
the methanol
FUEL
CELL
Industrializing the
manufacturing process is
key to getting fuel cells into
scale production. Shown is
methanol FC stack assembly
at Blue World Technologies.
Using methanol as the source fuel provides an alternative to a gaseous-hydrogen
distribution and storage infrastructure, among other potential benefits.
by John Kendall
W
hile there are technological hurdles still
to overcome, the hydrogen fuel cell remains
an attractive source of electricity
generation, particularly for the heavyduty
transport sector currently dominated by diesel
power. Daimler and the Volvo Group entered a joint
venture to produce fuel cells systems last year. Toyota
and PACCAR are collaborating. General Motors and
Stellantis each are launching production fuel-cellpowered
delivery vans and many other OEMs are involved
in programs to develop the technology further
for commercial transport applications.
Refueling with pressurized gaseous hydrogen is one
of the issues that would need to be resolved, requiring
a distribution and storage infrastructure that might
need building from the ground up. One possible alternative
would be to use methanol (CH3OH) as the source
fuel. Using a reformer, liquid methanol could be split
into a hydrogen-rich gas that would feed the fuel cell.
The reforming process would release greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions, but if the methanol is produced
from renewable sources - renewable electricity with
atmospheric carbon dioxide, or carbon dioxide from
biomass, or landfill sites for instance - the well-towheel
cycle should be carbon-neutral.
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
Methanol is already produced, stored and transported in industrial
quantities and its handling requirements are widely understood, advocates
note. As a liquid, it could be readily distributed through the
current diesel and gasoline road-fuel infrastructure, assuming a gradual
transition away from fossil fuels. This would solve one of the big
problems facing fueling with hydrogen gas. It could also address the
infrastructure challenges, requiring no significant additional infrastructure,
with just the modifications required for handling methanol
at current gasoline and diesel refueling and storage sites.
This is loosely the strategy being pursued by the Danish company
Blue World Technologies. The company's senior management has
been involved in fuel cell research for more than 20 years.
Newfound efficiency gains
Commercial, military and aerospace fuel cells have been around for
many decades and have been explored in various ways, Blue World
Technologies co-founder and CEO Anders Korsgaard told SAE Media.
" We also worked with conventional hydrogen fuel cells for the first
five years of our professional career, back in the late '90s and early
2000s. But we decided to focus our attention on e-fuels, and basically
liquid e-fuels that would all solve the market barriers associated
with a gaseous fuel, " he said.
The technology associated with fuel cells dating back to the 1990s
was the low-temperature Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) 'stack.'
November/December 2021 27
ADVANCED PROPULSION FEATURE
BLUE WORLD TECHNOLOGIES
Automotive Engineering - November/December 2021

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