Fuel cells could be providing inexpensive electricity to businesses and even homes by 2010, but at least initially they won't be fueled by hydrogen extracted from water.

Instead, researchers and manufacturers are rapidly developing fuel cells designed to use hydrogen found in substances that the technology is supposed to carry the country away from: fossil fuels.

This, they say, is a path that will kick-start advancements in the technology and bridge the gap to a future where many predict clean energy from fuel cells will create a hydrogen economy.

Researchers at the University of Houston and elsewhere are leading the hydrocarbon charge by finding ways for solid-oxide fuel cells -- which operate at a blistering 2,000 degrees -- to run at 900 degrees or lower.

In turn, such fuel cells could be housed in inexpensive materials such as stainless steel instead of pricey exotic metals or ceramics, making them much more affordable to use in products.

"We expect that to reduce the cost significantly," said Alex Ignatiev of the Texas Center for Superconductivity and Advanced Materials at the UH campus, where he and his team of researchers are developing "cool" solid-oxide fuel cell technology.

Ignatiev said it's also possible to use fossil fuels such as natural gas directly with solid-oxide fuel cells, rather than through a catalyst or reformer where the hydrogen is extracted.

Homes and businesses routinely have access to natural gas, so "the infrastructure is already there," Ignatiev said.

Fuel cells are considered the world's future energy source as they can efficiently and cleanly produce electricity combining hydrogen, the most common element in the universe, with oxygen. Hydrogen is found in fossil fuels, plant materials and water. The process of extracting hydrogen from water is still very expensive, so Ignatiev and others champion using natural gas as an alternative until the process is affordable and routine.

"In the interim stage, solid-oxide fuel cells will work beautifully with hydrocarbons," Ignatiev said. "Anywhere you want to use electricity you can use this."

UH, in a partnership with NASA, is applying superconductor technology to create a key component in the fuel cell -- the "electrolyte" layer -- that's only one-micron thick, or about one-hundredth the thickness of a human hair.

The ultra-thin layer allows UH's fuel cell to create electricity at the lower temperatures, Ignatiev said.

Researchers at Northwestern University, CalTech, Georgia Tech and Siemens Westinghouse are using different methods than UH and are also bringing the heat to similar levels.

Siemens has been researching fuel cells for 40 years and is banking short-term on the solid-oxide fuel cells using natural gas.

"It could definitely serve as a bridge to a future hydrogen-based economy," said Ken Arichio of Siemens.

The New York-based company is developing solid-oxide fuel cell systems targeting commercial and military use. It already has large commercial units available, and it expects to have its next-generation products on the market by 2008 that can run on natural gas.

Analysts have long been pessimistic about when fuel cells will start to be commonplace. But the latest developments are raising eyebrows.

"It's a big deal," said Dan Benjamin, a senior analyst with ABI Research in New York on the reduced temperatures being found. His firm analyzes high-tech industries, including the emerging fuel cell market.

Benjamin, who monitors developments in the fuel cell arena, said recent breakthroughs in technology make it possible they could soon become more common in the marketplace.

"The fuel cell industry has a history of over-promising and under-delivering," Benjamin said. "But I wouldn't want to doubt it."

Ignatiev said he believes in five years fuel cell products using the technology will start to become available, including units the size of a two-drawer filing cabinet that are capable of powering a standard home.

And Ignatiev also believes the units, once mass-produced, will cost about $5,000 and create electricity at nearly twice the efficiency and at half the price as a local utility.

The Department of Energy calls fuel cells "the cleanest and most efficient technologies for generating electricity from fossil fuels."

When natural gas or other fossil fuels are used, fuel cells still produce some carbon dioxide -- a harmful greenhouse gas -- but because there is no combustion, carbon monoxide is eliminated. Fuel cell systems designed to use hydrogen directly only emit water vapor.

Ignatiev believes a hydrogen-based economy -- where hydrogen is readily available for use in cars and personal electronic devices and to power cities _"is far away into the future."

Automakers' hopes

Automakers are scrambling to make fuel-cell-powered cars, but are focused on a technology called proton exchange membrane that is not designed to work with fossil fuels and will instead require a massive infrastructure of hydrogen refueling stations.

Current prototype cars cost up to $1 million apiece, according to the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a Washington-based advocacy and lobbying group for nine major automakers.

Making such a car affordable is the Holy Grail to automakers, which have no interest in bridging the technological divide by using hydrocarbons to activate fuel cells, said Eron Shosteck, a spokesman for the alliance.

Solid oxide fuel cells advocates see that as a mistake.

"Before we have that perfected, let's use hydrocarbons," Ignatiev said.

Source: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News