Future Fuels™

Researchers may one day light up scoreboards like South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier’s offense. Well, not exactly – hydrogen fuel cells are not in the Head Ball Coach’s playbook.

Hydrogen buzz
But University researchers are drawing up a variety of options for alternative energy uses—exploring powering the scoreboards at South Carolina’s athletic venues, cars, homes, and even entire cities. In the future, you might see hydrogen-fueled Segway personal transporters whizzing around Innovista and the rest of campus.

Old partners, new faces
The University of South Carolina has been at the vanguard of hydrogen and future fuels research for decades, creating cleaner energy options that reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Home to the nation’s only National Science Foundation-funded Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Fuel Cells, the University partners with more than 15 private companies, including General Motors, Boeing, BASF, John Deere, LG Electronics, and the Savannah River National Laboratory.

Columbia and the University have become established players in the Hydrogen Economy, having recruited prestigious researcher Kenneth Reifsnider from the Connecticut Global Fuel Cell Center at the University of Connecticut. In covering that development, The New York Times recently reported that South Carolina was the leading national force in driving research and making the Hydrogen Economy a reality.

Another key addition is Brian Benicewicz, an expert in both fuel cells and nanotechnology, from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. Benicewicz will hold the endowed chair at the Center of Economic Excellence for Polymer Nanocomposite Research and will build on the University's existing partnership with BASF through his own connections to the chemical industry giant.

The center of attention
The University and city have jointly formed a Fuel Cell Collaborative as part of the Greater Columbia Fuel Cell Challenge. The initiative promotes Columbia as a world leader in hydrogen development, seeking technology applications and demonstrations such as powering scoreboards and Segways.

One of the payoffs is the construction of one of the first hydrogen fueling stations in the Southeast, in the city's downtown Fuel Cell District. A new hydrogen fuel cell-powered bus will make its service debut in Columbia in 2009, working as part of the local transit authority's and University's bus fleets.

A year of service, testing, and demonstration for the bus will culminate in the National Hydrogen Association's annual conference in Columbia in spring 2009. The city previously co-hosted the second annual Korea-USA Joint Symposium on Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Technologies in 2007.

Funding is considerable and disparate: $11 million in approved state funds since 2003-04 for four hydrogen fuel cell-focused research centers, including one for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells, that Reifsnider will head; $6 million from the U.S. Department of Energy for chemical engineering research on 3-D computer design of fuel cells and structures; and $400,000 from economic development council EngenuitySC for wet-lab space in the new Horizon Center.

Future Fuels™ Links

Applied Research Center: Hydrogen
Savanna River National Laboratory-backed collaborative fosters innovation by advancing research and application of hydrogen technologies

College of Engineering and Computing

EngenuitySC
Public-private partnership nurtures knowledge-based economy

Fuel Cell South
Nonprofit government-academic-industry collaborative supporting the regional fuel cell and hydrogen marketplace

Future Fuels™/Intellectual Property
Briefs on 20 Future Fuel and energy technologies

Future Fuels™ Research
University’s alternative-energy research initiatives

Greater Columbia Fuel Cell Challenge
Promoting city for technology applications and demonstrations

Korea-USA Fuel Cell Symposium
Joint University-Korea Institute of Energy Research conference on hydrogen fuel cells

NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Fuel Cells
Nation’s only NSF-funded industry-university center

Savannah River National Laboratory
Applied R&D laboratory specializing in hydrogen storage

SC Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Alliance
Public-private collaborative advancing commercialization of technologies

Hydrogen & Economic Development: The State newspaper
Three-part series, March 25-27, 2007, on hydrogen and economic development
(5.4MB PDF – Opens in a new browser window)