[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 164 (Thursday, August 24, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50052-50054]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-14047]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy; Carbon 
Nanotubes for On-Board Hydrogen Storage Go/No-Go Decision

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of 
Energy (DOE).

ACTION: Notice of request for technical input to go/no-go decision.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (the Department or DOE), Hydrogen, 
Fuel Cells and Infrastructure Technologies Program, is requesting 
position papers or other technical documentation regarding carbon 
nanotubes for on-board hydrogen storage systems by September 15, 2006. 
This information will be used as part of DOE's go/no-go process in 
determining the future of applied research and development of carbon 
nanotubes for on-board hydrogen storage.

DATES: Written position papers or other technical documentation for 
consideration by the Department regarding this decision are welcome. 
Documents may be submitted via e-mail or as hard copies but must be 
received by September 15, 2006.

ADDRESSES: For hard copies, please submit 2 copies of all documents to: 
U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable 
Energy, Mail Station EE-2H, Attn: Dr. Sunita Satyapal, 1000 
Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585-0121. For e-mail 
submissions, send documents to

[[Page 50053]]

[email protected] and [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Sunita Satyapal, U.S. Department 
of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Mail 
Station EE-2H, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585-
0121, Phone: (202) 586-2336, e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The mission of the Department of Energy's 
Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and Infrastructure Technologies Program is to 
research, develop and validate fuel cell and hydrogen production, 
delivery, and storage technologies, such that hydrogen from diverse 
domestic resources will be used in a clean, safe, reliable and 
affordable manner in fuel cell vehicles, central station electric power 
production, distributed thermal electric, and combined heat and power 
applications. The President's Hydrogen Fuel Initiative, launched in 
2003, accelerates research, development and demonstration of hydrogen 
production, delivery and storage technologies to enable technology 
readiness. A critical requirement for achieving technology readiness is 
the development of on-board hydrogen storage systems with enough 
storage capacity to meet driving range expectations (more than 300 
miles in the United States), while meeting a number of requirements 
such as weight, volume and cost. Detailed technical targets developed 
by DOE, with input through the FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership, are 
available at: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells/mypp/pdfs/storage.pdf.
    The DOE Hydrogen Program initiated research to develop single wall 
carbon nanotubes as a storage medium for hydrogen in the early 1990s. 
At that time, the overall Program had limited resources and storage 
research and development (R&D) was limited to just a few material 
classes. Initial hydrogen capacity measurements on nanotubes had 
appeared promising, but some of these results were subsequently found 
not to be reproducible. Uncertainty in the performance of carbon 
nanotubes as a storage material grew as other research groups initiated 
their own efforts on this material and published hydrogen capacity 
results ranging from 0 to well over 6 wt.%. Importantly, the 
differences in hydrogen capacity could not be correlated with specific 
carbon nanotube synthesis methods or with various properties of the 
carbon nanotube structure. Although the number of publications and the 
worldwide level of effort on carbon nanotube R&D have continued to grow 
and important progress has been achieved, uncertainties remain 
concerning hydrogen storage capacity.
    Subsequent to the DOE's no-go decision for on-board fuel processing 
of gasoline in 2004 (see: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells/pdfs/committee_report.pdf), the strategy for 
fueling fuel cell vehicles shifted from an on-board reformer-based fuel 
system to the development of technologies and infrastructure to 
produce, store, and distribute hydrogen for on-board storage and use in 
direct-hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Development of viable on-board 
hydrogen storage systems became a critical element within the Program. 
Consequently, the hydrogen storage Program has greatly expanded and 
restructured into a ``National Hydrogen Storage Project'' including 
three Centers of Excellence and independent projects covering a diverse 
portfolio of hydrogen storage R&D. Each Center of Excellence is 
focusing on a class of storage materials--metal (reversible) hydrides, 
chemical hydrides (non-reversible) and carbon (and other hydrogen 
adsorbent) materials--and each has university, industry and national 
lab partners pursuing and leveraging their specific expertise in 
different areas. The Program has also expanded basic science efforts 
and coordination between DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and 
Renewable Energy and Office of Science (see www.hydrogen.energy.gov).
    Within the current storage sub-Program portfolio, there are a 
number of promising storage materials being studied which have the 
potential for hydrogen storage capacities comparable to, or greater 
than initially envisioned for carbon nanotubes. For example, modeling 
studies of metal-modified carbon fullerene structures suggest that they 
hold promise for achieving high hydrogen capacities. Non-carbon 
structures, such as metal-oxide frameworks, are also being pursued in 
the Center of Excellence for carbon-based materials. On-board hydrogen 
storage systems must be developed which are safe, low cost and have 
high volumetric and gravimetric energy capacities. Periodic assessments 
and decision points on specific material technologies are included 
within the hydrogen storage sub-Program to meet the required 
performance targets within the Program timeframe.
    The DOE will make a decision regarding the future of pure carbon 
nanotubes for on-board hydrogen storage activities within the Hydrogen, 
Fuel Cells and Infrastructure Technologies Program in October 2006. DOE 
will review the current state of carbon nanotube activities against 
technical criteria and base its pure carbon single-wall nanotube go/no-
go decision on an analysis of:
    (1) The technical progress to date on the demonstrated capacity for 
hydrogen storage in pure, undoped carbon single-walled nanotubes 
(SWNTs) and whether SWNTs have met the criterion of 6 weight percent 
hydrogen storage (on a materials basis) at room temperature, and
    (2) Whether a technically viable pathway exists to meet the 
original criterion of 6 weight percent at room temperature using either 
pure, undoped SWNTs or a ``hybrid'' approach (e.g., metal doped 
nanotubes).
    DOE will consider whether its 2007 or 2010 system targets can be 
met using available pure nanotube technology as demonstrated on the 
laboratory scale. A single system that meets all criteria 
simultaneously is desired; however, if integration with other 
technologies is needed to simultaneously meet all targets, the 
technologies must be compatible.
    DOE will also take into consideration input on the following:
    (1) Whether hydrogen adsorption in carbon nanotubes at low 
temperature (77 K) should be considered at this early stage of the DOE 
R&D Program (although the original criterion of 6 weight percent was at 
room temperature), and
    (2) Whether SWNTs may be used as model materials for fundamental 
research, theoretical simulation and an improved understanding of 
nanoscale hydrogen storage mechanisms and the interplay between factors 
such as charge/discharge efficiency, thermodynamics/kinetics 
considerations, and volumetric/gravimetric capacities.
    Position papers or other technical documents relevant to the go/no-
go decision will be accepted by DOE for consideration in this decision. 
Position papers are limited to 10 pages maximum, and should contain a 
cover page with a point of contact, company name, address and e-mail 
address. The cover page will not be counted in the 10 page limitation. 
Technical documents, such as published journal articles or preprints, 
are not restricted to the page limit. Position papers and other 
technical documents will be made available to the public and should not 
contain any proprietary information.
    For more information about the Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and 
Infrastructure Technologies Program and related on-board hydrogen 
storage activities visit the Program's Web site at

[[Page 50054]]

www.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells.

    Issued in Golden, CO on August 10, 2006.
Matthew A. Barron,
Acting Procurement Director, Golden Field Office.
 [FR Doc. E6-14047 Filed 8-23-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P