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Japan converting sewage to fuel cars

Technology to make hydrogen from biogas advancing

By Julie Makinen, Los Angeles Times
Published: August 6, 2016, 8:02pm

FUKUOKO, Japan — When Mutsuro Yuji, chief of the central sewage plant in this southern Japanese city, first heard about the idea of making hydrogen from biogas — the combination of methane and carbon dioxide produced by the breakdown of organic matter — he was skeptical. “I thought it was a joke,” he said.

But after a $12 million investment from Japan’s government, plus research, engineering, design and building work by Mitsubishi, Toyota and Kyushu University, Yuji is no longer laughing. Starting late last year, drivers of vehicles such as the Toyota Mirai and Honda Clarity have been able to drive up to the sewage plant and power up their hydrogen fuel cell cars.

The station is working only 12 hours a day but is making enough hydrogen to fill 65 cars daily. That could increase to 600 if all the biogas at the plant is used.

After years of fits and starts, Japan is in the midst of a major push to move hydrogen-powered cars off the drawing board. The government this year doubled its funding for fuel cell vehicle subsidies, construction of filling stations and hydrogen energy farms to about $280 million, up from $120 million last year. Meanwhile, carmakers are preparing to make more zero-emission vehicles.

The effort could have profound ripple effects in California, which with Japan and Germany is one of the first places in the world where interest in hydrogen fuel cells and investment in infrastructure look to be approaching a level where the technology could be commercially viable.

After years of debate about which should come first, the cars or the stations to support them, the numbers of both are mushrooming. Japan now has about 80 stations, Germany has 50, and California has 20.

In the U.S., most hydrogen is produced from natural gas. But a 2014 study by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory found that biogas from waste water treatment plants, landfills, manure and industrial facilities could be used as a major source of hydrogen — enough to support 11 million fuel cell vehicles a year.

“Sewage sludge is completely untapped today as a fuel source,” said Yoshikazu Tanaka, chief engineer of the Toyota Mirai. “We believe it’s very promising and would bring ultimate self-sustainability to communities.”

California is one of the most biogas-rich states in the nation, and Los Angeles in particular is well positioned to tap this resource, the Renewable Energy Laboratory’s study indicated.

Presumably because of its size, Los Angeles ranked as the top county in the nation in terms of potential to produce hydrogen from landfills. (Orange County was No. 2) Los Angeles was also rated No. 1 in terms of its potential to generate hydrogen from biogas at industrial and commercial facilities ranging from meat-packing plants to hospitals, universities and even jails. The city was ranked No. 2 in the nation in potential to produce hydrogen from sewage plants.

Californians are adopting hydrogen fuel cell cars faster than initially expected, the state’s Air Resources Board said in a report last year. The state is expected to have 10,500 fuel cell cars by the end of 2018 and 34,000 by the end of 2021, twice as many as anticipated in a 2014 study. About 20,000 of those will be in Los Angeles and Orange counties in California.

Toyota started offering the Mirai last fall and has sold about 1,000 in Japan and 200 in California, Tanaka said. The company has already received more than 2,000 orders in the U.S., and Americans who reserve vehicles now will have to wait until 2017 to get them. There’s an even bigger backlog in Japan. Honda and South Korean automaker Hyundai are also selling fuel cell vehicles in California.

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