Hydrogen and its competitors, 2004

More documents

Recommendations

Info

18Risø Energy Report 3Hydrogen in the Danish energy system42001 the programme was cancelled. Its goal was to studythe use of hydrogen in a future Danish sustainableenergy system. Priority was given to pre-competitiveresearch and demonstration projects in hydrogen technologies,and the development and application of PEMfuel cells for stationary and mobile applications. The programmesupported 14 projects with a total budget of€4.8 million. The abrupt cancellation of the projectcaused temporary set back in R&D activities amongapplicants, especially small and medium sized technologyproviders.Over the years the National Energy Research Programmehas given priority to R&D in SOFCs. In the period 1998-2002 it supported 12 projects with a total budget of€10.95 million, which is more than half the total spenton Danish R&D in hydrogen and fuel cells. Other projectson hydrogen storage and networks have also beensupported through the National Energy Research Programmeand the Public Service Obligation funds.In 2002 the Research Councils launched an initiative tosupport centres of excellence, with the aim of promotingresearch across institutional and disciplinary boundaries.A centre of excellence entitled “Towards a HydrogenBased Society” was among the first of these institutionsto be founded, with a budget of €3 million. Towards aHydrogen Based Society deals with R&D in catalysis andhydrogen storage, plus small demonstration projects. Ithas a strong focus on fundamental research, and representsan important opportunity to boost basic researchin Denmark. At the same time it is promoting collaborationbetween basic and applied science groups, includingDanish industry.Danish involvement in international researchDanish researchers are well represented in European fuelcell R&D. In the period 1999-2002, Danish partners wererepresented in 9 out of 43 fuel cell projects supported bythe European Commission's Fifth Framework Programme(FP5) on Energy, Environment and SustainableDevelopment (EESP), and in many other EU projects(Table 2).In the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), Danish partnersare represented in four out of ten projects onhydrogen and six on fuel cells, including the projectsHySafe, Real-SOFC, Naturalhy and FURIM.Competitiveness of Danish researchThe competitiveness of Danish research in hydrogen andfuel cells can be measured in different ways. We can lookat both the “internal” quality of research (measuredthrough the so-called Merton values, which relate toscientific excellence, public good, universality etc.), andthe “external” quality (relevance to society and wealthcreation) [6]. No single approach to measuring researchquality is the correct one; instead we need to takeaccount of as many factors as possible, and try to understandthe links between science and economic activities[1].Citations are often used as an indicator of scientificquality [5]. Although this approach has many pitfalls,citation studies at national level give good insights intothe relative positions of nations in specific technologyareas.The success of emerging hydrogen energy technologiesdepends strongly on the scientific quality of the research,but also on the availability of development know-howand the investment needed to bring new ideas on themarket. One way to measure the practical application ofR&D is to study patent applications.An application for a patent indicates the existence ofTable 2: Overview of EU FP5 and other projects with Danish partners.Fifth Framework Programme (EESP) projectsOther EU projectsScale-up of the IP-SOFC to multi-tens of kW Level (MF-SOFC) (Risø)Component reliability in SOFC Systems for Commercial Operation (CORE-SOFC) (Risø, HaldorTopsøe A/S)Pressurized IP-SOFC (PIP-SOFC) (Risø)Integrated Researches on Materials, Technologies and Processes to Enhance MCFC (Rich Müller)50 kW PEM fuel cell generator for CHP and UPS applications (50PEM-HEAP) (IRD Fuel Cells A/S)High-temperature PEMFC Stack with Methanol Reforming (AMFC) (Technical University ofDenmark)Development of Low-cost, High-efficient PEMFC (APOLLON) (Technical University of Denmark)A 1kW DMFC Portable Power Generator (PORTAPOWER) (IRD Fuel Cells A/S)Thematic network on SOFC Technology (SOFCnet) (Risø)Advanced solid polymer fuel cells foroperation at temperatures up to200°C (Technical University ofDenmark)Ammonia Cracking (Risø)Synthesis, fabrication and characterisationof alternative anodes fordirect methane oxidation in SOFC(Risø)Advanced prediction, monitoringand controlling of anaerobic digestionprocesses behaviour towardsbiogas usage in fuel cells (Gascon)
Risø Energy Report 3Hydrogen in the Danish energy system 194Rank Country Total citations Total papers Average citations per paper1 USA 4420 713 6.22 Japan 1816 434 4.23 Germany 1420 258 5.54 England 1133 192 5.95 Canada 879 146 6.06 Italy 571 119 4.87 Denmark 393 45 8.78 Switzerland 362 44 8.29 South Korea 314 126 2.510 Sweden 299 76 3.9Table 3. Scientific papers and citations relating to fuel cell R&D, 1993-2003.Source: www.esi-topics.com/fuelcells/index.html.new knowledge that may have an economic return. Thegranting of a patent gives legal recognition to theinventor, who in return must publish the nature of theinvention. The inventor's knowledge, and ultimatelymarket share, is protected for a limited period of time –normally 20 years [9]. The requirement to publish theinvention can be a commercial drawback, so that companiesmay prefer to rely on secrecy [2]. And patents areoften used in a negative way, to exclude competitorsfrom large areas of research. However, patent analysis ona sufficiently large scale is a good way to learn abouttrends in R&D.Competitiveness in fuel cell technologyIn fuel cell technology Denmark scores relatively high oninternal and external research quality measured throughcitations (scientific excellence) and patents (businessdevelopment).Denmark was among the top ten nations in fuel cellresearch during the period 1993-2003, with 393 citationsto 45 scientific papers. As Table 3 shows, Denmark'saverage of 8.7 citations per paper is above the figure of6.2 for the USA, which tops the list for the total numberof citations. Note that these averages may conceal ratherlarge variations between individual papers, especiallysince the number of Danish papers is relatively low.Risø National Laboratory scored even better than theDanish average, with 270 citations from 24 papers,giving an average of 11.3 citations per paper. Thisimpressive result is down to the priority given to SOFCresearch over many years of Danish national R&Dfunding, as well as Risø's long-term collaboration withoutstanding partners abroad.The fuel cell industry being young, patents are importantin establishing market positions. The global picture offuel cell patents in the periods 1991-2000 and 2001-2003shows an exponential growth in the number of patentsfiled.The top patenting nations are Japan, the USA andGermany, but Denmark also appears on the world list. Adetailed study of Danish patents on fuel cells reveals thatDanish assignees filed 28 patents in the period 1991-2003. Table 4 compares the Danish patents with thosefrom France and the UK. It is interesting to note that theDanish assignees include universities and research andtechnology institutes as well as companies large (HaldorTopsøe, Danfoss, Vaillant), medium (Oticon) and small(IRD Fuel Cells, Danacell, Danish Power System).Although Danish research institutes and companies arewell positioned at global level in selected technologyareas, and even better when normalised to a per capitabasis, it is also obvious that the numbers of Danish citationsand patents are small when viewed in a globalcontext. This leaves the Danish R&D community with achallenge: to acquire the critical mass needed to takeadvantage of the skill and talent that undoubtedly existsin Denmark.Danish fuel cell researchers have for many years beeninvolved in larger research communities, especially inEurope and often in the context of the EU's FrameworkProgrammes for research. In industry too, both large andsmall companies have strategic alliances in fuel cell R&D.Haldor Topsøe A/S, for instance, has recently begun acollaboration with the Finnish company Wärtsilä on fuelcells with power outputs of around 200 kW fordistributed power generation and marine applications.In 2002 another Danish company, IRD Fuel Cell A/S,signed a co-operation agreement to develop and manufacturefuel cells and components for the “home energycentre”, a domestic-scale CHP system being developedby European Fuel Cell GmbH in Germany (source:www.fuelcelltoday.com).Towards a national research strategy forhydrogen technologiesDanish energy research is an example of how the interplaybetween research communities, industry andsociety at large can reach a consensus on research strate-
Page 1 and 2: Risø National Laboratory November
Page 3 and 4: Risø Energy Report 3Hydrogen and i
Page 5: Risø Energy Report 3Preface 31Pref
Page 8 and 9: 6Risø Energy Report 3Summary, conc
Page 11 and 12: Risø Energy Report 3Hydrogen in Eu
Page 19: Risø Energy Report 3Hydrogen in th
Page 23 and 24: Risø Energy Report 3Hydrogen in th
Page 25 and 26: Risø Energy Report 3Hydrogen syste
Page 27 and 28: Risø Energy Report 3Technologies f
Page 33 and 34: Risø Energy Report 3Hydrogen stora
Page 39 and 40: Risø Energy Report 3Hydrogen conve
Page 45 and 46: Risø Energy Report 3Hydrogen for t
Page 47 and 48: Risø Energy Report 3Hydrogen for t
Page 49 and 50: Risø Energy Report 3Hydrogen in po
Page 55 and 56: Risø Energy Report 3Hydrogen infra
Page 57: Risø Energy Report 3Hydrogen infra
Page 60 and 61: 58Risø Energy Report 3Hydrogen and
Page 66 and 67: 64Risø Energy Report 3Hydrogen saf
Page 69: Risø Energy Report 3Index 677Index
Page 72 and 73:
70Risø Energy Report 3References81
Page 74:
72Risø Energy Report 3References81
show all

Hydrogen and its competitors, 2004

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?