Fabian Kapp, Board Member at Graebener®, presented the utilization possibilities of fuel cells to the SPD district parliamentary group in their meeting on June 07, 2019. Among other fields of applications, the systems for the production of microstructure plates developed by Graebener® are also used in the production of fuel cells.
Fuel cells convert hydrogen into water, and the energy released in the process can be used in the form of electricity, e.g. in drive systems for car or in building services. In contrast to electric cars, hydrogen-powered cars only require small batteries, the production of which, however, has been getting increasingly controversial from an environmental point of view. "Due to the current lack of a hydrogen filling station infrastructure, the technology has not reached the broad market yet. However, this will change in the future. In Siegen, for example, the first hydrogen filling station in the district will be launched at the end of this month. There are currently approx. 90 filling stations in operation throughout Germany and over 40 in the process of being built. Others will follow", according to Kapp.
In addition to the obvious advantages of hydrogen cars - zero emissions, long range and fast refueling - Kapp also presented the possibilities of hydrogen transport. Hydrogen up to a concentration of 10 percent can be added to the natural gas and transported to the end consumer in the already existing natural gas networks, where it then will be separated from the gas mixture.
The faction members also enquired about the high energy demand for the production of hydrogen which among other things is also generated as "by-product" in the chemical industry. While this energy demand is quite high, hydrogen, however, is a much better energy store than batteries.
Faction Chairman Michael Sittler thanked Mr. Kapp for the clear information on this complex subject and promised that the faction would continue to address this issue during their consultations on the subject of "mobility of the future". However, he also pointed out that according to his opinion, environmental and transport problems could not be solved by switching "one-to-one" to just another system. "This requires a fundamental change in our mobility behavior, not just in the drive types," says Michael Sittler.
Picture (from the left): Michael Sittler, Anke Flender, Heiko Becker and Fabian Kapp
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