Power+Energy (P+E) announced that it was awarded a contract to develop hydrogen separation membranes as part of a system for generating hydrogen from diesel fuel. The Phase II SBIR program, issued by the Office of Naval Research, will provide technology to the NAVSEA center located at the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Navy Yard.
Under this program, P+E will deliver components for the Navy's plan to utilize logistical diesel fuels as the feedstock for surface vessel shipboard PEM-based fuel cells. P+E will develop a compact, high-efficiency, sulfur-tolerant, hydrogen-separation membrane that should remove all impurities, including the carbon monoxide and sulfur, from the fuel stream. The system is intended to deliver the hydrogen needed to operate the shipboard fuel cells. The contract also calls for a hydrogen separation module with an output capacity of 50 kW of hydrogen.
