Cruising towards a greener future

Professor Rex Harris, the university’s honorary professor of material science believes passionately in the importance of developing alternative fuels: “There’s no question that the oil is running out. We need to wean ourselves off oil and diesel, and I think the sooner the better. We need to find an alternative and I believe hydrogen provides such an alternative.”

Rex envisages a future in which there are hydrogen generation and refuelling stations beside the canals: “If only a small percentage of the boats on the canal system converted, it could be a viable business. This is a clean, practical and safe technology.”

Practical applications

Rex came up with the idea for the Ross Barlow project as a way to demonstrate that his department’s work on energy from hydrogen had practical applications. He says: “A boat is ideal for hydrogen power because you have to squeeze the hydrogen into a small space, which makes it heavy. In a boat, you can turn this to your advantage and use it as ballast, whereas for something like a car you would have to develop lightweight stores. Also, the Worcester & Birmingham Canal runs right through the university!

“We approached British Waterways and told them what we wanted to do, and they were extremely helpful. They initially loaned us the boat, which was surplus to requirements for them, and later sold it to us. We named it the Ross Barlow after a student of mine who worked on the conversion of the boat and was tragically killed in a hang-gliding accident in 2005.”

Hydrogen fuel cell

The system on the boat consists of a combination of a large stack of lead/acid batteries and a fuel cell which is powered by around 4kg of hydrogen, stored in stainless-steel tubes containing a metal hydride powder. This hydrogen is released to the fuel cell simply by lowering the pressure. The batteries are used to power the electric motor and the fuel cell provides electricity to re-charge the batteries. Whereas it takes around 36 hours to fully charge the batteries from the mains, the metal hydride store can be fully charged with cylinder hydrogen in less than two hours and a big advantage is that no charge is lost when the system is not in use.

It is hoped that, in the future, large scale, canal-side electrolysers, which split water to create oxygen and hydrogen, could provide the means of generating and refuelling with hydrogen throughout the waterways system.

There are, of course, obstacles to be overcome before this is likely to happen: “At the moment it’s a bit of a chicken and egg situation – if boats don’t convert to this technology, then there will be no infrastructure put in place for generation and refuelling, but without the infrastructure, the boats won’t convert. Someone has to break that impasse.”

Green boating for the future

However, Rex believes that there are good prospects for the technology because of its practical, as well as environmental, advantages: “This boat is a beautiful microcosm of society – we have to stop wasting energy and polluting and it shows how we can do that.

“The hydrogen store and fuel cell are still going strong in their fourth year. We predict they will last 45 years, so they will outlast the boat. It’s a capital investment. Obviously it costs money, but the cost will come down as it becomes more popular, as we have seen with solar panels.

“If it is handled correctly, hydrogen is safer than propane or butane. If there is proper ventilation, hydrogen will disperse. Of course, you have to take care, but that is the same with any fuel, even with gas for cooking. Plus, in a confined space, such as a lock, or going through a city, you don’t get the build-up of diesel fumes.

“The canals started off being green, with the horse-drawn boat, and my dream is that they end up being green again with the fuel cell.”

Last updated: 19/09/2011