ECOtality to Participate in Arizona Public Service Advanced Hydrogasification Project

ECOtality, Inc., a technology innovator that develops and commercializes eco-friendly technologies, announced today that it will participate in the Arizona Public Service (APS) Advanced Hydrogasification Project (AHP).

APS, Arizona’s largest public utility company, has previously received $8.9 million in funding for this pilot project from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The objective of this partnership is to investigate the use of Hydrality™ – an on-demand hydrogen production and storage technology – to support APS’ hydrogasification efforts to deliver “clean” electricity to the public.  The Hydrality testing is currently estimated to commence early 2008.

The AHP program is a collaborative project among APS and industry partners, including the DOE National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), to develop an economical process of producing substitute natural gas (SNG) from coal without the release of carbon dioxide, a known greenhouse gas. The APS project will use hydrogen to react with coal in a high temperature and pressure reaction that ultimately produces methane that can be injected into existing natural gas pipelines. Specifically aimed at supporting the AHP hydrogasification efforts, the project will conduct testing to evaluate the process kinetics and reactor dynamics of ECOtality’s Hydrality process for large-scale hydrogen production and storage applications.

“In the process of researching and developing the Hydrality technology, we have identified several additional applications for Hydrality that include stationary use, remote power, back-up power systems, and large scale industrial and utility use,” said Jonathan Read, president and CEO, ECOtality, Inc. “Our invitation to participate with APS and DOE/NETL in the AHP project expands the developmental scope of Hydrality beyond transportation into large-scale utility power applications.”

ECOtality’s Hydrality™ addresses the commercialization issues facing hydrogen fuel cell technologies by storing and producing hydrogen on-demand — using magnesium and water.  Hydrality is a proprietary technology of ECOtality that is currently being researched, developed and tested by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Arizona State University, Green Mountain Engineering and Airboss Aerospace, Inc.

[source: ECOtality]