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This report covers efforts by the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute (HNEI) of the University of Hawaii under the ONR-funded HEET Initiative that addresses critical technology needs for exploration/utilization of seabed methane hydrates, development/testing of advanced fuel cells and fuel cell systems, an expanded effort on fuel processing and purification, and a new task addressing testing and evaluation of alternate energy sources, with initial activities in testing of heat exchangers for ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC), grid storage, and photovoltaics. In addition to work involving fuel cell testing, HNEI also participated in fuel cell development activities, including efforts in support of biocarbon fuel cells and the development of enzymatic bio-fuel cells.

This report covers efforts by the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute of the University of Hawaii under the ONR-funded HEET Initiative that addresses critical technology needs for exploration/utilization of seabed methane hydrates and development/testing of advanced fuel cells and fuel cell systems. Methane hydrates work included: hydrate thermochemistry and kinetics; environmental impacts of methane release from seafloor hydrates; hydrate engineering applications; and international collaborative R&D. For fuel cells accomplishments included: test stand and infrastructure upgrades to the Hawaii Fuel Cell Test Facility; work on understanding the S02 contamination mechanism and S02 contamination recovery; preliminary testing of Protonex H2/air stacks under pure oxygen in support of NUWC; and fuel contamination efforts via a Modelica model which worked with previous experimental results of CO poisoning. Fuel processing and purification work included testing of a reverse-vortex-flow non-thermal plasma reactor to study methane reforming. Further work was also carried out with novel fuel cell concepts including biocarbons and bio-fuel cells.

This report covers efforts by the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute of the University of Hawaii under the ONR-funded HEET Initiative that addresses critical technology needs for exploration/utilization of seabed methane hydrates and development/testing of advanced fuel cells and fuel cell systems. Methane hydrates work included: hydrate thermochemistry and kinetics; environmental impacts of methane release from seafloor hydrates; hydrate engineering applications; and international collaborative R&D. In the fuel cell area, accomplishments included: addition of three fuel cell test stands to the Hawaii Fuel Cell Test Facility; modifications to allow stack testing; study of performance impacts of contaminants in anode and cathode feed streams; and upgrading of the dynamic HiL test stand and associated simulation. For the hydrogen production area, efforts were focused on sulfur removal from fuel gas plus reforming activities that included testing with a catalytic autothermal reformer and two different plasma arc reactors. Further work was also carried out with novel fuel cell concepts including biocarbons and bio-fuel cells., The original document contains color images. All DTIC reproductions will be in black and white.

This report covers efforts by the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute of the University of Hawaii under the ONR-funded HEET Initiative that addresses critical technology needs for exploration/utilization of seabed methane hydrates and development/testing of advanced fuel cells and fuel cell systems. Methane hydrates work included: laboratory and analytical investigations of hydrate destabilization phenomena; characterization of the microbial community in marine hydrate beds; development of models to predict the fate of methane released from the seafloor into the water column; and the promotion of international R&D partnerships. In the fuel cell area, accomplishments included: addition of two fuel cell test cells to the Hawaii Fuel Cell Test Facility; improved capabilities for fuel/oxodizer impurity testing; and improved performance of the dynamic HiL test stand. Under the hydrogen production area, efforts were focused on sulfur removal from fuel gas and construction of a reformer system for seafloor methane work. Further work was also carried out with novel fuel cell concepts including biocarbons and bio-fuel cells., Prepared in cooperation with Hawaii Natural Energy Institute and with DJW Technology, LLC. The original document contains color images. All DTIC reproductions will be in black and white.

This report summarizes work conducted by the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute of the University of Hawaii under the Hawaii Energy and Environmental Technologies (HEET) Initiative funded through the Office of Naval Research. This initiative focused on critical technology needs associated with the exploration and utilization of seabed methane hydrates and the development and testing of advanced fuel cells and fuel cell systems. The efforts in methane hydrates comprised four primary components: laboratory and analytical investigations of hydrate destabilization phenomena, characterization of the microbial community in marine hydrate beds, engineering development of subsea power generation systems utilizing seafloor methane, and promotion of international R&D partnerships. In the fuel cell area, the major accomplishment was the addition of three new fuel cell test cells to the Hawaii Fuel Cell Test Facility to augment existing capabilities to include fuels purity studies and hardware-in-the-loop testing. In addition, simulation work encompassed evaluation of a fuel cell energy/power system for propulsion of an unmanned underwater vehicle.