Oil and gas companies have announced plans to develop a commercially viable hydrogen filling station infrastructure across Japan by 2015 - the year in which Toyota has pledged to sell its first hydrogen fuel-cell powered car.
Toyota's Fine-S fuel-cell supercar concept
The energy companies believe they can produce hydrogen gas and distribute it through existing pipelines at a cost that's comparable to the price of petrol, and field trials will begin soon.
In another recent but not widely reported development, Toyota's European tech centre has teamed up with German gas supplier Linde AG and 'odour specialist' Symrise to produce a chemical concoction designed to give hydrogen a distinctive smell that will warn of potentially explosive leaks.
The product, currently registered as GasodorTM Hydrogen, is the first odourised Hydrogen to be compatible with the delicate catalysing components of the fuel cell plants that Toyota believes will power vehicles in the future.
She who denied it..? Wait, it's Gasodor!
Previous attempts to odourise Hydrogen have used sulphur and nitrogen-based compounds, but these have the potential to severely damage fuel cell catalysts. Symrise, a company more usually associated with chemical odours for the food industry, has created an odourising compound - designed to be added in minute quantities of 'parts per million' - that will not damage Toyota's fuel cells, or significantly reduce the performance of the gas itself, while remaining stable in a broad range of operating conditions and temperatures.
While Symrise holds the patent for the GasodorTM additive, Toyota has cannily claimed intellectual property rights for the 'odourisation' process itself - a potentially lucrative licensing opportunity if, as many analysts predict, Hydrogen does become the automotive fuel of the future. Linde AG supported the project as it is currently investing in research aimed at increasing the production of Hydrogen from renewable resources, but retains none of the specific property rights associated with the project.
So how does Hydrogen smell? 'Not so good!' according to someone we asked at Linde AG. 'Clearly it was important to have a warning element to the odour, so floral, strawberry or citrus smells would not have been suitable.' Instead, the parties opted for a pong similar to the odour added to natural gas for domestic purposes, although GasodorTM is said to be clearly distinguishable in its own right.
Could these developments signal the arrival of a viable alternative power source for motorists? Well don't hold your breath, but er... maybe just your nose?
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