Update on the International Effort to Develop a Hydrogen Fuel Quality Standard
Karen Hall, National Hydrogen Association
ISO TC 197 WG12 met on November 6&7 in Montecatini Terme, Italy in conjunction with the 2007 World Hydrogen Technologies Convention. ISO TS 14687-2: Hydrogen fuel — Product Specification — Part 2: Proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell applications for road vehicles, has been approved for publication. The WG is now working to develop a Committee Draft (CD) on the path of publishing an International Standard on this subject.
At the 9th WG 12 meeting in Seoul, Korea, WG12 determined that “completion of the CD will depend on progress in cell testing, fuel provider integration, and analytical methodology development.” Accordingly, WG12 will gather data and conduct analyses and attempt to prepare a CD by April 2008. In preparing the CD, WG 12 must also address technical comments received during the review and balloting of DTS14687-2, particularly those concerning the availability of standardized analytical methodologies capable of measuring contaminants at the levels specified in TS14687-2. In view of the data and analyses needed to prepare the CD, WG12 acknowledges that the CD will require extensive review and refinement before a Draft International Standard (DIS) can be prepared and submitted. The CD will also reflect the interim nature of the requirements that are appropriate for the limited production stage of fuel cell vehicle development.
The WG12 Secretary has drafted an initial mark up for a CD based on the approved TS. WG 12 members will review this document and send comments to the WG12 Secretary before the end of January 2008. Proposed documentation for the limits on non-hydrogen constituents shown in Table 1 of the document are to accompany the comments. The WG12 Secretary will incorporate comments and circulate a revised initial CD to WG12 members by the end of February 2008.
WG12 members will review the single-cell test protocol, data reporting format, and test matrix submitted by the North American team and send comments to the WG12 Secretary by January 06, 2008. The European program FCTESqa will also submit its test protocol and data reporting format to the Secretary for distribution and comment by WG12 members during the same time period. The North American team will integrate elements from the FCTESqa and JARI test protocols and incorporate comments on all three documents, as appropriate, and submit a revised protocol, data reporting format, and test matrix to the WG12 Secretary within 30 days after receiving WG12 comments from the WG12 Secretary. The test protocol, data reporting format, and test matrix will be for internal use only by WG12 members conducting tests to help determine fuel quality specifications. The documents are intended to provide a common baseline for testing and reporting data by WG12 members and to help enable better sharing of test data among its members and between the testing and modeling communities.
WG12 will harmonize the test protocol it adopts for use by its members with the activities under IEC TC105 WG11 and with the activities under FCTESqa. The round robin testing underway in the U.S. will be extended to include testing laboratories in Korea, Japan, and the EC.
WG 12 will explore dynamic drive cycle test protocols applicable to short-stack testing by gathering recommended drive cycles from industry in key member countries. Recommendations gathered will be reported at the next WG12 meeting.
The new CD will also include a section on safety and detection, like in the original ISO 14687: 1999 document. The original text was revised to reflect the ISO/IEC Guides 51 and 73 recommendations on safety and risk terminology as well as the concept of risk management. The bibliography will be extended to include relevant ISO and IEC documents, in particular a reference to the standard being developed by WG13 for hydrogen detection apparatus.
WG12 will conduct an open workshop on fuel quality to involve and obtain input from a broader set of stakeholders, particularly in Europe. The workshop will be held in collaboration with the planned workshop on fuel quality to be held by FCTESqa in Europe in the Spring of 2009. Details of the WG12 workshop will be discussed at the next WG12 meeting.
The US offered to host the next meeting of WG12, which is tentatively scheduled for March 27-28, 2008, in either Sacramento or San Francisco, CA . This is immediately before the 2008 NHA Conference and Hydrogen Expo, which is scheduled for March 30- April 4 in Sacramento, CA.
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