Developing Hydrogen (H2) Specification Guidelines for Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cell Vehicles 2005-01-0011

In 1999, the Society of Automotive Engineers established the Fuel Cell Standards Committee (FCSC). The Committee is organized in subcommittees that address issues such as Interface, Hydrogen (H₂) Quality, Safety, Performance, Emissions and Fuel Consumption, Recycling and Terminology. Since its inception the SAE/FCSC has published several recommended practices, which have drawn the attention of national and international organizations. These include SAE J2578 (Fuel Cell Vehicle Safety), SAE J2600 (Compressed H₂ Surface Vehicle Refueling Devices), and SAE J2594 (Recyclability of Fuel Cell Systems).

The need for having one common grade of hydrogen for all US commercial hydrogen-refueling stations for FCVs was the reason to establish the H₂ Quality Task Force (HQTF) in late 2003. At the present time there is no representative US-national or international standard addressing the quality of hydrogen fuel that is acceptable for fuel cell vehicles. Although the existing ISO standard 14687 was originally addressing PEM fuel cell vehicles, currently it is deemed by the industry as unsuitable and the document is amended by referring the readers to the new Technical Specification under development. As a result the mission of the HQTF is to ultimately develop a standard for commercial hydrogen fuel quality for H₂ powered PEM fuel cell vehicles (FCVs). In the interim several H₂ quality guidelines will be generated serving the immediate needs of demonstration PEM FCVs.

The purpose of this technical report is to provide an overview of the HQTF status of activities and to share its progress to date with the fuel cell industry.