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Grøn Dyst 2016

412 97 Sustainable Bus driving on Formic Acid M. Tiemessen Technische Universiteit Eindhoven WHO AM I I am Marvin Tiemessen, 20 years young and currently doing my bachelor at the Eindhoven University of Technology, there I study Sustainable Innovation. This study is all about green innovative solutions with a focus on different aspects; social, economic and of course, technical. In my third year, I also started at student team FAST. Besides doing my academic courses, I work 25 hours a week at Team FAST. So yeah I am pretty busy, but I love doing it so that keeps me driving. Within Team FAST I focus business development and so far it is going pretty well, we are already competing in semi-finals of multiple challenges and prizes. TEAM FAST Team Fast is a student team at the TU/e, here we develop world’s first bus that is able to drive on formic acid. This allows the bus to be silent, sustainable and completely harmless to the environment. These value propositions are of course nothing new with sustainable alternatives. However, we think liquid hydrogen carriers have the future, they are energy dense, easy to handle and promising for the heavy transport sector. THE PROBLEM The problem we face in the heavy transport sector is that no sustainable technology is viable enough to compete with the standard; cheap fuel, long ranges and lightweight. However, this standard comes with negative side effects; Noisy, polluting the environment with CO2, NOx, particulate matter and soot, causing global warming but also reducing air quality. If we want to transition towards a more sustainable society, this sector has to change as well, and possibly the solution could lie in using formic acid to power heavy vehicles. T HE SOLUTION The solution is not as easy as ‘just’ combusting formic acid in Diesel engines. No, to avoid NOx and Particulate Matter, we need to drive electric. This electricity would be provided with a fuel cell. A fuel cell is a device that turns hydrogen (H2) into electricity and water with sucked in oxygen. Hydrogen can be produced sustainable, thus a good solution for the environment. Normally using hydrogen would require highly pressurized hydrogen stored in strong and heavy tanks. The problem with hydrogen is its storage and the safety risks coming with it. We at Team FAST use a catalyst developed at our own university. This catalyst allows the fast reaction of formic acid into hydrogen and carbon dioxide. This reaction makes formic acid viable as a hydrogen carrier. As a liquid, it allows large tanks at atmospheric pressures, resulting in being safe, silent and sustainable for heavy transport. We aim to deliver the bus before the end of 2016, showing that driving on formic acid is indeed possible and a valid alternative to the proposed sustainable solutions that already exist. TRANSPORT POSTER IDEA BACHELOR FINAL ASSIGNMENT


Grøn Dyst 2016
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