German carmaker BMW has expanded the use of hydrogen fuel-cells to power the material-handling equipment operating at its Spartanburg County manufacturing facility in the US.
The carmaker's fleet of hydrogen fuel-cell powered material-handling equipment at the 4 million-square-foot facility has now doubled and reached 230 units that assist in executing the production and logistics operations.
In 2010, BMW had completed the deployment of a hydrogen storage and distribution area close to the plant's Energy Center to power 100 units of fuel-cell material-handling equipment.
Additionally, the carmaker has also invested in new infrastructure to support rise in its use of hydrogen fuel by deploying two new higher-capacity compressors, new storage tubes and distribution piping, and eight new hydrogen dispensers.
The expanded system is aimed at producing about 400kg of Hydrogen per day, and is anticipated to avoid 4.1 million kw hours per year, representing a rise from 1.8 million kw hours per year during initial deployments.
BMW has also revealed that its Landfill Gas-to-Hydrogen pilot project, which is led by South Carolina Research Authority (SCRA), has completed the first phase and had has moved to the next phase of methane-to-hydrogen conversion.
The final phase of the SCRA funded project is scheduled to start during late 2013, involving side-by-side trials of material handling equipment fueled by landfill gas derived hydrogen against commercially sourced hydrogen.
