The future of its motor cars may be electric, but Nissan has turned to fuel cell packs to power material handling equipment at its Tennessee assembly plant.
Methanol fuel cells from Oorja Protonics are used to provide a more energy efficient and cost effective battery charging process. They are used in the 60 tugs that transport thousands of vehicle parts through the 5.4million square foot facility.
Thanks to the fuel cells, Nissan can eliminate more than 70 electric battery chargers that had been consuming almost 540,000kWh of electricity annually and slash its electric bill while cutting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by around 300 tons.
The fuel cells use liquid methanol rather than hydrogen. The methanol is mixed with water and fed directly into the fuel cell anode where it is oxidised on a catalyst layer. Positive ions are then transported across the proton exchange membrane to a catalyst where they react with oxygen and produce water that is recycled for input with the methanol.
According to Mark Sorgi, material handling manager, the methanol fuel cells have made the company more productive by saving almost 35 hours a day that were previously spent by employees changing out batteries.
