It appears that BMW is the latest car manufacturer to show an interest in hydrogen – albeit not in the way you might expect.
The German carmaker has launched the first phase of an integrated programme of work that aims to validate the economic and technical feasibility of converting landfill gas into hydrogen. This could potentially fuel the company’s entire fleet of material handling equipment.
It’s not the first time that BMW has shown an interest in collecting from landfills. Since 2003 it has collected, cleaned and compressed methane gas from a local landfill and used it to power more than 50 per cent of its total energy requirement at itsSouth Carolinaplant. Then in 2009, it invested $12million into its landfill gas programme to further improve overall efficiency.
It followed that up in September last year by completing the installation of a hydrogen storage and distribution area within its existing Energy Centre at its North American manufacturing plant inSouth Carolina. It is using hydrogen fuel cells to power nearly 100 material handling vehicles at the site.
The first phase of the project will be funded by the South Carolina Research Authority.
