DHAHRAN: Fuel cells will be an important component in the energy industry in the near future and the Center of Research Excellence in Renewable Energy (CoRERE) will help develop the industry in the Kingdom, said Abdul Aziz Al-Suwayyan, vice rector for Academic Affairs at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), while inaugurating a workshop on renewable energy here recently.
Al-Suwayyan said CoRERE, which organized the workshop, is geared to commission research on the subject.
The workshop brought together representatives of private companies, university officials, policymakers, scientists, engineers and academicians who exchanged ideas and information on the advancement of fuel cell technology.
Fuel cells generate electrical power quietly and efficiently without pollution. Simply put, a fuel cell is an electrochemical energy conversion device that converts fuel -- such as hydrogen and methanol -- into electricity directly.
Pure water is the only byproduct. Fuel cells claim to solve the two most important problems of the modern era -- environment and energy.
Habib Abulhamayel, director of CoRERE, presented an overview of the activities of the center. He said the Saudi National Center for Renewable Energy has actively engaged researchers and engineers to develop the technology in the Kingdom.
"We are currently working on a new device that converts carbon dioxide into hydrocarbons, which would help in cleaning the environment and producing usable materials," said S.U. Rahman, assistant director of the center, during a presentation.
Key speaker Vinu Ajayan, senior scientist from Japan's National Institute for Material Sciences, spoke on the use of advanced functional nano-materials for energy and environment. Paul Dickerson, senior partner at Haynes and Boone's Clean Tech, US, emphasized the commercialization of fuel cells technology and expanded on the current status of commercialization in the US.
S.M. Javaid Zaidi, head of the Fuel Cell Research Group at CoRERE, spoke on the fuel cell research activity of his group at KFUPM that is being carried out in collaboration with laboratories in Japan and India.
S. Basu, Department of Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, explained the usefulness and development requirements of the solid oxide fuel cell.
Shakeel Ahmad, research engineer at CRP, Research Institute, KFUPM, touched on the production of hydrogen by using the technology.
The Ministry of Higher Education established CoRERE in 2007 with the aim of furthering research and development in all major areas of renewable energy, especially solar energy.
By Syed Abdallah Rizvi
© Arab News 2009
