UK gets hydrogen fueling station

The U.K.'s University of Birmingham opened the country's only hydrogen fueling station today as part of a research project to look at the viability of hydrogen in transport applications.

The university said engineers from its department of chemical engineering would be comparing five hydrogen powered vehicles with the university's own fleet of gas, diesel and electric vehicles to learn more about their efficiency and performance.

"We are delighted to be the home of England's only hydrogen gas filling station," said Professor Kevin Kendall, lead investigator from the university's department of chemical engineering.

"It is absolutely necessary that we have the means to refuel our fleet of hydrogen powered cars so that we can carry out our research project into the feasibility of hydrogen in a transport context."

This isn't the first hydrogen station for the country. A previous site was set up in London to power buses, but it was a short term project and has since been shut down.

The university said its researchers would use the new fueling station to determine how the vehicles need to be adapted in order to make hydrogen an attractive and cost effective option as a future fuel.

Allentown, Penn.-based Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE: APD) provided the fueling station, which comprises an integrated compression, hydrogen storage and dispensing system, and can fuel up to six vehicles per day.

The hydrogen comes from Hampshire, England's Green Gases, which uses renewable energy to manufacture the gas. The company said it gets methane from cow manure to fuel the generator used to power its hydrogen production.

The university said it purchased five hydrogen fuel cell vehicles from Coventry, England's Microcab Industries.

The small, urban vehicles have a maximum speed of 40 miles per hour with a range of approximately 100 miles, according to Microcab.