NDSU Testing New Hydrogen Dual-Fuel Tractor
Filed Under: Green Technology, green automotive technology on July 5, 2009
North Dakota State University in Fargo is testing a modified Butler Cat Challenger M5 tractor. That tractor, whose changes were made and are being tested by the mechanical engineering department, has a large fiberglass tank–about the size of a water cooler–strapped to his front end. On that tank are some odd chemical symbols: H² and something you won’t see on the periodic table, NDSU.
A team lead by Professor Robert Pieri has been working on this hydrogen tractor concept since 2007 and are finally putting their ideas into reality. The tractor is a hydrogen/diesel hybrid capable of running on either or both fuels as a dual-fuel machine.
The idea is to give farmers the option of utilizing biodiesel, which they generally have ready access to, and hydrogen, which can be produced from electrolysis. The hydrogen for this test model is made by splitting water with the electricity from a wind turbine on highway 83, near campus.
The conversion itself is pretty inexpensive, at only $3,500 and requires no engine overhaul. The switch from one fuel to the other is done with just a flip of a switch.
This tractor is not a hydrogen “fuel cell” tractor (as the New Holland), but is instead burning the hydrogen directly (which gives off water as a result). There is no electricity produced for electric motors as there are no motors. In other words, the tractor itself sees little change from its current state.
That is important to note, as the average farm will purchase a tractor for anywhere from $80,000 to several hundreds of thousands of dollars and those machines are expected to perform over a long lifetime to recoup their costs. This advent from NDSU gives farmers the chance to upgrade existing equipment (the modifications could be done to any diesel-burning farm machine) without having to purchase all-new machinery.
It will also cut through the “nervous about new” factor, since farmers wouldn’t have to take the plunge to become reliant on totally new technology, but could instead still have the option of falling back on something they trust.
Special thanks to Hydrogen Cars Now for the heads up on this one!
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