From the desk of Christopher Wright: I found this story to be significant in our industry.  I will continue to look for the actual vehicle they are discussing and see if I can get a picture of one and how it performs.

Low-emissions program at Port of Long Beach could be a model
New commissioners welcomed aboard.

By Kristopher Hanson, Staff writer – ‘Press-Telegram’ Long Beach CA
Posted: 08/08/2011 06:22:25 PM PDT
Updated: 08/09/2011 08:11:31 AM PDT

LONG BEACH — Port authorities are working with one of the harbor’s most innovative railroad and trucking companies to produce ground-breaking low-emission and zero-emission rigs and locomotives that may serve as a model for pollution reduction measures in and around San Pedro Bay.
The contract, with Johnson Matthey and Vision Motor Corporation seeks to develop trains and trucks, respectively, that produce lower emissions than anything on the road or rail lines today.

The new partnership, developed with the help of Port of Long Beach Environmental Dir. of Environmental Engineering Richard Cameron, comes on the heels of a new report showing port industry pollutants causing smog dropped 46 percent since 2005, shortly after a program was implemented jointly by Long Beach and Los Angeles to cut emissions at least by half by 2012.

A port-funded study, reviewed and verified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and South Coast Air Quality Management District, estimates smog-forming sulfur oxides have been slashed 73 percent, nitrogen oxides by 46 percent and greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide by 18 percent.

While the improvements happened during an economic downtown, when cargo volumes dipped some 7 percent at the Port of Long Beach, they far outweigh the overall emissions decline.

Port executives say the goal of reducing port-generated emissions is not nearly complete. Numerous plans included in their joint Clean Air Action Plan (CAAP) seek to solve the problem of port industry pollution, a longtime problem for workers and residents around San Pedro Bay, the nation’s largest port complex.

“We’re not finished,” said Port of Long Beach Harbor Commission President Susan Wise. “We are continually exploring new practices and technologies to improve air quality in the harbor to benefit the entire region.”

The new grant includes some $333,000 from a state settlement with California marine terminal companies to help Johnson Matthey and Vision Motor Corporation develop low- and zero-emission motors for port commerce. The two companies have been working on prototypes for years.

It’s unknown how much these new technologies may cut pollution if implemented on a wide scale in coming years, however, regional air quality regulators list the port as the largest fixed source of air pollution in Southern California, so every effort is welcomed by environmentalists and area neighborhood organizations.

The port has pumped millions into such technologies along with neighboring Los Angeles in recent years as part of their CAAP plan, which is being studied by port authorities in Europe, Asia, South America and elsewhere as a model for future “clean” shipping practices.

To learn more, visit www.portla.org.

Going into the Clean Tech Open (CTO) we’ve really had to look at our current structure and all of our presentation materials.  Most of our focus was on mobile hydrogen on-demand systems, simply because that was our first launch product.  However, after attending the CTO academy and really taking a look at our company structure and materials, it became clear we needed to revamp.

The CTO made us look closely at our company and structure.  They are excellent at getting you to place yourself under a microscope, then teach you how things should be (doesn’t mean the company wasn’t already positioned like what they teach), but it’s great taking that closely of a look, because you definitely find things to help grow your model, make it better, stronger.

It’s not just the tools they deliver in this intense academy they offer, it’s not the over-whelming amount of volunteers who belive in it, which serves to help participants feel it’s enormous power, it’s not all of the mentors who are all-to-willing to help (without anticipations of pay back), it’s not the incredible professionalism, and it’s not all of the amazing networking at your fingertips… it’s all of this put together, pushing you on and making you feel your concept and direction have meaning.

But, there is something even more important to us at Hydrofuture.  All of this introspection, training, focusing, and the diligence, support, the mentors and overview, all serve as a vetting tool.  In real time we are seeing our company and product vetted, and we can make changes to clarify, strengthen, and focus what we are telling professionals and showing venture capital firms.

We know that when this process is complete, whether we win the finals or not, we will have a well vetted package, that time was taken to review many times over, and have other professionals look at and scrutinize.  This process is wonderful.  You can’t buy this type of service from any marketing firm.  It fantastic.  I really believe that Rex and his team at the CTO are incredible at giving small companies the tools and venue to move forward in this clean tech world, much faster than otherwise possible without their input and help.

The CTO and team, the mentors, and instructors brought a strong message clearly home to us.  That message reaffirmed our direction as a renewable energy company. We originally modeled Hydrofuture as a mobile application for vehicles.  This year we reviewed our structure, realizing we were limiting our capabilities.  Going through the CTO competition helped us see the changes we needed to make to clarify our core IP and it’s capabilities in many other arena’s.

With the core IP stemming from a reactor that decomposes water in a very efficient way, Hydrofuture now widens it’s field of vision to encompass other applications of hydroegn -on-demand i.e. remote energy needs, under the counter for stove top, whole house energy systems, even oxygen for submarines (I hadn’t thought about that one until a guy named Lincoln visiting as a mentor brought it up).

Last month just prior to the semi-finals being announced, we started on a whole-house power station which will allow customers to shift from their current municipality electricity to their own power station with redundant supply.

We are excited about continuing in the CTO and gaining ground in our field as a provider of HOD for a wide variety of usages. I look forward to completing this vetting process and gaining stronger ground in this industry.

David Packer, CEO

David Packer

I found this video on YouTube which demonstrates how hydrogen and oxygen added to a flame burn using (and I am assuming this part) fossil fuel can reduce the amount of diesel particulate matter (DPM) and other emissions particulate matter by virtue of it’s effect as a catalyst with fossil fuel.  Whether they used one particular type of fossil fuel or another isn’t as important to me because this shows the basic occurrence for one to understand part of the effect of hydrogen enhanced combustion (HEC).  While a more scientific approach would be to include all of the intrinsic data set, leading to a better scientific understanding of the exact effects this experiment achieved, I don’t have access to that data. It serves as a preliminary depiction to better understand the process.

HYDROGEN AND OXYGEN LIBERATED FROM WATER IN REAL TIME WILL SOON PROVIDE AN ANSWER TO THE WORLDS AILING ECONOMY…

This week HydroFuture announced that the HydroZilla version 8 (off-the-shelf solution) can run a small 11 horse power Briggs and Stratton gasoline engine 100% on diatomic hydrogen and oxygen, being liberated in real time.  It is not unusual for motors to run on compressed liquid hydrogen kept in storage tanks and then sent to the engine as a vapor, as we see with cars like BMW; this has been done for awhile now.  However, no company has run a motor on just nascent gas generated in a Hydrogen On-Demand (HOD) environment, while operating from a 12 volt system like a large format vehicle does – until now.  This test ran a Briggs and Stratton engine with just 13 liters per minute of diatomic hydrogen and oxygen being liberated from water in REAL TIME, then delivered to this engine/generator carburetor where we tapped a compression fitting at the bottom of the carburetor Goose Neck.

The generator in turn produces electricity to run tools.  In this test a power drill was run while the engine was operating on hydrogen/oxygen fuel only, effectively demonstrating how the 12 volt direct current electricity (VDC) was converted into hydrogen fuel from water, and then converted back into electrical energy for other usage. This is another market which HydroFuture will add to the growing sellable markets.  Welding companies can do away with their hydrogen bottle and having to spend a lot of cash reserve up front to fill the bottles.  They will no longer have to take the time wasted on this task.  A system can be hung on the wall of the shop, or be mobile, and they produce HOD to run their welders. This isn’t new either, companies have been marketing HOD solutions for welding for awhile now, just not with 12 VDC like we do.

David Packer, CEO and founder of HydroFuture LLC, has said for the past two years that HOD would one day produce enough gas, in an efficient enough way, that an engine would be capable of running from it’s delivery.  This video footage proves that technology is advancing fast, and at some point large format motors will be able to cut down their diesel usage significantly with a viable supply of On-Demand hydrogen and oxygen to support the reductions.

Mr. Hendrickson has a diverse background in industry ranging from upper management positions specifically in quality control, manufacturing, research development, and environmental science.  One such opportunity reflecting this experience was implementing a turnaround for Stavely, an international British company, where Mr. Hendrickson held the position of Vise President.  In eighteen months he completed the financial turnaround of three branches from a loss of one million dollars per year to a profit of over two million dollars per year. Mr. Hendrickson also assisted in a successful start up for Aerojet, a GenCorp Inc. (NYSE: GY) company, where he held the position of Director Of Quality, overseeing the design and build of both the solid rocket motor for the space shuttle, and a new manufacturing facility to build that motor.  The last position Mr. Hendrickson held was at Sennis Space Center NASA as the site manager.  The tasking was to maintain a 5000 plus acre site with over 1.6 million square feet under roof.  Mr. Hendrickson had complete responsibility for maintaining electrical, water/solid waste, environmental, security, building maintenance, contracts, and more.  With over forty years of management experience, he has a accumulated a strong technical and financial back ground.  This well rounded experience working with both very large companies (GE, United Technology, Gencorp), and some small disadvantage companies (AGT, GB Tech) makes Mr. Hendrickson a perfect Director Of Advisory for future technical development as well as deployment of HydroFuture’s products.