The U.S. Air Force is demonstrating hydrogen as an alternative fuel source at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii.
In a recent visit to JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, members of the Air Force Civil Engineer Center’s Energy and Operations directorates were given a tour of the installation’s hydrogen production facility and shown several of the vehicles that run on hydrogen, according to a press release from the Air Force.
This project, with assets housed at the 647th Logistics Readiness Squadron and with the Hawaii Air National Guard, is part of a cooperative agreement between the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Hawaii Center for Advanced Transportation Technologies (HCATT). This state organization – which supports the Hawaii ANG, the National Guard Bureau and the U.S. Air Force – is tasked with demonstrating hydrogen technology and its potential applications within the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).
This hydrogen project has been in place for over a decade, says the Air Force. Originally installed in 2006 as a mobile hydrogen production, compression, storage and dispensing unit, it was upgraded in 2010. Both systems were set up to support all DoD hydrogen vehicle testing, to include both hydrogen internal combustion and fuel cell vehicles. Some of the hydrogen vehicles currently supported by this station include a 25-passenger crew bus, a MJ-1E fighter weapons loader and a U-30 heavy aircraft tug.
Stan Osserman, HCATT director, says, “These proofs of concept not only provide alternate vehicle choices for the Air Force’s flight line of the future but also will help the state of Hawaii in its effort to increase hydrogen usage across the islands.”
Intergalactic Hydrogen has been modifying internal combustion engines to run on pure Hydrogen since 1975.
Possibly the best fuel for ICEs is a blend of Hydrogen and Methane we call Intergalactic Gas. My company car can demonstrate this because it has three compressed gas fuel tanks that allow blending of CNG with H2 right in the vehicle. This vehicle will run flawlessly on five different fuels and has been coast to coast and border to border of the USA without using gasoline.