The Spokane Intercollegiate Research & Technology Institute (SIRTI) could become one of the nations chief repositories of information about processing fuels for use in fuel cells.


SIRTI is sharing with InnovaTek Inc. and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, both of Richland, Wash., a $1.75 million contract from the U.S. Army for further development of fuel reformer technology. The contract is the fourth phase of an ongoing award from the Army, says Patrick Tam, executive director at SIRTI.


SIRTIs work under the most recent contract will total $190,000, which will go toward providing the public, investors, and government officials with more information about fuel processing, called reforming, says Liz Wilhite, SIRTIs director of technology transfer.


Fuel cells use hydrogen to produce electricity, but hydrogen isnt widely available, she explains. Fuel reforming refers to a number of processes used to extract hydrogen from conventional fuels, such as diesel or natural gas, that already have widespread distribution systems, she says.


One of the biggest hurdles to getting a fuel cell out there working is youve got to get hydrogen to it, Wilhite says.


Although fuel reforming is seen as a critical piece in the continued development of fuel cells, it can be difficult to find information on the topic, she says.


Thats where the U.S. Army contract comes in.


Under the contract, SIRTI will produce a market study that describes the fuels available for reforming and the various methods of processing them. It also will list companies that are doing that work.


Second, SIRTI will prepare a Web site that will be an online repository of all the documents related to fuel processing that the organization can find, Wilhite says. SIRTIs market study will be posted there, as will scientific papers and documents provided by fuel-reforming companies, all loaded into a searchable database that will be maintained at SIRTIs Spokane facility, she says. The information will be available to the public because its being created with federal funds, she says.


None of the information in the market study or the Web site is easily obtainable now, Wilhite asserts.


Currently, finding detailed information on fuel reforming is like looking for a needle in a haystack, she says. Under the Army contract, SIRTI will take a bunch of haystacks and harvest all the needles.


The third task SIRTI will perform under the contract is to create a movie that the Army can show to politicians and general audiences about why the service is investing in fuel-reforming technology. SIRTIs multimedia staff will make the movie in-house, she says.


Well talk about where we really are, not where people say we are or where were hoping to be, Wilhite says.


SIRTI already has completed the first draft of the market study and has submitted it for comments to the Armys Communications-Electronics Command branch, which is overseeing the contract. SIRTI also has begun work on the planned Web site, but hasnt started shooting the movie yet, Wilhite says. All three projects are due by the end of March, she says.