Fuel Cell to Help Power Blue Line’s Computer : Transportation: It will be the first time that such a device will provide electricity for an integral part of a public transit system. Process is called 20 times cleaner than conventional methods.

Transportation officials announced Monday that they will use a low-pollution, “space-age” fuel cell to provide most of the electrical power for the computer system at the Metro Rail Blue Line’s central control facility in the Watts-Willowbrook area.

It will be the first time such a cell will be used to power an integral part of a public transportation system, officials of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission said. It may also set the stage for wider use of the alternative technology for the city’s rail lines.

“This marks a milestone in transportation history,” Ray Grabinski, chairman of the LACTC, told a news conference opening a two-day transportation conference at the Sheraton-Universal Hotel in Universal City. “The cell will provide electricity and thermal energy in a process that is 20 times cleaner than conventional electric generation.”

The $575,000, 200-kilowatt generating unit will be provided and maintained by the Southern California Gas. Co., with taxpayers billed only for the natural gas to fuel it, said gas company President Warren Mitchell. He said the fuel costs will be from 5% to 15% lower than for a conventional system.

Neil Peterson, executive director of LACTC, said the fuel cell will be installed next summer if it receives expected approval from the full commission at its Nov. 27 meeting. Grabinski said he knew of no opposition to installing the system.

Despite this lack of opposition, observers say there could be a battle brewing between the gas company, with its fuel cells, and Southern California Edison Co., which generates electricity by conventional means.

The Blue Line--a 22-mile surface rail link between Long Beach and downtown Los Angeles--uses power generated by Edison, and there has been talk of using electricity to power the commuter trains that may run on other lines to the San Gabriel and San Fernando valleys.

Observers say that a successful demonstration of fuel cell technology at the computer center could lead to pressures to run future trains on bigger and better gas company fuel cells rather than on Edison power.

Mitchell said the computer center power unit--approximately the size of a truck-trailer--generates enough electricity to power 20 average homes. It was built by International Fuel Cells Inc. using research data developed by its parent company, United Technologies Corp.

Explaining how the system works, Mitchell said the process starts with natural gas being fed into a fuel processor, where it is mixed with steam and air. This hydrogen-rich mix then diffuses through an electronic grid that strips off electrons, creating direct-current electricity.

The electricity is drawn off and converted to alternating current, which, in this case, will provide about 98% of the power needed to power the Blue Line’s computers.

Some of the steam created as a byproduct of the process will be drawn off to resupply the fuel processor and some will be used in a heat-transfer system to provide air conditioning for the center and an adjacent sheriff’s substation.

Because there is no combustion in the process, there is very little pollution, officials said. Emissions such as carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide and unburned hydrocarbons are virtually nil, and carbon dioxide emissions are lower than those of conventional generators.

In addition, they said, the system is relatively fuel-efficient, converting between 45% and 60% of the fuel into usable energy, compared to about 40% for conventional power-generating systems.

The fuel cell will power the computer “brain”--called a supervisory control and data acquisition system--overseeing the Blue Line. In addition to controlling the line’s ticketing system, it will monitor the line’s power current flow, track switches, signal system, and fire and safety alarms.