The fuel cell industry appears to be gathering momentum with news that global energy giant BP is to build a second hydrogen facility, incorporating groundbreaking technology that it says will be replicated across China.

The news follows the official unveiling earlier this week (July 20th) of BP's pilot refuelling facility in Singapore which dispenses enough hydrogen to fuel up to 35 fuel cell powered cars.

However, the technology for the second station is likely to be more advanced due to the high cost of transporting hydrogen produced from natural gas in trucks carrying only 150 kg of gas per run.

"The problem with gas is that it's hard to transport to the market, either through pipelines or liquefied. Using trucks is expensive. You're using a lot of energy to carry a lot of metal and some gas," said Dr Michael Jones, general manager for BP Gas Power and Renewables.

In order to overcome these limitations, BP is examining several alternatives for its latest refuelling station, including the production of hydrogen on site through electrolysis, which requires electricity and water.

Another is by tapping the natural gas network to transport the gas to the site and reforming it to produce hydrogen.

"BP uses electrolysis at our Barcelona and Hamburg stand-alone sites," said Dr Jones. "In the longer term, it is seen as the lowest cost route."

The development of a fully functional fuel cell infrastructure is one of the key sticking points in the advancement of the technology, with the platinum industry a potential benefactor.

Several types of fuel cell produce electricity by combining hydrogen and oxygen over a platinum catalyst.