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Market and patent analysis of commercializing biohydrogentechnology

Wen-Hsiang Lai a,*, Hsiang-Yi Chen a, Feng-Yuan Chang b, Chueh-Cheng Wu c,Chiu-Yue Lin b, Sy-Ruen Huang c

aGraduate Institute of Management of Technology, Feng Chia University, Taichung 40724, TaiwanbResearch Center for Energy and Resource, Feng Chia University, Taichung, TaiwancCollege of Information and Electrical Engineering, Feng Chia University, Taichung, Taiwan

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:

Received 23 January 2011

Received in revised form

22 March 2011

Accepted 23 March 2011

Available online 17 May 2011

Keywords:

Biohydrogen

Fuel cell

Hydrogen energy

Patent analysis

Technology commercialization

* Corresponding author.E-mail address: whlai@fcu.edu.tw (W.-H.

0360-3199/$ e see front matter Copyright ªdoi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2011.03.155

a b s t r a c t

In the face of world-wide energy price fluctuation, energy supply security, and the energy

crisis, it becomes an urgent issue to search for alternative methods for energy generation

and to close the gap between the supply and demand of global energy. The current method

of energy supply in Taiwan is through a centralized electronic power system, which is

generated by a few large electronic power plants. Hydrogen fuel cell (HFC) has a charac-

teristic of de-centralized electronic power supply system, which provides electronic power

more reliably, efficiently and economically. Based on the output of Taiwan’s sewage,

sludge, kitchen waste and biohydrogen technology, the preliminary market for bio-

hydrogen fuel cell (BHFC) is positioning itself toward the supply of public electronic power

within the housing communities. Based on the patent analysis of BHFC, this study finds

that Taiwan pays more attention to the front-end manufacturing of raw materials and

emphasizes the development of biohydrogen technology, while America and Japan mainly

pay more attentions to rear-end product application and emphasize the application of

hydrogen and fuel cells by integrating industrial opinions. Based on the market analysis of

BHFC, this study finds that the product attributes, consumers’ characteristics and external

variables strongly influence consumer’s purchase intention of biohydrogen technology

products.

Copyright ª 2011, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights

reserved.

1. Introduction electric power, and it accounts for only 1% of the total

The usage of fossil energy has resulted in the public issue of

environmental pollution. This environment protection

concept forces human beings to rethink the usage of renew-

able energy and warrants serious consideration of renewable

energy equipment, construction environment, investment

costs, economy and enforcement use. Currently, the largest

renewable energy used in Taiwan is the traditional hydro-

Lai).2011, Hydrogen Energy P

domestic energy generation. Since the air pollution in Taiwan

is rapidly increasing [10], in order to promote Taiwan’s

hydrogen and fuel cell industries, an improvement program is

projected by the government to stimulate the development of

the hydrogen and fuel cell industries, with a goal to generate

an output valued at 4 billion NTD in 2011 and 13 billion NTD in

2016 and a potential output value approaching 100 billion NTD

in 2020. The current hydrogen market share of Taiwan is

ublications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Table 1 e The biohydrogen technology and hydrogen production rate in Japan, Europe, China, and Taiwan.

Country Microorganism Immobilized cells Material sources Hydrogen generation rate

(L/h/L) (L/d/L)

Japan Rhodobacter spheroid Alginate Tofu water waste 0.051 1.2

Japan E. aerogenes HO-39 Porous glass beads Glucose 0.929 22.3

Japan E. aerogenes HY-2 Granular sludge Glucose 1.42 34.1

Europe E. aerogenes NCIMB 10102 Synthetic foam Starch 0.250 6.0

China Sludge Suspended bacteria Sugar water 0.23 5.5

Taiwan Sewage Sludge Granular sludge/immobilized cell Sucrose 14.1 338.4

Activated carbon 7.35 176.4

Source: RCER, FCU.

i n t e rn a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n en e r g y 3 6 ( 2 0 1 1 ) 1 4 0 4 9e1 4 0 5 814050

about 5% of the world market. The output value in the distri-

bution of hydrogen production and operation is expected to

reach 5 billion NTD in 2020. Under the government’s plan, it is

foreseeable that Taiwan’s technology and industrial scale of

the hydrogen and fuel cell industry will occupy an important

position in the world market.

Dunn [2] (p. 236) addresses that “the most important

consequence of a hydrogen economy may be the replacement

of the 20th-century hydrocarbon society”. The preliminary

time frame of hydrogen energy development set by advanced

countries aims to reach a goal of starting production in

hydrogen technology development from 2010 to 2020, and

completing the systematic transformation of hydrogen energy

by 2050. Although hydrogen technology development and

application in Taiwan is behind the curvewhen comparedwith

other advanced countries, it still has the potential for making

a breakthrough in the technology by adopting biological

production of hydrogen (biohydrogen) technology develop-

ment. Feng Chia University (FCU) in Taiwan has achieved

outstanding results in hydrogen fermentation development of

granular sludge/immobilized cell systems in the fields of bio-

hydrogen technology and fuel cell system [11,12]. Even though

there are barriers of biohydrogen commercialization, such as

synthesizing hydrogen at sufficient rates to power sufficient-

sized fuel cells to work practically and purifying the bio-

hydrogen produced by biomass fermentation to eliminate

carbon dioxide (CO2), water vapor, and possible amounts of

hydrogen sulfide (H2S) [6e8] and [3] address that the bio-

hydrogenenergy technology is assessed tobe themost practical

potential technology, and therefore makes it highly possible to

enhance the future development of hydrogen energy.

1 Petroleum reserves 2.7 trillion barrels, which can supplyapproximately 30e50 years; natural gas reserves 5450 trillioncubic feet, which can supply approximately 40e60 years; coalreserves 1.1 trillion short tons, which can supply approximately180e200 years.

2. Market analysis of commercializingbiohydrogen technology

2.1. Introduction of energy technology and marketstatus

Nowadays general energy usage in the world, such as petro-

leum, natural gas, and coal, are non-renewable energy

resources. Since these non-renewable energy resources are

limited, people are constantly looking for new renewable

energy sources and technology in order to prevent any energy

shortage. According to the American Energy Information

Administration (EIA) estimation, it is possible that the non-

renewable energies will be exhausted after 30e50 years1.

Due to the shortage of non-renewable energy resources, the

growing demand of renewable energy and the urgency of

environmental protection become the major driving forces to

improve the development and commercialization of hydrogen

energy and fuel cell technology. However, since the hydrogen

energy is a fairly new and renewable energy, it not only faces

the competition of other renewable energies, but also needs to

overcome the obstacles on both the supply and demand sides.

2.2. Biohydrogen technology

Biohydrogen is considered as one of the key sustainable power

supplies in the world and is regarded as the versatile fuel of the

future and the potential replacement for fossil fuels [5]. Many

biomass studies have been focusing on the hydrogen genera-

tion since the discovery that the generated heat value of

hydrogen is 231 BTU/mol (244 kJ/mol), which averages more

than other hydrocarbon fuels. The fact that hydrogen is clean

and highly efficient has also contributed to promoting the

hydrogen energy to be themost potential substituted energy to

replace the current usage of fossil fuel. The present stage of

hydrogen energy generation is mainly in the restructuring of

industrial by-product, methanol, or natural gas. Since approx-

imately 96% of hydrogen energies are manufactured by

non-renewable materials, the development of biohydrogen

technology accords with the concepts of environment protec-

tion, economic efficiency and sustainable energy consumption.

In order to generate biohydrogen, the biodegradation and

bio-transformation methods used in the biohydrogen genera-

tion usually involve the bacteria of anaerobic bacteria, photo-

synthetic bacteria .etc. in order to transfer organic material

matter into hydrogen. If the transformation of organic degra-

dationofwastewaterorotherwastebiomaterialscanobtainthe

goalofenergygeneration, thenthisenergygenerationmethod is

completely consistent with the principles of environmental

protection, economic efficiency and resource recycling [1].

Based on FCU’s experimental results of biohydrogen, the tech-

nology has reached the model-factoring stage. The rate of bio-

hydrogengeneration isalso in the leadpositionwhencompared

Table 2 e Biohydrogen production performance ofvarious types of carbohydrates.

Substrate Reactor H2 evolution

(L/L/d) (mol H2/mol hexose)

Xylose CSABR 26.0 2.00 mol H2/mol xylose

Glucose CSABR 180.3 1.54

Sucrose CSTR 10.5 1.63

CSABR 362.2 1.59

Starch CSTR 26.9 2.26

AGSB 72.1 2.74 mmol H2/g starch

Source: RCER, FCU.

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to other countries (such as Japan, Europe, and China) in the

world. Table 1 shows the biohydrogen technology and bio-

hydrogen generation rate in Japan, Europe, China, and Taiwan.

Currently FCU’s biohydrogen generation research has ach-

ieved significant results in anaerobic biotechnology of bio-

hydrogen bacteria screening, biohydrogen reactor design and

bacteria structural analysis. FCU has developed the fermenta-

tive hydrogen technology of granular sludge/immobilized cell

system. Based on FCU’s development of biohydrogen genera-

tion, the daily biohydrogen generation rate of simplemolecules

(sucrose) fermentation can be up to 360 times of the reactor

volume, as shown in Table 2, and the daily biohydrogen

generation rate of largemolecules (starch) fermentation can be

up to 48 times of the reactor volume. The raw materials of

FCU’s fermentative hydrogen technology of granular sludge/

Table 3 e 3-level IPC comparisons between Taiwan, US,and Japan.

IPC(3 levels) Taiwan US Japan Total

B01J � 16 27 43

B09B � � 21 21

C01B 4 17 53 74

C02F 22 10 15 47

C05F 5 � � 5

C10J 2 8 16 26

C10L � � 33 33

C12N 4 � � 4

C12P 4 7 � 11

H01M � 8 60 68

� indicates the IPC number is zero

B01J: Chemical or physical method, such as catalytic effect,

colloidal chemistry and related equipment; B09B: Treatment of

solid wastes; C01B: Non-metallic element; Compound; C02F:

Treatment of water, waste water, sewage or sludge; C05F: Organic

fertilizer out of C05B & C categories and fertilizer made of garbage

or waste slag; C10J: Mixture of furnace coal gas, water coal gas and

synthetic antioxidant, etc, produced by solid carbon-containing

matter; Gain of heat for air or other gases; C10L: Fuel not included

in other categories; Natural gas; Synthetic natural gas not produced

in the C10K category; Liquefied gasoline gas; Additive into fuel or

flame; Tinder; C12N: Microorganism or enzyme; Composite;

Reproduction, storage or maintenance of microorganism; Meta-

morphosis or genetic engineering; Nutrient medium; C12P: Chem-

icals or composite synthesized by fermentation or using enzymes

to separate the optical isomer of H01M in racemic mixture; Method

or device such as battery cell to convert chemical energy into

electric energy directly.

immobilized cell system are based on artificial substrates, and

it will be extremely beneficial to the improvement on hydrogen

generation cost reduction if this high-rate fermentative

hydrogen technology can be applied to the waste water and

other waste biomaterials. The current experiment conducted

by FCU focuses on the testing of sewage sludge, since the

sewage sludge usually contains a proper ratio of concentrated

sludge and food wastes.

Combiningfuelcellswithhydrogenenergyhastheadvantage

ofhighenergyconversionefficiency,lowpollutionandfuelsource

diversification. Nowadays, the conversion method of electro-

chemical energy is the most efficient energy technology. The

Bureau of Energy in MOEA indicates that since the fuel cell is

a generator, fuel cells can continuously generate electricity as

longastheyareconstantlysuppliedwithmaterial.Theelectricity

generation of the fuel cell is different from the traditional

combustionturbinetypepowergeneration,andthetotalenergy

generationefficiencyoffuelcellscanbeupto70%,byreducingthe

manystepsofwhichtraditionalelectricpowergenerationneeds

inthermalrecycling.AccordingtotheassessmentoftheMinistry

of Economics Trade and Industry (METI) in Japan, fuel cells

decrease28e40%ofCO2emissionsand63e90%ofNOxemission.

Therefore, combining fuel cells with hydrogen energy can be

widely applied in electrical generation, power transportation,

mobile power and some other fields associated with solving

environmental energy problems and bringing about thriving

greenenergyindustries.

3. Patent analysis and technology roadmapof commercializing biohydrogen technology

3.1. Patent analysis of commercializing biohydrogentechnology

A review of relevant papers on patents and technologies in

Taiwan indicates that hydrogen production technologies are

primarily focused in the areas of Taiwan, Japan and America;

thus this study will take a closer look at the research and

development in technologies in Japan and America. The

hydrogen generation related report in volume 1156 of Business

Weekly on the 18th of January 2010 states that usingwater and

coke as an energy source can release energy after thehydrogen

undergoes a series of chemical reactions, and it only

discharges pure water without any harmful substance. This

study is undertaken to discuss the development of organic

matter and carbohydrate producing hydrogen via chemical

reaction. Through analyzing the relevant patents, it finds that

the process of producing hydrogen through fermentation of

organic waste is a part of biohydrogen production.

3.1.1. Analysis of patent differences between three countriesTaiwan, U.S. and Japan have their own IPC fields by compar-

isonwith IPC quantity. Table 3 clearly shows that Taiwan pays

more attention to biohydrogen patents, while the U.S. and

Japan pay more attention to the field of fuel cell development.

The Taiwanese technological field belongs to front-end raw

material manufacturing, while American and Japanese fields

belong to rear-end product application by analysis of integral

industrial theory. American and Japanese enterprises have

Fig. 1 e IPC distributions of Taiwan, U.S. and Japan (before 1999).

i n t e rn a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n en e r g y 3 6 ( 2 0 1 1 ) 1 4 0 4 9e1 4 0 5 814052

the potential of becoming partners to commercialize bio-

hydrogen technologies.

As shown in Fig. 1, Taiwan, U.S. and Japan have begun to

research alternate energy sources. The meeting held by the

OPEC member countries in Hague to discuss a production

reduction protocol to reduce the gasoline has caused the oil

prices to increase dramatically since 1999. As shown in Fig. 2,

the number of patents has increased greatly since 2000 due to

the triple oil prices induced by the violent confrontations

between Israel and Palestine, as well as the tense situations

occurring in the Middle East.

Fig. 2 e IPC distributions of Taiwa

This study compares the variations of Taiwan, Japan and

the U.S. during the entire patent development process by

utilizing the above technology life cycle (TLC) chart. According

to the TLC, Japan starts the patent development in 1983, while

the U.S. begins in 1974, which is the year after the global oil

crisis, and Taiwan launches in 1995. Taiwan and Japan have

similar developmental modes during the initial development

period due to a high technological threshold of energy substi-

tution. Both show no significant development during the

exploration stage, until the 5th year of patent development,

where the average patent development outcome reaches 24

n, U.S. and Japan (after 2000).

Initial technical period

Polic

y

Renewable Energy Statute Draft Renewable Energy Statute

Research & development plan of anaerobe biohydrogen

plasma reconstruction & gas production technology 1970

2005 to 2008

1972solar energy gas production technology

1997biomass energy reconstruction & gas production technology

2000 separated assisting reconstruction & gas production technology

2005gas production technology of plasma bio-diesel oil

Middle technical period

In 2001 June in 2009

AFC PEMFC PAFC

MCFC SOFC

hydrogen power October in 2009

2004 portable fuel cell

2002electric hydrogen locomotive

Micro fuel cell 2000

2001 Hydrogen vehicle

at the end of 2002 1,000W fuel cell power generation

2003hydrogen station

April in 2004hydrogen village & highway

Future objective

the 20th century 2005 2010

gas production technology of anaerobe (waste/waste water)

2008

To promote hydrogen station, highway and village development in Taiwan

Tec

hnol

ogy

2015

Fig. 3 e Technology roadmap of biohydrogen.

i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n en e r g y 3 6 ( 2 0 1 1 ) 1 4 0 4 9e1 4 0 5 8 14053

patents. On the other hand, the U.S. performs better with

notable accomplishments during the initial developmental

period of substitution energies. However, the counter-broken

lines shown in the cycle chart refers to the continuous bottle-

necks encountered during technological development, which

include technological difficulty, deficiency in funding and the

increasing cost of rawmaterials. These continuous bottlenecks

are mainly caused by the sudden rejection of alternate energy

sources, which have been promoted for 10 years by the purpose

of reducing ordinary fuel prices. Therefore, Taiwan and Japan

have more patents than the U.S. does during the post devel-

opmental period. The analysis of patent differences between

the 3 countries shown in Figs. 1 and 2 clearly indicates that

advanced countries, such as Japan and America, have been

Table 4 e Ratio of public electricity account for total electricity

Five differentapartment

Number ofHouseholds

Public electricity(kWh/household/yr)

A 1672 2153

B 124 1361

C 194 3040

D 320 3754

E 120 1471

Average 2356

Source: CPAMI, 2009.

developing hydrogen technology for many years, which is

approximately 10 years ahead of Taiwan.

3.2. Technology roadmap of biohydrogen

A technology roadmap integrates and combines the techno-

logical management and communications for guidance and

technological functions. The scope of the technological

application of the HFC industry is researched, and thus it is

essential to adopt industrial technology roadmapping in this

study. As shown in Fig. 3, the technology roadmapping divides

industries into three areas; policy/event, application/objective

and technology. Policies/events mainly include energy poli-

cies of the Taiwan government andmajor energy events in the

consumption per household.

The average of privateelectricity per household

(kWh/household/yr)

Ratio of publicelectricity account for

total electricity consumptionper household

4152 34%

4152 25%

4152 42%

4152 47%

4152 26%

4152 35%

Table 5 e Explanations of applied parameters.

Explanations Mathematic symbols and units

Daily kitchen garbage per household K, (kg/day)

Addition proportion of the molecule (sucrose) a, 0 < a

(For example: a ¼ 0.5, which means the proportion of molecule

and sewage is 1：1/a ¼ 1：2, i.e. if 1 molecule unit is added,

2 units of sewage should be put into the reaction.)

The rate of hydrogen production b, (L/L/day means how many liters of hydrogen can be

generated from each liter of substrates every day.)

Daily sewage per household W, (L/day)

Daily biohydrogen production per household H, (L H2/household/day)

Conversion power of hydrogen to electrical energy

(by quoting the data of the MF-UTH series fuel cell

produced by M-FIELD Energy Ltd.)

1 kWh/d ¼ 750 L H2/day

(which indicates that 1 kWh of electricity consumes 750 L

of hydrogen)

Electricity production per household Ed, (kWh/household/day)

Annual electricity production per household Ey, (kWh/household/yr)

i n t e rn a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n en e r g y 3 6 ( 2 0 1 1 ) 1 4 0 4 9e1 4 0 5 814054

world. Applications/objectives can be decomposed for fuel cell

usages in hydrogen and those products used in HFC. Tech-

nology layer refers to the analysis process of hydrogen

production technology. Fig. 3 shows the technology roadmap

of biohydrogen.

In Fig. 3 the technology aspect includes four states within

the initial technical period: plasma reconstruction and

hydrogen production technology (in 1970), solar energy

hydrogen production technology (in 1972), biomass recon-

struction and hydrogen production technology (in 1997), as

well as separated assisting reconstruction and hydrogen

production technology (in 2000). These four states together

promote an industrial plan with the government policy.

Taiwan’s government proposes the draft of “Renewable

Energy Act” in 2001 for environmental energy resources and

protections. However, it is not ratified and formally issued by

Legislature until June of 2009.

From the analysis of patent quantity, it is also clear that as

Taiwan develops hydrogen production technology, America

and Japan are applying fuel cells to the application products. A

collaborative relationship may exist between Japan and

Taiwan for their similar landform and resources. For instance,

the Japanese government subsidizes small power generation

units of 1 kWe5 kW, and Taiwan’s government follows up

with research on the small biohydrogen power generation

units. The raw materials used for anaerobe hydrogen

production technology in FCU vary from green algae to

drained waste and waste water for recovery and re-utilization

Table 6 e Substitution values of reaction parameters.

Parameters Substitution data

Daily kitchen garbage per household (K) 0.2805 (kg/day)

Additional proportion of the molecule

(sucrose) (a)

0.1

Daily sewage per household (W) 671 (L/day)

Reaction rate of hydrogen

production including that

from the molecule (sucrose) (b1)

362.2(L/L/day)

Reaction rate of hydrogen production

from the sewage only (b2)

0.02(L/L/day)

during the current phase. The biohydrogen technology system

is not only a technology but also a tool for supporting

renewable energy development in the future.

3.3. An example of future biohydrogen generation vs.waste biomaterials in Taichung city, Taiwan

According to the statistical report from the Taiwan Environ-

mental Protection Administration (EPA), the total population

in Taichung city is approximately 1,061,000 and produced

311,718 tons of garbage in 2008, and 53.49% of the total garbage

in Taichung is collected from the recycling of food wastes and

other recyclable waste material (food waste is 12.46%).

Therefore, the average amount of garbage produced per day

per person is 0.864 (kg), and the average amount of food waste

per day per person is 0.1002 (kg).

On the other hand, the sewage treatment plants deal with

living wastewater, which includes sprinkler irrigation water,

toilet water, industrial cooling water, agricultural irrigation

water, sewage sludge used in composting, run off and mate-

rials used in the building industry. There are two sewage

treatment plants, “Fu Tien” and “Li Ming”, in Taichung City,

and the total volume of sewage treatment is 76,000 cubic

meters/day (CMD). However, the domestic sewage effluence

discharged is difficult to estimate. Therefore, this study cites

the data from the research report “The amount of domestic

sewage and pollution in Taiwan” from the Taiwan Construc-

tion and Planning Agency Ministry of the Interior (CPAMI) and

uses 240 lpcd as the average volume of sewage a person

Table 7 e Ratio of biohydrogen electricity generation.

Number ofhouseholds

Public electricityconsumption

(kWh/household/yr)

Ratio of biohydrogenelectricity generation

ðEy=PE� 100%Þ1672 2153 25.56%

124 1361 40.44%

194 3040 18.11%

320 3754 14.66%

120 1471 37.42%

Table 8 e Regression analysis of product attributes and consumer’s purchase intention.

Operation factors b T value Significant F test Adjusted R2 Significant

Comparative advantage 0.225*** 3.393 0.001*** 25.439 0.322*** 0.000***

Complexity 0.407*** 6.139 0.000***

Observability 0.344*** 5.181 0.000***

Note：***P < 0.001；**P < 0.01；*P < 0.05.

i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n en e r g y 3 6 ( 2 0 1 1 ) 1 4 0 4 9e1 4 0 5 8 14055

produced daily in calculation. Apartment complexes are one

of the typical types of households in Taiwan, and the average

annual electricity consumption in each apartment complex

is approximately 4152 kWh, and the public electricity

consumption is approximately 35%. Therefore the average

household share of public electricity consumption is

2356 kWh/household/yr, and it varies with the amount of

public facilities and the frequency of usage, as shown in Table

4.

With the base of average per-capita daily sewage and

kitchen garbage in the Taiwan area and the common elec-

tricity consumption data in the Zhong-Ji Community as the

evaluation criteria, this study applies the experimental results

of fermentative hydrogen generation from biomass to esti-

mating energy released from the high-rate biohydrogen

production in an anaerobic atmosphere experiment by FCU

and the application can be utilized in a very common elec-

trical consumption. The equations of hydrogen generation,

daily electricity consumption per-capita, and annual elec-

tricity generation per household are shown below as equation

(1), equation (2), and equation (3). Table 5 defines the applied

parameters in the equations.

K��1þ a

a

�� b1 þ

�W � K

a

�� b2 ¼ H (1)

Ed ¼ H750

(2)

Ey ¼ Ed � 365 (3)

Household is used as the base unit to estimate the electricity

consumption in the community, and currently there are about

379,351 households in Taichung City. According to Table 5, the

data can be processed and calculated as the substitution data

listed in Table 6.

When the data in Table 6 are applied to the equations

(1)e(3), the target values are derived as follows:

Table 9 e Regression analysis of consumer characteristics and

Operation factors b T value

Acceptance of financial risk 0.003 0.039

Experience 0.443*** 6.538

Acceptance of social risk 0.333*** 4.920

Acceptance of psychological risk 0.058 0.858

Acceptance of physical risk 0.063 0.923

Level of acceptance of curiosity 0.095 1.398

Level of interest 0.032 0.470

Note：***P < 0.001；**P < 0.01；*P < 0.05.

H ¼ 1130:976ðLH2=household=dayÞ (4)

Ed ¼ 1:508ðkWh=household=dayÞ (5)

Ey ¼ 550:4039 ðkWh=household=yrÞ (6)

The data in equations (4)e(6) are analyzed with the

substitution proportion of biomass hydrogen production

releasing energy in order to supply common electricity

consumption, which was provided from Zhong-Ji Commu-

nity. The results are shown in Table 7, and it can be concluded

that the power supply percentage of biohydrogen used in

different communities can be as much as 40.44%. Therefore,

kitchen garbage and waste water can be utilized in bio-

hydrogen technologies for power generation so as to reduce

dependency on nuclear power generation and promote

environmental protection.

4. New product market survey

The developmental value of a new product is ultimately

determined by a consumer’s perception. This study adopts the

analysis of new product adaptation proposed by [4] to explore

the consumer acceptance of the BHFC product. The study

investigates several innovative technology-intensive product

categories and examines the perceived product characteris-

tics, environmental variables and consumer characteristics

on the impact level of purchase intentions. This model is then

used as the base structure for the design of the consumer

acceptance questionnaire survey.

This study adopts a progressive approach. First, it inter-

prets the field survey data from an industrial analysis for

the quantitative research through theoretical literature,

knowledge review, and proposed theory model, and then

designs a quantitative questionnaire. Second, it adopts the

consumer’s purchase intention.

Significant F test Adjusted R2 Significant

0.969 10.102 0.293*** 0.000***

0.000***

0.000***

0.392

0.358

0.164

0.639

Table 10 e Regression analysis of external environment and consumer’s purchase intention.

Operation factors b T value Significant F test Adjusted R2 Significant

Government policy 0.605* 10.349 0.000* 47.119 0.473*** 0.000***

Price 0.256* 4.374 0.000*

Time 0.227* 3.888 0.000*

Note：***P < 0.001；**P < 0.01；*P < 0.05.

i n t e rn a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n en e r g y 3 6 ( 2 0 1 1 ) 1 4 0 4 9e1 4 0 5 814056

quantitative survey methodology to explore the market

acceptance of the BHFC product, current market status and

marketing recommendations.

4.1. Questionnaire samples

BHFC product is a renewable energy product, and the future

plan is to implement this product in newly constructed

apartments and community architectures, as it is related to

urban planning and community development. To ensure the

questionnaires reach specific and appropriate groups, it is

specially designed for Zhong-Ji Community, which is in the

Taichung City Community Planning interactive network and

constructed by the Department of Urban Development of

TaichungCity. 300 questionnaires aremailed to the randomly-

selected residents in Zhong-Ji Community, and 170 responses

are received, which constitutes a 56.67% response rate. Out of

the 170 questionnaires returned, 155 are valid, which consti-

tutes a validity rate of 91.18%.

4.2. Data analysis

4.2.1. Descriptive statisticsThe returned questionnaires show a gender ratio of 52%

female and 48% male, and most of the respondents are

between 25 to 29 years old and 40e44 years old. As for the

educational background, more than 80% of the test subjects

possess a bachelor degree or above. The occupations of the test

subjects include researchers, teachers, lawyers, and accoun-

tants, which make up nearly 24.5% of the subjects in the

survey. The majority of the test subjects have a monthly

income of NTD$30,001-$40,000, which is slightly above the

average income in Taiwan. More than 80% of the test subjects

recycle kitchen waste on a regular basis, which demonstrates

that most of the households in Zhong-Jin Community are

aware of the concept of environmental protection and are

practicing certain activities in support of it.

4.2.2. Regression4.2.2.1. The empirical analysis of the relationship betweenproduct’s attributes and consumer’s purchase intention. From the

consumer’s point of view, the perceived product’s attributes

Table 11 e Summary of hypothesis testing.

Hypothese

H1：The consumer’s perceived product attributes will have a positive im

H2：Consumer characteristics will have a positive impact on purchase in

H3：External environmental variable will have positive impact on purch

can be categorized into factors of “Comparative advantage”,

“Complexity” and “Observability”. This study finds that signif-

icant correlations exist between the factors: “Comparative

advantage” (P < 0.001), “Complexity” (P < 0.001) and “Observ-

ability” (P < 0.001), as shown in Table 8. Also, there is a positive

impact of consumer’s perception on a product’s attributes

toward the purchase intention. This study indicates a signifi-

cant regression between the relationships of “Complexity”,

“Observability” and “Comparative advantage” regarding

a product’s attributes, which affect a consumer’s purchase

intention.

4.2.2.2. The empirical analysis on the relationship betweenconsumer characteristics and purchase intention. Consumer’s

perceived product attributes can be categorized into factors of

“Acceptance of financial risk”, “Experience”, “Acceptance of

social risk”, “Acceptance of psychological risk”, “Acceptance

of physical risk”, “Level of acceptance of curiosity” and “Level

of interest”. This study finds that significant correlations exist

only between the factors of “Experience” (P < 0.001) and

“Acceptance of social risk” (P < 0.001), as shown in Table 9.

Also, this study finds a significant regression in the relation-

ship between consumer characteristics and consumer’s

purchase intention.

4.2.2.3. The empirical analysis on the relationship between theexternal environment and consumer’s purchase intention. Theattributes of consumer’s perceived product can be categorized

into factors of “Government policy”, “Price” and “Time”. This

study finds significant correlations between factors of

“Government policy” (P < 0.05), “Price” (P < 0.05) and “Time”

(P < 0.05), as shown in Table 10. This study also indicates

a significant regression in the relationship between external

environment and consumer’s purchase intention.

The empirical analysis result shows that regarding the

attributes of consumer’s perceived product, the product’s

“Complexity”, “Observability” and “Comparative advantage”

have a significant impact on the consumer’s purchase inten-

tion; and consumer characteristics of “Experiences” and

“Social risk” have a direct impact on consumer’s purchase

intention; and regarding the external environment variable,

the consumers consider that “Price”, “Time” and “Policy” have

Verification results

pact on purchase intention. Support

tention. Partially support

ase intention. Support

Product attributes Comparative advantage (P=0.407***) Complexity (P=0.225***) Observability (P=0.344***)

Consumer characteristics Acceptance of financial risk (P=0.003) Experience (P=0.443***) Acceptance of social risks (P=0.333***) Acceptance of psychological risk (P=0.058) Acceptance of physical risk (P=0.063) Level of acceptance of curiosity (P=0.095) Level of interest (P=0.032)

External environment Government Policy (P=0.605***) Price (P=0.256***) Time (P=0.227***)

Purchase intention

H1, P=0.322***

H2, P=0.293***

H3, P=0.473***

Fig. 4 e The results of hypothesis research framework.

i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n en e r g y 3 6 ( 2 0 1 1 ) 1 4 0 4 9e1 4 0 5 8 14057

significant impacts on consumer’s purchase intention. Table

11 and Fig. 4 indicate the summary of the hypothesis testing

in this study.

5. Conclusion

Even thoughbiohydrogen technology is still in its primary stage,

the International Energy Agency has commented that bio-

hydrogen provides a highmarket potential in the future [9]. The

benefit of hydrogen development and utilization includes

“energy efficiency” and “industrial efficiency”. From the aspect

of energy efficiency, due to the diverse and substantial

hydrogen energy resource, hydrogen energy technology devel-

opment and utilization can ease the energy crisis and enhance

energy independence, while maintaining economic develop-

ment and national security. From the aspect of industrial effi-

ciency, hydrogen production is an important output for the

domestic renewable energy industry, and thus it will improve

the market share of Taiwan’s energy industry.

Patents of hydrogen and fuel cells in Taiwan, Japan and

America are analyzed in this study to understand the tech-

nological differences and advantages of hydrogen and fuel

cells. This patent analysis shows that Taiwan pays more

attention to the biohydrogen field, while America and Japan

pay more attentions to hydrogen application and the devel-

opment of fuel cells. Based on the analysis of 5 biggest patent

application companies in Taiwan, Japan and America, it is

estimated that biohydrogen production technology is

currently in the initial developmental stage; therefore it lacks

professional manufacturers with strong competitive advan-

tages. Advanced countries, such as America and Japan, have

targeted hydrogen energy technology as a higher priority to

meet the technological demand of hydrogen economies in the

future. Therefore, Taiwan shall provide sufficient labor and

funding for hydrogen application technology development,

which will help land on a better position in the global

hydrogen economy system.

From the perspective of market analysis, the technology

teams in the technologyR&Dprocess shall focus on the BHFC’s

production, and assess whether it is furnished with effective

energy-saving and carbon-reduction equipments. When

comparing to the similar types of products (such as solar fuel

cells and natural gas fueled cells), a number of information

should be readily available to consumers, such as the amount

of carbondioxide that BHFC can reduce, the amount of garbage

emissions that could be reduced, the lifespan of the cells and

the sources of material for the applied electrical power. Also,

the product design of BHFC should be easily operated for

consumers. In the consumermarket, the company shall target

those with a highly inquisitive mind, for they pay more

attention to the market dynamics and are constantly looking

for technological breakthroughs. In the external environment,

government policy definitely plays the most important role in

promoting renewable energy. Although consumers are aware

of the renewable energy issues, they may remain hesitant to

accept renewable energyproducts due to theunfamiliarity and

insecureness associatedwith the BHFC products. At this point,

public government advocacy campaigns would be necessary

to educate consumers on the importance of renewable energy

products.

Acknowledgements

The authors sincerely appreciate the financial support from

Taiwan’s National Science Council (project ID: NSC 98-2420-H-

004-183-M02 and NSC 99-2811-E-035-002), Taiwan’s Bureau of

Energy (grant no. 99-D0204-3) and the technology support

from M-Field Energy Limited Company.

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