ISSN 1052-0139www.gasworld.comVolume 58, No. 06June 2020

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E : S P E C I A L T Y G A S Z O N E • A M E T E K M O C O N

US EDITION

MARKETS – INTELLIGENCE – TECHNOLOGY

Clean fuelsHydrogen/LNG

Industry steps up: Air Products, RegO,Bloom Energy, KAG Merchant Gas

CORONAVIRUSIndustry steps up: Air Products, RegO,CORONAVIRUS

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW Cryogenic Industries CEO Peter Wagner

AIR LIQUIDEHydrogen’s future in the US

PDC MACHINESPhiladelphia Eagles hydrogen partnership

gasworld.com/specialfeatures44 | gasworld US Edition • June 2020

SPECIAL FEATURE | PDC MACHINES

Green in more ways than onePDC Machines works with Philadelphia Eagles on hydrogen project

By Molly Burgess

With states such as California

taking a global lead on

hydrogen innovations, the US

currently stands as one of the major

players in the clean fuel market.

Philadelphia-based diaphragm

compressor technology provider

PDC Machines has made a big

breakthrough in the US by combining

the nation’s favorite sport with

hydrogen innovations.

NFL is a frequent topic of

conversation, but rarely for its support

toward a hydrogen fuel. Earlier this year

that changed, when Philadelphia Eagles

entered into a sustainability partnership

with PDC Machines for a SimpleFuel

hydrogen refueling unit that will

provide green hydrogen to the team.

The unit, which now stands as one of

PDC Machines’ key innovations, was

originally developed as the out-product

of H-Prize, the Department of Energy’s

H2Refuel, which challenged American

innovators to collaborate to design and

build a small scale refueler.

After the challenge, the popularity

for the green solution drastically grew,

and today PDC Machines has installed

its SimpleFuel innovation all over

the world.

Although various customers

have received the unit, the Eagles’

partnership marks PDC Machines’ first

sports team collaboration. Partnering

with the Super Bowl LII Champions,

who play in green, was an easy decision

for PDC due to its ever evolving

“Go Green” sustainability campaign

that continually seeks to evolve and

experiment with ways to reduce the

Eagles’ carbon footprint.

Go Green

As part of the Go Green campaign,

in December 2018, Lincoln Financial

Field – home of the Eagles – became

LEED Gold certified by the US Green

Building Council for implementing

practical and measurable strategies

and solutions aimed at achieving

high performance in sustainable site

development, water savings, energy

efficiency, materials selection and

indoor environmental quality.

And a few months earlier, in June

2018, the Eagles became the first

“Next, we will help

the Eagles use the

hydrogen technology

in the team’s day-to-

day operations”

© PDC Machines | (L to R) Team President Don Smolenski, SVP Revenue and Strategy Catherine Carlson,

Kareem Afzal (Vice President of Business Development), Jim Petrecky (Hydrogen Director Americas)

SPECIAL FEATURE

June 2020 • gasworld US Edition | 45

gw

professional sports team to achieve

ISO 20121 certification, which is an

international standard designed

to help organizations in the events

and hospitality industry integrate

sustainability into management

practices and processes.

Through its Go Green campaign, the

Eagles’ commitment to clean power has

been extremely impressive, but now

the team has gone one step further with

hydrogen which can help accelerate its

carbon footprint goals.

As a life-long Philadelphia Eagles fan,

the partnership was an exciting concept

for Kareem Afzal, Vice-President of

PDC Machines.

“The Philadelphia Eagles were always

my favorite sports team,” Afzal told

gasworld. “After they won Super Bowl

LII, I was driving past the stadium one

day staring at the façade covered in

solar panels. Immediately, it dawned

on me how progressive the team is. I

thought with all that renewable power

– which completely offset gameday

power needs of the team and then some

– our SimpleFuel unit would perfectly

meet their fleet needs and keep the

stadium green.”

Two years on, the Eagles can say

its Lincoln Financial Field will soon

be a proud home for PDC Machines’

SimpleFuel hydrogen refueling unit that

will provide green hydrogen. Designed

to take only the inputs of water and

electricity to produce clean hydrogen

fuel, the SimpleFuel unit will power the

team’s fuel cell vehicles and material

handling equipment all while reducing

the stadium’s carbon footprint.

“For PDC, this partnership is a

world class deployment with the

world’s leader in sports sustainability,”

Afzal said.

“If provide a public facing

opportunity to showcase hydrogen

energy with a world famous pop-

culture icon that today does not exist

in the hydrogen world. We also hope it

will encourage other teams in sport to

join the hydrogen energy movement.

In fact, PDC has been approached

by other teams very interested in a

similar deployment.

“In fact, PDC has been approached

by other teams very interested in a

similar deployment.”

Due to the coronavirus pandemic

Afzal explained, “The Eagles and PDC

are working together on installation of

the SimpleFuel unit, however, due to

the current environment this process

has been delayed and will work together

to find a time that is safe to do so.”

But the installation of the unit does

not mean the end of the partnership.

PDC Machines hopes to further assists

the Eagles on their hydrogen journey.

“First, we will focus on getting the

deployment in operation,” Afzal said.

“Next, we will help the Eagles use

the hydrogen technology in the team’s

day-to-day operations. After that, we

will see what the future brings as thing

naturally evolve.”

Sharing his enthusiasm towards the

partnership and the Eagles’ cleaner

future, the team’s President Don

Smolenski, said, “Our partnership

with PDC Machines is a tremendous

opportunity to strengthen our

sustainable management practices,”

said Don Smolenski, Philadelphia

Eagles President.

“Fueling our vehicles and operational

equipment with clean hydrogen energy

is an exciting new component of our

comprehensive efforts to reduce our

carbon footprint.””

Other projects

Aside from its partnership with the

Eagles, PDC Machines has been busy

with other contracts, innovations and

company goals.

“PDC is laser-focused on the

emerging medium and heavy-duty

vehicle market which will be a critical

industry in the very near future. In

short time, we will have a new product

offering to support this market at a

much larger scale,” explained Afzal.

“We’re talking many orders of

magnitude larger than anything

currently available. The opportunity

to make impact on climate change

through hydrogen creates an

unparalleled enthusiasm for our work

everyday.” gw