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