Iowa Co. Hopes to Make Gasoline Obsolete

Dean Schultz, of the Hydrogen Engine Center research and development department, monitors an engine, Friday, May 19, 2006, in Algona, Iowa. The company is working on ways to make engines that use alternative fuels including hydrogen. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) (Charlie Neibergall - AP)

ALGONA, Iowa -- While much of the world fumes over escalating fuel prices, a small company in north central Iowa is quietly hoping to make gasoline obsolete as an engine fuel.

Research at the Hydrogen Engine Center Inc. is done in an early 1900s red brick armory at the Kossuth County fairgrounds.

There, a clean six-cylinder engine that looks like it could have been pulled from a Ford pickup has been running for 110 hours, not quite half the 300 hours it must continuously run for certification. The company, led by a retired Ford Motor Co. engineer, hopes to meet Environmental Protection Agency automotive 2007 emission standards.

All 81 parts are original Oxx Power, the brand name the company has given all its engines.

The engine can run on a number of fuels including hydrogen, ethanol, natural gas, propane or digester gas from landfills.

The company, started by Ted Hollinger, 65, is initially focusing on making more efficient, environmentally friendlier engines to replace those used in generators and in forklift trucks, airline ground equipment, irrigation pumps, tractors and buses.

Ford, General Motors and Chrysler have dropped industrial engine production as they've cut costs, leaving what Hollinger said is a ready-made market for his fledgling company.

"Our engine has to bolt in where the old engine went and can't be a thread off," he said. "If you do that and you make improvements in it so that it gets rid of emissions and it's more efficient, then I think people are going to like it."

The company incorporated in Iowa in 2003 and two years later in Canada. It merged with Green Mt. Labs in August 2005 and became a publicly traded company under the name Hydrogen Engine Center Inc.

Hollinger said he insisted that his company have a product to sell from day one instead of starting up as a research and development firm.

The company's products include a six-cylinder engine and a three-cylinder version for small engine applications.

The company has found immediate interest in its hydrogen-powered generators that use five engines.