hydrogen for transportation

8/6/2019 Hydrogen for Transportation

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hydrogen for transportation:

Current position in technology:

Currently Oil provides most of the energy needed for transportation so the use of Hydrogen for

transportation is not really emphasized on currently as much, but oil will soon be in short supply. That is

the reason why we are currently trying to strengthen its technology.

Productionof hydrogen:

There are several ways hydrogen is produced currently:

Currently, the cheapest source of hydrogen is natural gas, but the problem is that the resulting hydrogen

has only 50% of the chemical energy of the original natural gas, which is not that efficient

Hydrogen can also be produced from oil, but we are trying to find an alternate to oil and also,if

hydrogen is derived from oil, a greenhouse gases may be released which can cause pollution to the

environment.

Hydrogen can is also being produced from coal, especially in America, as they have large supplies of

coal.This method has been used for two centuries but the efficiency is unfortunately still quite low. Due

to the problems that occur with the coal remain.These problems include acid rain producing sulfur

dioxide, smoke containing heavy metals, ground water polluting ashes, and greenhouse effect.

Storage of hydrogen:

Hydrogen is difficult to store because has very low volumetric energy density. IN order to be used for

transportation it must be light weight and compact.

Established production:

Currently Compressed hydrogen in hydrogen tanks isused for hydrogen vehicles, Hydrogen is

kept at about 350 bar (5,000 psi) and 700 bar (10,000 psi) . Car manufacturers have beendeveloping this solution, likeHonda or Nissan.

Liquid hydrogen:

Some manufactures have been able to store the hydrogen as Liquid hydrogen in liquid tanks, likethe BMW hydrogen 7


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Transportation of the hydrogen which is used for transportation:

A 40 ton truck can deliver 26 tons of gasoline to a conventional gasoline fillingstation. One daily delivery is sufficient for busy station. A 40 ton truck carryingcompressed hydrogen can deliver only 400 kilograms. That is because of the weightof the tank capable of holding 200 atmospheres of pressure. An empty truck willweigh almost as much as a full one. The compressed hydrogen tank must berobust. The energy used to compress the hydrogen to 200 atmospheres would bereleased instantly if a tank ruptured. The fireball would cover a football field.Hydrogen is more energy dense than gasoline (by weight) and hydrogen poweredtransportation is more energy efficient. Yet the hydrogen filling station will require15 deliveries every day, everything else being equal. The energy cost of trucktransport becomes unacceptable unless the source of hydrogen is very close to thepoint of use. A cryogenic truck could carry more hydrogen but recall that the

energy cost to liquefy hydrogen makes this infeasible in most cases.

Hydrogen can be transported by pipeline. According to B&E, it take about 4 timesmore energy to move hydrogen through a pipeline compared to natural gas.


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IN Europe:

Current demonstration projects and acitivities (H2 for transport)

HEET platform (Hydrogen, Energy Environment and Transport), Althytude project, Ultim Car project

(finished) planned: no specific activities planned at the moment (tbc.)

Vehicles

Ongoing: 2 buses (from Irisbus) in Dunkerque within the Althytude project

Filling stations

Ongoing: 1 refuelling station at NGV bus depot in DunkirkwithinAlthytude, hydrogen production by

electrolysis using green energy (from wind).


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than hydrogen, hydrogen may find future uses in areas other than fuel cell vehicles, includinginternal combustion engines, freight transport and aviation. We emphasize, however, that thelarge-scale use of hydrogen as the energy source for transportation would represent a profoundshift in our energy infrastructure.

Basic research into transformative hydrogen technologies related to production and storage are

important to realizing hydrogens promise of enabling the storage and use of energy withoutharmful life cycle emissions. Economic, environmentally friendly hydrogen production couldpotentially be accomplished through:

the production of hydrogen from fossil fuels by such methods asgasification, coupled with the geological storage of the resultingcarbon dioxide, or the gasification of waste biomass;technologies that significantly improve the economics andefficiency of producing hydrogen from water using electricitysources that do not emit CO2; andthe development of novel technologies for hydrogen production,such as direct hydrogen production from water using sunlight, andbiological processes that decompose organic materials into

hydrogen and other by-products.

The first option above is one element of the need for a Canadian focus on fossil fuel gasificationand CO2 capture and storage in western Canada, as described in Chapter 5 Carbon-BasedFuels. The latter two options for hydrogen production are less geographically specific and areworthy of targeted funds for early-stage research, as discussed in Chapter 3.

Canada has a world-leading position in current-generation mobile and hand-held hydrogenstorage technologies. That being said, there are still many challenges to storing hydrogen for on-board, mobile applications. For on-road hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to compete with otheradvanced vehicle technologies and provide substantial environmental benefits, a breakthrough inhigh-density, low-weight, low-cost hydrogen storage is required. This is also an area worthy oftargeted basic research.

Not to be ignored is the importance of large-scale hydrogen production and management to theoil sector. This sector will experience large growth and require more hydrogen, using bothmature production technologies and newer technologies as they emerge. Canada has well-established hydrogen distribution expertise and thus has an opportunity to gain more experiencewith hydrogen infrastructure for advanced applications, including the development of codes andstandards for hydrogen distribution and refuelling.

Finally, there is roughly 200 kt per year of unused hydrogen produced in industrial processes inCanada; in energy terms this is equivalent to approximately 800 million litres of gasoline.Identifying increased opportunities to use this hydrogen on site in advanced applications such asfuel cell and hydrogen internal combustion engines would provide opportunities to test suchapplications in real-world settings. If the hydrogen were used to substitute for carbon-based

fuels in these regions, it would also reduce environmental impacts.

hydrogen for transportation

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