Electric power requirement for large-scale production of hydrogen fuel for the world vehicle fleet

Replacement of fossil fuels by hydrogen in motor vehicles throughout the world is postulated to occur over the next 50 years as mass production of fuel-cell engines accelerates. For the estimated size of the world vehicle fleet by 2050, large-scale electrolysis of water may become the primary means to produce hydrogen in sufficient quantity. Unlike petroleum production, which is concentrated in only a few well-endowed countries in the world, electrolytic production of hydrogen can be carried out in all countries as an indigenous supply of fuel. However, each nation will require a significant increase in the rate of electric energy consumption and a concomitant increase in electric power generating facilities. A dynamic model was used to estimate the annual total electric energy requirement to sustain long-term growth of hydrogen fuel production in two time sequences. In the first sequence, from 2000 to 2010, when a fuel-cell engine industry is likely to expand rapidly, extrapolation of historic data on world population, vehicle, traffic, and energy statistics from official agencies provides the initial conditions in year 2010 for the second time sequence. In the second sequence, the model examines a range of growth scenarios to the year 2050, when a significant fraction of the total world vehicle fleet could be operated with hydrogen fuel. The model calculations show that even with improved energy consumption efficiency of electrolytic production facilities, the additional electric energy demand to sustain growth of hydrogen fuel production will require installation of significant additional electric power generating capacity throughout the world.     

Incentives for co-firing in bio-fuelled industrial steam, heat and power production—Swedish experiences

Various combinations of co-firing of biofuels and fossil fuels can be used as an efficient method to rapidly introduce biofuels into existing energy systems. They also offer effective utilisation of local, small fuel resources, used mainly by larger plants. This study analyses different factors and incentives that influence co-firing in bio-fuelled industrial production of steam, heat and power and case studies illustrating Sweden’s experience in plants in the field. The greatest emphasis in this note is on non-technical factors that affect the incentives for co-firing. The study calls for a range of driving forces to introduce co-firing, such as technological, economic and financial factors, fuel resources and environmental matters. The results show that co-firing has been very efficient and beneficial for the economies of the companies studied. Moreover, the companies have achieved this with moderate investment costs and still have the flexibility to meet future changes in fuel prices and other market conditions. However, there are restrictions in combustion technology for co-firing. High activity in co-firing in some countries, especially in the Nordic countries, is indicated in this study. The already existing high activity in co-firing is expected to increase. New environmental legislation for recycling systems, landfill fees and international agreements to lower emissions of greenhouse gases will increase the supply of different fibres and fuels that can be used. This will promote the future development of co-firing.     

Abating transport GHG emissions by hydrogen fuel cell vehicles: Chances for the developing world

Fuel cell vehicles, as the most promising clean vehicle technology for the future, represent the major chances for the developing world to avoid high-carbon lock-in in the transportation sector. In this paper, by taking China as an example, the unique advantages for China to deploy fuel cell vehicles are reviewed. Subsequently, this paper analyzes the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from 19 fuel cell vehicle utilization pathways by using the life cycle assessment approach. The results show that with the current grid mix in China, hydrogen from water electrolysis has the highest GHG emissions, at 3.10 kgCO₂/km, while by-product hydrogen from the chlor-alkali industry has the lowest level, at 0.08 kgCO₂/km. Regarding hydrogen storage and transportation, a combination of gas-hydrogen road transportation and single compression in the refueling station has the lowest GHG emissions. Regarding vehicle operation, GHG emissions from indirect methanol fuel cell are proved to be lower than those from direct hydrogen fuel cells. It is recommended that although fuel cell vehicles are promising for the developing world in reducing GHG emissions, the vehicle technology and hydrogen production issues should be well addressed to ensure the life-cycle low-carbon performance.     

Electric power in ASEAN countries: A shifting fuel mix

After the oil shocks of 1973 and 1979, the ASEAN countries took measures to lessen their dependence on oil. Their concern is reflected in the electric power sector, the largest single end-user of primary energy in most countries. This article describes how the ASEAN countries are shifting the pattern of their fuel mix for electric power generation from oil to other sources of energy, with a preference for domestic energy resources. Singapore, which has no indigenous energy resources, is the single exception. Data from Brunei are not yet available.     

Ammonia‐fed solid oxide fuel cells for power generation—A review

Ammonia has been identified as a promising sustainable fuel and hydrogen source for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC). This paper aims to provide a literature review on ammonia‐fed SOFCs. Both experimental studies and mathematical modeling investigations on NH₃‐fed SOFC are included and discussed. It is found that NH₃ is a technically feasible fuel for direct use in SOFCs and the performance of NH₃‐fed SOFC is comparable with that of the H₂ fed SOFC. Experimental study in literature also demonstrates that both oxygen ion‐conducting electrolyte (SOFC‐O) and proton‐conducting electrolyte (SOFC‐H) can be used in NH₃‐fed SOFC, as the amount of NO_x generated in a SOFC‐O is negligible. Fabricating thin film electrolyte and developing more reactive electrode materials are important to improve the performance of NH₃‐fed SOFCs. Mathematical models are useful design tools for understanding the coupled transport and reaction phenomena and for optimizing the SOFC performance. Thermodynamic and pioneering 1D electrochemical models have been developed, validated and demonstrated to be reliable by the present author. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cogeneration of power and hydrogen with integrated fuel processor counterpressure steam cycles

The concept of cogeneration of power and hydrogen plants is introduced with specific regard to the fossil fuels. Fossil fuels require steam to be converted to hydrogen, while powerplants usually discharge heat by condensing steam. Moreover, hydrogen can be burned with oxygen to produce steam and to generate power in high-temperature steam cycles. These considerations suggest that an integration of the processes could result in a very high efficiency of conversion. It could allow to start immediately to convert efficiently fossil fuels to power and clean hydrogen. Some theoretical evaluations are carried out which show that an improvement of efficiency could be reached with respect to separate plants. However, it is necessary to investigate each specific case in order to evaluate the real advantage obtained.     

Dynamic behaviour of Li batteries in hydrogen fuel cell power trains

A Li ion polymer battery pack for road vehicles (48 V, 20 Ah) was tested by charging/discharging tests at different current values, in order to evaluate its performance in comparison with a conventional Pb acid battery pack. The comparative analysis was also performed integrating the two storage systems in a hydrogen fuel cell power train for moped applications. The propulsion system comprised a fuel cell generator based on a 2.5 kW polymeric electrolyte membrane (PEM) stack, fuelled with compressed hydrogen, an electric drive of 1.8 kW as nominal power, of the same typology of that installed on commercial electric scooters (brushless electric machine and controlled bidirectional inverter). The power train was characterized making use of a test bench able to simulate the vehicle behaviour and road characteristics on driving cycles with different acceleration/deceleration rates and lengths. The power flows between fuel cell system, electric energy storage system and electric drive during the different cycles were analyzed, evidencing the effect of high battery currents on the vehicle driving range. The use of Li batteries in the fuel cell power train, adopting a range extender configuration, determined a hydrogen consumption lower than the correspondent Pb battery/fuel cell hybrid vehicle, with a major flexibility in the power management.     

Impact of wind power in autonomous power systems—power fluctuations—modelling and control issues

This paper describes a detailed modelling approach to study the impact of wind power fluctuations on the frequency control in a non‐interconnected system with large‐scale wind power. The approach includes models for wind speed fluctuations, wind farm technologies, conventional generation technologies, power system protection and load. Analytical models for wind farms with three different wind turbine technologies, namely Doubly Fed Induction Generator, Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator and Active Stall Induction Generator‐based wind turbines, are included. Likewise, analytical models for diesel and steam generation plants are applied. The power grid, including speed governors, automatic voltage regulators, protection system and loads is modelled in the same platform. Results for different load and wind profile cases are being presented for the case study of the island Rhodes, in Greece. The scenarios studied correspond to reference year of study 2012. The effect of wind fluctuations in the system frequency is studied for the different load cases, and comments on the penetration limits are being made based on the results. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comparison of the expenses required for the on-board fuel storage systems of hydrogen powered vehicles

The on-board storage of hydrogen in vehicles requires sophisticated tank systems and appreciable energy expenditure. The energy requirement for the loading of liquid hydrogen in a cryogenic storage tank is substantially higher than the amount needed to charge a corresponding hydride vehicle tank. However, the hydride tank must provide a considerable part of its hydrogen fuel energy content in order to meet the energy requirements due to its own weight. This amount increases rapidly with increasing design range. Considering the total primary energy flow for both cases, it turns out that a clear break-even point exists. For design ranges higher than about 200 km the liquid hydrogen storage requires less energy expense than the hydride storage tank, the difference being very substantial (more than 100%) in the usual 400–500 km range. Similar results are found in the costs of the on-board storage of hydrogen for different design ranges. A comparison of these results with the storage costs studied earlier for large-scale stationary hydrogen storage facilities indicates that, from the specific capacity point of view, the break-even conditions are very similar in both cases, although due to different reasons.     

Lifetime optimization of a molten carbonate fuel cell power system coupled with hydrogen production

In this paper, a biogas fuelled energy system for combined production of electricity and hydrogen is considered. The system is based on a molten carbonate fuel cell stack integrated with a micro gas turbine. Hydrogen is produced by a pressure swing absorption system. A multi-objective optimization is performed, considering the electrical efficiency and the unit cost of electricity as the objective functions.The system operation is affected by variations in fuel composition, ambient temperature and performance degradation of the components occurring during its lifetime. These effects are considered while defining the objective functions.     

Role of UV irradiated Nafion in power enhancement of hydrogen fuel cells

The influence of optimum UV ray exposure of pristine Nafion polymer membranes on the improvement of proton conductivity and hydrogen fuel cell performance has been examined. Nafion membranes with thickness 183  μm (117), 90  μm (1035), 50  μm (212) and 25  μm (211) were irradiated with ultraviolet rays with doses in the range 0–250 mJ cm^?2 and their proton conductivities have been measured with standard method. The Nafion membranes have also been studied by measuring their water uptake, swelling-ratios and porosity using standard procedures. Hydrogen fuel cells with dual serpentine microchannels with active area 1.9 x 1.6 cm^-2 were assembled with anode gas diffusion layer, Nafion membrane, cathode gas diffusion layer and other components. An external humidifier was used to humidify hydrogen for the fuel cell. The experimental Results have shown an increase in the value of Nafion proton conductivity with an optimum UV irradiation which depends on the thickness of Nafion membrane: the optimum doses for peak proton conductivity were 196mJ/cm^?2 for Nafion 117, 190mJ/cm^?2for Nafion 1035, 180mJ/cm^?2 for Nafion 212 and 160mJ/cm^?2 for Nafion 211. This enhancement of proton conductivity is because of the optimal photo-crosslinking of –SO₃H groups in Nafion. This causes optimum pore-size in Nafion thereby facilitating increased proton-hopping between –SO₃H sites in Nafion. Hydrogen fuel cells were developed with pristine as well as with optimal UV irradiated Nafion with thicknesses of 90 and 50  μm. The polarization plots obtained for these devices showed an increase in power densities approximately by a factor of 1.8–2.0 for devices with optimally UV irradiated Nafion. These results indicate that optimal UV irradiation of Nafion is an excellent technique for enhancing power output of hydrogen fuel cells.     

Design of compact methanol reformer for hydrogen with low CO for the fuel cell power generation

The effect of the heat transfer area and the thermal conductivity of the reactor materials are evaluated with three identical structured reactors having multiple columned-catalyst bed and using three different reactor materials, aluminum alloy, brass and stainless steel. A series of compact methanol reformers are then designed and fabricated with the use of large reactor surface area in catalyst beds and high heat transfer constant to produce hydrogen fuel with 2–4 ppm of CO for the fuel cell (FC) power generation. The same design principle is successfully used for easy scale up of the reactor capacity from 250 L/h to 10,000 L/h. This low CO hydrogen (68–70%) used as the fuel for the fuel cell power generation provides a very competitive cost of hydrogen and electric power, $0.20–0.23/m³ of H₂ and $0.196/KWh, respectively.     

Gas transport in hydrogen electrode of solid oxide regenerative fuel cells for power generation and hydrogen production

To further develop solid oxide regenerative fuel cell (SORFC) technology, the effect of gas diffusion in the hydrogen electrode on the performance of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) and solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs) is investigated. The hydrogen electrode-supported cells are fabricated and tested under various operating conditions in both the power generation and hydrogen production modes. A transport model based on the dusty-gas model is developed to analyze the multi-component diffusion process in the porous media, and the transport parameters are obtained by applying the experimentally measured limiting current data to the model. The structural parameters of the porous electrode, such as porosity and tortuosity, are derived using the Chapman–Enskogg model and microstructural image analysis. The performance of an SOEC is strongly influenced by the gas diffusion limitation at the hydrogen electrode, and the limiting current density of an SOEC is substantially lower than that of an SOFC for the standard cell structure under normal operating conditions. The pore structure of the hydrogen electrode is optimized by using poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), a pore-forming agent, and consequently, the hydrogen production rate of the SOEC is improved by a factor of greater than two under moderate humidity conditions.     

Control of methane flame properties by hydrogen fuel addition: Application to power plant combustion chamber

This study presents a numerical investigation of the effects of mixing methane/hydrogen on turbulent combustion processes taking place in a burner similar to that integrated in gas turbine power plants. Thereby, in comparison to the reference case where the burner is fuelled by 100% of methane, the variations of the axial velocity field, temperature field and mass fraction of carbon monoxide field are examined for different percentages of hydrogen fuel injection. The computed results, obtained by using the software Fluent-CFD, are compared and validated against experimental reference data. Results show that the hydrogen addition to the methane has an impact on all physical and chemical parameters of the reactive system.     

High output power hydrogen engine with high pressure fuel injection,hot surface ignition and turbocharging

It is necessary to develop an H₂ engine with a higher performance than the conventional gasoline or diesel engines for its practical use. The methods of supplying and storing H₂ are very crucial issues. The H₂ engine tends to produce low power output because the heat of combustion per unit volume of H₂-air mixture is low and abnormal combustion such as back fire or preignition must be avoided during operation. At the Musashi Institute of Technology, a higher power two-stroke H₂ diesel turbo engine has been developed. This engine was made capable of high power output by the following method. The liquid H₂ stored in the LH₂-tank was pressurized by a well-designed pump and was directly injected into the combustion chamber. The H₂ was ignited on the hot surface and with the aid of a turbocharger, the engine was able to produce high power output.     

Feasibility study on hydrogen refueling infrastructure for fuel cell vehicles using the off-peak power in Japan

It is examined that the technical feasibility, economics of hydrogen, improvement of the load factor and reduction of the carbon dioxide emission in the case where a hydrogen-refueling infrastructure is developed using the off-peak power in the existing electrical power grid in Japan. Hydrogen could be supplied to the fuel cell vehicles, of which cost would be almost the same as the current retail cost of gasoline exclusive of tax. Annual average load factor of 0.72% could be increased in 2020 to meet the hydrogen demand for the fuel cell vehicles in Japan by water electrolysis. The infrastructure cost of 0.12 trillion yen/year in 2020 would be necessary to be invested, which is almost the same as the reduction of annual expenses in the case where the increase of 1% in load factor could attain. Fuel cell vehicles using the electrolysis, hydrogen generated by the off-peak electricity could attain the 37% reduction of carbon dioxide emission compared with middle-sized internal gasoline combustion passenger cars.     

2 W power source based on air–hydrogen polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells and water–aluminum hydrogen micro-generator

The article presents an attempt to design the 2 W power source (PS) based on air–hydrogen fuel cells (FCs) and water–aluminium micro-generator as a hydrogen supply (WAHMG). Experiments concern FC’s breathing in compact arrangement and combined performance of FC + WAHMG. It turned out to be necessary to build a fan into FC stack provided the rotation speed of fan depends on the FC current. The highest power density of FC at optimal speed of air blowing was 101 mW cm⁻². Electrical energy produced by FC was about 1.2–1.8 Wh per gram of Al in micro-generator. This value depends on the total yield of hydrogen in WAHMG and hydrogen losses due to purges.     

Expansion of fuel and power resources by the use of non-conventional power sources

An approach is considered to the expansion of fuel and power resources through the use of an ecologically pure secondary power resource, hydrogen, the production of which should be organized in an environment-friendly manner. This requirement is satisfied by the systems using water as the main raw material and in which ash and slag wastes of steam power plants or by-products of aluminium and magnesium industry can be employed as primary power carrier. Results are presented of a study of an advanced technology of hydrogen production with the use of a basically novel device with a flexible control system—a tractor-borne hydrogen generator. Its efficiency is provided by metered feed of power carrier in the form of paste and granules, by jet mixing with raw material (water), maintenance of a given temperature, continuous disposal of the reaction products from the device and their utilization within the scope of a waste-free technology. Problems of efficient use of hydrogen in accord with the gas-diesel scheme are examined by consideration of the example of operation of the engine of a low-toxicity tractor.     

Frequency control by the PV station in electric power systems with hydrogen energy storage

The rapid growth of renewable energy capacity, in particular photovoltaic systems, is creating challenges associated with changing the rate of transient processes in the power system. This is due to the approach PV systems are connected to the grid using power converters and the absence of a rotating mass in the PV power plant. One of the most pressing challenge is the participation of PV stations in the process of frequency control in power systems, including in emergency modes. Simultaneously with PV power plants, it is efficient to use energy storage systems, including hydrogen ones. This is due to the fact that it is possible to obtain hydrogen for such energy storage systems using excess energy from PV power plants. The article proposes to solve the problem of frequency regulation in the power system by using an algorithm that allows to control the frequency in the power system using a synthetic inertia block of PV station, including at different levels of insolation and temperature of PV panels. The robustness of the proposed algorithm allows it to be used at different levels of power generated by the PV station, as well as in emergency modes.     

Toward hydrogen enriched natural gas “HCNG” fuel on the algerian road

The Algerian transport sector is still largely dependent on petroleum. Pollution emitted by this sector is constantly increasing with the expansion of the automobile fleet. Thus, there is a pressing need for use of cleaner and economically viable alternative fuels. Therefore, the use of Hydrogen enriched Compressed Natural Gas (HCNG) is expected to play a significant role to reach this target. When hydrogen and natural gas are used together in an internal combustion engine, large benefits are possible. Algeria has significant resources and potential to introduce this new fuel. The development of HCNG as a transportation fuel allows an entry point for hydrogen in the transportation sector. The aim of this paper is to discuss strategic ways to introduce HCNG as road fuel, in Algeria. Two fundamental strategic elements were designed to introduce the Hydrogen Enriched Natural Gas as a transportation fuel. These are, the development of compressed natural gas as a road fuel, and the completion of the MedHySol project. The MedHySol project includes the production and the distribution of solar produced hydrogen, and involves the project HySolThane intended for the development of HCNG fuel road with 8% vol of Hydrogen in Natural Gas.