Review of hydrogen economy in Malaysia and its way forward

Heavy fossil fuels consumption has raised concerns over the energy security and climate change while hydrogen is regarded as the fuel of future to decarbonize global energy use. Hydrogen is commonly used as feedstocks in chemical industries and has a wide range of energy applications such as vehicle fuel, boiler fuel, and energy storage. However, the development of hydrogen energy in Malaysia is sluggish despite the predefined targets in hydrogen roadmap. This paper aims to study the future directions of hydrogen economy in Malaysia considering a variety of hydrogen applications. The potential approaches for hydrogen production, storage, distribution and application in Malaysia have been reviewed and the challenges of hydrogen economy are discussed. A conceptual framework for the accomplishment of hydrogen economy has been proposed where renewable hydrogen could penetrate Malaysia market in three phases. In the first phase, the market should aim to utilize the hydrogen as feedstock for chemical industries. Once the hydrogen production side is matured in the second phase, hydrogen should be used as fuel in internal combustion engines or burners. In the final phase hydrogen should be used as fuel for automobiles (using fuel cell), fuel-cell combined heat and power (CHP) and as energy storage.     

Economic valuation of green hydrogen charging compared to gray hydrogen charging: The case of South Korea

The South Korean government promotes hydrogen-powered vehicles to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions but these vehicles use gray hydrogen while charging, which causes GHG emissions. Therefore, converting this fuel into green hydrogen is necessary to help reduce GHG emissions, which will incur investment costs of approximately USD 20 billion over a decade. In this study, a contingent valuation method is applied in an analysis to examine the extent to which consumers are willing to pay for green hydrogen charging compared to gray hydrogen charging. The results indicate that the monthly mean of willingness to pay per driver is 51,674 KRW (USD 45.85), equivalent to 4302 KRW per kg (USD 3.82). Additionally, consumers accept a 28.5% increase in the monthly average fuel expenses when converting to green hydrogen. These findings can be used in the development of pricing and energy use plans to finance the expansion of green hydrogen infrastructure.     

On the economics of a hydrogen bus fleet powered by a wind park – A case study for Austria

This paper investigates the economics of a fuel cell bus fleet powered by hydrogen produced from electricity generated by a wind park in Austria. The main research question is to simultaneously identify the most economical hydrogen generation business model for the electric utility owning wind power plants and to evaluate the economics of operating a fuel cell bus fleet, with the core objective to minimize the total costs of the overall fuel supply (hydrogen production) and use (bus and operation) system. For that, three possible operation modes of the electrolyzer have been identified and the resulting hydrogen production costs calculated. Furthermore, an in-depth economic analysis of the fuel cell buses as well as the electrolyzer technology has been conducted. Results show that investment costs are the largest cost factor for both technologies. Thus, continuous hydrogen production with the smallest possible electrolyzer is the economically most favorable option. In such an operation mode (power grid), the costs of production per kg/H₂ were the lowest. However, this means that the electrolyzer cannot be solely operated with electricity from the wind park, but is also dependent on the electricity mix from the grid. For fuel cell buses, the future cost development will depend very much on the respective policies and funding programs for the market uptake, as to date, the total cost of use for the fuel cell bus is more than two times higher than the diesel bus. The major final conclusion of this paper is that to make fuel cell electric busses competitive in the next years today severe policy interferences, such as subsidies for these busses as well as electrolyzers and bans for fossil energy, along with investments in the setup of a hydrogen infrastructure, are necessary.     

Technological-economic assessment and optimization of hydrogen-based transportation systems in China: A life cycle perspective

Hydrogen energy is increasingly incorporated into long-distance transportation systems. Whether the coupled hydrogen-based transportation system can achieve a sustainable business operation mode requires quantification of environmental and economic performance by a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis. This study proposes a cost-based life cycle assessment method to evaluate the environmental and economic benefits of hydrogen-based long-distance transportation systems. The innovative cost assessment method introduces internal and external economic costs to conduct a multi-scenario assessment. According to the key factors of mileage, government subsidies and hydrogen fuel prices, this research identifies the key cost component of the hydrogen-based transportation system in China by using a multilevel comparison with cell-driven and oil-fueled vehicles. The results show that hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles are competitive in terms of both fuel costs and environmental costs. As hydrogen costs are expected to be gradually reduced by 43% in the future, hydrogen logistics vehicles and heavy trucks are expected to have better life-cycle economics than other energy vehicles by approximately 2030. Hydrogen buses will outperform other vehicles by approximately 2033, while hydrogen passenger cars will have a reduced life-cycle cost per kilometre within 0.1 CHY/km compared to other vehicles by approximately 2035. Ultimately, fuel consumption, average annual mileage, and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle policy are three factors that have greater impacts. Policy implications are put forward to implement optimal investment plan for hydrogen transportation systems.     

Consumer acceptance under hydrogen energy promotion policy: Evidence from Yangtze River Delta

Hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (HFCV) as an emerging industry with great potential have received great attention in the Yangtze River Delta, China. Under government's promotion of hydrogen energy, whether HFCV can be accepted by consumers is an important topic for future policymaking. Therefore, this study takes consumers' willingness to consume HFCV as the dependent variable and collects questionnaires from 21 cities in the Yangtze River Delta from 2020 to 2021. Based on Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and Logit Regression, the evaluation was conducted from four perspectives: personal and family situation, environmental awareness, energy attitude and local product confidence. The results show that gender, age and income differences are not necessarily determinants of HFCV purchase, but educational level is a significant factor. Consistent with social-psychological studies, personal awareness of environmental protection and energy attitudes are the key factors that are significant affect HFCV purchase. Lastly, it is found that in the Yangtze River Delta, consumers' confidence in Chinese local hydrogen products is also a significant factor. This paper confirms that HFCV consumers have commonalities with other new energy consumers. However, due to the expectation of greater local production and development, enhancing the social recognition and confidence of local hydrogen technology may be one of the promotion approaches neglected.     

A techno-economic study for a hydrogen storage system in a microgrid located in baja California,Mexico. Levelized cost of energy for power to gas to power scenarios

In this work a techno economic feasibility study is carried out to implement a Hydrogen based Power to Gas to Power (P2G2P) in a Microgrid, located in a rural area in Baja California, Mexico. The study aims to define the feasibility to store energy throughout seasons with this novel alternative using an electrolyzer to produce green hydrogen from excess renewable energy in winter, to store it during months and re inject it to the grid as electricity by a fuel cell in the high energy demanding season. The Microgrid was modeled in Homer software and simulations of the P2G2P lead to Levelized Cost of Energy data to compare between the P2G2P scenarios and the current diesel-battery based solution to complete the high demand by the community. This study shows that using hydrogen and fuel cells to substitute diesel generators it is possible to reduce CO₂ emissions up to a 27% and that in order for the P2G2P to be cost competitive, the fuel cell should reduce its cost in 50%; confirming that, in the medium to long term, the hydrogen storage system is a coherent alternative towards decarbonization of the distributed energy generation.     

Analysis of air conditioning system impact on a fuel cell vehicle performance based on a realistic model under actual urban conditions

In this study, a practical fuel cell vehicle considering the Heating, Ventilation, and Air conditioning system is considered to analyze hydrogen consumption under different working conditions. As a prevalent hydrogen-fueled vehicle, Toyota Mirai has been meticulously modeled in Simecenter Amesim software. The simulated model covers all of the vehicle's components with a concentration on Heating, Ventilation, and Air conditioning system. Since the air temperature and ‘weather conditions can significantly impact the vehicle's overall performance, various environmental conditions, including temperature variations, humidity, and varied solar fluxes, are taken into account. Furthermore, New York City is chosen as a densely populated megacity to simulate the dynamic behavior of the fuel cell vehicle under actual driving circumstances. The results illustrate that the Heating, Ventilation, and Air conditioning system can notably alter hydrogen consumption under real driving conditions. In this regard, turning on the Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning system results in a 19% increase in fuel consumption. Moreover, the degradation phenomenon, which is a typical result of using fuel cell vehicles under urban driving conditions, impacts the vehicle's mileage and hydrogen consumption. The simulation results indicate that a fresh fuel cell stack consumes 80 g of hydrogen, while for 2500 and 5500 working hours fuel cells, the stack consumes 89.6 and 107 g of hydrogen, respectively. Based on the obtained results, a 33.75% increase in fuel consumption occurs by implementing a degraded fuel cell stack under real driving conditions.     

Drivers and barriers for the large-scale adoption of hydrogen fuel cells by Nordic shipping companies

The shipping industry needs to transition towards new fuels and technologies to reduce its environmental impact. A promising option is using hydrogen fuel cells. However, the technology is relatively new and not commercially available at a large scale. This study focuses on the Nordic shipping industry where the first commercial vessels are expected to be launched. Interviews were conducted with high-level managers to identify the factors that influence the adoption of hydrogen fuel cells. Sixteen factors are identified as motivating the decision and are categorized as internal, connecting, and external drivers. The most relevant are environmental commitments, customer expectations, and policies and regulations. Eleven factors are identified as limiting the decision and are categorized as behavioral, economic, organizational, and technological barriers. The most significant are high costs, lack of infrastructure, and operational challenges. The drivers and barriers are categorized as company-specific, industry-specific, and technology-specific.     

Reinforcement learning based energy management systems and hydrogen refuelling stations for fuel cell electric vehicles: An overview

This paper examines the current state of the art of hydrogen refuelling stations-based production and storage systems for fuel cell hybrid electric vehicles (FCHEV). Nowadays, the emissions are increasing rapidly due to the usage of fossil fuels and the demand for hydrogen refuelling stations (HRS) is emerging to replace the conventional vehicles with FCHEVs. Hence, the availability of HRS and its economic aspects are discussed. In addition, a comprehensive study is presented on the energy storage systems such as batteries, supercapacitors and fuel cells which play a major role in the FCHEVs. An energy management system (EMS) is essential to meet the load requirement with effective utilisation of power sources with various optimizing techniques. A detailed comparative analysis is presented on the merits of Reinforcement learning (RL) for the FCHEVs. The significant challenges are discussed in depth with potential solutions for future work.     

Clean hydrogen for mobility – Quo vadis?

Achieving complete combustion of fossil fuels has long been thought of as a sufficient remedy for tackling vehicular emissions and the ensuing environmental effects. However, thanks to the increasing awareness around the climate change, the global dialogue has now shifted to realizing a carbon-free economy, which has set stricter curbs on the energy source that can power the future mobility. Therefore, the idea of “clean combustion” requires rethinking. Of the many choices for alternative clean fuels that are both energy-efficient and environment-friendly, hydrogen has always been eyed as the best clean alternative there is. This article reviews various available approaches to utilizing hydrogen for mobility applications with a discussion of their relative merits and shortcomings. In addition to well-discussed methods like fuel cell electric vehicles, hydrogen-based IC engines, and dual-fuel operation with hydrogen, this review also assesses the technical and economic feasibilities of using hydrogen in e-fuels and their implications for our existing infrastructure and future energy demands.     

A review of hydrogen usage in internal combustion engines (gasoline-Lpg-diesel) from combustion performance aspect

Demand for fossil fuels is increasing day by day with the increase in industrialization and energy demand in the world. For this reason, many countries are looking for alternative energy sources against this increasing energy demand. Hydrogen is an alternative fuel with high efficiency and superior properties. The development of hydrogen-powered vehicles in the transport sector is expected to reduce fuel consumption and air pollution from exhaust emissions. In this study, the use of hydrogen as a fuel in vehicles and the current experimental studies in the literature are examined and the results of using hydrogen as an additional fuel are investigated. The effects of hydrogen usage on engine performance and exhaust emissions as an additional fuel to internal combustion gasoline, diesel and LPG engines are explained. Depending on the amount of hydrogen added to the fuel system, the engine power and torque are increased at most on petrol engines, while they are decreased on LPG and diesel engines. In terms of chemical products, the emissions of harmful exhaust gases in gasoline and LPG engines are reduced, while some diesel engines increase nitrogen oxide levels. In addition, it is understood that there will be a positive effect on the environment, due to hydrogen usage in all engine types.     

A review on current trends in potential use of metal-organic framework for hydrogen storage

Hydrogen can be a promising clean energy carrier for the replenishment of non-renewable fossil fuels. The set back of hydrogen as an alternative fuel is due to its difficulties in feasible storage and safety concerns. Current hydrogen adsorption technologies, such as cryo-compressed and liquefied storage, are costly for practical applications. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are crystalline materials that have structural versatility, high porosity and surface area, which can adsorb hydrogen efficiently. Hydrogen is adsorbed by physisorption on the MOFs through weak van der Waals force of attraction which can be easily desorbed by applying suitable heat or pressure. The strategies to improve the MOFs surface area, hydrogen uptake capacities and parameters affecting them are studied. Hydrogen spill over mechanism is found to provide high-density storage when compared to other mechanisms. MOFs can be used as proton exchange membranes to convert the stored hydrogen into electricity and can be used as electrodes for the fuel cells. In this review, we addressed the key strategies that could improve hydrogen storage properties for utilizing hydrogen as fuel and opportunities for further growth to meet energy demands.     

Hydrogen fuel cell heavy-duty trucks: Review of main research topics

Road transportation is a significant source of CO₂ emissions and energy demand. Consequently, initiatives are being promoted to decrease the sector's emissions and comply with the Paris agreement. This article synthesizes the available information about heavy-duty fuel cell trucks as their deployment needs to be considered a complementary solution to decreasing CO₂ emissions alongside battery electric vehicles. A thorough evaluation of 95 relevant documents determines that the main research topics in the past ten years converge on public policies, hydrogen supply chain, environmental impact, drivetrain technology, fuel cell, and storage tank applications. The identified research gaps relate to expanding collaboration between institutions and governments in developing joint green macro policies focused on hydrogen heavy-duty trucks, scarce research about hydrogen production energy sources, low interest in documenting hydrogen pilot projects, and minimal involvement of logistic companies, which need to plan their diesel freight's conversion as soon as possible.     

Hydrogen production from phototrophic microorganisms: Reality and perspectives

Hydrogen is a promising alternative to fossil fuel for a source of clean energy due to its high energy content. Some strains of phototrophic microorganisms are known as important object of scientific research and they are being explored to raise biohydrogen (BioH₂) yield. BioH₂ is still not commonly used in industrial area because of the low biomass yield and valuable down streaming process. This article deals with the methods of the hydrogen production with the help of two large groups of phototrophic microorganisms – microalgae and cyanobacteria. Microalgal hydrogen is environmentally friendly alternative to conventional fossil fuels. Algal biomass has been considered as an attractive raw source for hydrogen production. Genetic modified strains of cyanobacteria are used as a perspective object for obtaining hydrogen. The modern photobioreactors and outdoor air systems have been used to obtain the biomass used for hydrogen production. At present time a variety of immobilization matrices and methods are being examined for their suitability to make immobilized H₂ producers.     

Renewable-powered hydrogen economy from Australia's perspective

This article broadly reviews the state-of-the-art technologies for hydrogen production routes, and methods of renewable integration. It outlines the main techno-economic enabler factors for Australia to transform and lead the regional energy market. Two main categories for competitive and commercial-scale hydrogen production routes in Australia are identified: 1) electrolysis powered by renewable, and 2) fossil fuel cracking via steam methane reforming (SMR) or coal gasification which must be coupled with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). It is reported that Australia is able to competitively lower the levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) to a record $(1.88–2.30)/kg_H2 for SMR technologies, and $(2.02–2.47)/kg_H2 for black-coal gasification technologies. Comparatively, the LCOH via electrolysis technologies is in the range of $(4.78–5.84)/kg_H2 for the alkaline electrolysis (AE) and $(6.08–7.43)/kg_H2 for the proton exchange membrane (PEM) counterparts. Nevertheless, hydrogen production must be linked to the right infrastructure in transport-storage-conversion to demonstrate appealing business models.     

Hydrogen-powered vehicles for autonomous ride-hailing fleets

Autonomous ride-hailing fleets are approaching commercialization as an on-demand, low-cost transportation solution. Although battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are well-studied for this application, hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) may provide additional advantages that have not been sufficiently investigated. Here, we developed a stochastic ride-hailing autonomous vehicle (RHAV) model to compare these technologies and applied this model to seven BEVs and two FCEVs. FCEV fleets are 3–10% smaller than BEV fleets due to shorter refueling times and greater driving ranges, which enable greater fleet efficiency. The Hyundai Kona (BEV) provides the greatest fleet profitability; however, the Toyota Mirai (FCEV) is only 3% less profitable despite having a 25% higher purchase price. We demonstrate that FCEVs are economically competitive as RHAVs, and that expected price reductions can make them the most profitable technology. Furthermore, FCEV fleets provide qualitative benefits, including a substantial increase in local hydrogen demand to catalyze hydrogen infrastructure development.     

A review on pretreatment methods,photobioreactor design and metabolic engineering approaches of algal biomass for enhanced biohydrogen production

The development of alternative fuels has been promoted by the extreme fossil fuel consumption brought on by urbanisation and deteriorating pollution. Due to its high energy and combustible qualities, biohydrogen has been perceived as a potential fuel substitute in dealing with issues related to the rising emission of greenhouse gases and global warming. As a source of carbon sequestration and sustainable renewable energy, biohydrogen synthesis by algae species has been prevalent in research scale. This review focuses on the novel and recent metabolic approaches for enhanced algal based biohydrogen production. Pretreatment methods available and scaling techniques used for enhancing the biohydrogen productivity using algal species have been elaborated in the review. Algal characteristics that make them suitable alternative for biohydrogen production are discussed briefly. Various pretreatment methods such as physical, chemical, biological and thermal are elaborated. In addition, the factors involved in influencing the biohydrogen productivity and the metabolic engineering approaches for modifying the pathway in algae are highlighted. Scaling up of process using different types of photobioreactors such as tubular, flat panel, airlift and stirred tank are reported that briefs about merits and demerits of each photobioreactor.     

Optimisation of solar-hydrogen power system for household applications

A numerical method was developed for optimising solar–hydrogen energy system to supply renewable energy for typical household connected with the grid. The considered case study involved household located in Diyala Governorate, Iraq. The solar–hydrogen energy system was designed to meet the desired electrical load and increase the renewable energy fraction using optimum fuel cell capacity. The simulation process was conducted by MATLAB based on the experimental data for electrical load, solar radiation and ambient temperature at a 1-min time-step resolution. Results demonstrated that the optimum fuel cell capacity was approximately 2.25 kW at 1.8 kW photovoltaic power system based on the average of the daily energy consumption of 6.8 kWh. The yearly renewable energy fraction increased from 31.82% to 95.82% due to the integration of the photovoltaic system with a 2.25 kW fuel cell used as a robust energy storage unit. In addition, the energy supply, which is the economic aspect for the optimum system, levelised electricity cost by approximately $0.195/kWh. The obtained results showed that the proposed numerical analysis methodology offers a distinctive property that can be used effectively to optimise hybrid renewable energy systems.     

The economic feasibility study of a 100-MW Power-to-Gas plant

Power-to-Gas (PtG) is a grid-scale energy storage technology by which electricity is converted into gas fuel as an energy carrier. PtG utilizes surplus renewable electricity to generate hydrogen from Solid-Oxide-Cell, and the hydrogen is then combined with CO₂ in the Sabatier process to produce the methane. The transportation of methane is mature and energy-efficient within the existing natural gas pipeline or town gas network. Additionally, it is ideal to make use of the reverse function of SOC, the Solid-Oxide-Fuel-Cell, to generate electricity when the grid is weak in power. This study estimated the cost of building a hypothetical 100-MW PtG power plant with energy storage and power generation capabilities. The emphasis is on the effects of SOC cost, fuel cost and capacity factor to the Levelized Cost of Energy of the PtG plant. The net present value of the plant is analyzed to estimate the lowest affordable contract price to secure a positive present value. Besides, the plant payback period and CO₂ emission are estimated.     

Economic viability assessment of sustainable hydrogen production,storage, and utilisation technologies integrated into on- and off-grid micro-grids: A performance comparison of different meta-heuristics

In recent years, there has been considerable interest in the development of zero-emissions, sustainable energy systems utilising the potential of hydrogen energy technologies. However, the improper long-term economic assessment of costs and consequences of such hydrogen-based renewable energy systems has hindered the transition to the so-called hydrogen economy in many cases. One of the main reasons for this is the inefficiency of the optimization techniques employed to estimate the whole-life costs of such systems. Owing to the highly nonlinear and non-convex nature of the life-cycle cost optimization problems of sustainable energy systems using hydrogen as an energy carrier, meta-heuristic optimization techniques must be utilised to solve them. To this end, using a specifically developed artificial intelligence-based micro-grid capacity planning method, this paper examines the performances of twenty meta-heuristics in solving the optimal design problems of three conceptualised hydrogen-based micro-grids, as test-case systems. Accordingly, the obtained numeric simulation results using MATLAB indicate that some of the newly introduced meta-heuristics can play a key role in facilitating the successful, cost-effective development and implementation of hydrogen supply chain models. Notably, the moth-flame optimization algorithm is found capable of reducing the life-cycle costs of micro-grids by up to 6.5% as compared to the dragonfly algorithm.