Integration of a light mobility urban scale hydrogen refuelling station for cycling purposes in the transportation market

Road transportation consists of a significant contributor to total greenhouse gas emissions in developed countries. New alternative technologies in transportation such as electric vehicles aim to reduce substantially vehicle emissions, particularly in urban areas. Incentives of using two-wheel electric vehicles such as bicycles in big cities centres are promoted by local governments, and in fact, some countries are already trying to adopt this transition. An interesting case consists of the use of hydrogen fuel cells in such vehicles to increase their driving range under short refuelling times. To this end, this paper investigated the social and financial prospects of hydrogen infrastructure for city-oriented fuel cell electric vehicles such as bicycles. The results of the research indicated that a light mobility urban hydrogen refuelling station able to provide refuelling processes at pressures of 30 bar with a hydrogen fuel cost of 34.7 €/kgH₂ is more favourable compared to larger stations.     

Techno-economical evaluation of a hydrogen refuelling station powered by Wind-PV hybrid power system: A case study for İzmir-Çeşme

Hydrogen fuelling station is an infrastructure for the commercialisation of hydrogen energy utilising fuel cells, particularly, in the automotive sector. Hydrogen fuel produced by renewable sources such as the solar and wind energy can be an alternative fuel to depress the use of fuels based on fossil sources in the transport sector for sustainable clean energy strategy in future. By replacing the primary fuel with hydrogen fuel produced using renewable sources in road transport sector, environmental benefits can be achieved. In the present study, techno-economic analysis of hydrogen refuelling station powered by wind-photovoltaics (PV) hybrid power system to be installed in ?zmir-Çe?me, Turkey is performed. This analysis is carried out to a design of hydrogen refuelling station which is refuelling 25 fuel cell electric vehicles on a daily basis using hybrid optimisation model for electric renewable (HOMER) software. In this study, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) surface meteorology and solar energy database were used. Therefore, the average wind speed during the year was assessed to be 5.72 m/s and the annual average solar irradiation was used to be 5.08 kW h/m²/day for the considered site. According to optimisation results obtained for the proposed configuration, the levelised cost of hydrogen production was found to be US $7.526–7.866/kg in different system configurations. These results show that hydrogen refuelling station powered by renewable energy is economically appropriate for the considered site. It is expected that this study is the pre-feasibility study and obtained results encougare the hydrogen refuelling station to be established in Turkey by inventors or public institutions.     

Design of a solar hydrogen refuelling station following the development of the first Croatian fuel cell powered bicycle to boost hydrogen urban mobility

Hydrogen refuelling stations are important for achieving sustainable hydrogen economy in low carbon transport and fuel cell electric vehicles. The solution presented in this paper provides us with a technology for producing carbon dioxide free hydrogen, which is an approach that goes beyond the existing large-scale hydrogen production technologies that use fossil fuel reforming. Hence, the main goal of this work was to design a hydrogen refuelling station to secure the autonomy of a hydrogen powered bicycle. The bicycle hydrogen system is equipped with a proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack of 300 W, a DC/DC converter, and a metal hydride storage tank of 350 NL of hydrogen. The hydrogen power system was made of readily available commercial components. The hydrogen station was designed as an off-grid system in which the installed proton exchange membrane electrolyzer is supplied with electric energy by direct conversion using photovoltaic cells. With the hydrogen flow rate of 2000 cc min⁻¹ the hydrogen station is expected to supply at least 5 bicycles to be used in 20 km long city tourist routes.     

Techno-economic assessment of a hydrogen refuelling station powered by an on-grid photovoltaic solar system: A case study in Morocco

The present work sheds light on the green hydrogen future in Morocco. A detailed techno-economic assessment and evaluation of a hydrogen refuelling station powered by an on-grid photovoltaic system are presented and discussed. This station is designed to supply the fleet of taxis in a Moroccan city by assuming different scenarios to replace the current taxi system with fuel-cell electric vehicles. A model is proposed to estimate the daily demand for hydrogen, which is used to determine the sizing of the station's components. An economic analysis is then conducted to calculate the cost of hydrogen production. The technical results demonstrate that about 152 kg/day is required to supply the total fleet, while only 30.4 kg/day is enough to provide 20%. It is also found that the costs of hydrogen produced are inversely proportional to the capacity of the hydrogen refuelling station, and the hydrogen cost is about 9.18 $/kg for the larger station and 12.56 $/kg for the smaller one. The proposed system offers an attractive solution to enhance the country's development and reduce the consumption of hydrocarbon fuels.     

Techno-economic optimization of PV system for hydrogen production and electric vehicle charging stations under five different climatic conditions in India

India is one of the most populous countries in the world, and this has implications for its energy consumption. The country's electricity generation and road transport are mostly dominated by fossil fuels. As such, this study assessed the techno-economics and environmental impact of a solar photovoltaic power plant for both electricity and hydrogen production at five different locations in India (i.e., Chennai, Indore, Kolkata, Ludhiana, and Mumbai). The hydrogen load represents a refueling station for 20 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles with a tank capacity of 5 kg for each location. According to the results, the highest hydrogen production occurred at Kolkata with 82,054 kg/year, followed by Chennai with 79,030 kg/year. Ludhiana, Indore, and Mumbai followed with 78,524 kg/year, 76,935 kg/year and 74,510 kg/year, respectively. The levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for all locations ranges between 0.41 and 0.48 $/kWh. Mumbai recorded the least LCOH of 3.00 $/kg. The total electricity that could be generated from all five cities combined was found to be about 25 GWh per annum, which translates to an avoidable emission of 20,744.07 metric tons of CO₂e. Replacing the gasoline that could be used to fuel the vehicles with hydrogen will result in a CO₂ reduction potential of 2452.969 tons per annum in India. The findings indicate that the various optimized configurations at the various locations could be economically viable to be developed.     

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.     

Techno-economic modelling and analysis of hydrogen fuelling stations

Climate change is probably the most relevant global challenge. For this reason, governments are promoting energy efficiency programmes, carbon capture technologies, and renewable energies as a way to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate climate change. Hydrogen is a clean alternative to fossil fuels in automotive applications. In this context, the objective of this project is to find the best design of a hydrogen refuelling station in terms of the number of banks and their size, having as a final aim the most cost-efficient design. This study suggests that, from an economic point of view, a state of charge for the vehicle of 100% is not adequate, since it requires very large high-pressure banks at the station, which increases significantly its setup costs. The study finds that high-pressure banks have to be bigger in volume than the low-pressure banks to minimise the total cost of the station, including setup and operational costs along its timespan. Finally, the project shows that the optimal number of banks is 4 or a maximum of 5. As a side conclusion, these results have practical implications for firms, as they might reduce the time spent in the design process of a hydrogen refuelling station.     

Life cycle cost analysis: A case study of hydrogen energy application on the Orkney Islands

Hydrogen can compensate for the intermittent nature of some renewable energy sources and encompass the options of supplying renewables to offset the use of fossil fuels. The integrating of hydrogen application into the energy system will change the current energy market. Therefore, this paper deploys the life cycle cost analysis of hydrogen production by polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolysis and applications for electricity and mobility purposes. The hydrogen production process includes electricity generated from wind turbines, PEM electrolyser, hydrogen compression, storage, and distribution by H₂ truck and tube trailer. The hydrogen application process includes PEM fuel cell stacks generating electricity, a H₂ refuelling station supplying hydrogen, and range extender fuel cell electric vehicles (RE-FCEVs). The cost analysis is conducted from a demonstration project of green hydrogen on a remote archipelago. The methodology of life cycle cost is employed to conduct the cost of hydrogen production and application. Five scenarios are developed to compare the cost of hydrogen applications with the conventional energy sources considering CO₂ emission cost. The comparisons show the cost of using hydrogen for energy purposes is still higher than the cost of using fossil fuels. The largest contributor of the cost is the electricity consumption. In the sensitivity analysis, policy supports such as feed-in tariff (FITs) could bring completive of hydrogen with fossil fuels in current energy market.     

Simulation of hydrogen leak and explosion for the safety design of hydrogen fueling station in Korea

Hydrogen has been used as chemicals and fuels in industries for last decades. Recently, it has become attractive as one of promising green energy candidates in the era of facing with two critical energy issues such as accelerating deterioration of global environment (e.g. carbon dioxide emissions) as well as concerns on the depletion of limited fossil sources. A number of hydrogen fueling stations are under construction to fuel hydrogen-driven vehicles. It would be indispensable to ensure the safety of hydrogen station equipment and operating procedure in order to prevent any leak and explosions of hydrogen: safe design of facilities at hydrogen fueling stations e.g. pressurized hydrogen leak from storage tanks. Several researches have centered on the behaviors of hydrogen ejecting out of a set of holes of pressurized storage tanks or pipes. This work focuses on the 3D simulation of hydrogen leak scenario cases at a hydrogen fueling station, given conditions of a set of pressures, 100, 200, 300, 400 bar and a set of hydrogen ejecting hole sizes, 0.5, 0.7, 1.0 mm, using a commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tool, FLACS. The simulation is based on real 3D geometrical configuration of a hydrogen fueling station that is being commercially operated in Korea. The simulation results are validated with hydrogen jet experimental data to examine the diffusion behavior of leak hydrogen jet stream. Finally, a set of marginal safe configurations of fueling facility system are presented, together with an analysis of distribution characteristics of blast pressure, directionality of explosion. This work can contribute to marginal hydrogen safety design for hydrogen fueling stations and a foundation on establishing a safety distance standard required to protect from hydrogen explosion in Korea being in the absence of such an official requirement.     

Quantitative analysis of a successful public hydrogen station

Reliable hydrogen fueling stations will be required for the successful commercialization of fuel cell vehicles. An evolving hydrogen fueling station has been in operation in Irvine, California since 2003, with nearly five years of operation in its current form. The usage of the station has increased from just 1000 kg dispensed in 2007 to over 8000 kg dispensed in 2011 due to greater numbers of fuel cell vehicles in the area. The station regularly operates beyond its design capacity of 25 kg/day and enables fuel cell vehicles to exceed future carbon reduction goals today. Current limitations include a cost of hydrogen of $15 per kg, net electrical consumption of 5 kWh per kg dispensed, and a need for faster back-to-back vehicle refueling.     

Development and environmental impact of hydrogen supply chain in Japan: Assessment by the CGE-LCA method in Japan with a discussion of the importance of biohydrogen

Hydrogen is an attractive and clean source of energy with a high energy content and environmentally friendly production using green power. Hydrogen is therefore considered to be one of the future alternatives to fossil fuels that can limit the damage done by climate change. A dynamic GTAP model with LCA method is utilized herein in this investigation to forecast the development of the hydrogen supply chain and CO₂ emissions in Japan. The supply chain incorporates six hydrogen-related industries – biohydrogen, steam reforming, electrolysis, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (HFCV), hydrogen fuel cells (HFC), and hydrogen fueling stations.     

Integration and economic viability of fueling the future with green hydrogen: An integration of its determinants from renewable economics

The volatility of fossil fuel and their increased consumption have exacerbated the socio-economic dilemma along with electricity expenses in third world countries around the world, Pakistan in particular. In this research, we study the output of renewable hydrogen from natural sources like wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal power. It also provides rules and procedures in an attempt to determine the current situation of Pakistan regarding the workability of upcoming renewable energy plans. To achieve this, four main criteria were assessed and they are economic, commercial, environmental, and social adoption. The method used in this research is the Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchical Process (FAHP), where we used first-order engineering equations, and Levelized cost electricity to produce renewable hydrogen. The value of renewable hydrogen is also evaluated. The results of the study indicate that wind is the best option in Pakistan for manufacturing renewable based on four criteria. Biomass is found to be the most viable raw material for the establishment of the hydrogen supply network in Pakistan, which can generate 6.6 million tons of hydrogen per year, next is photovoltaic solar energy, which has the capability of generating 2.8 million tons. Another significant finding is that solar energy is the second-best candidate for hydrogen production taking into consideration its low-cost installation and production. The study shows that the cost of using hydrogen in Pakistan ranges from $5.30/kg to $5.80/kg, making it a competitive fuel for electric machines. Such projects for producing renewable power must be highlighted and carried out in Pakistan and this will lead to more energy security for Pakistan, less use of fossil fuels, and effective reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.     

Prospects for the production of green hydrogen: Review of countries with high potential

The article provides a review of the current hydrogen production and the prospects for the development of the production of “green” hydrogen using renewable energy sources in various countries of the world that are leaders in this field. The potential of hydrogen energy in such countries and regions as Australia, the European Union, India, Canada, China, the Russian Federation, United States of America, South Korea, the Republic of South Africa, Japan and the northern countries of Africa is considered. These countries have significant potential for the production of hydrogen and “green” hydrogen, in particular through mining of fossil fuels and the use of renewable energy sources. The quantitative indicators of the production of “green” hydrogen in the future and the direction of its export are considered; the most developed hydrogen technologies in these countries are presented. The production of “green” hydrogen in most countries is the way to transition from the consumption of fossil fuels to the clean energy of the future, which will significantly improve the environmental situation, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve the energy independence of the regions.     

How risky is the introduction of fuel cell electric vehicles in a Mediterranean town?

The incorporation of Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs) in public transport is a fundamental step towards the minimization of the emissions due to transportation globally. In-depth studies are required regarding the potential risk from the storage of hydrogen, the transportation of hydrogen to refuelling stations and the refuelling procedure. Thus, it is a prerequisite to establish a holistic baseline which is related to FCEV safety during operation/maintenance, especially to a country in which the sales of these types of vehicles are significantly low. This paper suggests the employment of operational risk management methodology. Relevant experts and stakeholders requested to fill out an ‘‘Event-Probability Matrix’’ per scenario of likely hazards. This research estimates the interest of the local society about technological hazards and the conviction that hydrogen vehicles could be as safe as conventional vehicles. Additional critical scenarios related to the hydrogen storage are analyzed.     

Multi-hub hydrogen refueling station with on-site and centralized production

In recent decades, the consequences of climate changes due to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have become ever more impactful, forcing international authorities to find green solutions for sustainable economic development. In this regard, one of the global targets is the reduction of fossil fuels utilization in the transport sector to encourage the diffusion of more environmentally friendly alternatives. Among them, hydrogen is emerging as a viable candidate since it is a potentially emission-free fuel when produced by exploiting renewable energy sources (RES). Nevertheless, to allow widespread use of this gas in the transport sector, several technoeconomic barriers, including production cost, and lack of distribution and storage infrastructure, have to be overcome. Distributed hydrogen production via renewable energy-powered electrolysis could be an effective solution to reduce cost and lead to economies of scale. In this study a multi-hub configuration with on-site production from PV-powered electrolysis and centralized production from steam methane reforming (SMR) is proposed. In particular, an infrastructure network for a bus refueling station located in Lazio is considered as a case study. First, each hub, composed of PV panels, an electrolyzer, a compression system, high-pressure and low-pressure storages, and hydrogen dispensers with chiller, is modeled in a Matlab/Simulink environment. Then, a design perturbation analysis is carried out to determine the impact of the configuration on the refueling station performance in terms of carbon emissions levels and the Levelized Cost of hydrogen (LCOH). The results show a significant influence of the station size on the economic performance highlighting significant benefits (reduction up to 40% in the LCOH) for a 80 bus HUB with a saturating trend towards larger sizes. CO₂ emissions per unit mass of hydrogen are kept limited for all the stations thanks to the synergistic effects of SMR and Electrolyzer. Interconnecting more than one station each other further benefits can be achieved from the environmental perspective (savings up to 5 tons of CO₂ are demonstrated for a typical summer case study).     

Estimating determinants of public acceptance of hydrogen vehicles and refuelling stations in greater Stavanger

Utilising a structural equation modelling methodology, an examination of the complex relationships existing among hydrogen knowledge, environmental attitude and acceptance of hydrogen vehicles and the refuelling stations was conducted based on an empirical survey data collected in spring 2009 from Greater Stavanger, Norway (n = 1000). The primary aim of this study is to provide a better research method for explaining unobservable factors—particularly knowledge and attitude—likely to relate to the public’s acceptance of hydrogen energy’s implementation in the road transport sector. The existing study found that age, education duration and gender influence the likelihood to accept hydrogen vehicles and refuelling stations as well as willingness to pay for hydrogen fuel. The estimated models also present differences of estimated relationships between the Back Yard model (individuals living very close to the refuelling stations) and the Greater Stavanger model (those living beyond the stations’ site). The results indicate that greater knowledge about hydrogen vehicles and refuelling stations can imply lower support for hydrogen vehicles and refuelling stations (the direct effect for model A: 0.18, p < 0.001). However, the higher the knowledge, the higher the attitude to support sustainable environment and hydrogen energy, which may consistently imply greater support for the applications of hydrogen vehicles and refuelling stations (the total effect for model A: 0.58).     

Demonstration of a novel assessment methodology for hydrogen infrastructure deployment

To reduce criteria pollutant emissions and greenhouse gases from mobile sources, the use of hydrogen as a transportation fuel is proposed as a new paradigm in combination with fuel cells for vehicle power. The extent to which reductions can and will occur depends on the mix of technologies that constitute the hydrogen supply chain. This paper introduces an analysis and planning methodology for estimating emissions, greenhouse gases, and the energy efficiency of the hydrogen supply chain as a function of the technology mix on a life cycle, well to wheels (WTW) basis. The methodology, referred to as the preferred combination assessment (PCA) model, is demonstrated by assessing an illustrative set of hydrogen infrastructure (generation and distribution) deployment scenarios in California's South Coast Air Basin. Each scenario reflects a select mix of technologies for the years 2015, 2030, and 2060 including (1) the proportion of fossil fuels and renewable energy sources of the hydrogen and (2) the rate of hydrogen fuel cell vehicle adoption. The hydrogen deployment scenarios are compared to the existing paradigm of conventional vehicles and fuels with a goal to reveal and evaluate the efficacy and utility of the PCA methodology. In addition to a demonstration of the methodology, the salient conclusions reached from this first application include the following.

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Emissions of criteria pollutants increase or decrease, depending on the hydrogen deployment scenario, when compared to an evolution of the existing paradigm of conventional vehicles and fuels.     

Application,comparative study,and multi-objective optimization of a hydrogen liquefaction system utilizing either ORC or an absorption power cycle

Environmental degradation and global warming are presently two of the most pressing global concerns. According to the (IAE), around 80% of global energy demand has been met by fossil fuels in recent years, resulting in an increase in CO₂ emissions as the primary greenhouse gas. Switching to renewable energy sources and using more energy-efficient energy systems are vital for mitigating environmental challenges and reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, among other things. Hydrogen fuels are primary renewable resources because of their reduced cost and ability to produce net-zero CO₂ emissions. In the present study, a system is designed to generate power and liquid hydrogen from geothermal sources. The generated power by employing either the organic Rankin cycle (ORC) or absorption power cycle (APC) is compared to seek the best cycle performance from power generation standpoint. A comprehensive thermodynamic and economic modeling is carried out for the proposed system. In addition, a parametric study is applied to see which parameters affect the performance of the system. Multi-objective optimization is carried out to find the best operating point of the hydrogen liquefaction energy system. The system demonstrates better performance when APC is applied for power generation. The cost of generated liquid hydrogen by ORC and APC is 3.8 $/kg.LH₂ and 3.6 $/kg.LH₂, respectively. Furthermore, 0.014 $/kWh of electricity cost is reached by ORC compared to 0.012 $/kWh of APC. Parametric analysis shows that the higher the temperature and flow rate of the brine of geothermal fluid, the higher the efficiency and the lower cost. Finally, the multi-objective optimization pinpoints that the system's efficiency and unit product cost at the optimal ORC-based design is 33.85% and 0.0121 $/kWh. In comparison, the APC demonstrates better performance by 34.5% and 0.011 $/kWh.     

Decarbonising city bus networks in Ireland with renewable hydrogen

This paper presents techno-economic modelling results of a nationwide hydrogen fuel supply chain (HFSC) that includes renewable hydrogen production, transportation, and dispensing systems for fuel cell electric buses (FCEBs) in Ireland. Hydrogen is generated by electrolysers located at each existing Irish wind farm using curtailed or available wind electricity. Additional electricity is supplied by on-site photovoltaic (PV) arrays and stored using lithium-ion batteries. At each wind farm, sizing of the electrolyser, PV array and battery is optimised system design to obtain the minimum levelised cost of hydrogen (LCOH). Results show the average electrolyser capacity factor is 64% after the integration of wind farm-based electrolysers with PV arrays and batteries. A location-allocation algorithm in a geographic information system (GIS) environment optimises the distributed hydrogen supply chain from each wind farm to a hypothetical hydrogen refuelling station in the nearest city. Results show that hydrogen produced, transported, and dispensed using this system can meet the entire current bus fuel demand for all the studied cities, at a potential LCOH of 5–10 €/kg by using available wind electricity. At this LCOH, the future operational cost of FCEBs in Belfast, Cork and Dublin can be competitive with public buses fuelled by diesel, especially under carbon taxes more reflective of the environmental impact of fossil fuels.     

Supporting green Urban mobility – The case of a small-scale autonomous hydrogen refuelling station

Nowadays, the development of hydrogen economy in the transportation sector is hindered by the principal barriers arising from the lack of adequate infrastructure and the small fleet of hydrogen-based road vehicles.This study investigates the potential of small-scale autonomous hydrogen refuelling stations with onsite production via an alkaline electrolysis apparatus powered by a small wind turbine. In this context, an urban area with promising wind resources has been selected. Based on the wind conditions and an indicative hydrogen demand for refuelling light-duty fuel cell electric vehicles such as bicycles, the sizing of the wind turbine and the electrolyser has been theoretically calculated. For supporting the daily hydrogen refuelling demand of the fuel cell electric bicycles, which is estimated at approximately 6 kg, it is calculated that a 50 kW wind turbine should be installed in order to power a 70 kW alkaline electrolyser for producing hydrogen. The capital cost of the hydrogen station is calculated at €248,130, while the retail price of the produced hydrogen is estimated to be more than 50.2 €/kg_H2 in order to achieve a positive internal rate of return.Ultimately, the present paper aims at delivering a feasibility study of a small-scale H₂ refuelling station for fuel cell bicycles in order to provide investors with initiatives to implement such schemes in urban environments where problems of low air quality and high traffic are intense.