Australia
Hydrogen for Australia’s Future
Aug 2018
Publication
The Hydrogen Strategy Group chaired by Australia’s Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel has today released a briefing paper on the potential domestic and export opportunities of a hydrogen industry in Australia.
Like natural gas hydrogen can be used to heat buildings and power vehicles. Unlike natural gas or petrol when hydrogen is burned there are no CO2 emissions. The only by-products are water vapour and heat.
Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe not freely available as a gas on Earth but bound into many common substances including water and fossil fuels.
Hydrogen was first formally presented as a credible alternative energy source in the early 1970s but never proved competitive at scale as an energy source – until now. We find that the worldwide demand for hydrogen is set to increase substantially over coming decades driven by Japan’s decision to put imported hydrogen at the heart of its economy. Production costs are falling technologies are progressing and the push for non-nuclear low-emissions fuels is building momentum. We conclude that Australia is remarkably well-positioned to benefit from the growth of hydrogen industries and markets.
Like natural gas hydrogen can be used to heat buildings and power vehicles. Unlike natural gas or petrol when hydrogen is burned there are no CO2 emissions. The only by-products are water vapour and heat.
Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe not freely available as a gas on Earth but bound into many common substances including water and fossil fuels.
Hydrogen was first formally presented as a credible alternative energy source in the early 1970s but never proved competitive at scale as an energy source – until now. We find that the worldwide demand for hydrogen is set to increase substantially over coming decades driven by Japan’s decision to put imported hydrogen at the heart of its economy. Production costs are falling technologies are progressing and the push for non-nuclear low-emissions fuels is building momentum. We conclude that Australia is remarkably well-positioned to benefit from the growth of hydrogen industries and markets.
Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning in Energy Management Systems, Control, and Optimization of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles
Mar 2023
Publication
Environmental emissions global warming and energy-related concerns have accelerated the advancements in conventional vehicles that primarily use internal combustion engines. Among the existing technologies hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles and fuel cell hybrid electric vehicles may have minimal contributions to greenhouse gas emissions and thus are the prime choices for environmental concerns. However energy management in fuel cell electric vehicles and fuel cell hybrid electric vehicles is a major challenge. Appropriate control strategies should be used for effective energy management in these vehicles. On the other hand there has been significant progress in artificial intelligence machine learning and designing data-driven intelligent controllers. These techniques have found much attention within the community and state-of-the-art energy management technologies have been developed based on them. This manuscript reviews the application of machine learning and intelligent controllers for prediction control energy management and vehicle to everything (V2X) in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. The effectiveness of data-driven control and optimization systems are investigated to evolve classify and compare and future trends and directions for sustainability are discussed.
Advancements in Hydrogen Production, Storage, Distribution and Refuelling for a Sustainable Transport Sector: Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles
Jul 2023
Publication
Hydrogen is considered as a promising fuel in the 21st century due to zero tailpipe CO2 emissions from hydrogen-powered vehicles. The use of hydrogen as fuel in vehicles can play an important role in decarbonising the transport sector and achieving net-zero emissions targets. However there exist several issues related to hydrogen production efficient hydrogen storage system and transport and refuelling infrastructure where the current research is focussing on. This study critically reviews and analyses the recent technological advancements of hydrogen production storage and distribution technologies along with their cost and associated greenhouse gas emissions. This paper also comprehensively discusses the hydrogen refuelling methods identifies issues associated with fast refuelling and explores the control strategies. Additionally it explains various standard protocols in relation to safe and efficient refuelling analyses economic aspects and presents the recent technological advancements related to refuelling infrastructure. This study suggests that the production cost of hydrogen significantly varies from one technology to others. The current hydrogen production cost from fossil sources using the most established technologies were estimated at about $0.8–$3.5/kg H2 depending on the country of production. The underground storage technology exhibited the lowest storage cost followed by compressed hydrogen and liquid hydrogen storage. The levelised cost of the refuelling station was reported to be about $1.5–$8/kg H2 depending on the station's capacity and country. Using portable refuelling stations were identified as a promising option in many countries for small fleet size low-to-medium duty vehicles. Following the current research progresses this paper in the end identifies knowledge gaps and thereby presents future research directions.
The Hydrogen Economy - Where is the Water?
Jul 2022
Publication
"Green hydrogen” i.e. hydrogen produced by splitting water with a carbon “free” source of electricity via electrolysis is set to become the energy vector enabling a deep decarbonisation of society and a virtuous water based energy cycle. If to date water electrolysis is considered to be a scalable technology the source of water to enable a “green hydrogen” economy at scale is questionable. Countries with the highest renewable energy potential like Australia are also among the driest places on earth. Globally 380000 GL/year of wastewater is available and this is much more than the 34500 GL/year of water required to produce the projected 2.3 Gt of hydrogen of a mature hydrogen economy. Hence the need to assess both technically and economically whether some wastewater treatment effluent are a better source for green hydrogen. Analysis of Sydney Water’s wastewater treatment plants alone shows that these plants have 37.6 ML/day of unused tertiary effluents which if electrolysed would generate 420000 t H2/day or 0.88 Mt H2/year and cover ∼100% of Australia’s estimated production by 2030. Furthermore the production of oxygen as a by-product of the electrolysis process could lead to significant benefits to the water industry not only in reducing the cost of the hydrogen produced for $3/kg (assuming a price of oxygen of $3–4 per kg) but also in improving the environmental footprint of wastewater treatment plants by enabling the onsite re-use of oxygen for the treatment of the wastewater. Compared to desalinated water that requires large investments or stormwater that is unpredictable it is apparent that the water utilities have a critical role to play in managing water assets that are “climate independent” as the next “golden oil” opportunity and in enabling a “responsible” hydrogen industry that sensibly manages its water demands and does not compete with existing water potable water demand.
Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emission Assessment for Using Alternative Marine Fuels: A Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) Case Study
Dec 2022
Publication
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has set decarbonisation goals for the shipping industry. As a result shipowners and operators are preparing to use low- or zero-carbon alternative fuels. The greenhouse gas (GHG) emission performances are fundamental for choosing suitable marine fuels. However the current regulations adopt tank-to-wake (TTW) emission assessment methods that could misrepresent the total climate impacts of fuels. To better understand the well-to-wake (WTW) GHG emission performances this work applied the life cycle assessment (LCA) method to a very large crude carrier (VLCC) sailing between the Middle East and China to investigate the emissions. The life cycle GHG emission impacts of using alternative fuels including liquified natural gas (LNG) methanol and ammonia were evaluated and compared with using marine gas oil (MGO). The bunkering site of the VLCC was in Zhoushan port China. The MGO and LNG were imported from overseas while methanol and ammonia were produced in China. Four production pathways for methanol and three production pathways for ammonia were examined. The results showed that compared with MGO using fossil energy-based methanol and ammonia has no positive effect in terms of annual WTW GHG emissions. The emission reduction effects of fuels ranking from highest to lowest were full solar and battery-based methanol full solar and battery-based ammonia and LNG. Because marine ammonia-fuelled engines have not been commercialised laboratory data were used to evaluate the nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. The GHG emission reduction potential of ammonia can be exploited more effectively if the N2O emitted from engines is captured and disposed of through after-treatment technologies. This paper discussed three scenarios of N2O emission abatement ratios of 30% 50% and 90%. The resulting emission reduction effects showed that using full solar and battery-based ammonia with 90% N2O abatement performs better than using full solar and battery-based methanol. The main innovation of this work is realising the LCA GHG emission assessment for a deep-sea ship.
Sustainable Hydrogen Energy in Aviation - A Narrative Review
Feb 2023
Publication
In the modern world zero-carbon society has become a new buzzword of the era. Many projects have been initiated to develop alternatives not only to the environmental crisis but also to the shortage of fossil fuels. With successful projects in automobile technology hydrogen fuel is now being tested and utilized as a sustainable green fuel in the aviation sector which will lead to zero carbon emission in the future. From the mid-20th century to the early 21st numerous countries and companies have funded multimillion projects to develop hydrogen-fueled aircraft. Empirical data show positive results for various projects. Consequently large companies are investing in various innovations undertaken by researchers under their supervision. Over time the efficiency of hydrogen-fueled aircraft has improved but the lack of refueling stations large production cost and consolidated carbon market share have impeded the path of hydrogen fuel being commercialized. In addition the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is another important element of the Aviation industry Hydrogen started to be commonly used as an alternative fuel for heavy-duty drones using fuel cell technology. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the chronological development of hydrogen-powered aircraft technology and potential aviation applications for hydrogen and fuel cell technology. Furthermore the major barriers to widespread adoption of hydrogen technology in aviation are identified as are future research opportunities.
Biohydrogen Production from Biomass Sources: Metabolic Pathways and Economic Analysis
Sep 2021
Publication
The commercialization of hydrogen as a fuel faces severe technological economic and environmental challenges. As a method to overcome these challenges microalgal biohydrogen production has become the subject of growing research interest. Microalgal biohydrogen can be produced through different metabolic routes the economic considerations of which are largely missing from recent reviews. Thus this review briefly explains the techniques and economics associated with enhancing microalgae-based biohydrogen production. The cost of producing biohydrogen has been estimated to be between $10 GJ-1 and $20 GJ−1 which is not competitive with gasoline ($0.33 GJ−1 ). Even though direct biophotolysis has a sunlight conversion efficiency of over 80% its productivity is sensitive to oxygen and sunlight availability. While the electrochemical processes produce the highest biohydrogen (>90%) fermentation and photobiological processes are more environmentally sustainable. Studies have revealed that the cost of producing biohydrogen is quite high ranging between $2.13 kg−1 and 7.24 kg−1 via direct biophotolysis $1.42kg−1 through indirect biophotolysis and between $7.54 kg−1 and 7.61 kg−1 via fermentation. Therefore low-cost hydrogen production technologies need to be developed to ensure long-term sustainability which requires the optimization of critical experimental parameters microalgal metabolic engineering and genetic modification.
Insights into Decision-making for Offshore Green Hydrogen Infrastructure Developments
Apr 2023
Publication
Green hydrogen is a key element that has the potential to play a critical role in the global pursuit of a resilient and sustainable future. However like other energy production methods hydrogen comes with challenges including high costs and safety concerns across its entire value chain. To overcome these low-cost productions are required along with a promised market. Offshore renewables have an enormous potential to facilitate green hydrogen production on a large scale. Their plummeting cost technological advances and rising cost of carbon pave a pathway where green hydrogen can be cost-competitive against fossil-fuel-based hydrogen. Offshore industries including oil and gas aquaculture and shipping are looking for cleaner energy solutions to decarbonize their systems/operations and can serve as a substantial market. Offshore industrial nexus moreover can assist the production storage and transmission of green hydrogen through infrastructure sharing and logistical support. The development of offshore green hydrogen production facilities is in its infancy and requires a deeper insight into the key elements that govern decision-making during their life-cycle. This includes the parameters that reflect the performance of hydrogen technology with technical socio-political financial and environmental considerations. Therefore this study provides critical insight into the influential factors discovered through a comprehensive analysis that governs the development of an offshore green hydrogen system. Insights are also fed into the requirements for modelling and analysis of these factors considering the synergy of hydrogen production with the offshore industries coastal hydrogen hub and onshore energy demand. The results of this critical review will assist the researchers and developers in establishing and executing an effective framework for offshore site selection in largely uncertain and hazardous ocean environments. Overall the study will facilitate the stakeholders and researchers in developing decision-making tools to ensure sustainable and safe offshore green hydrogen facilities.
Experimental Study for Thermal Methane Cracking Reaction to Generate Very Pur Hydrogen in Small or Medium Scales by Using Regenrative Reactor
Sep 2022
Publication
Non-catalytic thermal methane cracking (TMC) is an alternative for hydrogen manufacturing and traditional commercial processes in small-scale hydrogen generation. Supplying the high-level temperatures (850–1800°C) inside the reactors and reactor blockages are two fundamental challenges for developing this technology on an industrial scale (Mahdi Yousefi and Donne 2021). A regenerative reactor could be a part of a solution to overcome these obstacles. This study conducted an experimental study in a regenerative reactor environment between 850 and 1170°C to collect the conversion data and investigate the reactor efficiency for TMC processes. The results revealed that the storage medium was a bed for carbon deposition and successfully supplied the reaction’s heat with more than 99.7% hydrogen yield (at more than 1150°C). Results also indicated that the reaction rate at the beginning of the reactor is much higher and the temperature dependence in the early stages of the reaction is considerably higher. However after reaching a particular concentration of Hydrogen at each temperature the influence of temperature on the reaction rate decreases and is almost constant. The type of produced carbon in the storage medium and its auto-catalytic effect on the reactions were also investigated. Results showed that carbon black had been mostly formed but in different sizes from 100 to 2000 nm. Increasing the reactor temperature decreased the size of the generated carbon. Pre-produced carbon in the reactor did not affect the production rate and is almost negligible at more than 850°C.
A Review of Hydrogen/rock/brine Interaction: Implications for Hydrogen Geo-storage
Dec 2022
Publication
Hydrogen (H2) is currently considered a clean fuel to decrease anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and will play a vital role in climate change mitigation. Nevertheless one of the primary challenges of achieving a complete H2 economy is the large-scale storage of H2 which is unsafe on the surface because H2 is highly compressible volatile and flammable. Hydrogen storage in geological formations could be a potential solution to this problem because of the abundance of such formations and their high storage capacities. Wettability plays a critical role in the displacement of formation water and determines the containment safety storage capacity and amount of trapped H2 (or recovery factor). However no comprehensive review article has been published explaining H2 wettability in geological conditions. Therefore this review focuses on the influence of various parameters such as salinity temperature pressure surface roughness and formation type on wettability and consequently H2 storage. Significant gaps exist in the literature on understanding the effect of organic material on H2 storage capacity. Thus this review summarizes recent advances in rock/H2/brine systems containing organic material in various geological reservoirs. The paper also presents influential parameters affecting H2 storage capacity and containment safety including liquid–gas interfacial tension rock–fluid interfacial tension and adsorption. The paper aims to provide the scientific community with an expert opinion to understand the challenges of H2 storage and identify storage solutions. In addition the essential differences between underground H2 storage (UHS) natural gas storage and carbon dioxide geological storage are discussed and the direction of future research is presented. Therefore this review promotes thorough knowledge of UHS provides guidance on operating large-scale UHS projects encourages climate engineers to focus more on UHS research and provides an overview of advanced technology. This review also inspires researchers in the field of climate change to give more credit to UHS studies.
Explaining Hydrogen Energy Technology Acceptance: A Critical Review
Jan 2022
Publication
The use of hydrogen energy and the associated technologies is expected to increase in the coming years. The success of hydrogen energy technology (HET) is however dependent on public acceptance of the technology. Developing this new industry in a socially responsible way will require an understanding of the psychology factors that may facilitate or impede its public acceptance. This paper reviews 27 quantitative studies that have explored the relationship between psychological factors and HET acceptance. The findings from the review suggest that the perceived effects of the technology (i.e. the perceived benefits costs and risks) and the associated emotions are strong drivers of HET acceptance. This paper does though highlight some limitations with past research that make it difficult to make strong conclusions about the factors that influence HET acceptance. The review also reveals that few studies have investigated acceptance of different types of HET beyond a couple of applications. The paper ends with a discussion about directions for future research and highlights some practical implications for messaging and policy.
Shipping Australian Sunshine: Liquid Renewable Green Fuel Export
Dec 2022
Publication
Renewable green fuels (RGF) such as hydrogen are the global energy future. Air pollution is compounded with climate change as the emissions driving both development problems come largely from the same source of fossil fuel burning. As an energy exporter Australian energy export dominates the total energy production and the RGF has become central to the current proposal of Australian government to reach net zero emission. The hydrogen production from solar panels only on 3% of Australia's land area could compensate 10 times of Germany's non-electricity energy consumption. In the unique geographic position Australia's RGF export attracts significant costs for long distance onboard storage and shipping. While the cost reduction of RGF production relies on technological advancement which needs a long time the storage and shipping costs must be minimised for Australia to remain competitive in the global energy market. The present review concentrates on Australian export pathways of lifecycles of liquid renewable green fuels including renewable liquified hydrogen (LH2) liquified methane (LCH4) ammonia (NH3) and methanol (CH3OH) as liquid RGF have the advantages of adopting the existing infrastructure. This review compares the advantages and disadvantages of discussed renewable energy carriers. It is found that the cost of LH2 pathway can be acceptable for shipping distance of up to 7000 km (Asian countries such as Japan) but ammonia (NH3) or methanol (CH3OH) pathways may be more cost effective for shipping distance above 7000 km for European counties such as Germany. These observations suggest the proper fuel forms to fulfill the requirements to different customers and hence will highlight Australia's position as one of major exporters of renewable energy in the future. Detailed techno-economic analysis is worth to be done for supplying more quantitative results.
Large-scale Stationary Hydrogen Storage via Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers
Aug 2021
Publication
Large-scale stationary hydrogen storage is critical if hydrogen is to fulfill its promise as a global energy carrier. While densified storage via compressed gas and liquid hydrogen is currently the dominant approach liquid organic molecules have emerged as a favorable storage medium because of their desirable properties such as low cost and compatibility with existing fuel transport infrastructure. This perspective article analytically investigates hydrogenation systems' technical and economic prospects using liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs) to store hydrogen at a large scale compared to densified storage technologies and circular hydrogen carriers (mainly ammonia and methanol). Our analysis of major system components indicates that the capital cost for liquid hydrogen storage is more than two times that for the gaseous approach and four times that for the LOHC approach. Ammonia and methanol could be attractive options as hydrogen carriers at a large scale because of their compatibility with existing liquid fuel infrastructure. However their synthesis and decomposition are energy and capital intensive compared to LOHCs. Together with other properties such as safety these factors make LOHCs a possible option for large-scale stationary hydrogen storage. In addition hydrogen transportation via various approaches is briefly discussed. We end our discussions by identifying important directions for future research on LOHCs.
Exploring the Australian Public's Response to Hydrogen
Sep 2021
Publication
Over the past three years there has been a rapid increase in discussions across the different levels of Australia's governments about the role that hydrogen might play in helping the world transition to a low carbon future. While those working in the energy industry are aware of the opportunities and challenges that lay ahead the general public is less engaged. However we know from the introduction of previous technologies that public attitudes towards technologies including whether they view them to be safe can severely impact overall acceptance. Understanding how the public perceives hydrogen both for domestic and export use and the potential benefits it brings to Australia is critical for the industry to progress. In this paper we present the initial findings of a national survey of the Australian public conducted in March 2021 which builds on the results of a previous survey conducted in 2018. The 2021 respondents were drawn from all Australian states and territories (n=3020) and quotas were used to ensure adequate representation of age groups and gender. Overall the respondents have favorable views about using hydrogen for energy in Australia with caveats about production-related environmental impacts and issues such as safety. While there has been a slight increase in support for hydrogen as a possible solution for energy and environmental challenges since the 2018 survey the effect size is very small. This suggests that while hydrogen discussions have increased at a policy level little has been done to improve public understanding of hydrogen in communication strategies will be needed as the Australian hydrogen industry continues to develop and gain more widespread media attention.
Stronger Together: Multi-annual Variability of Hydrogen Production Supported by Wind Power in Sweden
Mar 2021
Publication
Hydrogen produced from renewable electricity will play an important role in deep decarbonisation of industry. However adding large electrolyser capacities to a low-carbon electricity system also increases the need for additional electricity generation from variable renewable energies. This will require hydrogen production to be variable unless other sources provide sufficient flexibility. Existing sources of flexibility in hydro-thermal systems are hydropower and thermal generation which are both associated with sustainability concerns. In this work we use a dispatch model for the case of Sweden to assess the power system operation with large-scale electrolysers assuming that additional wind power generation matches the electricity demand of hydrogen production on average. We evaluate different scenarios for restricting the flexibility of hydropower and thermal generation and include 29 different weather years to test the impact of variable weather regimes. We show that (a) in all scenarios electrolyser utilisation is above 60% on average (b) the inter-annual variability of hydrogen production is substantial if thermal power is not dispatched for electrolysis and (c) this problem is aggravated if hydropower flexibility is also restricted. Therefore either long-term storage of hydrogen or backup hydrogen sources may be necessary to guarantee continuous hydrogen flows. Large-scale dispatch of electrolysis capacity supported by wind power makes the system more stable if electrolysers ramp down in rare hours of extreme events with low renewable generation. The need for additional backup capacities in a fully renewable electricity system will thus be reduced if wind power and electrolyser operation are combined in the system.
An Adaptive Renewable Energy Plant (AREP) - To Power Local Premises and Vehicles with 100% Renewables
Aug 2021
Publication
An adaptive response renewable energy plant (AREP) that provides grid balancing services and XeV station fuelling services (where “X” is any type) using renewable energy located in urban centres is described. The AREP has its own primary renewable energy sources and adapts operation in the short term to changing levels of excess or deficient energy on LV and MV electricity grids. The AREP adaptively responds by (1) storing excess energy in batteries for the short term and in hydrogen tanks after energy conversion by electrolysers for the long term; (2) returning power to the grid from either the AREP’s own primary (electron-based) energy sources or batteries and/or from hydrogen via conversion in fuel cells; (3) providing electricity for fast charging BeVs and PHeVs and hydrogen for FCeVs; and (4) exporting excess stored energy as hydrogen to domestic markets. The AREP also adapts over the long term by predictive planning of charging capacity such that the type and capacity of renewable energy equipment is optimised for future operations. A key advantage of this AREP configuration is a flexible “plug and play” capability with modular extension of energy assets. If the AREP footprint is constrained interaction with neighbouring AREPs as a mini-VPP-AREP network can assist in balancing short-term operating requirements. The benefits of this grid balancing and XeV renewable energy filling station or AREP are environmental social and economic through efficient functionality of appropriately sized components. AREPs provide a net zero emissions electricity solution to an existing network with short and long-term storage options as well as a net zero emissions fuel alternative to the transport sector while leveraging existing infrastructure with minimal upfront CAPEX. AREPs can give the flexibility a grid needs to enable high levels of renewable installations while developing green hydrogen production.
A Review of Technical Advances, Barriers, and Solutions in the Power to Hydrogen Roadmap
Oct 2020
Publication
Power to hydrogen (P2H) provides a promising solution to the geographic mismatch between sources of renewable energy and the market due to its technological maturity flexibility and the availability of technical and economic data from a range of active demonstration projects. In this review we aim to provide an overview of the status of P2H analyze its technical barriers and solutions and propose potential opportunities for future research and industrial demonstrations. We specifically focus on the transport of hydrogen via natural gas pipeline networks and end-user purification. Strong evidence shows that an addition of about 10% hydrogen into natural gas pipelines has negligible effects on the pipelines and utilization appliances and may therefore extend the asset value of the pipelines after natural gas is depleted. To obtain pure hydrogen from hydrogen-enriched natural gas (HENG) mixtures end-user separation is inevitable and can be achieved through membranes adsorption and other promising separation technologies. However novel materials with high selectivity and capacity will be the key to the development of industrial processes and an integrated membrane-adsorption process may be considered in order to produce high-purity hydrogen from HENG. It is also worth investigating the feasibility of electrochemical separation (hydrogen pumping) at a large scale and its energy analysis. Cryogenics may only be feasible when liquefied natural gas (LNG) is one of the major products. A range of other technological and operational barriers and opportunities such as water availability byproduct (oxygen) utilization and environmental impacts are also discussed. This review will advance readers’ understanding of P2H and foster the development of the hydrogen economy.
Cross-regional Electricity and Hydrogen Deployment Research Based on Coordinated Optimization: Towards Carbon Neutrality in China
Sep 2022
Publication
In order to achieve carbon neutrality in a few decades the clean energy proportion in power mix of China will significantly rise to over 90%. A consensus has been reached recently that it will be of great significance to promote hydrogen energy that is produced by variable renewable energy power generation as a mainstay energy form in view of its potential value on achieving carbon neutrality. This is because hydrogen energy is capable of complementing the power system and realizing further electrification especially in the section that cannot be easily replaced by electric energy. Power system related planning model is commonly used for mid-term and long-term planning implemented through power installation and interconnection capacity expansion optimization. In consideration of the high importance of hydrogen and its close relationship with electricity an inclusive perspective which contains both kinds of the foresaid energy is required to deal with planning problems. In this study a joint model is established by coupling hydrogen energy model in the chronological operation power planning model to realize coordinated optimization on energy production transportation and storage. By taking the carbon neutrality scenario of China as an example the author applies this joint model to deploy a scheme research on power generation and hydrogen production inter-regional energy transportation capacity and hydrogen storage among various regions. Next by taking the technology progress and cost decrease prediction uncertainty into account the main technical– economic parameters are employed as variables to carry out sensitivity analysis research with a hope that the quantitative calculation and results discussion could provide suggestion and reference to energy-related companies policy-makers and institute researchers in formulating strategies on related energy development.
Sustainable Aviation—Hydrogen Is the Future
Jan 2022
Publication
As the global search for new methods to combat global warming and climate change continues renewable fuels and hydrogen have emerged as saviours for environmentally polluting industries such as aviation. Sustainable aviation is the goal of the aviation industry today. There is increasing interest in achieving carbon-neutral flight to combat global warming. Hydrogen has proven to be a suitable alternative fuel. It is abundant clean and produces no carbon emissions but only water after use which has the potential to cool the environment. This paper traces the historical growth and future of the aviation and aerospace industry. It examines how hydrogen can be used in the air and on the ground to lower the aviation industry’s impact on the environment. In addition while aircraft are an essential part of the aviation industry other support services add to the overall impact on the environment. Hydrogen can be used to fuel the energy needs of these services. However for hydrogen technology to be accepted and implemented other issues such as government policy education and employability must be addressed. Improvement in the performance and emissions of hydrogen as an alternative energy and fuel has grown in the last decade. However other issues such as the storage and cost and the entire value chain require significant work for hydrogen to be implemented. The international community’s alternative renewable energy and hydrogen roadmaps can provide a long-term blueprint for developing the alternative energy industry. This will inform the private and public sectors so that the industry can adjust its plan accordingly.
A Comprehensive Review on the Recent Development of Ammonia as a Renewable Energy Carrier
Jun 2021
Publication
Global energy sources are being transformed from hydrocarbon-based energy sources to renewable and carbon-free energy sources such as wind solar and hydrogen. The biggest challenge with hydrogen as a renewable energy carrier is the storage and delivery system’s complexity. Therefore other media such as ammonia for indirect storage are now being considered. Research has shown that at reasonable pressures ammonia is easily contained as a liquid. In this form energy density is approximately half of that of gasoline and ten times more than batteries. Ammonia can provide effective storage of renewable energy through its existing storage and distribution network. In this article we aimed to analyse the previous studies and the current research on the preparation of ammonia as a next-generation renewable energy carrier. The study focuses on technical advances emerging in ammonia synthesis technologies such as photocatalysis electrocatalysis and plasmacatalysis. Ammonia is now also strongly regarded as fuel in the transport industrial and power sectors and is relatively more versatile in reducing CO2 emissions. Therefore the utilisation of ammonia as a renewable energy carrier plays a significant role in reducing GHG emissions. Finally the simplicity of ammonia processing transport and use makes it an appealing choice for the link between the development of renewable energy and demand.
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