Belgium
Hydrogen Production: State of Technology
May 2020
Publication
Presently hydrogen is for ~50% produced by steam reforming of natural gas – a process leading to significant emissions of greenhouse gas (GHG). About 30% is produced from oil/naphtha reforming and from refinery/chemical industry off-gases. The remaining capacity is covered for 18% from coal gasification 3.9% from water electrolysis and 0.1% from other sources. In the foreseen future hydrogen economy green hydrogen production methods will need to supply hydrogen to be used directly as fuel or to generate synthetic fuels to produce ammonia and other fertilizers (viz. urea) to upgrade heavy oils (like oil sands) and to produce other chemicals. There are several ways to produce H2 each with limitations and potential such as steam reforming electrolysis thermal and thermo-chemical water splitting dark and photonic fermentation; gasification and catalytic decomposition of methanol. The paper reviews the fundamentals and potential of these alternative process routes. Both thermo-chemical water splitting and fermentation are marked as having a long term but high "green" potential.
Materials for Hydrogen-based Energy Storage - Past, Recent Progress and Future Outlook
Dec 2019
Publication
Michael Hirscher,
Volodymyr A. Yartys,
Marcello Baricco,
José Bellosta von Colbe,
Didier Blanchard,
Robert C. Bowman Jr.,
Darren P. Broom,
Craig Buckley,
Fei Chang,
Ping Chen,
Young Whan Cho,
Jean-Claude Crivello,
Fermin Cuevas,
William I. F. David,
Petra E. de Jongh,
Roman V. Denys,
Martin Dornheim,
Michael Felderhoff,
Yaroslav Filinchuk,
George E. Froudakis,
David M. Grant,
Evan MacA. Gray,
Bjørn Christian Hauback,
Teng He,
Terry D. Humphries,
Torben R. Jensen,
Sangryun Kim,
Yoshitsugu Kojima,
Michel Latroche,
Hai-wen Li,
Mykhaylo V. Lototskyy,
Joshua W. Makepeace,
Kasper T. Møller,
Lubna Naheed,
Peter Ngene,
Dag Noreus,
Magnus Moe Nygård,
Shin-ichi Orimo,
Mark Paskevicius,
Luca Pasquini,
Dorthe B. Ravnsbæk,
M. Veronica Sofianos,
Terrence J. Udovic,
Tejs Vegge,
Gavin Walker,
Colin Webb,
Claudia Weidenthaler and
Claudia Zlotea
Globally the accelerating use of renewable energy sources enabled by increased efficiencies and reduced costs and driven by the need to mitigate the effects of climate change has significantly increased research in the areas of renewable energy production storage distribution and end-use. Central to this discussion is the use of hydrogen as a clean efficient energy vector for energy storage. This review by experts of Task 32 “Hydrogen-based Energy Storage” of the International Energy Agency Hydrogen TCP reports on the development over the last 6 years of hydrogen storage materials methods and techniques including electrochemical and thermal storage systems. An overview is given on the background to the various methods the current state of development and the future prospects. The following areas are covered; porous materials liquid hydrogen carriers complex hydrides intermetallic hydrides electro-chemical storage of energy thermal energy storage hydrogen energy systems and an outlook is presented for future prospects and research on hydrogen-based energy storage
Policy Toolbox for Low Carbon and Renewable Hydrogen
Nov 2021
Publication
The report “Policy Toolbox for Low Carbon and Renewable Hydrogen” is based on an assessment of the performance of hydrogen policies in different stages of market maturity and segments of the value chain. 48 policies were shortlisted based on their economic efficiency and effectiveness and mapped to barriers across the value chain and over time. These policies were subsequently clustered into policy packages for three country archetypes: a self-sufficient hydrogen producer an importer and an exporter of hydrogen.
The paper can be found on their website.
The paper can be found on their website.
Strategies for Hydrogen-Enriched Methane Flameless Combustion in a Quasi-Industrial Furnace
Jan 2020
Publication
In this present work simulations of 20 kW furnace were carried out with hydrogenenriched methane mixtures to identify optimal geometrical configurations and operating conditions to operate in flameless combustion regime. The objective of this work is to show the advantages of flameless combustion for hydrogen-enriched fuels and the limits of current typical industrial designs for these mixtures. The performances of a semi-industrial combustion chamber equipped with a self-recuperative flameless burner are evaluated with increasing H2 concentrations. For highly H2-enriched mixtures typical burners employed for methane appear to be inadequate to reach flameless conditions. In particular for a typical coaxial injector configuration an equimolar mixture of hydrogen and methane represents the limit for hydrogen enrichment. To achieve flameless conditions different injector geometries and configuration were tested. Fuel dilution with CO2 and H2O was also investigated. Dilution slows the mixing process consequently helping the transition to flameless conditions. CO2 and H2O are typical products of hydrogen generation processes therefore their use in fuel dilution is convenient for industrial applications. Dilution thus allows the use of greater hydrogen percentages in the mixture.
2050 No-regret Options and Technology Lock-ins
Jan 2023
Publication
The present study (in the following referred to as study S4) takes a deeper look at the 2050 EU energy system. It builds upon a decarbonisation scenario developed in an earlier study of the METIS 2 project (study S61) which focusses on the EU electricity sector and its interlinkage with the hydrogen and the heat sectors. While study S6 aimed for a cost-optimal dimensioning of the EU power system the present study goes a step further and aims to derive more general conclusions. It sheds light on no-regret options towards the decarbonisation of the 2050 EU energy system potential technology lock-in risks and major drivers of uncertainty like system sensitivity to climate change and commodity prices. The analysis is complemented by an evaluation of the impact of an enhanced representation of hydrogen infrastructures and the associated constraints as these may impact the entire interlinked EU energy system.
Assessing the Balance Between Direct Electrification and the Use of Decarbonised Gases in the 2050 EU Energy System
Jan 2023
Publication
If Europe is to meet its 2050 decarbonisation objectives a change of paradigm needs to materialise. The energy sector cannot be understood any more as the sum of independent silos consisting of different energy vectors. Indeed a large number of technologies that are essential to meeting our decarbonisation targets are linking systems and markets currently being planned and operated without fully considering the potential benefits of adopting a holistic approach. If this situation is to persist large-scale sub-optimalities are likely to emerge if the planning and operations of the different components of the energy system will not be able to capture synergies and interdependencies between energy vectors and markets. Interlinkages between systems are appearing between all vectors both at the planning and operation levels. In the case of hydrogen these links are especially important as hydrogen technologies are linking the electricity methane and heat sectors (via electrolysis and hydrogen turbines repurposing of gas assets and hydrogen boilers respectively). Sector integration can allow to capture benefits both in terms of planning and operations:- The production of electrolytic hydrogen poses important challenges in terms of planning the deployment of renewable energy (RES) and electrolyser capacities in a way that ensures that the overall carbon emissions decrease in an effective and cost-efficient manner. Furthermore key questions related to the benefits of co-locating renewable capacities electrolysers and hydrogen demand centres can only be explored if a holistic perspective is adopted. Finally synergies can also appear if planning decisions are taken jointly between the electricity hydrogen and methane sectors as the optimal set of hydrogen infrastructure projects strongly depends on the ability to source electrolysers (link with the electricity sector) and on the possibility to repurpose part of the current infrastructure (link with the methane sector)- Similarly operational considerations also advocate for an integrated approach as electrolysers can provide important flexibility services to the electricity sector if provided with appropriate price signals. These considerations provide the motivation for this study which aims at performing a detailed examination of planning decisions and operational management of a 2050 power system with a focus on comparing different decarbonisation options for the provision of heat of different temperature levels.
Hydrogen Insights 2022
Sep 2022
Publication
Authored by the Hydrogen Council in collaboration with McKinsey and Company Hydrogen Insights 2022 presents an updated perspective on hydrogen market development and actions required to unlock hydrogen at scale.
The pipeline of hydrogen projects is continuing to grow but actual deployment is lagging.
680 large-scale project proposals worth USD 240 billion have been put forward but only about 10% (USD 22 billion) have reached final investment decision (FID). While Europe leads in proposed investments (~30%) China is slightly ahead on actual deployment of electrolyzers (200 MW) while Japan and South Korea are leading in fuel cells (more than half of the world’s 11 GW manufacturing capacity).
The urgency to invest in mature hydrogen projects today is greater than ever.
For the world to be on track for net zero emissions by 2050 investments of some USD 700 billion in hydrogen are needed through 2030 – only 3% of this capital is committed today. Ambition and proposals by themselves do not translate into positive impact on climate change; investments and implementation on the ground is needed.
Joint action by the public and private sectors is urgently required to move from project proposals to FIDs.
Both governments and industry need to act to implement immediate actions for 2022 to 2023 – policymakers need to enable demand visibility roll out funding support and ensure international coordination; industry needs to increase supply chain capability and capacity advance projects towards final investment decision (FID) and develop infrastructure for cross-border trade.
The paper can be found on their website.
The pipeline of hydrogen projects is continuing to grow but actual deployment is lagging.
680 large-scale project proposals worth USD 240 billion have been put forward but only about 10% (USD 22 billion) have reached final investment decision (FID). While Europe leads in proposed investments (~30%) China is slightly ahead on actual deployment of electrolyzers (200 MW) while Japan and South Korea are leading in fuel cells (more than half of the world’s 11 GW manufacturing capacity).
The urgency to invest in mature hydrogen projects today is greater than ever.
For the world to be on track for net zero emissions by 2050 investments of some USD 700 billion in hydrogen are needed through 2030 – only 3% of this capital is committed today. Ambition and proposals by themselves do not translate into positive impact on climate change; investments and implementation on the ground is needed.
Joint action by the public and private sectors is urgently required to move from project proposals to FIDs.
Both governments and industry need to act to implement immediate actions for 2022 to 2023 – policymakers need to enable demand visibility roll out funding support and ensure international coordination; industry needs to increase supply chain capability and capacity advance projects towards final investment decision (FID) and develop infrastructure for cross-border trade.
The paper can be found on their website.
Techno-economic Assessment on Hybrid Energy Storage Systems Comprising Hydrogen and Batteries: A Case Study in Belgium
Jun 2023
Publication
This paper introduces a Techno-Economic Assessment (TEA) on present and future scenarios of different energy storage technologies comprising hydrogen and batteries: Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) Hydrogen Energy Storage System (H2ESS) and Hybrid Energy Storage System (HESS). These three configurations were assessed for different time horizons: 2019 2022 and 2030 under both on-grid and off-grid conditions. For 2030 a sensitivity analysis under different energy scenarios was performed covering other trends in on-grid electric consumption and prices CO2 taxation and the evolution of hydrogen technology prices from 2019 until 2030. The selected case study is the Research Park Zellik (RPZ) a CO2- neutral sustainable Local Energy Community (LEC) in Zellik Belgium. The software HOMER (Hybrid Optimisation Model for Electric Renewable) has been selected to design model and optimise the defined case study. The results showed that BESS was the most competitive when the electric grid was available among the three possible storage options. Additionally HESS was overall more competitive than H2ESS-only regardless of the grid connection mode. Finally as per HESS hydrogen was proved to play a complementary role when combined with batteries enhancing the flexibility of the microgrid and enabling deeper decarbonisation by reducing the electricity bought from the grid increasing renewable energy production and balancing toward an island operating mode.
Golden Hydrogen
Nov 2022
Publication
Hydrogen is a colorless compound to which symbolic colors are attributed to classify it according to the resources used in production production processes such as electrolysis and energy vectors such as solar radiation. Green hydrogen is produced mainly by electrolysis of water using renewable electricity from an electricity grid powered by wind geothermal solar or hydroelectric power plants. For grid-powered electrolyzers the tendency is to go larger to reach the gigawatt-scale. An evolution in the opposite direction is the integration of the photophysics of sunlight harvesting and the electrochemistry of water molecule splitting in solar hydrogen generator units with each unit working at kilowatt-scale or less. Solar hydrogen generators are intrinsically modular needing multiplication of units to reach gigawatt-scale. To differentiate these two fundamentally different technologies the term ‘golden hydrogen’ is proposed referring to hydrogen produced by modular solar hydrogen generators. Decentralized modular production of golden hydrogen is complementary to centralized energy-intensive green hydrogen production. The differentiation between green hydrogen and golden hydrogen will facilitate the introduction of the additionality principle in clean hydrogen policy.
Safety Planning and Management in EU Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Projects - Guidance Document
Sep 2021
Publication
The document provides information on safety planning implementation and reporting for projects involving hydrogen and/or fuel cell technologies. It does not intend to replace or contradict existing regulations which prevail under all circumstances. Neither is it meant to conflict with relevant international or national standards or to replace existing company safety policies codes and procedures. Instead this guidance document aims to assist projects and project partners in identifying hazards and associated risks in prevention and/or mitigation of them through a proper safety plan in implementing the safety plan and reporting safety related events. This shall help in safely delivering the project and ultimately producing inherently safer systems processes and infrastructure.
Hydrogen: Enabling A Zero-Emission Society
Nov 2021
Publication
Discover the colours of hydrogen debunk the myths around hydrogen and learn the facts and key moments in history for hydrogen as well as innovative technologies ground-breaking projects state-of-the-art research development and cooperation by members of Hydrogen Europe
Hydrogen Europe Podcast: The Commision's Support to the Hydrogen Ecosystem
Jul 2022
Publication
In this episode titled "The Commission's support to the hydrogen ecosystem" our CEO Jorgo Chatzimarkakis discusses with Rosalinde van der Vlies Clean Planet Director DG RTD - European Commission. Starting off on how Rosalinde joined the Commission the two speakers discuss the Commission's support in developing a hydrogen ecosystem also in light of its participation in the Clean Hydrogen Partnership and the implications arising from the REPowerEU.
Fly the Green Deal: Europe's Vision for Sustainable Aviation
Jul 2022
Publication
Europe’s aviation sector continues its resilient and pioneering spirit as it leads the world’s transport system into its new era of great transformation. Surviving the pandemic it is adapting rapidly to satisfy the rising demand for competitive air mobility services while managing a scarcity of resources and embracing the new challenges of climate change and energy transition. Facilitated by ACARE the European Commission its Member States aviation research organisations design and manufacturing industries airlines airports and aviation energy and service providers have all joined together to envision a synchronized transformation path that will ensure that Europe can lead the world towards a climate neutral citizen centric and competitive air mobility system. “Fly the Green Deal” is Europe’s Vision for Sustainable Aviation. It describes the actions and actors necessary towards aviation’s three main strategic goals. It details three time horizons and defines as well the requirement for a proactive and synchronised implementation framework facilitated by the European Commission and EU Member States that includes both the initiating instruments (policies regulations and incentives) and a system of measuring and impact monitoring to ensure the goals are achieved.
Overview of First Outcomes of PNR Project HYTUNNEL-CS
Sep 2021
Publication
Dmitry Makarov,
Donatella Cirrone,
Volodymyr V. Shentsov,
Sergii Kashkarov,
Vladimir V. Molkov,
Z. Xu,
Mike Kuznetsov,
Alexandros G. Venetsanos,
Stella G. Giannissi,
Ilias C. Tolias,
Knut Vaagsaether,
André Vagner Gaathaug,
Mark R. Pursell,
W. M. Rattigan,
Frank Markert,
Luisa Giuliani,
L.S. Sørensen,
A. Bernad,
Mercedes Sanz Millán,
U. Kummer,
C. Brauner,
Paola Russo,
J. van den Berg,
F. de Jong,
Tom Van Esbroeck,
M. Van De Veire,
D. Bouix,
Gilles Bernard-Michel,
Sergey Kudriakov,
Etienne Studer,
Domenico Ferrero,
Joachim Grüne and
G. Stern
The paper presents the first outcomes of the experimental numerical and theoretical studies performed in the funded by Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH2 JU) project HyTunnel-CS. The project aims to conduct pre-normative research (PNR) to close relevant knowledge gaps and technological bottlenecks in the provision of safety of hydrogen vehicles in underground transportation systems. Pre normative research performed in the project will ultimately result in three main outputs: harmonised recommendations on response to hydrogen accidents recommendations for inherently safer use of hydrogen vehicles in underground traffic systems and recommendations for RCS. The overall concept behind this project is to use inter-disciplinary and inter-sectoral prenormative research by bringing together theoretical modelling and experimental studies to maximise the impact. The originality of the overall project concept is the consideration of hydrogen vehicle and underground traffic structure as a single system with integrated safety approach. The project strives to develop and offer safety strategies reducing or completely excluding hydrogen-specific risks to drivers passengers public and first responders in case of hydrogen vehicle accidents within the currently available infrastructure.
Safety Planning for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Projects
Jul 2019
Publication
The document provides information on safety planning monitoring and reporting for the concerned hydrogen and fuel cell projects and programmes in Europe. It does not replace or contradict existing regulations which prevails under all circumstances. Neither is it meant to conflict with relevant international or national standards or to replace existing company safety policies codes and procedures. Instead this guidance document aims to assist in identifying minimum safety requirements hazards and associated risks and in generating a quality safety plan that will serve as an assisting guide for the inherently safer conduct of all work related to the development and operation of hydrogen and fuel cell systems and infrastructure. A safety plan should be revisited periodically as part of an overall effort to pay continuous and priority attention to the associated safety aspects and to account for all modifications of the considered system and its operations. Potential hazards failure mechanisms and related incidents associated with any work process or system should always be identified analysed reported (recorded in relevant knowledge databases e.g. HIAD 2.0 or HELLEN handbooks papers etc.) and eliminated or mitigated as part of sound safety planning and comprehensive hydrogen safety engineering which extends beyond the recommendations of this document. All relevant objects or aspects that may be adversely affected by a failure should be considered including low frequency high consequences events. So the general protection objective is to exclude or at least minimise potential hazards and associated risks to prevent impacts on the following:
- People. Hazards that pose a risk of injury or loss of life to people must be identified and eliminated or mitigated. A complete safety assessment considers not only those personnel who are directly involved in the work but also others who are at risk due to these hazards.
- Property. Damage to or loss of equipment or facilities must be prevented or minimised. Damage to equipment can be both the cause of incidents and the result of incidents. An equipment failure can result in collateral damage to nearby equipment and property which can then trigger additional equipment failures or even lead to additional hazards and risks e.g. through the domino effect. Effective safety planning monitoring and reporting considers and minimises serious risk of equipment and property damage.
- Environment. Damage to the environment must be prevented. Any aspect of a natural or the built environment which can be harmed due to a hydrogen system or infrastructure failure should be identified and analysed. A qualification of the failure modes resulting in environmental damage must be considered.
Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Observatory 2019 EU and National Policies Report
Sep 2021
Publication
The policy module of the FCHO presents an overview of EU and national policies across various hydrogen and fuel cell related sectors. It provides a snapshot of the current state of hydrogen legislation and policy. Scope: While FCHO covers 38 entities around the world due to the completeness of the data at the moment of writing this report covers 29 entities. The report reflects data collected January 2019 – December 2019. Key Findings: Hydrogen policies are relatively commonplace among European countries but with large differences between member states. EU hydrogen leaders do not lag behind global outliers such as South Korea or Japan.
Supporting Hydrogen Technologies Deployment in EU Regions and Member States: The Smart Specialisation Platform on Energy (S3PEnergy)
May 2018
Publication
In order to maximise European national and regional research and innovation potential the European Union is investing in these fields through different funding mechanisms such as the ESIF or H2020 programme. This investment plan is part of the European 2020 strategy where the concept of Smart Specialisation is also included.<br/>Smart Specialisation is an innovation policy concept designed to promote the efficient and effective use of public investment in regional innovation in order to achieve economic growth. The Smart Specialisation Platform was created to support this concept by assisting regions and Member States in developing implementing and reviewing their research and innovation Smart Specialisation strategies.<br/>The Smart Specialisation Platform comprises several thematic platforms. The thematic Smart Specialisation Platform on energy (S3PEnergy) is a joint initiative of three European Commission services: DG REGIO DG ENER and the Joint Research Centre (JRC). The main objective of the S3PEnergy is to support the optimal and effective uptake of the Cohesion Policy funds for energy and to better align energy innovation activities at national local and regional level through the identification of the technologies and innovative solutions that support in the most cost-effective way the EU energy policy priorities.<br/>In the particular case of hydrogen technologies the activities of the platform are mainly focused on supporting the new Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) initiative involving regions and cities. To date more than 80 European cities and regions have committed to participate in this initiative through the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding and more participants are expected to join. S3PEnergy is helping in the identification of potential combination of H2020 funding (provided through FCH JU) and ESIF.<br/>To identify potential synergies among these two funding sources a mapping of the different ESIF opportunities has been performed. In order to map these opportunities Operational Programmes (OPs) and research and innovation strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3) of the different European regions and Member States were analysed. The results of this mapping and analysis are presented in this paper."
Stochastic Low-order Modelling of Hydrogen Autoignition in a Turbulent Non-premixed Flow
Jul 2022
Publication
Autoignition risk in initially non-premixed flowing systems such as premixing ducts must be assessed to help the development of low-NOx systems and hydrogen combustors. Such situations may involve randomly fluctuating inlet conditions that are challenging to model in conventional mixture-fraction-based approaches. A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)-based surrogate modelling strategy is presented here for fast and accurate predictions of the stochastic autoignition behaviour of a hydrogen flow in a hot air turbulent co-flow. The variability of three input parameters i.e. inlet fuel and air temperatures and average wall temperature is first sampled via a space-filling design. For each sampled set of conditions the CFD modelling of the flame is performed via the Incompletely Stirred Reactor Network (ISRN) approach which solves the reacting flow governing equations in post-processing on top of a Large Eddy Simulation (LES) of the inert hydrogen plume. An accurate surrogate model namely a Gaussian Process is then trained on the ISRN simulations of the burner and the final quantification of the variability of autoignition locations is achieved by querying the surrogate model via Monte Carlo sampling of the random input quantities. The results are in agreement with the observed statistics of the autoignition locations. The methodology adopted in this work can be used effectively to quantify the impact of fluctuations and assist the design of practical combustion systems. © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of The Combustion Institute.
First Hydrogen Fuel Sampling from a Fuel Cell Hydrogen Electrical Vehicle–Validation of Hydrogen Fuel Sampling System to Investigate FCEV Performance
Aug 2022
Publication
Fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) are developing quickly from passenger vehicles to trucks or fork-lifts. Policymakers are supporting an ambitious strategy to deploy fuel cell electrical vehicles with infrastructure as hydrogen refueling stations (HRS) as the European Green deal for Europe. The hydrogen fuel quality according to international standard as ISO 14687 is critical to ensure the FCEV performance and that poor hydrogen quality may not cause FCEV loss of performance. However the sampling system is only available for nozzle sampling at HRS. If a FCEV may show a lack of performance there is currently no methodology to sample hydrogen fuel from a FCEV itself. It would support the investigation to determine if hydrogen fuel may have caused any performance loss. This article presents the first FCEV sampling system and its comparison with the hydrogen fuel sampling from the HRS nozzle (as requested by international standard ISO 14687). The results showed good agreement with the hydrogen fuel sample. The results demonstrate that the prototype developed provides representative samples from the FCEV and can be an alternative to determine hydrogen fuel quality. The prototype will require improvements and a larger sampling campaign.
Complex Hydrides for Hydrogen Storage – New Perspectives
Apr 2014
Publication
Since the 1970s hydrogen has been considered as a possible energy carrier for the storage of renewable energy. The main focus has been on addressing the ultimate challenge: developing an environmentally friendly successor for gasoline. This very ambitious goal has not yet been fully reached as discussed in this review but a range of new lightweight hydrogen-containing materials has been discovered with fascinating properties. State-of-the-art and future perspectives for hydrogen-containing solids will be discussed with a focus on metal borohydrides which reveal significant structural flexibility and may have a range of new interesting properties combined with very high hydrogen densities.
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