United Kingdom

The decarbonisation of waterborne transport is arguably the biggest challenge faced by the maritime industry presently. By 2050 the International Maritime Organization (IMO) aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the shipping industry by 50% compared to 2008 with a vision to phase out fossil fuels by the end of the century as a matter of urgency. To meet such targets action must be taken immediately to address the barriers to adopt the various clean shipping options currently at different technological maturity levels. Green hydrogen as an alternative fuel presents an attractive solution to meet future targets from international bodies and is seen as a viable contributor within a future clean shipping vision. The cost of hydrogen fuel—in the shortterm at least—is higher compared to conventional fuel; therefore energy-saving devices (ESDs) for ships are more important than ever as implementation of rules and regulations restrict the use of fossil fuels while promoting zero-emission technology. However existing and emerging ESDs in standalone/combination for traditional fossil fuel driven vessels have not been researched to assess their compatibility for hydrogen-powered ships which present new challenges and considerations within their design and operation. Therefore this review aims to bridge that gap by firstly identifying the new challenges that a hydrogen-powered propulsion system brings forth and then reviewing the quantitative energy saving capability and qualitive additional benefits of individual existing and emerging ESDs in standalone and combination with recommendations for the most applicable ESD combinations with hydrogen-powered waterborne transport presented to maximise energy saving and minimise the negative impact on the propulsion system components. In summary the most compatible combination ESDs for hydrogen will depend largely on factors such as vessel types routes propulsion operation etc. However the mitigation of load fluctuations commonly encountered during a vessels operation was viewed to be a primary area of interest as it can have a negative impact on hydrogen propulsion system components such as the fuel cell; therefore the ESD combination that can maximise energy savings as well as minimise the fluctuating loads experienced would be viewed as the most compatible with hydrogen-powered waterborne transport.

The APPG on Hydrogen has published its report urging the Government to deliver beyond its existing net zero commitments and set ambitious hydrogen targets in forthcoming strategies to reach net zero by 2050.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Hydrogen’s report on the role of ‘Hydrogen in powering industry’ sets out 10 recommendations to support and accelerate the growth of the UK’s hydrogen sector and enable a sustainable energy transition.

• The Government must continue to expand beyond its existing commitments of 5GW production in the forthcoming Hydrogen Strategy.
• Any forthcoming Government and devolved policies must be complementary of the wider UK low-carbon commitments.
• Industrial clusters should be prioritised for hydrogen use and will be the key catalyst for driving forward the UK’s decarbonisation of industry.
• The Government must commit to incentivising hydrogen production within the UK as opposed to importing this.
• The Government must align hydrogen production pathways with nuclear technology to enhance hydrogen production.
• The Government must develop a UK wide hydrogen network to support the transport sector including a larger-scale implementation of hydrogen refuelling stations.
• Regulators must act quickly to update energy regulations and guidance to support hydrogen’s role in powering industry.
• For hydrogen to expand in the UK a technology neutral approach is required for all types of energy systems.
• Significant and long-term financial support is required for the development deployment and operation of hydrogen technologies.
• Ofgem must ensure the hydrogen market is subject to effective competition to drive down prices for consumers.

In 2020 the Department for Business Enterprise and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) commissioned Energy & Utility Skills to develop and deliver a Hydrogen Competency Framework as part of the Hy4Heat programme. The successful completion of this work is detailed in a new report published today.

The work done by Energy & Utility Skills was underpinned by three key pillars:

Collaboration

• Driving growth in engagement levels across the industry

Scalability

• Designing the framework for both initial trials and any future rollout

Safety

• The framework ensures engineers will have all the skills knowledge and understanding they need

The Hydrogen Competency Framework establishes a series of sequential components designed to ensure any future work done to install and maintain new hydrogen appliances will be completed safely to the highest standards and will only be carried out by hydrogen competent Gas Safe Registered engineers.

The resulting outputs of the design development stages are:

• A Comparative Analysis of Hydrogen and existing hydrocarbon gases
• A Skills Matrix that translates the analysis into skills knowledge and understanding
• An Interim Hydrogen Technical Standard that defines acceptable parameters and requirements for hydrogen installation work
• A Hydrogen Training Specification that will enable training course consistency and facilitate industry recognition
• An independent Hydrogen Assessment Module that will facilitate the addition of a hydrogen competence category on the Gas Safe Register

The Hydrogen Competency Framework is a significant success for the UK Gas Sector. This scalable framework will evolve and expand as the roll out of hydrogen into larger commercial applications occurs ahead of Hydrogen Apprenticeships becoming a reality. In the meantime it delivers the means to ensure the competence of engineers who will pioneer the transition to a hydrogen-fuelled gas industry.

More details about this report can be found on the Energy & Utility Skills website.

In the debate on the decarbonisation of heat renewable electricity tends to play a much more dominant role than green gases despite the potential advantages of gas in terms of utilising existing transportation networks and end-use appliances. Informed comparisons are hampered by information asymmetry; the renewable electricity has seen a huge grid level deployment whereas low-carbon hydrogen or bio-methane have been limited to some small stand-alone trials. This paper explores the regulatory and commercial challenges of implementing the first UK neighbourhood level 100% low-carbon hydrogen demonstration project. We draw on existing literature and action research to identify the key practical barriers currently hindering the ability of strategically important actors to accelerate the substitution of natural gas with low carbon hydrogen in local gas networks. This paper adds much needed contextual depth to existing generic and theoretical understandings of low-carbon hydrogen for heat transition feasibility. The learnings from pilot projects about the exclusion of hydrogen calorific value from the Local Distribution Zone calorific value calculation Special Purpose Vehicle companies holding of liability and future costs to consumers need to be quickly transferred into resilient operational practice or gas repurposing projects will continue to be less desirable than electrification using existing regulations and with more rapid delivery

Hydrogen is increasingly being viewed as a significant fuel for future industrial processes as it offers pathways to zero emission. The UK sees hydrogen as one of a handful of low-carbon solutions for transition to net zero. Currently most hydrogen production is from steam reforming of natural gas or coal gasification both of which involve the release of carbon dioxide. Hydrogen production from mini decentralised grids via a thermochemical process coupled with electricity production could offer favourable economics for small modular reactors (SMRs) whereby demand or grid management as a solution would include redirecting the power for hydrogen production when electricity demand is low. It also offers a clean-energy alternative to the aforementioned means. SMRs could offer favourable economics due to their flexible power system as part of the dual-output function. This study objective is to investigate the critical performance parameters associated with the nuclear power plant (NPP) the cycle working fluids and control-system design for switching between electricity and hydrogen demand to support delivery as part of a mini grid system for a reactor power delivering up to approximately 600 MWth power. The novelty of the work is in the holistic parametric analysis undertaken using a novel in-house tool which analyses the NPP using different working fluids with a control function bolt-on at the offtake for hydrogen production. The results indicate that the flow conditions at the offtake can be maintained. The choice of working fluids affects the pressure component. However the recuperator and heat-exchanger effectiveness are considered as efficiency-limiting factors for hydrogen production and electricity generation. As such the benefit of high-technology heat exchangers cannot be underestimated. This is also true when deciding on the thermochemical process to bolt onto the plant. The temperature of the gas at the end of the pipeline should also be considered to ensure that the minimum temperature-requirement status for hydrogen production is me

Commercialization of proton exchange membrane fuel cells can only materials provided its performance is closely related to existing technologies useful in commercial application. Other critical parameters like the utilization of cheaper materials should be taken into account during the manufacturing of the cell. A key component in the cell that has direct correlation to the cell perfor‐ mance is the flow plate. The weight coupled with cost of the cell revolves around the flow plate used in the manufacturing of the cell. This study explores materials ideal for the manufacturing of fuel cells in order to improve the overall cell performance. The investigation highlights the critical impact of varying materials used in the manufacturing of flow plates for PEM fuel cells. Stainless steel (SS) aluminium (Al) and copper (Cu) were the materials considered. The flow plate designs considered were serpentine and open pore cellular foam channel. Machine learning using python for the validation of the results with Linear regression Ridge regression and Polynomial regression algorithm was carried out. The performance of both flow field channels was compared using dif‐ ferent bipolar plate materials. The results show that metal foam flow channels overall performance was better than serpentine flow channels with all the various bipolar plate material used and Al material outperformed Cu and SS material. There is a direct correlation in terms of the outcome of the study and literature based on the data generated experimentally. It can however be concluded that molecules of hydrogen are stable on aluminium plates compared to copper and stainless steel

The independent cross-party report highlights a ‘sensible middle ground’ in the renewables debate and calls for more effort in building cross-party consensus. It finds that the UK has only just begun to harness low carbon renewable resources bigger than North Sea oil and gas and argues that the Government could do more to narrow the scope of debate about the technology mix beyond 2020. It argues that it should work with industry and academia first to establish ‘low regrets’ levels of technology deployment and second to ensure that policies are in place to incentivise investments such as supply chain investment needed to deliver these low regrets actions.

This approach would help provide the longer term clarity that could secure supply chain investments giving the UK a head-start in the global race. The report finds that these investments could be missed delayed or more expensive if there is insufficient confidence about long term demand for key technologies such as offshore wind. Work by Government to help incentivise these investments would increase the likelihood that technology cost reductions are achieved and help mitigate against high costs if new nuclear or carbon capture and storage development fail or are delayed.

On affordability the report finds that there are ‘hidden’ benefits that the UK could see from investing more in renewables through electricity bills between now and 2020. These include: avoiding bill increases driven by fossil fuels; making electricity bills more predictable; and providing an economic boost. The extra money paid to support renewables and other low carbon generation such as nuclear power could be more than offset by energy efficiency savings although Government needs to do more to show how these savings will arise.

On sustainability the report tackles myths about the carbon emitted in manufacturing renewable technologies or in backing up varying technologies such as wind solar wave and tidal. It finds that even when considering these factors renewables are still amongst the most low carbon options. The report also looks at the sustainability of electricity from biomass. Bioenergy overall could provide up to ten per cent of energy and reduce the cost of cutting carbon by £44 billion per year in 2050. The Government’s new biomass policies are a pragmatic response to concerns about the sustainability of biomass power which balances protecting the environment building public confidence and enabling the sector to grow.

On security of supply the inquiry argues that debate should focus on the whole electricity system and that individual technologies should be considered in the context of how they add to or reduce system risks. Considered like this renewables reduce some risks such as fuel supply risks which caused concern last winter and add to others such as system balancing risks. System balancing risks from varying renewables (wind solar wave and tidal technologies) are manageable using a number of existing and developing technologies.

The independent report chaired by former Energy Minister Charles Hendry MP and Shadow Energy Minister Baroness Worthington was compiled between May and September 2013 and was sponsored by Siemens and DONG Energy. It is part of a year-long independent and cross party inquiry into the UK power sector the Future Electricity Series sponsored by the Institution of Gas Engineers and Managers.

Link to Launch Video

DNV has carried out an investigation into potential uses for smart gas meter data as part of Phase 1 of the Modernising Energy Data Applications competition as funded by UK Research & Innovation. In particular a series of calculations have been carried out to investigate the possibility of differentiating accidental gas leaks from normal appliance use in domestic properties. This is primarily with the aim of preventing explosions but the detection of leaks also has environmental and financial benefits.

Three gases have been considered in this study:

• A representative UK natural gas composition.
• A blend of 80% natural gas and 20% hydrogen.
• Pure hydrogen.

An established method was used to calculate the gas outflow rate from leaks into buildings downstream of the meter regulator. These gas leak rates were compared with the gas use by typical domestic appliances and these leaks were considered in the context of the smart gas meter data that is currently available in 30-minute periods. A representative set of gas accumulation calculations was performed. It was found that the following three general cases apply to all three gases:

• Small holes of up to 1 mm rarely reach flammable gas/air concentrations for any gas except under the most unfavourable conditions such as small volumes combined with low ventilation rates. These releases would likely be detected within 6 to 12 hours.
• Medium holes between 1 mm and 6 mm give outflow rates equivalent to a moderate to high level of gas use by appliances. The ability to detect these leaks is highly dependent on the hole size the time at which the leak begins and the normal gas use profile in the building. The larger leaks in this category would be detected within 30 to 60 minutes while the smaller leaks could take several hours to be clearly differentiated from appliance use. This is quick enough to prevent some explosions.
• Large holes of over 6 mm give leak rates greater than any gas use by appliances. These releases rapidly reach a flammable gas/air mixture in most cases but would typically be detected within the first 30-minute meter output period. Again some explosions could be prevented in this timescale.

An event tree has been used to quantify the approximate success rate of detecting and preventing explosion events. Using the currently available 30-minute smart meter data and functionality it is estimated that around 7% of explosions could be prevented with a slight variation depending on the gas type in use. Additional functionality could be included in the meter to improve this performance. Typically one of the risk mitigation measures in isolation increases the explosion prevention rate to around 15%. If multiple improvements are made then the detection rate is predicted to increase to around 30%.

An examination of detailed historical incident information suggests that the explosions that lead to fatalities or significant damage to houses are typically of the type that would be more likely to be detected and prevented. It is estimated that between 25% and 75% of the more severe explosions could be prevented depending on which potential improvements are implemented.

Based on the conservative estimates of explosion prevention a cost benefit analysis suggests that it is justifiable to spend between around £1 and £10 per meter installed to implement the proposed technology. This is based purely on lives saved and does not take account of other benefits.

The injection of pure hydrogen at a T-junction into a horizontal pipe carrying natural gas is analysed computationally to understand the influence of blending and pipe geometry (diameter ratio various 90 orientations) on mixing for a target of 4.8e20% volume fraction hydrogen blend. The strongly inhomogeneous distribution of hydrogen within the pipe flow and on the pipe walls could indicate the location of potential pipe material degradation including embrittlement effects. The low molecular mass of hydrogen reduces the penetration of a side-branch flow and increases the buoyancy forces leading to stratification with high hydrogen concentrations on the upper pipe surface downstream of the branch. Top-side injection leads to the hydrogen concentration remaining >40% for up to 8 pipe diameters from the injection point for volumetric dilutions ( D) less than 30%. Under-side injection promotes mixing within the flow interior and reduces wall concentration at the lower surface compared to top-side injection. The practical implications for these results in terms of mixing requirements and the contrasting constraint of codes of practice and energy demands are discussed.

Collectively the UK investment in transport decarbonisation is greater than £27B from government for incentivising zero-emission vehicles as part of an urgent response to decarbonise the transport sector. The investments made must facilitate a transition to a long-term solution. The success relies on coordinating and testing the evolution of both the energy and transport systems this avoids the risk of unforeseen consequences in both systems and therefore de-risks investment Here we present a semiquantitative energy and transport system analysis for UK road freight focusing on two primary investment areas for nation-wide decarbonisation namely electrification and hydrogen propulsion. Our study assembles and assesses the potential roadblocks of these energy systems into a concise record and considers the infrastructure in relation to all other components within the energy system. It highlights that for system-wide success and resilience a hydrogen system must overcome hydrogen production and distribution barriers whereas an electric system needs to optimise storage solutions and charging facilities. Without cohesive co-evolving energy networks the planning and operational modelling of transport decarbonisation may fall short of meaningful real-world results. A developed understanding of the dependencies between the energy and transport systems is a necessary step in the development of meaningful operational transport models that could de-risk investment in both the energy and transport systems.

Combined heat and power (CHP) systems offer high energy efficiencies as they utilise both the electricity generated and any excess heat by co-suppling to local consumers. This work presents the potential of a combined heat and hydrogen (CHH) system a solution where Proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis systems producing hydrogen at 60–70% efficiency also co-supply the excess heat to local heat networks. This work investigates the method of capture and utilisation of the excess heat from electrolysis. The analysed system was able to capture 312 kW of thermal energy per MW of electricity and can deliver it as heated water at either 75 ◦C or 45 ◦C this appropriate for existing district heat networks and lower temperature heat networks respectively. This yields an overall CHH system efficiency of 94.6%. An economic analysis was conducted based on income generated through revenue sales of both hydrogen and heat which resulted in a significant reduction in the Levelized Cost of Hydrogen.

High-strength aluminum alloys are widely used in industry. Hydrogen embrittlement greatly reduces the performance and service safety of aluminum alloys. The hydrogen traps in aluminum profoundly affect the hydrogen embrittlement of aluminum. Here we took a coincidence-site lattice (CSL) symmetrically tilted grain boundary (STGB) Σ5(120)[001] as an example to carry out molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of hydrogen diffusion in aluminum at different temperatures and to obtain results and rules consistent with the experiment. At 700 K three groups of MD simulations with concentrations of 0.5 2.5 and 5 atomic % hydrogen (at. % H) were carried out for STGB models at different angles. By analyzing the simulation results and the MSD curves of hydrogen atoms we found that in the low hydrogen concentration of STGB models the grain boundaries captured hydrogen atoms and hindered their movement. In high-hydrogen-concentration models the diffusion rate of hydrogen atoms was not affected by the grain boundaries. The analysis of the simulation results showed that the diffusion of hydro-gen atoms at the grain boundary is anisotropic.

Green Print -  Future Heat for Everyone draws together technical consumer and economic considerations to create a pioneering plan to transition 22 million UK homes to low carbon heat by 2050.<br/>Our Green Print underlines the scale of the challenge ahead acknowledging that a mosaic of low carbon heating solutions will be required to meet the needs of individual communities and setting out 12 key steps that can be taken now in order to get us there<br/>The Climate Change Committee (CCC) estimates an investment spend of £250bn to upgrade insulation and heating in homes as well as provide the infrastructure to deliver the energy.<br/>This is a task of unprecedented scale the equivalent of retro-fitting 67000 homes every month from now until 2050. In this Report Cadent takes the industry lead in addressing the challenge.

There is an increasing body of evidence that leakage of hydrogen to the atmosphere will have an indirect warming effect on the climate and so should be minimised.<br/>This study investigates and quantifies the current understanding of potential hydrogen emissions in the different sectors across a future hydrogen value-chain. It shows that there are some key areas in production distribution and end-use where there could potentially be significant leaks of hydrogen to the atmosphere. In some of these areas there are clear mitigation options while with others the options are less clear due to uncertainty in either data or future technology development.<br/>The report recommends further research and development to reduce the main leak pathways and additional evidence gathering in key areas where there is currently inadequate data to make accurate predictions.<br/>The study was commissioned by BEIS and conducted by the Frazer-Nash consultancy.

Pipelines have been installed and operated around the globe to transport oil and gas for decades. They are considered to be an effective economic and safe means of transportation. The major concern in their operation is corrosion. Among the different forms of corrosion stress corrosion cracking (SCC) which is caused by stresses induced by internal fluid flow or other external forces during the pipeline’s operation in combined action with the presence of a corrosive medium can lead to pipeline failure. In this paper an extensive review of different factors affecting SCC of pipeline steels in various environmental conditions is carried out to understand their impact. Several factors such as temperature presence of oxidizers (O2 CO2 H2S etc.) composition and concentration of medium pH applied stress and microstructure of the metal/alloy have been established to affect the SCC of pipeline steels. SCC susceptibility of a steel at a particular temperature strongly depends on the type and composition of the corrosive medium and microstructure. It was observed that pipeline steels with water quenched and quenched and tempered heat treatments such as those that consist of acicular ferrite or bainitic ferrite grains are more susceptible to SCC irrespective of solution type and composition. Applied stress stress concentration and fluctuating stress facilitates SCC initiation and propagation. In general the mechanisms for crack initiation and propagation in near-neutral solutions are anodic dissolution and hydrogen embrittlement.

The urgency to achieve net-zero carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 2050 as first presented by the IPCC special report on 1.5°C Global Warming has spurred renewed interest in hydrogen to complement electrification for widespread decarbonization of the economy. We present reflections on estimates of future hydrogen demand optimization of infrastructure for hydrogen production transport and storage development of viable business cases and environmental impact evaluations using life cycle assessments. We highlight challenges and opportunities that are common across studies of the business cases for hydrogen in Germany the UK the Netherlands Switzerland and Norway. The use of hydrogen in the industrial sector is an important driver and could incentivise large-scale hydrogen value chains. In the long-term hydrogen becomes important also for the transport sector. Hydrogen production from natural gas with capture and permanent storage of the produced CO2 (CCS) enables large-scale hydrogen production in the intermediate future and is complementary to hydrogen from renewable power. Furthermore timely establishment of hydrogen and CO2 infrastructures serves as an anchor to support the deployment of carbon dioxide removal technologies such as direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS) and biohydrogen production with CCS. Significant public support is needed to ensure coordinated planning governance and the establishment of supportive regulatory frameworks which foster the growth of hydrogen markets.

This is the tenth annual Progress Report to the Scottish Parliament as required by the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009. This year’s report shows that in 2019 Scotland’s greenhouse emissions fell by 2% compared to 2018 and are now 44% below 1990 levels. The reductions were largely driven by the manufacturing and construction and fuel supply sectors with electricity generation remaining the biggest driver of emissions cuts over the past decade (2009-2019). The potential for further emissions savings from electricity generation has however largely run out.

The focus must now shift to ensuring that rapid emissions reductions are delivered with no further delay to allow Scotland to meet its legislated 2030 target.

This report and other reports by the Climate Change Committee can be downloaded on their website.

Hypothesis.<br/>The large-scale implementation of hydrogen economy requires immense storage spaces to facilitate the periodic storage/production cycles. Extensive modelling of hydrogen transport in porous media is required to comprehend the hydrogen-induced complexities prior to storage to avoid energy loss. Wettability of hydrogen-brine-rock systems influence flow properties (e.g. capillary pressure and relative permeability curves) and the residual saturations which are all essential for subsurface hydrogen systems.<br/>Model.<br/>This study aims to understand which parameters critically control the contact angle for hydrogen-brine-rock systems using the surface force analysis following the DLVO theory and sensitivity analysis. Furthermore the effect of roughness is studied using the Cassie-Baxter model.<br/>Findings.<br/>Our results reveal no considerable difference between H2 and other gases such as N2. Besides the inclusion of roughness highly affects the observed apparent contact angles and even lead to water-repelling features. It was observed that contact angle does not vary significantly with variations of surface charge and density at high salinity which is representative for reservoir conditions. Based on the analysis it is speculated that the influence of roughness on contact angle becomes significant at low water saturation (i.e. high capillary pressure).

This study has been commissioned by the gas transporters as part of the Gas Goes Green (GGG)2 work programme to develop and report a ‘gas transporter view’ on how to facilitate hydrogen blending from industrial clusters which are likely to form the initial source for hydrogen blending in the gas network. This view has been developed through engagement carried out with industrial clusters and other stakeholders as well as drawing on learnings from a previous hydrogen blending study.3 The key takeaways of this study are that: l Enabling hydrogen blending from industrial clusters can be done in a pragmatic way with limited need for change to existing gas frameworks. l Where frameworks do need to change the changes are incremental rather than involving overhaul of existing frameworks and are highly workable. l While there remain uncertainties as to the nature of blending at each cluster (e.g. the volume and profile of hydrogen injections) in general the changes required to commercial and regulatory frameworks are the same implying that they are low regret. Below we summarise gas transporters’ preferred approach to facilitating hydrogen blending from industrial clusters including both the policy decisions needed and the changes required to commercial and regulatory frameworks. We note that this work has not involved a legal review and that one will be required as part of the process of implementing the framework changes described below.

With the rising threat of climate change green hydrogen is increasingly seen as the high-capacity energy storage and transport medium of the future. This creates an opportunity for low- and middle-income countries to leverage their high renewable energy potential to produce use and export low-cost green hydrogen creating environmental and economic development benefits. While identifying ideal locations for green hydrogen production is critical for countries when defining their green hydrogen strategies there has been a paucity of adequate geospatial planning approaches suitable to low- and middle-income countries. It is essential for these countries to identify green hydrogen production sites which match demand to expected use cases such that their strategies are economically sustainable. This paper therefore develops a novel geospatial cost modelling method to optimize the location of green hydrogen production across different use cases with a focus on suitability to low- and middle-income countries. This method is applied in Kenya to investigate the potential hydrogen supply chain for three use cases: ammonia-based fertilizer freight transport and export. We find hydrogen production costs of e3.7–9.9/kgH2 are currently achievable across Kenya depending on the production location chosen. The cheapest production locations are identified to the south and south-east of Lake Turkana. We show that ammonia produced in Kenya can be cost-competitive given the current energy crisis and that Kenya could export hydrogen to Rotterdam with costs of e7/kgH2 undercutting current market prices regardless of the carrier medium. With expected techno-economic improvements hydrogen production costs across Kenya could drop to e1.8–3.0/kgH2 by 2030.

This episode examines how we are tackling a sustainable future – with Net Zero hurtling towards us at great pace. We’re around a year on from the pledges made at COP26 the UK’s Green Recovery initiative is well under way and by next year Britain is aiming to blend up to 20 per cent hydrogen into its gas networks. So now is the time to continue to unlock new insight and understand further the realities of both the challenges and opportunities ahead.

The podcast can be found here.

The existing literature on the hydrogen supply chains has knowledge gaps. Most studies focus on hydrogen production storage transport and utilisation but neglect ports which are nexuses in the supply chains. To fill the gap this paper focuses on ports' readiness for the upcoming hydrogen international trade. Potential hydrogen exporting and importing ports are screened. Ports' readiness for hydrogen export and import are reviewed from perspectives of infrastructure risk management public acceptance regulations and standards and education and training. The main findings are: (1) liquid hydrogen ammonia methanol and LOHCs are suitable forms for hydrogen international trade; (2) twenty ports are identified that could be first movers; among them twelve are exporting ports and eight are importing ports; (3) ports’ readiness for hydrogen international trade is still in its infancy and the infrastructure construction or renovation risk management measures establishment of regulations and standards education and training all require further efforts.

Britain’s Hydrogen Blending Delivery Plan which sets out how all five of Britain’s gas grid companies will meet the Government’s target for Britain’s network of gas pipes to be ready to deliver 20% hydrogen to homes and businesses from 2023 as a replacement for natural gas.

Decarbonisation of the energy sector is becoming increasingly more important to the reduction in climate change. Renewable energy is an effective means of reducing CO2 emissions but the fluctuation in demand and production of energy is a limiting factor. Liquid hydrogen allows for long-term storage of energy. Hydrogen quality is important for the safety and efficiency of the end user. Furthermore the quality of the hydrogen gas after liquefaction has not yet been reported. The purity of hydrogen after liquefaction was assessed against the specification of Hydrogen grade D in the ISO-14687:2019 by analysing samples taken at different locations throughout production. Sampling was carried out directly in gas cylinders and purity was assessed using multiple analytical methods. The results indicate that the hydrogen gas produced from liquefaction is of a higher purity than the starting gas with all impurities below the threshold values set in ISO-14687:2019. The amount fraction of water measured in the hydrogen sample increased with repeated sampling from the liquid hydrogen tank suggesting that the sampling system used was affected by low temperatures (−253 ◦C). These data demonstrate for the first time the impact of liquefaction on hydrogen purity assessed against ISO-14687:2019 showing that liquified hydrogen is a viable option for long-term energy storage whilst also improving quality.

An under-expanded hydrogen jet from high-pressure equipment or storage tank is a potential incident scenario. Experiments demonstrated that the delayed ignition of a highly turbulent under-expanded hydrogen jet generates a blast wave able to harm people and damage property. There is a need for engineering tools to predict the pressure effects during such incidents to define hazard distances. The similitude analysis is applied to build a correlation using available experimental data. The dimensionless blast wave overpressure generated by delayed ignition and the follow-up deflagration or detonation of hydrogen jets at an any location from the jet ∆Pexp/P0 is correlated to the original dimensionless parameter composed of the product of the dimensionless ratio of storage pressure to atmospheric pressure Ps/P0 and the ratio of the jet release nozzle diameter to the distance from the centre of location of the fast-burning near-stoichiometric mixture on the jet axis (30% of hydrogen in the air by volume) to the location of a target (personnel or property) d/Rw. The correlation is built using the analysis of 78 experiments regarding this phenomenon in the wide range of hydrogen storage pressure of 0.5–65.0 MPa and release diameter of 0.5–52.5 mm. The correlation is applicable to hydrogen free jets at ambient and cryogenic temperatures. It is found that the generated blast wave decays inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the fast-burning portion of the jet. The correlation is used to calculate the hazard distances by harm thresholds for five typical hydrogen applications. It is observed that in the case of a vehicle with onboard storage tank at pressure 70 MPa the “no-harm” distance for humans reduces from 10.5 m to 2.6 m when a thermally activated pressure relief device (TPRD) diameter decreases from 2 mm to a diameter of 0.5 mm.