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2020 has been a year for the history books! Some good most of it not so good; but 2020 has been a boom year for the future of hydrogen technologies. Patrick Chris and Andrew do their level best on this episode to talk about all the stories and the highlights of 2020 in under 50 minutes. Have a listen and let us know if we missed anything in our penultimate episode of 2020!

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Quantron AG was created in 2019 as a high-tech spin-off of the well-known Haller GmbH & Co. KG with the vision of paving the way for e-mobility in inner-city and regional passenger and cargo transportation. Quantron AG combines innovative ability and expertise in e-vans e-trucks and e-buses with the long-standing knowledge and experience of Haller GmbH & Co. KG in the commercial vehicle sector. The company's approach to e-Mobility is defined by its commitment to leveraging the most effective zero-emission vehicle technology for the use case which means Quantron is building both hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs) for its clients.

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The main objective of this paper is to select the optimal configuration of a ship’s power system considering the use of fuel cells and batteries that would achieve the lowest CO2 emissions also taking into consideration the number of battery cycles. The ship analyzed in this work is a Platform Supply Vessel (PSV) used to support oil and gas offshore platforms transporting goods equipment and personnel. The proposed scheme considers the ship’s retrofitting. The ship’s original main generators are maintained and the fuel cell and batteries are installed as complementary sources. Moreover a sensitivity analysis is pursued on the ship’s demand curve. The simulations used to calculate the CO2 emissions for each of the new hybrid configurations were developed using HOMER software. The proposed solutions are auxiliary generators three types of batteries and a protonexchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) with different sizes of hydrogen tanks. The PEMFC and batteries were sized as containerized solutions and the sizing of the auxiliary engines was based on previous works. Each configuration consists of a combination of these solutions. The selection of the best configuration is one contribution of this paper. The new configurations are classified according to the reduction of CO2 emitted in comparison to the original system. For different demand levels the results indicate that the configuration classification may vary. Another valuable contribution of this work is the sizing of the battery and hydrogen storage systems. They were installed in 20 ft containers since the installation of batteries fuel cells and hydrogen tanks in containers is widely used for ship retrofit. As a result the most significant reduction of CO2 emissions is 10.69%. This is achieved when the configuration includes main generators auxiliary generators a 3119 kW lithium nickel manganese cobalt (LNMC) battery a 250 kW PEMFC and 581 kg of stored hydrogen.

Traditional high-pressure mechanical compressors account for over half of the car station’s cost have insufficient reliability and are not feasible for a large-scale fuel cell market. An alternative technology employing a two-stage hybrid system based on electrochemical and metal hydride compression technologies represents an excellent alternative to conventional compressors. The high-pressure stage operating at 100–875 bar is based on a metal hydride thermal system. A techno-economic analysis of the metal hydride system is presented and discussed. A model of the metal hydride system was developed integrating a lumped parameter mass and energy balance model with an economic model. A novel metal hydride heat exchanger configuration is also presented based on minichannel heat transfer systems allowing for effective high-pressure compression. Several metal hydrides were analyzed and screened demonstrating that one selected material namely (Ti0.97Zr0.03)1.1Cr1.6Mn0.4 is likely the best candidate material to be employed for high-pressure compressors under the specific conditions. System efficiency and costs were assessed based on the properties of currently available materials at industrial levels. Results show that the system can reach pressures on the order of 875 bar with thermal power provided at approximately 150 ◦C. The system cost is comparable with the current mechanical compressors and can be reduced in several ways as discussed in the paper.

For our 40th episode of the Everything About Hydrogen podcast the gang are joined by hydrogen luminary Marco Alverà the CEO of Snam. Founded in 1941 and listed on the Italian stock exchange since 2001 Snam is a leader in the European gas market and operator of over 41000km of transport networks. Hailed as a visionary who has led the pivot of the world’s 2nd largest gas distribution company towards a clean gas trajectory Marco is widely recognized as a thought leader and a key figure driving the transition towards hydrogen. On the show the team discuss why Marco decided to lead Snam's pivot towards hydrogen what he sees as the role of hydrogen in the energy transition and how blue hydrogen can sit alongside green hydrogen as part of the solution to a decarbonized gas network.

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Pipeline failure caused by Hydrogen-Induced Cracking (HIC) also known as Hydrogen Embrittlement (HE) is a pressing issue for the oil and natural gas industry. Bursts in pipelines are devastating and extremely costly. The explosive force of a bursting pipe can inflict fatal injuries to workers while the combined loss of product and effort to repair are highly costly to producers. Further pipeline failures due to HIC have a long lasting impact on the surrounding environment. Safe use and operation of such pipelines depend on a good understanding of the underlying forces that cause HIC. Specifically a reliable way to predict the growth rate of hydrogen-induced cracks is needed to establish a safe duration of service for each length of pipeline. Pipes that have exceeded or are near the end of their service life can then be retired before the risk of HIC-related failures becomes too high. However little is known about the mechanisms that drive HIC. To date no model has been put forth that accurately predicts the growth rate of fractures due to HIC under extreme pressures such as in the context of natural gas and petroleum pipelines. Herein a mathematical model for the growth of fractures by HIC under extreme pressures is presented. This model is derived from first principles and the results are compared with other models. The implications of these findings are discussed and a description of future work based on these findings is presented.

A technoeconomic analysis of photoelectrochemical (PEC) and photovoltaic-electrolytic (PV-E) solar-hydrogen production of 10 000 kg H₂ day⁻¹ (3.65 kilotons per year) was performed to assess the economics of each technology and to provide a basis for comparison between these technologies as well as within the broader energy landscape. Two PEC systems differentiated primarily by the extent of solar concentration (unconcentrated and 10× concentrated) and two PV-E systems differentiated by the degree of grid connectivity (unconnected and grid supplemented) were analyzed. In each case a base-case system that used established designs and materials was compared to prospective systems that might be envisioned and developed in the future with the goal of achieving substantially lower overall system costs. With identical overall plant efficiencies of 9.8% the unconcentrated PEC and non-grid connected PV-E system base-case capital expenses for the rated capacity of 3.65 kilotons H₂ per year were $205 MM ($293 per m² of solar collection area (m_S⁻²) $14.7 W_H2P⁻¹) and $260 MM ($371 mS−2 $18.8 W_H2P⁻¹) respectively. The untaxed plant-gate levelized costs for the hydrogen product (LCH) were $11.4 kg⁻¹ and $12.1 kg⁻¹ for the base-case PEC and PV-E systems respectively. The 10× concentrated PEC base-case system capital cost was $160 MM ($428 m_S−2 $11.5 WH₂P⁻¹) and for an efficiency of 20% the LCH was $9.2 kg−1. Likewise the grid supplemented base-case PV-E system capital cost was $66 MM ($441 _mS⁻² $11.5 W_H2P⁻¹) and with solar-to-hydrogen and grid electrolysis system efficiencies of 9.8% and 61% respectively the LCH was $6.1 kg⁻¹. As a benchmark a proton-exchange membrane (PEM) based grid-connected electrolysis system was analyzed. Assuming a system efficiency of 61% and a grid electricity cost of $0.07 kWh⁻¹ the LCH was $5.5 kg⁻¹. A sensitivity analysis indicated that relative to the base-case increases in the system efficiency could effect the greatest cost reductions for all systems due to the areal dependencies of many of the components. The balance-of-systems (BoS) costs were the largest factor in differentiating the PEC and PV-E systems. No single or combination of technical advancements based on currently demonstrated technology can provide sufficient cost reductions to allow solar hydrogen to directly compete on a levelized cost basis with hydrogen produced from fossil energy. Specifically a cost of CO₂ greater than ∼$800 (ton CO₂)−1 was estimated to be necessary for base-case PEC hydrogen to reach price parity with hydrogen derived from steam reforming of methane priced at $12 GJ⁻¹ ($1.39 (kg H₂)⁻¹). A comparison with low CO₂ and CO₂-neutral energy sources indicated that base-case PEC hydrogen is not currently cost-competitive with electrolysis using electricity supplied by nuclear power or from fossil-fuels in conjunction with carbon capture and storage. Solar electricity production and storage using either batteries or PEC hydrogen technologies are currently an order of magnitude greater in cost than electricity prices with no clear advantage to either battery or hydrogen storage as of yet. Significant advances in PEC technology performance and system cost reductions are necessary to enable cost-effective PEC-derived solar hydrogen for use in scalable grid-storage applications as well as for use as a chemical feedstock precursor to CO₂-neutral high energy-density transportation fuels. Hence such applications are an opportunity for foundational research to contribute to the development of disruptive approaches to solar fuels generation systems that can offer higher performance at much lower cost than is provided by current embodiments of solar fuels generators. Efforts to directly reduce CO₂ photoelectrochemically or electrochemically could potentially produce products with higher value than hydrogen but many as yet unmet challenges include catalytic efficiency and selectivity and CO₂ mass transport rates and feedstock cost. Major breakthroughs are required to obtain viable economic costs for solar hydrogen production but the barriers to achieve cost-competitiveness with existing large-scale thermochemical processes for CO₂ reduction are even greater.

In the field of energy storage recently investigated nanocomposites show promise in terms of high hydrogen uptake and release with enhancement in the reaction kinetics. Among several carbonaceous nanovariants like carbon nanotubes (CNTs) fullerenes and graphitic nanofibers reveal reversible hydrogen sorption characteristics at 77 K due to their van der Waals interaction. The spillover mechanism combining Pd nanoparticles on the host metal-organic framework (MOF) show room temperature uptake of hydrogen. Metal or complex hydrides either in the nanocomposite form and its subset nanocatalyst dispersed alloy phases illustrate the concept of nanoengineering and nanoconfinement of particles with tailor-made properties for reversible hydrogen storage. Another class of materials comprising polymeric nanostructures such as conducting polyaniline and their functionalized nanocomposites are versatile hydrogen storage materials because of their unique size high specific surface-area pore-volume and bulk properties. The salient features of nanocomposite materials for reversible hydrogen storage are reviewed and discussed.

Recent interest in biomass-based fuel blendstocks and chemical compounds has stimulated research efforts on conversion and upgrading pathways which are considered as critical commercialization drivers. Existing pre-/post-conversion pathways are energy intense (e.g. pyrolysis and hydrogenation) and economically unsustainable thus more efficient process solutions can result in supporting the renewable fuels and green chemicals industry. This study proposes a process including biomass conversion and bio-oil upgrading using mixed fast and slow pyrolysis conversion pathway as well as sono-catalytic transfer hydrogenation (SCTH) treatment process. The proposed SCTH treatment employs ammonium formate as a hydrogen transfer additive and palladium supported on carbon as the catalyst. Utilizing SCTH bio-oil molecular bonds were broken and restructured via the phenomena of cavitation rarefaction and hydrogenation with the resulting product composition investigated using ultimate analysis and spectroscopy. Additionally an in-line characterization approach is proposed using near-infrared spectroscopy calibrated by multivariate analysis and modelling. The results indicate the potentiality of ultrasonic cavitation catalytic transfer hydrogenation and SCTH for incorporating hydrogen into the organic phase of bio-oil. It is concluded that the integration of pyrolysis with SCTH can improve bio-oil for enabling the production of fuel blendstocks and chemical compounds from lignocellulosic biomass.

The use of hydrogen as a clean and renewable alternative to fossil fuels requires a suite of flammability mitigating technologies particularly robust sensors for hydrogen leak detection and concentration monitoring. To this end we have developed a class of lightweight optical hydrogen sensors based on a metasurface of Pd nano-patchy particle arrays which fulfills the increasing requirements of a safe hydrogen fuel sensing system with no risk of sparking. The structure of the optical sensor is readily nano-engineered to yield extraordinarily rapid response to hydrogen gas (<3 s at 1 mbar H2) with a high degree of accuracy (<5%). By incorporating 20% Ag Au or Co the sensing performances of the Pd-alloy sensor are significantly enhanced especially for the Pd80Co20 sensor whose optical response time at 1 mbar of H2 is just ~0.85 s while preserving the excellent accuracy (<2.5%) limit of detection (2.5 ppm) and robustness against aging temperature and interfering gases. The superior performance of our sensor places it among the fastest and most sensitive optical hydrogen sensors.