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On this episode of Everything About Hydrogen we chat with Andrew Cunningham Founder and Director at GeoPura. GeoPura is enabling the production transport and use of zero-emissions fuels with innovative and commercially viable technology to decarbonise the global economy. As the world transitions away from fossils fuels there is an increasing need for reliable clean electricity. If global power demand continues to grow as expected the electricity grid system will need support from renewable energy sources such as hydrogen and fuel cell power generator. GeoPura seeks to address exactly that kind of need.

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On today’s episode of Everything About Hydrogen we are speaking with Dan Sadler Vice President for UK Low Carbon Solutions at Equinor. Equinor is of course a giant in the global energy sector and is taking a prominent role in the development of the international hydrogen economy with high-profile investments in a number of large-scale production projects in major markets such as the UK. Dan has spent the better part of a decade focused on how to leverage hydrogen’s potential as a fuel for the energy transition and we are excited to have him with us to discuss how Equinor is deploying hydrogen technologies and how he and Equinor expect hydrogen to play a role in a decarbonized energy future.

The podcast can be found on their website.

The Japanese government has announced a commitment to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. It envisages an important role for hydrogen in the nation’s future energy economy. This paper explores the possibility that a significant source for this hydrogen could be produced by electrolysis fueled by power generated from offshore wind in China. Hydrogen could be delivered to Japan either as liquid or bound to a chemical carrier such as toluene or as a component of ammonia. The paper presents an analysis of factors determining the ultimate cost for this hydrogen including expenses for production storage conversion transport and treatment at the destination. It concludes that the Chinese source could be delivered at a volume and cost consistent with Japan’s idealized future projections.

The paper explores options for a 2050 carbon free energy future for India. Onshore wind and solar sources are projected as the dominant primary contributions to this objective. The analysis envisages an important role for so-called green hydrogen produced by electrolysis fueled by these carbon free energy sources. This hydrogen source can be used to accommodate for the intrinsic variability of wind and solar complementing opportunities for storage of power by batteries and pumped hydro. The green source of hydrogen can be used also to supplant current industrial uses of grey hydrogen produced in the Indian context largely from natural gas with important related emissions of CO2. The paper explores further options for use of green hydrogen to lower emissions from otherwise difficult to abate sectors of both industry and transport. The analysis is applied to identify the least cost options to meet India’s zero carbon future.

As the backbone of global trade international maritime transport connects the world and facilitates economic growth and development especially in developing countries. However producing around three percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and emitting around 15 percent of some of the world’s major air pollutants shipping is a major contributor to climate change and air pollution. To mitigate its negative environmental impact shipping needs to abandon fossil-based bunker fuels and turn to zero-carbon alternatives. This report the “Summary for Policymakers and Industry” summarizes recent World Bank research on decarbonizing the maritime sector. The analysis identifies green ammonia and hydrogen as the most promising zero-carbon bunker fuels within the maritime industry at present. These fuels strike the most advantageous balance of favorable features relating to their lifecycle GHG emissions broader environmental factors scalability economics and technical and safety implications. The analysis also identifies that LNG will likely only play a limited role in shipping’s energy transition due to concerns over methane slip and stranded assets. Crucially the research reveals that decarbonizing maritime transport offers unique business and development opportunities for developing countries. Developing countries with large renewable energy resources could take advantage of the new and emerging future zero-carbon bunker fuel market estimated at over $1 trillion to establish new export markets while also modernizing their own domestic energy and industrial infrastructure. However strategic policy interventions are needed to hasten the sector’s energy transition.

Combined heat and power (CHP) in a single and integrated device is concurrent or synchronized production of many sources of usable power typically electric as well as thermal. Integrating combined heat and power systems in today’s energy market will address energy scarcity global warming as well as energy-saving problems. This review highlights the system design for fuel cell CHP technologies. Key among the components discussed was the type of fuel cell stack capable of generating the maximum performance of the entire system. The type of fuel processor used was also noted to influence the systemic performance coupled with its longevity. Other components equally discussed was the power electronics. The thermal and water management was also noted to have an effect on the overall efficiency of the system. Carbon dioxide emission reduction reduction of electricity cost and grid independence were some notable advantages associated with fueling cell combined heat and power systems. Despite these merits the high initial capital cost is a key factor impeding its commercialization. It is therefore imperative that future research activities are geared towards the development of novel and cheap materials for the development of the fuel cell which will transcend into a total reduction of the entire system. Similarly robust systemic designs should equally be an active research direction. Other types of fuel aside hydrogen should equally be explored. Proper risk assessment strategies and documentation will similarly expand and accelerate the commercialization of this novel technology. Finally public sensitization of the technology will also make its acceptance and possible competition with existing forms of energy generation feasible. The work in summary showed that proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEM fuel cell) operated at a lower temperature-oriented cogeneration has good efficiency and is very reliable. The critical issue pertaining to these systems has to do with the complication associated with water treatment. This implies that the balance of the plant would be significantly affected; likewise the purity of the gas is crucial in the performance of the system. An alternative to these systems is the PEM fuel cell systems operated at higher temperatures.

If an affordable infrastructure for low-carbon-intensity hydrogen can be developed then hydrogen is expected to become a key factor in decarbonizing the atmosphere. This research focuses on factors an existing wind farm operator would consider when weighing participating in the electricity market the hydrogen market or both. The solutions depend on the state of technology which is changing rapidly the local market structures the local natural resources and the local pre-existing infrastructure. Consequently this investigation used an assessment approach that examined the variation of net present value. The investigation identified profitability conditions under three different scenarios: 1) Make and sell what makes economic sense at the time of production 2) Use electrolyzer and fuel cell to consume power from the grid at times of low net demand and to produce electricity at times of high net demand 3) Same as #2 but also market hydrogen directly when profitable.

Hydrogen as a clean fuel offers a practical pathway to achieve net-zero targets. However due to its physical and chemical characteristics there are some safety concerns for large-scale hydrogen utilisation particularly in process safety management. Leakage of gaseous hydrogen especially in semi-confined spaces such as tunnels can lead to catastrophic outcomes including uncontrolled fire and explosion. The current paper describes the outcome of an experimental and numerical study that aims to understand the dispersion of leaked light gas in a semi-confined space to support the adoption of hydrogen. A dispersion chamber with dimensions of 4m × 0.3m × 0.3m was constructed to investigate a baseline gas leakage scenario. To reduce the risk of the experiment in the laboratory helium is utilised as a surrogate for hydrogen. Computational fluid dynamics simulations are con ducted using FLACS-CFD to model the dispersion of leaked gas in different scenarios focusing on the impact of the ventilation velocity leakage rate and slope. The results from comprehensive numerical simulations show that ventilation is a critical safety management measure that can significantly reduce the growth of flammable clouds and mitigate the fire and explosion risk. Even with the lowest ventilation velocity of 0.25 m/s an improvement in the gas concentration level of 29.34% can be achieved in the downstream chamber. The current results will help to further enhance the understanding of hydrogen safety aspects.

The team sits down with Rishi Jain to discuss Cross River’s marquee wind hydro nuclear hydrogen ammonia project in the revitalized heavy industrial Port of Belledune New Brunswick Canada.

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In today’s world the need for sustainable energy solutions is paramount to address the ongoing crisis of increasing greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. Industries heavily reliant on fossil fuels must explore alternative energy sources. Hydrogen with its high heating value and zero direct emissions has emerged as a promising fuel for the future. Electrolytic hydrogen production has gained significance as it enables demand-side response grid stabilization using excess energy and the mitigation of curtailment from intermittent renewable energy sources (RES) such as solar and wind. Advanced combined heat and power (CHP) systems comprise of Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) module and a coupled reforming reactor to capture energy contained in the SOFC exhaust gases from SOFC. In present work 3D CFD model of an experimental coupled reactor used for onsite hydrogen production is developed and implemented into ANSYS Fluent® software. The study is aimed at opti mizing the reactor performance by identifying appropriate kinetic models for reforming and combustion re actions. SOFC anode off-gas (AOG) comprising mainly of unconverted hydrogen is combined with methane combustion to enhance thermal efficiency of the reactor and hence the CHP system. Kinetic models for catalytic reforming and combustion are implemented into ANSYS Fluent® through custom-built user defined functions (UDFs) written in C programming language. Simulation results are validated with experimental data and found in good agreement. AOG assisted combustion of methane shows a substantial improvement in thermal efficiency of the system. Improvement in thermal efficiency and reduction in carbon-based fuel demand AOG utilization contributes to sustainable hydrogen production and curtailment of greenhouse gas emissions.