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Hydrogen 4.0: A Cyber–Physical System for Renewable Hydrogen Energy Plants

Abstract

The demand for green hydrogen as an energy carrier is projected to exceed 350 million tons per year by 2050, driven by the need for sustainable distribution and storage of energy generated from sources. Despite its potential, hydrogen production currently faces challenges related to cost efficiency, compliance, monitoring, and safety. This work proposes Hydrogen 4.0, a cyber–physical approach that leverages Industry 4.0 technologies—including smart sensing, analytics, and the Internet of Things (IoT)—to address these issues in hydrogen energy plants. Such an approach has the potential to enhance efficiency, safety, and compliance through real-time data analysis, predictive maintenance, and optimised resource allocation, ultimately facilitating the adoption of renewable green hydrogen. The following sections break down conventional hydrogen plants into functional blocks and discusses how Industry 4.0 technologies can be applied to each segment. The components, benefits, and application scenarios of Hydrogen 4.0 are discussed while how digitalisation technologies can contribute to the successful integration of sustainable energy solutions in the global energy sector is also addressed.

Funding source: The work has been supported by the Future Energy Exports CRC (www.fenex.org.au) whose activities are funded by the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centre Program. The authors acknowledge funding support from Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) as part of ARENA’s Research and Development Program—Renewable Hydrogen for Export (contract no. 2018/RND012).
Related subjects: Production & Supply Chain
Countries: Australia
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/content/journal5764
2024-05-20
2024-12-10
/content/journal5764
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