Publications

Salt caverns produced by solution mining in Southern Ontario provide ideal spaces for gas storage due to their low permeability. Underground hydrogen storage (UHS) is an important part of the future renewable energy market in Ontario in order to achieve global carbon neutrality and to fill the gap left by retiring nuclear power plants. However large-scale hydrogen storage is still restricted by limited storage space on the ground’s surface. In this study hydrogen’s physical and chemical properties are first introduced and characterized by low molecular weight high diffusivity low solubility and low density. Then the geological conditions of the underground reservoirs are analyzed especially salt caverns. Salt caverns with their inert cavity environments and stable physical properties offer the most promising options for future hydrogen storage. The scales heights and thicknesses of the roof and floor salt layers and the internal temperatures and pressures conditions of salt caverns can affect stabilities and storage capacities. Finally several potential problems that may affect the safe storage of hydrogen in salt caverns are discussed. Through the comprehensive analysis of the influencing factors of hydrogen storage in salt caverns this study puts forward the most appropriate development strategy for salt caverns which provides theoretical guidance for UHS in the future and helps to reduce the risk of large-scale storage design.

On this episode of Everything About Hydrogen we have Daria Nochevnik the Director of Policy and Partnerships for Hydrogen Council.

The podcast can be found on their website.

Future renewable energy systems are expected to heavily rely on low-emission hydrogen not least as a crucial feedstock for industry. Although there are numerous pan-European system studies exploring a cost-efficient hydrogen ramp-up a number of issues are driving companies to develop site-specific transformation strategies that are not always in line with the results of these large-scale studies. Addressing this gap this study contributes a detailed analysis of a real-world chemical site in Southern Germany that depends on hydrogen as a feedstock. In doing so insights in industry transformation options and its implications at site level are provided. Applying a cost-optimizing energy system model several corporate strategies and extensive sensitivity analyses for the transition to renewable hydrogen are evaluated for the period 2025 to 2045. This involves considering onsite interdependencies between the production and use of hydrogen as a feedstock and the site’s electricity and heat sector. The results show that under a purely rational strategy and current expectations the transformation to renewable hydrogen will not become competitive before 2045 while neither expensive emission allowances nor low-priced hydrogen supply on their own will result in a substantially accelerated transformation. This highlights the need for additional policy measures. Furthermore it is demonstrated that under almost any realistic condition within the following 20 years using hydrogen for heat generation below 200 ◦C is unlikely. Therefore prioritizing the electrification of process heat supply while waiting for hydrogen imports would be a logical approach for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Hydrogen-fuelled buses play an important role in the construction of low-carbon cities as a means of green travel. Beijing as a pilot city of hydrogen-fuelled buses in China is very important in the promotion of hydrogen-fuelled buses in China. Unfortunately the public acceptance of hydrogen-fuelledfuelled buses and their environmental positive externality value have not been studied. In this paper we investigated the willingness of Beijing households to pay for the promotion of hydrogen-fuelled buses and its influencing factors by means of a web-based questionnaire. The spike model was also used to estimate the willingness to pay (WTP) for hydrogen buses. The results show that the WTP of Beijing households is CNY 3.19 per trip. The value of a positive environmental externality is approximately CNY 29.15 million per trip. Household income level environmental knowledge individual environmental ethics and perceived behavioural control are the main influencing factors of WTP. Therefore policymakers should strengthen publicity efforts to increase individuals’ environmental awareness and environmental ethics and optimize the layout of hydrogen-fuelled bus schedules and riding experiences to improve individuals’ perceptual and behaviour control. Finally the positive environmental externality value of hydrogen buses should be valued which will help increase investor interest.

This report aims at summarizing the different stakeholders’ opinions on H2NG blends and cross them with the THyGA results to recommend some necessary actions to prepare the field for operational large-scale blending (liability delayed ignition adjustment…).

Recently interest in developing H2 strategies with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies has surged. Considering that this paper reviews recent literature on blue H2 a potential low-carbon short-term solution during the H2 transition period. Three key aspects were the focus of this paper. First it presents the processes used for blue H2 production. Second it presents a detailed comparison between blue H2 and natural gas as fuels and energy carriers. The third aspect focuses on CO2 sequestration in depleted natural gas reservoirs an essential step for implementing blue H2. Globally ~ 75% of H2 is produced using steam methane reforming which requires CCS to obtain blue H2. Currently blue H2 needs to compete with other advancing technologies such as green H2 solar power battery storage etc. Compared to natural gas and liquefied natural gas blue H2 gas results in lower CO2 emissions since CCS is applied. However transporting liquefied and compressed blue H2 entails higher energy economic and environmental costs. CCS must be appropriately implemented to produce blue H2 successfully. Due to their established capacity to trap hydrocarbons over geologic time scales depleted natural gas reservoirs are regarded as a viable option for CCS. Such a conclusion is supported by several simulation studies and field projects in many countries. Additionally there is much field experience and knowledge on the injection and production performance of natural gas reservoirs. Therefore using the existing site infrastructure converting these formations into storage reservoirs is undemanding.

In the future green hydrogen—hydrogen produced with renewable energy resources—could provide developing countries with a zero-carbon energy carrier to support national sustainable energy objectives and it needs further consideration by policy makers and investors. Developing countries with good renewable energy resources could produce green hydrogen locally generating economic opportunities and increasing energy security by reducing exposure to oil price volatility and supply disruptions. Support from development finance institutions and concessional funds could play an important role in deploying first-of-a-kind green hydrogen projects accelerating the uptake of green hydrogen in developing countries and increasing capacity and creating the necessary policy and regulatory enabling environment.

Industries across the world are making the transition to net-zero carbon emissions as government policies and strategies are proposed to mitigate the impact of climate change on the planet. As a result the use of hydrogen as an energy source is becoming an increasingly popular field of research particularly in the aviation sector where an alternative green renewable fuel to the traditional hydrocarbon fuels such as kerosene is essential. Hydrogen can be stored in multiple ways including compressed gaseous hydrogen cryo-compressed hydrogen and cryogenic liquid hydrogen. The infrastructure and storage of hydrogen will play a pivotal role in the realisation of large-scale conversion from traditional fuels with safety being a key consideration. This paper provides a review on previous work undertaken to study the characterisation of both unignited and ignited hydrogen jets which are fundamental phenomena for the utilisation of hydrogen. This includes work that focuses on the near-field flow structure dispersion in the far-field ignition and flame characteristics with multi-physics. The safety considerations are also included. The theoretical models and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) multiphase and reactive flow approaches are discussed. Then an overview of previous experimental work is provided before focusing the review on the existing computational results with comparison to experiments. Upon completion of this review it is highlighted that the complex near-field physics and flow phenomena are areas lacking in research. The near-field flow properties and characteristics are of significant importance with respect to the ignition and combustion of hydrogen.

In the context of carbon neutrality and carbon peaking in order to achieve low carbon emissions and promote the efficient utilization of wind energy hydrogen energy as an important energy carrier is proposed to mix hydrogen and natural gas to form hydrogen-enriched compressed natural gas (HCNG). It is also injected into the natural gas pipeline network to achieve the transmission and utilization of hydrogen energy. At the same time the participation of demand response is considered the load’s peak and trough periods are adjusted and the large-scale consumption of renewable energy and the reduction in carbon emissions are achieved. First of all a fine model of hydrogen production and hydrogen use equipment is established to analyze the impact of adding hydrogen mixing on the economy and the low-carbon property of the system. With green certificates and demand response the utilization rate of hydrogen energy is improved to further explore the energy utilization rate and emission reduction capacity of the system. Secondly on the basis of modeling the optimal scheduling strategy is proposed with the sum of energy purchase cost equipment operation cost carbon emission cost wind curtailment cost and green certificate income as the lowest objective function. Considering the constraints such as hydrogen blending ratio and flexible load ratio of the pipeline network a low-carbon economic scheduling model of hydrogen mixed natural gas was established. The model was linearized and solved by using MATLAB 2021a and CPLEX solver. By comparing different scenarios the superiority of the model and the effectiveness of the strategy are verified.

Green hydrogen is a tentative solution for the decarbonisation of hard-to-abate sectors such as steel chemical cement and refinery industries. Green hydrogen is a form of hydrogen gas that is produced using renewable energy sources such as wind or solar power through a process called electrolysis. The green hydrogen supply chain includes several interconnected entities such as renewable energy providers electrolysers distribution facilities and consumers. Although there have been many studies about green hydrogen little attention has been devoted to green hydrogen supply chain risk identification and analysis especially for hard-to-abate sectors in Europe. This research contributes to existing knowledge by identifying and analysing the European region’s green hydrogen supply chain risk factors. Using a Delphi method 7 categories and 43 risk factors are identified based on the green hydrogen supply chain experts’ opinions. The best-worst method is utilised to determine the importance weights of the risk categories and risk factors. High investment of capital for hydrogen production and delivery technology was the highest-ranked risk factor followed by the lack of enough capacity for electrolyser and policy & regulation development. Several mitigation strategies and policy recommendations are proposed for high-importance risk factors. This study provides novelty in the form of an integrated approach resulting in a scientific ranking of the risk factors for the green hydrogen supply chain. The results of this study provide empirical evidence which corroborates with previous studies that European countries should endeavour to create comprehensive and supportive standards and regulations for green hydrogen supply chain implementation.