Publications

Today Everything About Hydrogen had a chance to speak with Paul Barrett the CEO of Hysata and dig into what makes this electrolysis company different.

The podcast can be found on their website.

In light of the growing interest in hydrogen as an energy carrier and reducing agent various industries including the iron and steel sector are considering the increased adoption of hydrogen. To meet the rising demand in energy-intensive industries the production of hydrogen must be significantly expanded and further developed. However current hydrogen production heavily relies on fossil-fuel-based methods resulting in a considerable environmental burden with approximately 10 tons of CO2 emissions per ton of hydrogen. To address this challenge methane pyrolysis offers a promising approach for producing clean hydrogen with reduced CO2 emissions. This process involves converting methane (CH4 ) into hydrogen and solid carbon significantly lowering the carbon footprint. This work aims to enhance and broaden the understanding of methane pyrolysis in a liquid metal bubble column reactor (LMBCR) by utilizing an expanded and improved experimental setup based on the reactor concept previously proposed by authors from Montanuniversitaet in 2022 and 2023. The focus is on investigating the process parameters’ temperature and methane input rate with regard to their impact on methane conversion. The liquid metal temperature exhibits a strong influence increasing methane conversion from 35% at 1150 ◦C to 74% at 1250 ◦C. In contrast the effect of the methane flow rate remains relatively small in the investigated range. Moreover an investigation is conducted to assess the impact of carbon layers covering the surface of the liquid metal column. Additionally a comparative analysis between the LMBCR and a blank tube reactor (BTR) is presented.

Feedstock-to-fuel conversion or “Fuel Production” is a major contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in life cycle assessment (LCA) of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) from wastes. Here we construct and demonstrate an original mass and energy conserved chemically rigorous LCA methodology for the production of Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids-Synthetic Paraffinic Kerosene (HEFA-SPK) from Used Cooking Oil (UCO). This study proposes and demonstrates the use of; (i) the chemical composition of the UCO (ii) the ASTM properties of HEFA-SPK and (iii) the elemental mass and energy conserved reaction mechanism which converts one to the other as physical constraints for the specific LCA of any UCO derived HEFA-SPK. With application of these constraints the emissions embodied in UCO HEFA-SPK Fuel Production is found to range from 4.2 to 15.7 gCO2e/MJSAF depending on the renewability of the energy and hydrogen utilized. Imposition of (i)-(iii) as modelling constraints derives a HEFA-SPK yield of 49 mass% a priori. This finding aligns with experimental literature but brings attention to the higher yield estimations of 70–81% observed in current LCA tools. We show that this impacts the end LCA significantly as it adjusts allocation of emissions. A replication study of CORSIA’s (10.5 gCO2e/MJSAF) default core LCA value for Fuel Production quantifies the increase at +5.3 gCO2e/MJSAF or 15.8 gCO2e/MJSAF as total for Fuel Production. As the embodied emissions are significantly dependent on the specifics of the scenario assessed we highlight reporting a definitive GHG intensity for any UCO derived HEFA-SPK as generic will be inaccurate to an extent.

This study explored the applications of liquid hydrogen (LH2 ) in aerospace projects followed by an investigation into the efficiency of ramjets scramjets and turbojets for hypersonic flight and the impact of grey blue and green hydrogen as an alternative to JP-7 and JP-8 (kerosene fuel). The advantage of LH2 as a propellant in the space sector has emerged from the relatively high energy density of hydrogen per unit volume enabling it to store more energy compared to conventional fuels. Hydrogen also has the potential to decarbonise space flight as combustion of LH2 fuel produces zero carbon emissions. However hydrogen is commonly found in hydrocarbons and water and thus it needs to be extracted from these molecular compounds before use. Only by considering the entire lifecycle of LH2 including the production phase can its sustainability be understood. The results of this study compared the predicted Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) emissions of the production of LH2 using grey blue and green hydrogen for 2030 with conventional fuel (JP-7 and JP-8) and revealed that the total carbon emissions over the lifecycle of LH2 were greater than kerosene-derived fuels.

The influence of hydrogen-enriched natural gas (HENG) and CO2 on the mechanical property of X80 pipeline steel were investigated via fatigue crack growth rate (FCGR) tests and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The results show that the FCGR in H2 was slightly faster than that in HENG while it was slower than that in the N2/CO2/H2 mixtures. The enhanced FCGR by CO2 further increased with the increasing CO2 content. DFT calculation results show that the adsorbed CO2 on the iron surface significantly increased the migration rate of H atoms from surface to subsurface. This promotes the entry of hydrogen into the steel.

The role of negative emissions technologies (NETs) in climate change mitigation remains contentious. Although numerous studies indicate significant carbon dioxide removal (CDR) requirements for Paris Agreement mitigation goals to be achieved others point out challenges and risks associated with high CDR strategies. Using a multiscale modeling approach we explore NETs’ potential for a single country the United Kingdom (UK). Here we report that the UK has cost-effective potential to remove 79 MtCO2 per year by 2050 rising to 126–134 MtCO2 per year with well-integrated NETs in industrial clusters. Results highlight that biomass gasification for hydrogen generation with CCS is emerging as a key NET despite biomass availability being a limiting factor. Moreover solid DACCS systems utilizing industrial waste heat integration offer a solution to offsetting increases in demand from transportation and industrial sectors. These results emphasize the importance of a multiscale whole-systems assessment for integrating NETs into industrial strategies.

The hydrogen economy is receiving increasing attention as a complement to electrification in the global energy transition. Clean hydrogen production is often viewed as a competition between natural gas reforming with CO2 capture and electrolysis using renewable electricity. However solid fuel gasification with CO2 capture presents another viable alternative especially when considering the potential of biomass to achieve negative CO2 emissions. This study investigates the techno-economic potential of hydrogen production from large-scale coal/ biomass co-gasification plants with CO2 capture. With a CO2 price of 50 €/ton the benchmark plant using commercially available technologies achieved an attractive hydrogen production cost of 1.78 €/kg with higher CO2 prices leading to considerable cost reductions. Advanced configurations employing hot gas clean-up membrane-assisted water-gas shift and more efficient gasification with slurry vaporization and a chemical quench reduced the hydrogen production cost to 1.50–1.62 €/kg with up to 100% CO2 capture. Without contingencies added to the pre-commercial technologies the lowest cost reduces to 1.43 €/kg. It was also possible to recover waste heat in the form of hot water at 120 ◦C for district heating potentially unlocking further cost reductions to 1.24 €/kg. In conclusion gasification of locally available solid fuels should be seriously considered next to natural gas and electrolysis for supplying the emerging hydrogen economy.

This paper discusses the technical specifications of how U.S. petroleum refineries can reduce facility emissions and shift to produce low-carbon fuels for hard to abate sectors by utilizing existing innovative technologies.

Countries around the world are prioritising net zero emissions to meet their Paris Agreement goals. The demand for social impact assessment (SIA) is likely to grow as this transition will require investments in decarbonisation projects with speed and at scale. There will be winners and losers of these projects because not everyone benefits the same; and hence trade-offs are inevitable. SIAs therefore should focus on understanding how the risks and benefits will be distributed among and within stakeholders and sectors and enable the identification of trade-offs that are just and fair. In this study we used a hypothetical case of large-scale hydrogen production in regional Australia and engaged with multi-disciplinary experts to identify justice issues in transitioning to such an industry. Using Rawlsian theory of justice as fairness we identified several tensions between different groups (national regional local inter and intra-communities) and sectors (environmental and economic) concerning the establishment of a hydrogen industry. These stakeholders and sectors will be disproportionately affected by this establishment. We argue that Rawlsian principles of justice would enable the practice of SIA to identify justice trade-offs. Further we conceptualise that a systems approach will be critical to facilitate a wider participation and an agile process for achieving just trade-offs in SIA.

The maritime industry is gaining momentum towards a more decarbonized and sustainable path. However most of the worldwide fleet still relies on fossil fuels for power producing harmful environmental emissions. Hydrogen as a clean fuel is a promising alternative but its unique properties pose significant safety challenges. For instance hydrogen has a wide flammability range inherently increasing the risk of ignition. Moreover its comparatively low volumetric energy density necessitates faster filling rates and larger volumes for bunkering and onboard storage leading to higher risk rates. Therefore the use of hydrogen for maritime applications requires the development of specialized riskbased approaches according to safety engineering principles and techniques. The key safety implications are discussed and reviewed with focus on onboard hydrogen storage handling and refueling while a priority-based Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) method for risk assessment is proposed based on the revised guidelines of Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) and German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA). The revised AIAG-VDA FMEA method replaces the conventional Risk Priority Number (RPN) with a new Action Priority (AP) rating enabling the prioritization of recommended actions for risk reduction. The paper aims to a more profound understanding of the safety risks associated with hydrogen as a maritime fuel and to provide an effective risk assessment method for hydrogen applications onboard maritime vessels.