Publications

Hydrogen solutions have a critical role to play in the UK not only in helping the nation meet its net-zero target but in creating the economic growth and jobs that will kickstart the green recovery.

The Government must act now to ensure that the UK capitalises on the opportunity presented by hydrogen and builds a world-leading industry.

COVID-19 has caused significant economic upheaval across the country with unemployment expected to reach up to 14.8 per cent by the end of 20201. The UK must identify those areas of the economy which have significant economic growth potential and can deliver long-term and sustainable increases in GVA and jobs. It will be important to consider regional factors and ensure that investment is targeted in those areas that have been hardest hit by the crisis.

Many major economies have identified hydrogen as a key part of both decarbonisation and economic recovery. As part of its stimulus package Germany announced a €9billion investment in green hydrogen solutions aiming to deploy 5GW by 2030. The Hydrogen Council estimates a future hydrogen and equipment market worth $2.5 trillion globally by 2050 supporting 30 million new jobs.

Hydrogen offers the UK a pathway to deep cost-effective decarbonisation while delivering economic growth and job creation. It should therefore be at the heart of the Government’s green recovery programme ensuring that the UK builds back better and greener.

• Economic Impact Assessment Summary 
• Economic impact Assessment Methodology
• Economic impact Assessment of the Hydrogen Value Chain of the UK infographic
• Imperial College Consultants Review of the EIA.

Through its “Reducing Carbon whilst Creating Social Value: How to get Started’ initiative Welsh Government is keen to explore whether a ‘circular economy’ (and industry) could be developed for Wales for CO2.<br/>Although most companies have targets to reduce their CO2 by 2030 Wales does not have the space to store or bury any excess with the current choice to ship or ‘move the problem’ elsewhere. Meanwhile other industry sectors in Wales are experiencing shortages of CO2 e.g. food production.<br/>Net Zero commitments will require dealing with CO2 emissions from agricultural and industrial sectors and from the production of blue and grey hydrogen during the transition time of switching to green hydrogen. Sequestration and shipping off of CO2 could be costly are not currently possible at large scale and are not sustainable. The use of CO2 by industry e.g. in construction materials and in food production processes can play a major role in addressing CO2 waste production from grey and blue hydrogen.<br/>In a Cradle-to-Cradle approach everything has a use. Is Wales missing out on creating and developing a new innovative industry around a CO2 circular economy?

Efficient energy production and consumption are fundamental points for reducing carbon emissions that influence climate change. Alternative resources such as renewable energy sources (RESs) used in electricity grids could reduce the environmental impact. Since RESs are inherently unreliable during the last decades the scientific community addressed research efforts to their integration with the main grid by means of properly designed energy storage systems (ESSs). In order to highlight the best performance from these hybrid systems proper design and operations are essential. The purpose of this paper is to present a so-called model predictive controller (MPC) for the optimal operations of grid-connected wind farms with hydrogen-based ESSs and local loads. Such MPC has been designed to take into account the operating and economical costs of the ESS the local load demand and the participation to the electricity market and further it enforces the fulfillment of the physical and the system's dynamics constraints. The dynamics of the hydrogen-based ESS have been modeled by means of the mixed-logic dynamic (MLD) framework in order to capture different behaviors according to the possible operating modes. The purpose is to provide a controller able to cope both with all the main physical and operating constraints of a hydrogen-based storage system including the switching among different modes such as ON OFF STAND-BY and at the same time reduce the management costs and increase the equipment lifesaving. The case study for this paper is a plant under development in the north Norway. Numerical analysis on the related plant data shows the effectiveness of the proposed strategy which manages the plant and commits the equipment so as to preserve the given constraints and save them from unnecessary commutation cycles.

The fuel quality of hydrogen dispensed from 10 refuelling stations in Europe was assessed. Representative sampling was conducted from the nozzle by use of a sampling adapter allowing to bleed sample gas in parallel while refuelling an FCEV. Samples were split off and distributed to four laboratories for analysis in accordance with ISO 14687 and SAE J2719. The results indicated some inconsistencies between the laboratories but were still conclusive. The fuel quality was generally good. Elevated nitrogen concentrations were detected in two samples but not in violation with the new 300 μmol/mol tolerance limit. Four samples showed water concentrations higher than the 5 μmol/mol tolerance limit estimated by at least one laboratory. The results were ambiguous: none of the four samples showed all laboratories in agreement with the violation. One laboratory reported an elevated oxygen concentration that was not corroborated by the other two laboratories and thus considered an outlier.

A pseudo-homogeneous model for the methanol steam reforming process was developed based on reaction kinetics over a CuO/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst and non-adiabatic heat and mass transfer performances in a co-current packed-bed reactor. A Thiele modulus method and an intraparticle distribution method were applied for predicting the effectiveness factors for main reactions and providing insights into the diffusion-reaction process in a cylindrical catalyst pellet. The results of both methods are validated and show good agreements with the experimental data but the intraparticle distribution method provides better predictions. Results indicate that increases in catalyst size and bulk fluid temperature amplify the impact of intraparticle diffusion limitations showing a decrease in effectiveness factors. To satisfy the requirements of a high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell stack the optimized operating conditions which bring the methanol and CO concentrations to less than 1% vol in the reformate stream are determined based on the simulation results.

The location of hydrogen within Ti–Cr–V–Mo alloys has been investigated during hydrogen absorption and desorption using in situ neutron powder diffraction and inelastic neutron scattering. Neutron powder diffraction identifies a low hydrogen equilibration pressure body-centred tetragonal phase that undergoes a martensitic phase transition to a face-centred cubic phase at high hydrogen equilibration pressures. The average location of the hydrogen in each phase has been identified from the neutron powder diffraction data although inelastic neutron scattering combined with density functional theory calculations show that the local structure is more complex than it appears from the average structure. Furthermore the origin of the change in dissociation pressure and hydrogen trapping on cycling in Ti–Cr–V–Mo alloys is discussed.

Long-term power market outlooks suggest a rapid increase in renewable energy deployment as a main solution to greenhouse gas mitigation in the Northern European energy system. However the consequential area requirement is a non-techno-economic aspect that currently is omitted by many energy system optimization models. This study applies modeling to generate alternatives (MGA) technique to the Balmorel energy system model to address spatial conflicts related to increased renewable energy deployment. The approach searches for alternative solutions that minimize land-use conflicts while meeting the low-carbon target by allowing a 1% to 15% increase in system costs compared to the least-cost solution. Two alternative objectives are defined to reflect various aspects of spatial impact. The results show that the least-cost solution requires 1.2%–3.6% of the land in the modeled countries in 2040 for onshore wind and solar PV installations. A 10% increase in costs can reduce the required land area by 58% by relying more on offshore wind. Nuclear energy may also be an option if both onshore and offshore areas are to be reduced or in a less flexible system. Both offshore wind and nuclear energy technologies are associated with higher risks and pose uncertainties in terms of reaching the climate targets in time. The changes in costs and required land areas imply significantly higher annual costs ranging from 200 to 750 kEUR/km2 to avoid land use for energy infrastructure. Overall this study confirms that the energy transition strategies prioritizing land savings from energy infrastructure are feasible but high risks and costs of averted land are involved.

Strain-induced martensite transformation (SIMT) commonly exists around a crack tip of metastable austenite stainless steels. The influence of the volume expansion of the SIMT on the hydrogen diffusion was investigated by hydrogen diffusion modelling around a crack tip in type 304L austenite stainless steel. The volume expansion changed the tensile stress state into pressure stress state at the crack tip resulting in a large stress gradient along the crack propagation direction. Compared to the analysis without considering the volume expansion effect this volume expansion further accelerated the hydrogen transport from the inner surface to a critical region ahead of the crack tip and further increased the maximum value of the hydrogen concentration at the critical position where the strain-induced martensite fraction approximates to 0.1 indicating that the volume expansion of the SIMT further increased the hydrogen embrittlement susceptibility.

Climate change and increased urban population are two major concerns for society. Moving towards more sustainable energy solutions in the urban context by integrating renewable energy technologies supports decarbonizing the energy sector and climate change mitigation. A successful transition also needs adequate consideration of climate change including extreme events to ensure the reliable performance of energy systems in the long run. This review provides an overview of and insight into the progress achieved in the energy sector to adapt to climate change focusing on the climate resilience of urban energy systems. The state-of-the-art methodology to assess impacts of climate change including extreme events and uncertainties on the design and performance of energy systems is described and discussed. Climate resilience is an emerging concept that is increasingly used to represent the durability and stable performance of energy systems against extreme climate events. However it has not yet been adequately explored and widely used as its definition has not been clearly articulated and assessment is mostly based on qualitative aspects. This study reveals that a major limitation in the state-of-the-art is the inadequacy of climate change adaptation approaches in designing and preparing urban energy systems to satisfactorily address plausible extreme climate events. Furthermore the complexity of the climate and energy models and the mismatch between their temporal and spatial resolutions are the major limitations in linking these  models. Therefore few studies have focused on the design and operation of urban energy infrastructure in terms of climate resilience. Considering the occurrence of extreme climate events and increasing demand for implementing climate adaptation strategies the study highlights the importance of improving energy system models to consider future climate variations including extreme events to identify climate resilient energy transition pathways.

At present aero engine fault diagnosis is mainly based on the steady-state condition at the cruise phase and the gas path parameters in the entire flight process are not effectively used. At the same time high quality steady-state monitoring measurements are not always available and as a result the accuracy of diagnosis might be affected. There is a recognized need for real-time performance diagnosis of aero engines operating under transient conditions which can improve their condition-based maintenance. Recent studies have demonstrated the capability of the sequential model-based diagnostic method to predict accurately and efficiently the degradation of industrial gas turbines under steady-state conditions. Nevertheless incorporating real-time data for fault detection of aero engines that operate in dynamic conditions is a more challenging task. The primary objective of this study is to investigate the performance of the sequential diagnostic method when it is applied to aero engines that operate under transient conditions while there is a variation in the bypass ratio and the heat soakage effects are taken into consideration. This study provides a novel approach for quantifying component degradation such as fouling and erosion by using an adapted version of the sequential diagnostic method. The research presented here confirms that the proposed method could be applied to aero engine fault diagnosis under both steady-state and dynamic conditions in real-time. In addition the economic impact of engine degradation on fuel cost and payload revenue is evaluated when the engine under investigation is using hydrogen. The proposed method demonstrated promising diagnostic results where the maximum prediction errors for steady state and transient conditions are less than 0.006% and 0.016% respectively. The comparison of the proposed method to a benchmark diagnostic method revealed a 15% improvement in accuracy which can have great benefit when considering that the cost attributed to degradation can reach up to $702585 for 6000 flight cycles of a hydrogen powered aircraft fleet. This study provides an opportunity to improve our understanding of aero engine fault diagnosis in order to improve engine reliability availability and efficiency by online health monitoring.

Photocatalytic hydrogen generation is one of the most promising solutions to convert solar power into green chemical energy. In this work a multi-component TiO₂–Ag–Cu₂O composite was obtained through simple impregnation-calcination of Cu₂O and subsequent photodeposition of Ag onto electrospun TiO₂ nanotubes. The resulting TiO₂–Ag–Cu₂O photocatalyst exhibits excellent photocatalytic H₂ evolution activity due to the synergetic effect of Ag and Cu₂O on electrospun TiO₂nanotubes. A dual Z-scheme charge transfer pathway for photocatalytic reactions over TiO₂–Ag–Cu₂O composite was proposed and discussed. This work provides a prototype for designing Z-scheme photocatalyst with Ag as an electron mediator.

Ni₃S₂ and NiS supported on carbon spheres are successfully synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method. And then a series of physical characterizations included XRD (X-ray diffraction) EDS (energy dispersive spectroscopy) FESEM (field emission scanning electron microscopy) and XPS (X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy) were used to analyze the samples. XRD was used to confirm that NiNi₃S₂ S2 and NiS were successfully fabricated. FESEM indicated that Ni₃S₂ and NiS disperse well on carbon spheres. Electrochemical tests showed that nickel sulfides supported by carbon spheres exhibited excellent hydrogen evolution performance. The excellent catalytic activity is attributed to the synergistic effect of carbon spheres and transition metal sulfides of which the carbon spheres act to enhance the electrical conductivity and the dispersion of Ni₃S₂ and NiS thus providing more active sites for the hydrogen evolution reaction.

Nowadays decarbonization of energy economy is a topical theme and several pathways are under discussion. Gaseous fuels will play a primary role during this transition and the production of renewable or low carbon-impact gaseous fuels is necessary to deal with this challenge. Decarbonization will be sustained by an increasing share of renewables which production intermittency can be critical for the energy system. Renewable hydrogen generation is a viable solution since this energy vector can be produced from electricity with a fast response and injected in the existing natural gas infrastructures granting storage capacity and easy transport. Parallelly to the renewable-based energy production fossil-based energy can be exploited with a low carbon impact using methane from reservoirs to produce hydrogen capturing CO2. The mentioned scenarios will lead to hydrogen enrichment of natural gas which impact on the infrastructures is being actively studied. The effect on end-user devices instead is poorly analysed but is fundamental to be assessed. This paper highlights the impact on the widely used premixed condensing boilers which will be fired with hydrogen enriched natural gas in the near future and the changes required to components.

Hydrogen separation through oxygen transport membranes (OTMs) has attracted much attention. Asymmetric membranes with thin dense layers provide low bulk diffusion resistances and high overall hydrogen separation performances. However the resistance in the porous support layer (PSL) limits the overall separation performance significantly. Engineering the structure of the PSL is an appropriate way to enable fast gas transport and increase the separation performance. There is no relevant research on studying the influence of the PSL on hydrogen separation performance so far. Herein we prepared Ce_0.85Sm_0.15O_1.925 – Sm_0.6Sr_0.4Cr_0.3Fe_0.7O_3-δ (SDC-SSCF) asymmetric membranes with straight grooves in PSL by tape-casting and laser grooving. A ~30% improvement in the hydrogen separation rate was achieved by grooving in the PSLs. It indicates that the grooves may reduce the concentration polarization resistance in PSL for the hydrogen separation process. This work provides a straight evidence on optimizing the structures of PSL for improving the hydrogen separation performance of the membrane reactors.

Clean hydrogen:

• What's driving the excitement?
• Will hydrogen stay on the main stage of the energy transition?
• What is the market for clean hydrogen today?

Download the full white paper from the Delta EE website here

Heating and hot water within buildings account for almost a quarter of global energy consumption. Approximately 90% of this heat is derived directly from the combustion of fossil fuels primarily natural gas leading to the unabated emission of carbon dioxide. This paper assesses the environmental sustainability of a range of heating technologies and scenarios on a life cycle basis. The major technologies considered are natural gas boilers air source heat pumps hydrogen boilers and direct electric heaters. The scenarios use the UK as an example due to its status as a major economy with a legally-binding net-zero carbon target for 2050; they consider plausible future electricity and natural gas mixes including the potential growth of domestic shale gas. The environmental impacts are estimated using ReCiPe 2016. Current gas boilers have a climate change impact of 220 g CO₂ eq./kWh of heat which could fall to 64 g CO₂ eq./kWh for boilers fuelled by hydrogen derived from natural gas with carbon capture. Heat from electric air source heat pumps or hydrogen from electrolysis can achieve net zero with a decarbonised electricity mix but electrolysis has the highest energy demand of all options which leads to the highest impacts across 17 of the 19 categories. Despite their high carbon emissions gas boilers remain the lowest impact option across 12 categories as they avoid the impacts related to electricity generation including metal depletion toxicities and eutrophication. By 2050 the best performing scenario sees the climate change impact of the heating mix fall by 95%; this is achieved by prioritising electric air source heat pumps without hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants alongside demand reduction. The results show that if infrastructure and financial challenges can be overcome there are several viable decarbonisation strategies for heating with heat pumps offering the most environmentally sustainable option of those considered here. However increased renewable electricity demand may worsen some environmental impacts compared to natural gas boilers.

The hydrogen economy will play a key role in future energy systems. Several thermal and catalytic methods for hydrogen production have been presented. In this review methane thermocatalytic and thermal decomposition into hydrogen gas and solid carbon are considered. These processes known as the thermal decomposition of methane (TDM) and thermocatalytic decomposition (TCD) of methane respectively appear to have the greatest potential for hydrogen production. In particular the focus is on the different types and properties of carbons formed during the decomposition processes. The applications for carbons are also investigated.

Development of probabilistic modelling tools to perform Bayesian inference and uncertainty quantification (UQ) is a challenging task for practical hydrogen-enriched and low-emission combustion systems due to the need to take into account simultaneously simulated fluid dynamics and detailed combustion chemistry. A large number of evaluations is required to calibrate models and estimate parameters using experimental data within the framework of Bayesian inference. This task is computationally prohibitive in high-fidelity and deterministic approaches such as large eddy simulation (LES) to design and optimize combustion systems. Therefore there is a need to develop methods that: (a) are suitable for Bayesian inference studies and (b) characterize a range of solutions based on the uncertainty of modelling parameters and input conditions. This paper aims to develop a computationally-efficient toolchain to address these issues for probabilistic modelling of NOx emission in hydrogen-enriched and lean-premixed combustion systems. A novel method is implemented into the toolchain using a chemical reactor network (CRN) model non-intrusive polynomial chaos expansion based on the point collocation method (NIPCE-PCM) and the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method. First a CRN model is generated for a combustion system burning hydrogen-enriched methane/air mixtures at high-pressure lean-premixed conditions to compute NOx emission. A set of metamodels is then developed using NIPCE-PCM as a computationally efficient alternative to the physics-based CRN model. These surrogate models and experimental data are then implemented in the MCMC method to perform a two-step Bayesian calibration to maximize the agreement between model predictions and measurements. The average standard deviations for the prediction of exit temperature and NOx emission are reduced by almost 90% using this method. The calibrated model then used with confidence for global sensitivity and reliability analysis studies which show that the volume of the main-flame zone is the most important parameter for NOx emission. The results show satisfactory performance for the developed toolchain to perform Bayesian inference and UQ studies enabling a robust and consistent process for designing and optimising low-emission combustion systems.

The Flexibility in Great Britain project analysed the system-level value of deploying flexibility across the heat transport industry and power sectors in Great Britain to provide a robust evidence-base on the role and value of flexibility in a net zero system.

Overview

Findings from this groundbreaking analysis of the future net zero energy system in Great Britain are expected to have profound implications for policymakers households and the wider energy sector across Great Britain.

Key findings include:

• Embedding greater flexibility across the entire energy system will reduce the cost of achieving net zero for all consumers while assuring energy security.
• Investing in flexibility is a no-regrets decision as it has the potential to deliver material net savings of up to £16.7bn per annum across all scenarios analysed in 2050.
• A more flexible system will accelerate the benefits of decarbonisation supported by decentralisation and digitalisation.
• To maximise the benefits of flexibility households and businesses should play an active role in the development and operation of the country’s future energy system as energy use for transport heat and appliances becomes more integrated.
• Policymakers should preserve existing flexibility options and act now to maximise future flexibility such as by building it into ‘smart’ appliances or building standards.

Read the Full Report here on the Carbon Trust Website

View the interactive analysis here at the Carbon Trust Website

Watch an accompanying video here at the Carbon Trust Youtube channel

The transition to low carbon energy and transport systems requires an unprecedented roll-out of new infrastructure technologies containing significant quantities of critical raw materials. Many of these technologies are based on general purpose technologies such as permanent magnets and electric motors that are common across different infrastructure systems. Circular economy initiatives that aim to institute better resource management practices could exploit these technological commonalities through the reuse and remanufacturing of technology components across infrastructure systems. In this paper we analyze the implementation of such processes in the transition to low carbon electricity generation and transport on the Isle of Wight UK. We model two scenarios relying on different renewable energy technologies with the reuse of Lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles for grid-attached storage. A whole-system analysis that considers both electricity and transport infrastructure demonstrates that the optimal choice of renewable technology can be dependent on opportunities for component reuse and material recycling between the different infrastructure systems. Hydrogen fuel cell based transport makes use of platinum from obsolete catalytic converters whereas lithium-ion batteries can be reused for grid-attached storage when they are no longer useful in vehicles. Trade-offs exist between the efficiency of technology reuse which eliminates the need for new technologies for grid attached storage completely by 2033 and the higher flexibility afforded by recycling at the material level; reducing primary material demand for Lithium by 51% in 2033 compared to 30% achieved by battery reuse. This analysis demonstrates the value of a methodology that combines detailed representations of technologies and components with a systemic approach that includes multiple interconnected infrastructure systems.

Worldwide the road transport sector typically arises as one of the main sources of air pollutants due to its high energy intensity and the use of fossil fuels. Thus governments and social agents work on the development and prospective planning of decarbonisation strategies oriented towards sustainable transport. In this regard the increase in the use of alternative fuels is the recurrent approach to energy planning e.g. through the promotion of electric vehicles biofuels natural gas liquefied petroleum gas etc. However there is a lack of comprehensive information on the techno-economic performance of production pathways for alternative fuels. The acquisition of robust techno-economic data is still a challenge for energy planners modellers analysts and policy-makers when building their prospective models to support decision-making processes. Hence this article aims to fill this gap through a deep literature review including the most representative production routes for a wide range of road transportation fuels. This led to the development of datasets including investment costs operating and maintenance costs and transformation efficiencies for more than 40 production pathways. The techno-economic data presented in this work are expected to be especially useful to those energy actors interested in performing long-term studies on the transition to a sustainable transport system.

The Global Status of CCS Report 2020 demonstrates the vital role of carbon capture and storage technologies (CCS) in reducing emissions to net-zero by 2050 as well as documenting the current status and important milestones for the technology over the past 12 months.<br/>The report provides detailed information on and analyses of the global CCS facility pipeline international policy perspectives CO2 storage and the CCS legal and regulatory environment.<br/>In addition four regional updates provide further detail about CCS progress across the Americas Europe Asia Pacific and the Gulf Cooperation Council States and a Technology section provides updates on key innovations and applications of CCS.

Implementation of non-precious electrocatalysts is key-enabling for water electrolysis to relieve challenges in energy and environmental sustainability. Self-supporting Ni-V₂O₃.electrodes consisting of nanostrip-like V₂O₃.perpendicularly anchored on Ni meshes are herein constructed via the electrochemical reduction of soluble NaVO₃ in molten salts for enhanced electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Such a special configuration in morphology and composition creates a well confined interface between Ni and V₂O₃. Experimental and Density-Functional-Theory results confirm that the synergy between Ni and V₂O₃.accelerates the dissociation of H₂O for forming hydrogen intermediates and enhances the combination of H* for generating H₂.

Achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement requires increased global climate action especially towards the production and use of synthetic e-fuels. This paper focuses on aviation and maritime transport and the role of green hydrogen for indirect electrification of industry sectors. Based on a sound analysis of existing multilateral cooperation the paper proposes four potential initiatives to increase climate ambition of the G20 countries in the respective policy field: a Sustainable e-Kerosene Alliance a Sustainable e-fuel Alliance for Maritime Shipping a Hard-to-Abate Sector Partnership and a Global Supply-demand-partnership.

The full report can be found here on the Umweltbundesamt website

The aim of this work is to study the effect of the displacement rate on the hydrogen embrittlement of two different structural steels grades used in energetic applications. With this purpose samples were pre-charged with gaseous hydrogen at 19.5 MPa and 450 °C for 21 h. Then fracture tests of the pre-charged specimens were performed using different displacement rates. It is showed that the lower is the displacement rate and the largest is the steel strength the strongest is the reduction of the fracture toughness due to the presence of internal hydrogen.

This paper presents results of experimental investigations on unignited horizontal hydrogen jets in air in presence of co- cross- and counter-flow. Hydrogen concentration distributions are obtained as functions of distance to the hydrogen release nozzle. The H2-jet variables are two nozzle diameters 1 mm and 4 mm and two H2-jet mass flow rates 1 g/s up to 5 g/s. A propeller fan is used to provide forced ventilation compared to the case with no ventilation three different airflow velocities up to 5 m/s were studied systematically. It was found that any forced ventilation in co- cross- and counter-flow direction reduces the size of the burnable mixture cloud of the H2-jet compared to a free jet in quiescent air.

Hydrogen could be used as a ‘cleaner’ cooking fuel particularly in communities that rely on biomass and fossil fuels to reduce local pollution and related health effects. However hydrogen must be produced using sustainable feedstocks and energy sources to ensure that local impacts are not reduced at the expense of other impacts generated elsewhere in the life cycle. To this end this paper evaluates life cycle environmental impacts of renewable hydrogen produced in a proton-exchange membrane electrolyser using solar energy. The aim of the study is to find out if hydrogen produced in this system and used as a cooking fuel is environmentally sustainable in comparison with conventional cooking fuels typically used in developing countries such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) charcoal and firewood. The results suggest that hydrogen would reduce the climate change impact by 2.5–14 times to 0.04 kg CO₂ eq./MJ compared to firewood (0.10 kg CO2 eq./MJ) and LPG (0.57 kg CO₂ eq./MJ). Some other impacts would also be lower by 6%–35 times including depletion of fossil fuels summer smog and health effects from emissions of particulates both locally and across the rest of the life cycle. However some other impacts would increase by 6%–6.7 times such as depletion of metals and freshwater and marine ecotoxicity. These are mainly due to the solar photovoltaic panels used to generate power for the electrolyser. In terms of the local impacts the study suggests that hydrogen would reduce local pollution and related health impacts by 8%–35 times. However LPG is still environmentally a better option than hydrogen for most of the impacts both at the point of use and on a life cycle basis.

CeO2- ZrO2- and La2O3-supported Rh-Pt catalysts were tested to assess their ability to catalyze the steam reforming of ethanol (SRE) for H2 production. SRE activity tests were performed using EtOH:H2O:N2 (molar ratio 1:3:51) at a gaseous space velocity of 70600 h−1 between 400 and 700 °C at atmospheric pressure. The SRE stability of the catalysts was tested at 700 °C for 27 h time on stream under the same conditions. RhPt/CeO2 which showed the best performance in the stability test also produced the highest H2 yield above 600 °C followed by RhPt/La2O3 and RhPt/ZrO2. The fresh and aged catalysts were characterized by TEM XPS and TGA. The higher H2 selectivity of RhPt/CeO2 was ascribed to the formation of small (~5 nm) and stable particles probably consistent of Rh-Pt alloys with a Pt surface enrichment. Both metals were oxidized and acted as an almost constant active phase during the stability test owing to strong metal-support interactions as well as the superior oxygen mobility of the support. The TGA results confirmed the absence of carbonaceous residues in all the aged catalysts.

Clean hydrogen is universally considered an important energy vector in the global efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions to the "well below 2 °C scenario" as agreed by more than 190 states in the 2015 Paris Agreement. Hydrogen Valleys – regional ecosystems that link hydrogen production transportation and various end uses such as mobility or industrial feedstock – are important steps towards enabling the development of a new hydrogen economy.<br/><br/>This report has been issued during the setup of the "Mission Innovation Hydrogen Valley Platform"  which was commissioned by the European Union and developed by the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking. The global information sharing platform to date already features 30+ global Hydrogen Valleys with a cumulative investment volume of more than EUR 30 billion. The projects provide a first-of-its kind look into the global Hydrogen Valley project landscape its success factors and remaining barriers. This report summarizes the findings and presents identified best practices for successful project development as well as recommendations for policymakers on how to provide a favourable policy environment that paves the way to reach the Hydrogen Valleys' full potential as enablers of the global hydrogen economy.

The Australian transport sector is under increasing pressure to reduce carbon emissions whilst also managing a fuel supply chain that relies heavily on foreign import partners.



Transport in Australia equates to a significant proportion (approximately 18%) of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Due to ongoing population growth these emissions have been steadily rising with the increase of cars on our roads and freight trucks in transit. Coupled with this the transport fuel supply chain is highly reliant on overseas partners – Australia currently imports 90% of its liquid fuel. These two challenges present an interesting dichotomy for the industry incentivising research and development into new technologies that can address one or both of these issues.



Hydrogen is one technology that has the potential to provide a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions as well as a more reliable domestic fuel supply. Hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) are an emerging zero-emission alternative for the transport sector which offer a variety of benefits.



You can read the full report on the Aurecon Australasia website at this link

Shipping is one of the largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitting sectors of the global economy responsible for around 1 Gt of CO₂eq every year. If shipping were a country it would be the 6th biggest GHG emitter. EU related shipping is responsible for about 1/5 of global ship GHG emissions emitting on average 200 Mt/year. This report assesses potential technology pathways for decarbonising EU related shipping through a shift to zero carbon technologies and the impact such a move could have on renewable electricity demand in Europe. It also identifies key policy and sustainability issues that should be considered when analysing and supporting different technology options to decarbonise the maritime sector. The basis of the study is outbound journeys under the geographical scope of the EU ship MRV Regulation.



We have not tried to quantify the emissions reductions that specific regulatory measures to be introduced at the IMO or EU level might contribute towards decarbonisation by 2050 because there are too many uncertainties. We have taken a more limited first approach and investigated how zero carbon propulsion pathways that currently seem feasible to decarbonise shipping would likely affect the future EU renewable energy supply needs.



It is now generally accepted that ship design efficiency requirements while potentially having an important impact on future emissions growth will fall well short of what is needed. Further operational efficiency measures such as capping operational speed will be important to immediately peak energy consumption and emissions but will be insufficient to decarbonise the sector or reduce its growing energy needs. In this context this study assumes that with all the likely immediate measures adopted energy demand for EU related shipping will still grow by 50% by 2050 over 2010 levels. This is within the range of the 20 -1 20% global BAU maritime energy demand growth estimate.



The decarbonisation of shipping will require changes in on -board energy storage and use and the necessary accompanying bunkering infrastructure. This study identifies the technology options for zero emission propulsion that based on current know-how are likely to be adopted. It is not exhaustive nor prescriptive because the ultimate pathways will likely depend on both the requirements of the shipping industry in terms of cost efficiency and safety and on the future renewable electricity sources that the shipping sect or will need to compete for.



Literature is nascent on the different techno-economic options likely to be available to decarbonise shipping and individual ships 4 but almost completely lacking on the possible impacts of maritime decarbonisation on the broader energy system(s). Understanding these impacts is nevertheless essential because it will influence financial and economic decision making by the EU and member states including those related to investment in future renewable energy supplies and new ship bunkering infrastructure. With this in mind the report aims to provide a preliminary first answer to the following question: Under different zero emission technology pathways how much additional renewable electricity would be needed to cater for the needs of EU related shipping in 2050?



Link to Document Download on Transport & Environment website

The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee will hear from officials research funders and leading research consortia about the UK’s strategy for research and development of batteries and fuel cells to help meet the net-zero target.



The Committee will question officials from government departments and research councils about the UK’s increased support for battery development and how the initiatives and funding will evolve. The Committee will compare the support given to fuel cell research and ask how this technology will be developed for applications such as heavy transport. For both technologies it will ask how training will be delivered to provide a skilled workforce.



The Committee will also hear from leaders of research consortia asking them about support for their research sectors and how this compares with countries leading the development of the technologies. The Committee will explore coordination between research into batteries fuel cells and wider strategies such as for hydrogen and whether research for transport can be transferred to applications in other sectors such as power grids and heating.



At 10.00am: Oral evidence 

Mr Tony Harper Industrial Strategy Challenge Director Faraday Battery Challenge at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) at University of Central Lancashire

Dr Lucy Martin Deputy Director of Cross-Council Programmes and lead for Net Zero at University of Central Lancashire

Dr Bob Moran Deputy Director Head of Environment Strategy at University of Central Lancashire

Professor Paul Monks Chief Scientific Adviser at University of Central Lancashire



At 11.00am: Oral evidence

Professor Philip Taylor Director at EPSRC Supergen Energy Networks Hub and Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and Enterprise at University of Bristol

Professor David Greenwood CEO High Value Manufacturing Catapult at University of Central Lancashire Director Industrial Engagement at University of Central Lancashire and Professor of Advanced Propulsion Systems at University of Warwick

Professor Paul Dodds Professor of Energy Systems at University of Central Lancashire



Possible questions

• On which aspects of battery and fuel cell research and development is the UK focusing and why?
• How successful have the UK’s new research initiatives been in advancing battery science and application?
• Does battery research receive greater public funding than fuel cell research? If so why?
• What technologies are seen as the most likely options for heavy transport i.e. HGVs buses and trains?
• What is the Government’s strategy for supporting the growth of skilled workers for battery and fuel cell research and development?
• To what extent is battery and fuel cell research and development coordinated in the UK? If so who is responsible for this coordination?

Parliament TV video of the meeting



This is part three of a three part enquiry.

Part one can be found here and part two can be found here.

Hypothesis: Hydrogen geo-storage is considered as an option for large scale hydrogen storage in a full-scale hydrogen economy. Among different types of subsurface formations coal seams look to be one of the best suitable options as coal’s micro/nano pore structure can adsorb a huge amount of gas (e.g. hydrogen) which can be withdrawn again once needed. However literature lacks fundamental data regarding H2 diffusion in coal. Experiments: In this study we measured H2 adsorption rate in an Australian anthracite coal sample at isothermal conditions for four different temperatures (20 C 30 C 45 C and 60 C) at equilibrium pressure 13 bar and calculated H2 diffusion coefficient (DH2 ) at each temperature. CO2 adsorption rates were measured for the same sample at similar temperatures and equilibrium pressure for comparison. Findings: Results show that H2 adsorption rate and consequently DH2 increases by temperature. DH2 values are one order of magnitude larger than the equivalent DCO2 values for the whole studied temperature range 20–60 C. DH2 / DCO2 also shows an increasing trend versus temperature. CO2 adsorption capacity at equilibrium pressure is about 5 times higher than that of H2 in all studied temperatures. Both H2 and CO2 adsorption capacities at equilibrium pressure slightly decrease as temperature rises.

There is a need for alternative fuels in the shipping sector for two main motivations: to deliver a reduction in local pollutants and comply with existing regulation; and to mitigate climate change and cut greenhouse gas emissions. However any alternative fuel must meet a range of criteria to become a viable option. Key among them is the requirement that it can deliver emissions reductions over its full life-cycle. For a set of fuels comprising both conventional and alternative fuels together with associated production pathways this paper presents a life-cycle assessment with respect to six emissions species: local pollutants sulphur oxides nitrogen oxides and particulate matter; and greenhouse gases carbon dioxide methane and nitrous oxide. While the analysis demonstrates that no widely available fuel exists currently to deliver on both motivations some alternative fuel options have the potential if key barriers can be overcome. Hydrogen or other synthetic fuels rely on decarbonisation of both energy input to production and other feedstock materials to deliver reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Similarly bio-derived fuels can be an abatement option but only if it can be ensured that land-use change whilst growing biomass does not impact wider potential savings and the sector is able to compete sufficiently for their use. These examples show that crucial barriers are located upstream in the respective fuel life-cycle and that the way to overcome them may reside beyond the scope of the shipping sector alone.

Hydrogen has been long known to provide a solution toward clean energy systems. With this notion many efforts have been made to find new ways of storing hydrogen. As a result decades of studies has led to a wide range of hydrides that can store hydrogen in a solid form. Applications of these solid-state hydrides are well-suited to stationary applications. However the main challenge arises in making the selection of the Metal Hydrides (MH) that are best suited to meet application requirements. Herein we discuss the current state-of-art in controlling the properties of room temperature (RT) hydrides suitable for stationary application and their long term behavior in addition to initial activation their limitations and emerging trends to design better storage materials. The hydrogen storage properties and synthesis methods to alter the properties of these MH are discussed including the emerging approach of high-entropy alloys. In addition the integration of intermetallic hydrides in vessels their operation with fuel cells and their use as thermal storage is reviewed.

The locally occurring mechanisms of hydrogen embrittlement significantly influence the fatigue behaviour of a material which was shown in previous research on two different AISI 300-series austenitic stainless steels with different austenite stabilities. In this preliminary work an enhanced fatigue crack growth as well as changes in crack initiation sites and morphology caused by hydrogen were observed. To further analyze the results obtained in this previous research in the present work the local cyclic deformation behaviour of the material volume was analyzed by using cyclic indentation testing. Moreover these results were correlated to the local dislocation structures obtained with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) in the vicinity of fatigue cracks. The cyclic indentation tests show a decreased cyclic hardening potential as well as an increased dislocation mobility for the conditions precharged with hydrogen which correlates to the TEM analysis revealing courser dislocation cells in the vicinity of the fatigue crack tip. Consequently the presented results indicate that the hydrogen enhanced localized plasticity (HELP) mechanism leads to accelerated crack growth and change in crack morphology for the materials investigated. In summary the cyclic indentation tests show a high potential for an analysis of the effects of hydrogen on the local cyclic deformation behaviour.

The rare earth metals have been identified by the European Union and the United States as being at greatest supply risk of all the materials for clean energy technologies. Of particular concern are neodymium and dysprosium both of which are employed in neodymium–iron–boron based magnets. Recycling of magnets based on these materials and contained within obsolete electronic equipment could provide an additional and secure supply. In the present work hydrogen has been employed as a processing agent to decrepitate sintered neodymium–iron–boron based magnets contained within hard disk drives into a demagnetised hydrogenated powder. This powder was then extracted mechanically from the devices with an extraction efficiency of 90 ± 5% and processed further using a combination of sieves and ball bearings to produce a powder containing <330 parts per million of nickel contamination. It is then possible for the extracted powder to be re-processed in a number of ways namely directly by blending and re-sintering to form fully dense magnets by Hydrogenation Disproportionation Desorption Recombination processing to produce an anisotropic coercive powder suitable for bonded magnets by re-melting; or by chemical extraction of the rare earth elements from the alloy. For example it was shown that by the re-sintering route it was possible to recover >90% of the magnetic properties of the starting material with significantly less energy than that employed in primary magnet production. The particular route used will depend upon the magnetic properties required the level of contamination of the extracted material and the compositional variation of the feedstock. The various possibilities have been summarised in a flow diagram.

Hydrogen embrittlement susceptibility ratios calculated from slow strain rate tensile tests have been employed to study the response of three high-strength mooring steels in cold and warm synthetic seawater. The selected nominal testing temperatures have been 3 °C and 23 °C in order to resemble sea sites of offshore platform installation interest such as the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico respectively. Three scenarios have been studied for each temperature: free corrosion cathodic protection and overprotection. An improvement on the hydrogen embrittlement tendency of the steels has been observed when working in cold conditions. This provides a new insight on the relevance of the seawater temperature as a characteristic to be taken into account for mooring line design in terms of hydrogen embrittlement assessment.

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) produce electricity with high electrical efficiency and fuel flexibility without pollution for example CO₂ NO_x SO_x and particles. Still numerous issues hindered the large‐scale commercialization of fuel cell at a large scale such as fuel storage mechanical failure catalytic degradation electrode poisoning from fuel and air for example lifetime in relation to cost. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) couples various physical fields which is vital to reduce the redundant workload required for SOFC development. Modeling of SOFCs includes the coupling of charge transfer electrochemical reactions fluid flow energy transport and species transport. The Butler‐Volmer equation is frequently used to describe the coupling of electrochemical reactions with current density. The most frequently used is the activation‐ and diffusion‐controlled Butler‐Volmer equation. Three different electrode reaction models are examined in the study which is named case 1 case 2 and case 3 respectively. Case 1 is activation controlled while cases 2 and 3 are diffusion‐controlled which take the concentration of redox species into account. It is shown that case 1 gives the highest reaction rate followed by case 2 and case 3. Case 3 gives the lowest reaction rate and thus has a much lower current density and temperature. The change of activation overpotential does not follow the change of current density and temperature at the interface of the anode and electrolyte and interface of cathode and electrolyte which demonstrates the non‐linearity of the model. This study provides a reference to build electrochemical models of SOFCs and gives a deep understanding of the involved electrochemistry.

This Discussion Paper was commissioned by Zukunft ERDGAS to contribute to the debate concerning the deep decarbonisation of the European energy sector required to meet the Paris Agreement targets. Previous discussion papers have put forward decarbonisation pathways that rely heavily on ‘All-Electric’ solutions. These depend predominantly on renewable electricity to deliver decarbonisation of all sectors. This paper offers an alternative to an ‘All-Electric’ solution by building an alternative pathway that allows the inclusion of gas based technologies alongside the ‘All-Electric’ pathway technologies. The new pathway demonstrates that hydrogen from natural gas can be an essential complement to renewable electricity. The pathway also considers the benefits of utilising methane pyrolysis technology in Europe to produce zero carbon hydrogen.

Read the full report at this link

Hydrogen as an energy carrier is understood as a system capable of storing energy for a later use in a controlled manner. Surplus electricity from renewable energy serves for green hydrogen generation via electrolysis. Once produced the hydrogen is stored for later consumption. This paper describes the Spanish Case Study of the HyUnder project which aims to evaluate the potential of underground hydrogen storage for large-scale energy storage along Europe analysing besides the Spanish Case France Germany the Netherlands Romania and the United Kingdom. This case study has considered for the assessment the competitiveness of hydrogen storage against other large scale energy storage concepts the geological potential for hydrogen storage in the region how to embed the hydrogen energy storage in the energy market and the possible business cases in four different applications: transport Power to Gas re-electrification and industry taking into account all the economic aspects such us the electrolyser OPEX and CAPEX or the cavern electricity and water costs. It is shown that the Spanish geology can provide four technical options for hydrogen underground storage. Results have shown the interest of the technology in short – medium term especially linked to certain conditions of high intermittent renewable energy penetration in the Spanish power grid that result in surplus or residual electricity. Hydrogen storage is interesting because it can integrate renewable energy systems in other sectors which do not have overcapacity and a high use of fossil fuels as the natural gas sector and the transport sector. Moreover all the economic issues have been analysed for two different horizons 2025 and 2050; concluding that the average price of electricity is the main cost. From the financial results transport application represents a business case which although in order has enough values of hydrogen demand to be stored combination of different applications must be needed in order to make sense to the development of the cavern.

Fracture failure caused by hydrogen embrittlement (HE) is a major concern for the system reliability and safety of hydrogen storage vessels which are generally made of 2.25Cr1Mo0.25V steel. Thus study of the influence of pre-charged hydrogen on fracture toughness of as-received 2.25Cr1Mo0.25V steel and weld is of significant importance. In the current work the influence of hydrogen on fracture toughness of as-received 2.25Cr1Mo0.25V steel and weld was systematically studied. Base metal (BM) and weld metal (WM) specimens under both hydrogen-free and hydrogen-charged conditions were tested using three-point bending tests. Hydrogen was pre-charged inside specimens by the immersion charging method. The J-integral values were calculated for quantitatively evaluating the fracture toughness. In order to investigate the HE mechanisms optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to characterize the microstructure of BM and WM specimens. The results revealed that the presence of pre-charged hydrogen caused a significant decrease of the fracture toughness for both BM and WM specimens. Moreover the pre-charged hydrogen led to a remarkable transition of fracture mode from ductile to brittle pattern in 2.25Cr1Mo0.25V steel.

The effect of hydrogen on tensile behavior and fracture mechanisms of V-alloying and V-free high-nitrogen austenitic steels was evaluated. Two steels with the chemical compositions of Fe-23Cr–17Mn–0.1C–0.6N (0V-HNS) and Fe-19Cr–22Mn–1.5V–0.3C–0.9N (1.5V-HNS) were electrochemically hydrogen-charged in NaCl water-solution for 100 hours. According to X-ray diffraction analysis and TEM researches V-alloying promotes particle strengthening of the 1.5V-HNS. Despite differences in chemical compositions namely carbon and nitrogen concentrations a solid solution hardening is similar for both steels because of precipitate-assisted depletion of austenite by interstitial atoms (carbon and nitrogen) in 1.5V-HNS. For hydrogen-free state the values of the yield stress and the tensile strength are higher for particle-strengthened 1.5V-HNS as compared to 0V-HNS. Hydrogen-charging increases both the yield stress and the tensile strength of the steels but hydrogen-assisted fracture micromechanisms are different for 0V-HNS and 1.5V-HNS. Hydrogen-charging drastically reduces a total elongation in 0V-HNS but provides insufficient embrittlement in 1.5V-HNS. Hydrogen-assisted brittle layers form on lateral surfaces of the specimens and the widths and fracture micromechanisms in them are different for two steels. For 0V-HNS surface layers of 84 μm in width possess transgranular brittle fracture mechanism (quasi-cleavage mode). For 1.5V-HNS the brittle surface layers (31 μm width) destroy in intergranular brittle fracture mode. The central parts of steel specimens show dimple fracture similar to hydrogen-free steels. The possible reasons for different hydrogen-induced effects in 0V-HNS and 1.5V-HNS are discussed.

This paper evaluates the economic viability of a combined wind-based green-hydrogen facility from an investor’s viewpoint. The paper introduces a theoretical model and demonstrates it by example. The valuation model assumes that both the spot price of electricity and wind capacity factor evolve stochastically over time; these state variables can in principle be correlated. Besides it explicitly considers the possibility to use curtailed wind energy for producing hydrogen. The model derives the investment project’s net present value (NPV) as a function of hydrogen price and conversion capacity. Thus the NPV is computed for a given price and a range of capacities. The one that leads to the maximum NPV is the ‘optimal’ capacity (for the given price). Next the authors estimate the parameters underlying the two stochastic processes from Spanish hourly data. These numerical estimates allow simulate hourly paths of both variables over the facility’s expected useful lifetime (30 years). According to the results green hydrogen production starts becoming economically viable above 3 €/kg. Besides it takes a hydrogen price of 4.7 €/kg to reach an optimal conversion capacity half the capacity of the wind park. The authors develop sensitivity analyses with respect to wind capacity factor curtailment rate and discount rate.

This study investigates the global allocation of hydrogen and synfuels in order to achieve the well below 2 ◦C preferably 1.5 ◦C target set in the Paris Agreement. For this purpose TIMES Integrated Assessment Model (TIAM) a global energy system model is used. In order to investigate global hydrogen and synfuel flows cost potential curves are aggregated and implemented into TIAM as well as demand technologies for the end use sectors. Furthermore hydrogen and synfuel trades are established using liquid hydrogen transport (LH2 ) and both new and existing technologies for synfuels are implemented. To represent a wide range of possible future events four different scenarios are considered with different characteristics of climate and security of supply policies. The results show that in the case of climate policy the renewable energies need tremendous expansion. The final energy consumption is shifting towards the direct use of electricity while certain demand technologies (e.g. aviation and international shipping) require hydrogen and synfuels for full decarbonization. Due to different security of supply policies the global allocation of hydrogen and synfuel production and exports is shifting while the 1.5 ◦C target remains feasible in the different climate policy scenarios. Considering climate policy Middle East Asia is the preferred region for hydrogen export. For synfuel production several regions are competitive including Middle East Asia Mexico Africa South America and Australia. In the case of security of supply policies Middle East Asia is sharing the export volume with Africa while only minor changes can be seen in the synfuel supply.

The hydrogen compression cycle system recycles hydrogen compressed by a compressor at high pressure and stores it in a high-pressure container. Thermal stress is generated due to increase in the pressure and temperature of hydrogen in the hydrogen storage tank during the fast filing process. For the sake of safety it is of great practical significance to predict and control the temperature change in the tank. The hydrogen charging process in the storage tank of the hydrogen charging station was studied by experimentation and simulation. In this paper a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model for non-adiabatic real filling of a 50 MPa hydrogen cylinder was presented. In addition a shear stress transport (k-ω) model and real gas model were used in order to account for thermo-fluid dynamics during the filling of hydrogen storage tanks (50 MPa 343 L). Compared to the simulation results with the experimental data carried out under the same conditions the temperatures calculated from the simulated non-adiabatic condition results were lower (by 5.3%) than those from the theoretical adiabatic condition calculation. The theoretical calculation was based on the experimentally measured pressure value. The calculated simulation mass was 8.23% higher than the theoretical result. The results of this study will be very useful in future hydrogen energy research and hydrogen charging station developments.

The European steel industry is experiencing new challenges related to the market situation and climate policy. Experience from the period of pandemic restrictions and the effects of Russia’s armed invasion of Ukraine has given many countries a basis for including steel along with raw materials (coke iron ore electricity) in economic security products (CRMA). Steel is needed for economic infrastructure and construction development as well as a material for other industries (without steel factories will not produce cars machinery ships washing machines etc.). In 2022 steelmakers faced a deepening energy crisis and economic slowdown. The market situation prompted steelmakers to impose restrictions on production volumes (worldwide production fell by 4% compared to the previous year). Despite the difficult economic situation of the steel industry (production in EU countries fell by 11% in 2022 compared to the previous year) the EU is strengthening its industrial decarbonisation policy (“Fit for 55”). The decarbonisation of steel production is set to accelerate by 2050. To sharply reduce carbon emissions steel mills need new steelmaking technologies. The largest global steelmakers are already investing in new technologies that will use green hydrogen (produced from renewable energy sources). Reducing iron ore with hydrogen plasma will drastically reduce CO2 emissions (steel production using hydrogen could emit up to 95% less CO2 than the current BF + BOF blast furnace + basic oxygen furnace integrated method). Investments in new technologies must be tailored to the steel industry. A net zero strategy (deep decarbonisation goal) may have different scenarios in different EU countries. The purpose of this paper was to introduce the conditions for investing in low-carbon steelmaking technologies in the Polish steel market and to develop (based on expert opinion) scenarios for the decarbonisation of the Polish steel industry.

In this podcast David Ledesma talks with Rahmat Poudineh and Martin Palovic about their paper on integrating hydrogen into the European energy transfer infrastructure landscape. As hydrogen is expected to play an important role in European plans towards climate neutrality adequate hydrogen transport (and storage) infrastructure needs to be established. However hydrogen transport infrastructures are costly and have a long lead time. Furthermore hydrogen can be transported via a variety of means: it can be transported as a gas via pipelines or liquid via road rail and sea or even converted to derivatives such as ammonia or methanol for long distance transportation. It is also possible to transfer electrical energy instead of hydrogen and produce hydrogen in a decentralized way. From a system perspective all these infrastructures represent elements of a grand hydrogen ‘polygrid’ that will be the backbone of the future decarbonized energy system. This raises the fundamental question of how to prevent inefficiency and infrastructure redundancy across different modes of hydrogen transport. The task is made more challenging by technological uncertainty the unpredictability of future supply and demand for hydrogen network externality effects and investment irreversibility of grid-based infrastructures. In this podcast we discuss three possible coordination approaches to optimise future cross-sectoral investment into hydrogen transport infrastructure and highlight their strengths and shortcomings.

The podcast can be found on their website.

Hydrogen is one of the most promising power sources for meeting the aviation sector’s long-term decarbonization goals. Although on-board hydrogen systems namely fuel cells are extensively researched the maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) perspective remains mostly unaddressed. This paper analyzes fuel cells from an MRO standpoint based on a literature review and comparison with the automotive sector. It also examines how well the business models and key resources of MRO providers are currently suited to provide future MRO services. It is shown that fuel cells require extensive MRO activities and that these are needed to meet the aviation sector’s requirements for price safety and especially durability. To some extent experience from the automotive sector can be built upon particularly with respect to facility requirements and qualification of personnel. Yet MRO providers’ existing resources only partially allow them to provide these services. MRO providers’ underlying business models must adapt to the implementation of fuel cells in the aviation sector. MRO providers and services should therefore be considered and act as enablers for the introduction of fuel cells in the aviation industry.

The green hydrogen–electric coupling system can consume locally generated renewable energy thereby improving energy utilization and enabling zero-carbon power supply within a certain range. This study focuses on a green hydrogen–electric coupling system that integrates photovoltaic energy storage and proton exchange membrane electrolysis (PEME). Firstly the impact of operating temperature power quality and grid auxiliary services on the characteristics of the electrolysis cell is analyzed and a voltage model and energy model for the cell are established. Secondly a multi-operating conditions adaptability experiment for PEME grid-connected operation is designed. A test platform consisting of a grid simulator simulated photovoltaic power generation system lithium battery energy storage system PEME and measurement and acquisition device is then built. Finally experiments are conducted to simulate multi-operating conditions such as temperature changes voltage fluctuations frequency offsets harmonic pollution and current adjustment speed. The energy efficiency and consumption is calculated based on the recorded data and the results are helpful to guide the operation of the system.