Applications & Pathways

Polymer Electrolyte Membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) uses hydrogen as fuel to generate electricity and by-product water at relatively low operating temperatures which is environmentally friendly. Since PEMFC performance characteristics are inherently nonlinear and related predicting the best performance for the different operating conditions is essential to improve the system’s efficiency. Thus modeling using artificial neural networks (ANN) to predict its performance can significantly improve the capabilities of handling multi-variable nonlinear performance of the PEMFC. This paper predicts the electrical performance of a PEMFC stack under various operating conditions. The four input terms for the 5 W PEMFC include anode and cathode pressures and flow rates. The model performances are based on ANN using two different learning algorithms to estimate the stack voltage and power. The models have shown consistently to be comparable to the experimental data. All models with at least five hidden neurons have coefficients of determination of 0.95 or higher. Meanwhile the PEMFC voltage and power models have mean squared errors of less than 1 × 10−3 V and 1 × 10−3 W respectively. Therefore the model results demonstrate the potential use of ANN into the implementation of such models to predict the steady state behavior of the PEMFC system (not limited to polarization curves) for different operating conditions and help in the optimization process for achieving the best performance of the system.

The European steel industry aims at a CO2 reduction of 80–95% by 2050 ensuring that Europe will meet the requirements of the Paris Agreement. As the reduction potentials of the current steelmaking routes are low the transfer toward breakthrough-technologies is essential to reach these goals. Hydrogen-based steelmaking is one approach to realize CO2-lean steelmaking. Therefore the natural gas (NG)-based direct reduction (DR) acts as a basis for the first step of this transition. The high flexibility of this route allows the gradual addition of hydrogen and in a long-term view runs the process with pure hydrogen. Model-based calculations are performed to assess the possibilities for injecting hydrogen. Therefore NG- and hydrogen-based DR models are developed to create new process know-how and enable an evaluation of these processes in terms of energy demand CO2-reduction potentials and so on. The examinations show that the hydrogen-based route offers a huge potential for green steelmaking which is strongly depending on the carbon footprint of the electricity used for the production of hydrogen. Only if the carbon intensity is less than about 120 g CO2 kWh1 the hydrogen-based process emits less CO2 than the NG-based DR process.

An energy transition is in progress around the globe notably led by an increase in the deployment of renewable energy and a shift toward less emissions-intense options notably in the transportation sector. This research investigates the potential role that new transportation options namely flying vehicles may play toward progressing the energy transition. As flying vehicles are a relatively new technology yet to penetrate the market it is also prudent to consider the ethical legal and social issues (ELSI) associated with their implementation alongside the potential energy and environmental impacts. Through a review of ELSI and energy and environmental literature we identify research gaps and identify how flying vehicles may impact upon the energy transition over time. Our research identifies several critical aspects of both ELSI and energy and environmental academia relevant to the future deployment of flying vehicles and describes a deployment timeline and the resultant societal outcomes. We find that flying vehicles could drive the energy transition and the hydrogen economy and that their widespread adoption could engender shared socio-environmental benefits. Our findings are relevant to transportation and environmental policymakers and identify critical considerations for the planned introduction of new shared transportation options to the market conducive to a sustainable energy transition.

The European Union expects that hydrogen will play a vital role in future energy systems. Fuel cell electric vehicles currently present a key development path for electrification of the transport sector which requires infrastructure investments of hydrogen refueling stations preferably powered by renewables such as solar and wind energy. The economic feasibility of refueling stations depends on geographical locations. This study introduces a model to identify the key cost components of renewable hydrogen for refueling stations and simulates the performance using solar radiation wind speed and electricity price data in a selection of Swedish cities. The study demonstrates the importance of integrating the electricity grid in green hydrogen production. Wind speed is crucial in reducing the cost whereas solar radiation has less influence. In addition a combination of solar and wind brings better performance in an off-grid scenario. The most encouraging finding is the cost of 35e72 SEK/kg (3.5e7.2 V/kg) which is competitive with reported costs in other EUcountries especially since this cost excludes any government support scheme. The study provides a reference for investors and policy makers foreseeing the industrial landscape for hydrogen energy development.

To evaluate the functional reliability of the pyrotechnic igniter in the failure mode of unstable combustion at low temperature a reliability and reliability sensitivity analysis method based on the combination of an interior ballistic model and Kriging reliability method is proposed. Through the deterministic interior ballistic simulation the failure mode of low temperature unstable combustion of the pyrotechnic igniter is examined while the random variables are introduced to establish the ignition nonlinear implicit function of the pyrotechnic igniter. The ignition display function of the pyrotechnic igniter is established by the Kriging model which avoids the repeated calculation of true limit state function values. This study provides an efficient approach to evaluate the ignition reliability of the pyrotechnic igniter and compared with the traditional Monte Carlo method to verify the accuracy of the results. Finally reliability-based sensitivity indices are presented to quantify the significance of random parameters. It is shown that the influence of the uncertainties can be precisely described and the diameter of the nozzle plays a dominant role in ignition reliability. Additionally ignition experiments of nozzles with different diameters were performed to verify the result of sensitivity. This can further support the detailed design of the pyrotechnic igniter

Hydrogen is a promising zero-carbon fuel for internal combustion engines; however the geometric optimization of injectors for low-pressure direct-injection (LPDI) systems under lean-burn conditions remains underexplored. This study presents a high-fidelity optimization framework that couples a validated computational fluid dynamics (CFD) combustion model with a surrogate-assisted multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA). The CFD model was validated using particle image velocimetry (PIV) data from non-reacting flow experiments conducted in an optically accessible research engine developed by Sandia National Laboratories ensuring accurate prediction of in-cylinder flow structures. The optimization focused on two critical geometric parameters: injector hole count and injection angle. Partial indicated mean effective pressure (pIMEP) and in-cylinder NOx emissions were selected as conflicting objectives to balance performance and emissions. Adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) was employed to resolve transient in-cylinder flow and combustion dynamics with high spatial accuracy. Among 22 evaluated configurations including both capped and uncapped designs the injector featuring three holes at a 15.24◦ injection angle outperformed the baseline delivering improved mixture uniformity reduced knock tendency and lower NOx emissions. These results demonstrate the potential of geometrybased optimization for advancing hydrogen-fueled LPDI engines toward cleaner and more efficient combustion strategies.

A numerical study was conducted to investigate the effects of hydrogen and scavenging air temperature (SAT) on the combustion and emission characteristics of a 2-stroke heavy-duty dual-fuel (DF) marine engine at full load. The engine had a 700 mm bore fuelled with hydrogen–methane (H2-CH4) mixtures. Three-dimensional simulations of the combustion and emission formation inside the engine cylinder with various H2 contents in the H2-CH4 mixture were performed. ANSYS FLUENT simulation software was used to analyse the engine performance in-cylinder pressure temperature and emission characteristics. The CFD models were validated against the measured data recorded from the engine experiments. The results showed that an increase in the in-cylinder peak pressure increased the engine power when the H2 content in the H2-CH4 mixture increased. Notably CO2 and soot emissions decreased (up to more than 65%) when the H2 content in the gaseous mixture increased to 50%. Specific NO emissions in the DF modes were lower than that of the diesel mode when the H2 content in the gaseous mixture was lower than 40%. However they increased compared to the diesel mode when the H2 content continued to increase. This limits the H2 amount that should be used in a gaseous mixture creating NO emissions. The results also showed that the SAT cooling method can further reduce emission problems while enhancing engine power. In particular reducing the SAT to 28 ◦C in the gaseous mixture with 10% H2 ensured that the DF mode emitted the lowest NO emissions compared to the diesel mode. This reduced NO emissions by 37.92% compared to the measured NO emissions of the research engine (a Tier II marine engine). This study successfully analysed the benefits of using an H2-CH4 mixture as the primary fuel and the SAT cooling method in a 2-stroke ME-GI heavy-duty marine engine.

Hydrogen fuel cell technology is securing a place in the future of advanced mobility and the energy revolution as engineers explore multiple paths in the quest for decarbonization. The feasibility of hydrogen-based fuel cell vehicles particularly relies on the development of safe lightweight and cost-competitive solutions for hydrogen storage. After the demonstration of hundreds of prototype vehicles today commercial hydrogen tanks are in the first stages of market introduction adopting configurations that use composite materials. However production rates remain low and costs high. This paper intends to provide an insight into the evolving scenario of solutions for hydrogen storage in the transportation sector. Current applications in different sectors of transport are covered focusing on their individual requirements. Furthermore this work addresses the efforts to produce economically attractive composite tanks discussing the challenges surrounding material choices and manufacturing practices as well as cutting-edge trends pursued by research and development teams. Key issues in the design and analysis of hydrogen tanks are also discussed. Finally testing and certification requirements are debated once they play a vital role in industry acceptance.

Vehicles using a single fuel cell as a power source often have problems such as slow response and inability to recover braking energy. Therefore the current automobile market is mainly dominated by fuel cell hybrid vehicles. In this study the fuel cell hybrid commercial vehicle is taken as the research object and a fuel cell/ battery/supercapacitor energy topology is proposed and an energy management strategy based on a doubledelay deep deterministic policy gradient is designed for this topological structure. This strategy takes fuel cell hydrogen consumption fuel cell life loss and battery life loss as the optimization goals in which supercapacitors play the role of coordinating the power output of the fuel cell and the battery providing more optimization ranges for the optimization of fuel cells and batteries. Compared with the deep deterministic policy gradient strategy (DDPG) and the nonlinear programming algorithm strategy this strategy has reduced hydrogen consumption level fuel cell loss level and battery loss level which greatly improves the economy and service life of the power system. The proposed EMS is based on the TD3 algorithm in deep reinforcement learning and simultaneously optimizes a number of indicators which is beneficial to prolong the service life of the power system.

This paper presents a greedy energy management strategy based on model predictive control (MPC) for a stand-alone microgrid powered by photovoltaic (PV) arrays and equipped with batteries and a power-to-hydrogen-to-power (P2H2P) system. The proposed strategy consists of a day-ahead plan and an intra-day dispatch method. In the planning stage the sequence of plan is to determine the power of each storage device for a certain period which is initially generated under the principle that PV arrays have the highest priority followed by the batteries and finally the P2H2P system using short-term forecast data of both load and solar irradiance. The initial plan can be optimized with objectives of harvesting more PV generation in storage and minimizing unmet load through rescheduling P2H2P system and batteries. Three parameters including reserved capacity of batteries predischarge coefficient of fuel cell (FC) and greedy coefficient of electrolyzer (EL) are introduced during plan optimization process to enhance the robustness against forecast errors. In the dispatching stage the energy dispatch is subject to the scheduled plan and the operational constraints. To demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed strategy a case study is performed for a hotel with a mean power consumption of 1567 kWh/day based on the system configuration optimized by HOMER software in comparison with the load following (LF) strategy and the global optimum solution solved by mixed integer linear programing (MILP). The simulation results show that the annual unmet load using the proposed strategy is reduced from 13434 kWh to 2370 kWh which is 528 kWh lower than the optimum solution. Meanwhile the cost of energy (COE) of the proposed strategy decreases by US$ 0.08/kWh compared to the LF strategy and is equal to the optimum solution. Finally the performance of configuration optimization employing genetic algorithm (GA) under different energy management strategies is investigated with the objective function of minimizing the net present cost (NPC). Furthermore the robustness of the proposed strategy is studied. The results show that the proposed strategy gives an NPC and COE of US$ 2.4 million (Mn) and US$ 0.43/kWh which are 23.4% and 9.7% lower than those of systems utilizing the SoC-based strategy and the LF strategy respectively. The results also demonstrate that the strategy is robust against forecast errors especially for overestimated forecast models.

Hydrogen addition can improve the performance and extend the lean burn limit of gasoline engines. Different hydrogen injection strategies lead to different types of hydrogen mixture distribution (HMD) which affects the engine performance. Therefore the present study experimentally investigated the effects of hydrogen injection strategy on the combustion and emissions of a hydrogen/gasoline dual-fuel port-injection engine under lean-burn conditions. Four different hydrogen injection strategies were explored: hydrogen direct injection (HDI) forming a stratified hydrogen mixture distribution (SHMD); hydrogen intake port injection forming a premixed hydrogen mixture distribution (PHMD); split hydrogen direct injection (SHDI) forming a partially premixed hydrogen mixture distribution (PPHMD); and no hydrogen addition (NHMD). The results showed that 20% hydrogen addition could extend the lean burn limit from 1.5 to 2.8. With the increase in the excess air ratio the optimum HMD changed from PPHMD to SHMD. The maximum brake thermal efficiency was obtained with an excess air ratio of 1.5 with PPHMD. The coefficient of variation (COV) with NHMD was higher than that with hydrogen addition since the hydrogen enhanced the stability of ignition and combustion. The engine presented the lowest emissions with PHMD. There were almost no carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions when the excess air ratio was respectively more than 1.4 and 2.0.

Urban population and the trend towards online commerce leads to an increase in delivery solution in cities. The growth of the transport sector is very harmful to the environment being responsible for approximately 40% of greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union. The problem is aggravated when transporting perishable foodstuffs as the vehicle propulsion engine (VPE) must power not only the vehicle but also the refrigeration unit. This means that the VPE must be running continuously both on the road and stationary (during delivery) as the cold chain must be preserved. The result is costly (high fuel consumption) and harmful to the environment. At present refrigerated transport does not support full-electric solutions due to the high energy consumption required which motivates the work presented in this article. It presents a turnkey solution of a hydrogen-powered refrigeration system (HPRS) to be integrated into standard light trucks and vans for short-distance food transport and delivery. The proposed solution combines an air-cooled polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) a lithium-ion battery and low-weight pressurised hydrogen cylinders to minimise cost and increase autonomy and energy density. In addition for its implementation and integration all the acquisition power and control electronics necessary for its correct management have been developed. Similarly an energy management system (EMS) has been developed to ensure continuity and safety in the operation of the electrical system during the working day while maximizing both the available output power and lifetime of the PEMFC. Experimental results on a real refrigerated light truck provide more than 4 h of autonomy in intensive intercity driving profiles which can be increased if necessary by simply increasing the pressure of the stored hydrogen from the current 200 bar to whatever is required. The correct operation of the entire HPRS has been experimentally validated in terms of functionality autonomy and safety; with fuel savings of more than 10% and more than 3650 kg of CO2/ year avoided.

While electrification of light duty vehicles is becoming a real solution to abate local pollutant as well as greenhouse gases emission heavy duty applications (such as long distance freight and maritime transport) will keep requiring fuel-based propulsion systems. In these sectors dominated by compression ignition engines research on alternative biofuels and new combustion modes is still highly necessary. Dual-fuel combustion appears as a very promising concept to replace conventional diesel fuel by sustainable ones. Among the latter hydrogen-derived fuels (the so-called electrofuels or e-fuels) are maybe the most interesting. This work addresses the effect of partial substitution of diesel fuel by hydrogen and hydrogen-carriers (ammonia and methane) on the autoignition process under low temperature conditions. Tests were carried out in a constant volume combustion chamber at different temperatures (535 600 and 650 ◦C) and pressures (11 16 and 21 bar). While the cool flames timing and intensity was only slightly affected by the low reactivity fuel energy content the main ignition was delayed this effect being much more noticeable for ammonia followed by hydrogen and finally methane. Kinetic simulations showed a clear competition for active radicals between both fuels (diesel and low reactivity fuel). The combustion duration also increased with the hydrogen or hydrogen-carrier content which greatly points to the need of modifications in the injection strategy of compression ignition engines operating under dual mode. A correlation was proposed for estimating the autoignition delay time for dual-fuel lean combustion at low temperature.

In this paper hydrogen coupled with fuel cells and lithium-ion batteries are considered as alternative energy storage methods. Their application on a stationary system (i.e. energy storage for a family house) and a mobile system (i.e. an unmanned aerial vehicle) will be investigated. The stationary systems designed for off-grid applications were sized for photovoltaic energy production in the area of Turin Italy to provide daily energy of 10.25 kWh. The mobile systems to be used for high crane inspection were sized to have a flying range of 120 min one being equipped with a Li-ion battery and the other with a proton-exchange membrane fuel cell. The systems were compared from an economical point of view and a life cycle assessment was performed to identify the main contributors to the environmental impact. From a commercial point of view the fuel cell and the electrolyzer being niche products result in being more expensive with respect to the Li-ion batteries. On the other hand the life cycle assessment (LCA) results show the lower burdens of both technologies.

In the present study Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes simulations together with a novel flamelet generated manifold (FGM) hybrid combustion model incorporating preferential diffusion effects is utilised for the investigation of a hydrogen-blended diesel-hydrogen dual-fuel engine combustion process with high hydrogen energy share. The FGM hybrid combustion model was developed by coupling laminar flamelet databases obtained from diffusion flamelets and premixed flamelets. The model employed three control variables namely mixture fraction reaction progress variable and enthalpy. The preferential diffusion effects were included in the laminar flamelet calculations and in the diffusion terms in the transport equations of the control variables. The resulting model is then validated against an experimental diesel-hydrogen dual-fuel combustion engine. The results show that the FGM hybrid combustion model incorporating preferential diffusion effects in the flame chemistry and transport equations yields better predictions with good accuracy for the in-cylinder characteristics. The inclusion of preferential diffusion effects in the flame chemistry and transport equations was found to predict well several characteristics of the diesel-hydrogen dual-fuel combustion process: 1) ignition delay 2) start and end of combustion 3) faster flame propagation and quicker burning rate of hydrogen 4) high temperature combustion due to highly reactive nature of hydrogen radicals 5) peak values of the heat release rate due to high temperature combustion of the partially premixed pilot fuel spray with entrained hydrogen/air and then background hydrogen-air premixed mixture. The comparison between diesel-hydrogen dual-fuel combustion and diesel only combustion shows early start of combustion longer ignition delay time higher flame temperature and NOx emissions for dual-fuel combustion compared to diesel only combustion.

The use of hydrogen as energy carrier in a low emission microturbine could be an interesting option for renewable energy storage distributed generation and combined heat & power. However the hydrogen using in gas turbine is limited by the NOx emissions and the difficulty to operate safely. CFD simulations represent a powerful and mature tool to perform detailed 3-D investigation for the development of a prototype before carrying out an experimental analysis. This paper describes the CFD supported redesign of the Turbec T100 microturbine combustion chamber natural gas-fired to allow the operation on 100% hydrogen.

Hydrogen is considered one of the main gaseous fuels due to its ability to improve thermal performance in diesel engines. However its influence on the characteristics of lubricating oil is generally ignored. Thus in the present investigation an analysis of the effect on the physical and chemical properties of lubricating oil with mixtures of diesel fuel–hydrogen was carried out and the environmental impacts of this type of mixture were assessed. The development of the research was carried out using a diesel engine under four torque conditions (80 Nm 120 Nm 160 Nm and 200 Nm) and three hydrogen gas flow conditions (0.75 lpm 1.00 lpm and 1.25 lpm). From the results it was possible to demonstrate that the presence of hydrogen caused decreases of 3.50% 6.79% and 4.42% in the emissions of CO HC and smoke opacity respectively. However hydrogen further decreased the viscosity of the lubricating oil by 26%. Additionally hydrogen gas produced increases of 17.7% 29.27% 21.95% and 27.41% in metallic components such as Fe Cu Al and Cr respectively. In general hydrogen favors the contamination and oxidation of lubricating oil which implies a greater wear of the engine components. Due to the significantly negative impact of hydrogen on the lubrication system it should be considered due to its influence on the economic and environmental cost during the engine’s life cycle.

The presented article aims to design an educational test bench setup for smart grids and renewable energies with multiple features and techniques used in a microgrid. The test bench is designed for students laboratory engineers and researchers which enables electrical microgrid system studies and testing of new advanced control algorithms to optimize the energy efficiency. The idea behind this work is to design hybrid energy sources such as wind power solar photovoltaic power hydroelectric power hydrogen energy and different types of energy storage systems such as batteries pumped storage and flywheel integrating different electrical loads. The user can visualize the state of the components of each emulated scenario through an open-source software that interacts and communicates using OPC Unified Architecture protocol. The researchers can test and validate new solutions to manage the energy behavior in the grid using machine learning and optimization algorithms integrated in the software in form of blocks that can be modified and improved and then simulate the results. A model-based system of engineering is provided which describes the different requirements and case studies of the designed test bench respecting the open-source software and the frugal innovation features in which there is use of low-cost hardware and open-source software. The users obtain the opportunity to add new sources and new loads change software platforms and communicate with other simulators and equipment. The students can understand the different features of smart grids such as defect classification energy forecasting energy optimization and basics of production transmission and consumption.

In an era where the energy landscape is in constant transition energy leaders must pay attention to many different signals of change and distinguish key issues from the noise. The Issues Monitor identifies shifting patterns of connected issues which are shaping energy transitions.<br/>This report takes a focused look at the issues facing the energy transition in Europe using data collected by surveying over 40 leaders and shapers representing the European Transmission and Distributors Operators. This Issues Monitor outlines clear Action Priorities and Critical Uncertainties for different stakeholder groups mapping them out intuitively to promote a shared understanding of the issues. These maps also help identifiy regional variations understand differing areas of concern as well as follow the evolution of specific technology trends.<br/>Produced in partnership with ENTSO-E and E.DSO.

ISSUES MONITOR 2020: DECODING NEW SIGNALS OF CHANGE

The annual World Energy Issues Monitor provides unique insight into what energy policymakers CEOs and leading experts identify as Critical Uncertainties and Action Priorities. New this year the Issues Monitor also provides readers with the views of the individual customer detailing their perceptions of their role in the overall energy system. The Issues Monitor report includes a global issues map 58 country maps and six regional maps as well as perspectives from Future Energy Leaders (FEL) and energy innovators.

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

The 2020 global map incorporates all survey responses representing the views of over 3000 energy leaders from 104 countries. In this era of transition defined by decentralisation digitalisation and decarbonisation energy leaders must pay attention to many different signals of change and distinguish key issues from the noise. The Issues Monitor identifies shifting patterns of connected issues shaping energy transitions.

A NEW PULSE

The focus for the 2010s was about trying to automate and upgrade the energy system and set targets to move the energy transition forward. Digitalisation accelerated the transition of all sectors towards a more customer-centric environment. New policies and regulations were introduced to facilitate this transition and empower consumers. As a result the 2020s may very well be about realising those targets through a transition from activism to action.

TREND TRACKING: CCS

In comparing response from the Oil & Gas sector in 2015 with 2019 we found that almost half of respondents identified Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) as a high impact issue in 2019 up from about a third in 2015. CCS is increasingly being viewed as an essential option for continued hydrocarbon use although governmental support is needed to enable scalability and cost effectiveness.

A DIFFERENCE IN OPINION: NUCLEAR

Opinions remain polarised but in many European countries nuclear power is increasingly recognised as a carbon-free energy source and potentially an integral part of the future energy mix. In December 2019 the European Commission set a target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. There is qualified support among energy leaders to include nuclear energy to help create a carbon neutral continent and enable a just energy transition.

In this paper a novel process is developed to cogenerate 4741 kg/h of methanol 297.7 kW of electricity and 35.73 ton/h of hot water including a hydrogen purification system an absorption– compression refrigeration cycle (ACRC) a regenerative Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) and parabolic solar troughs. The heat produced in the methanol reactor is recovered in the ORC and ACRC. Parabolic solar troughs provide thermal power to the methanol distillation tower. Thermal efficiencies of the integrated structure and the liquid methanol production cycle are 78.14% and 60.91% respectively. The process’s total exergy efficiency and irreversibility are 89.45% and 16.89 MW. The solar thermal collectors take the largest share of exergy destruction (34%) followed by heat exchangers (30%) and mixers (19%). Based on the sensitivity analysis D17 (mixture of H2 and low-pressure fuel gas before separation) was the most influential stream affecting the performance of the process. With the temperature decline of stream D17 from −139 to −149 °C the methanol production rate and the total thermal efficiency rose to 4741.2 kg/h and 61.02% respectively. Moreover the growth in the hydrogen content from 55% to 80% molar of the feed gas the flow rate of liquid methanol and the total exergy efficiency declined to 4487 kg/h and 86.05%.

On average the shipping sector is responsible for 3% of annual global green-house gas emissions on a CO2-equivalent basis. International shipping represents around 9% of the global emissions associated with the transport sector.<br/>This report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) explores the impact of maritime shipping on CO2 emissions the structure of the shipping sector and key areas that need to be addressed to reduce the sector’s carbon footprint.<br/>There is no clear-cut path to decarbonisation. Cutting CO2 emissions in half is therefore likely to require a combination of approaches including the use of alternative fuels upgrading of onshore infrastructure and reducing fuel demand by improving operational performance the report finds.<br/>The shipping sector is strategically important for global efforts against climate change and could be crucial in the long-term shift to a zero-carbon economy. Large-scale deployment of low-carbon fuel infrastructure for shipping could also help to build the necessary momentum to decarbonise other sectors.

With the rapid development of hydrogen vehicle technology and large scale fuel cell vehicle (FCV) demonstration project worldwide more hydrogen refueling stations need to be built. Safety distances of hydrogen refueling stations have always been a public concern and have become a critical issue to further implementation of hydrogen station. In this paper safety distances for 35MPa and 70MPa gaseous hydrogen refueling station are evaluated on the basis of the maximum consequences likely to occur. Four typical consequences of hydrogen release are considered in modeling: physical explosion jet fire flash fire and confined vapor cloud explosion. Results show that physical explosion and the worst case of confined vapor cloud explosion produce the longest harm effect distances for instantaneous and continuous release respectively indicating that they may be considered as leading consequences for the determination of safety distances. For both 35MPa station and 70MPa station safety measures must be implemented because the calculated safety distances of most hydrogen facilities can not meet the criteria in national code if without sufficient mitigation measures. In order to reduce the safety distances to meet the national code some mitigation measures are investigated including elevation of hydrogen facilities using smaller vessel and pipe work and setting enclosure around compressors. Results show that these measures are effective to improve safety but each has different effectiveness on safety distance reduction. The combination of these safety measures may effectively eliminate the hazard of 35MPa station however may be not enough for 70MPa station. Further improvements need to be studied for compressors inside 70MPa station.

In this work we present the experimental results obtained from hydrogen fuelled spark-ignited dual piston free-piston engine generator (FPEG) prototype operated in two-stroke and four-stroke mode. The FPEG testing was successfully conducted at 3.7 compression ratio engine speed between 5 Hz and 11 Hz and with different equivalence ratios. The FPEG technical details experimental set-up and operational control are explained in detail. Performance indicators show that both equivalence ratio and engine speed affect the engine operation characteristics. For every set of specified FPEG parameters appropriate range of equivalence ratio is recommended to prevent unwanted disturbance to electric generator operation. Both two-stroke and four-stroke cycle mode were tested and the results showed different combustion characteristics with the two thermodynamic cycles. Four-stroke cycle mode could operate with indicated thermal efficiency gain up to 13.2% compared with the two-stroke cycle.

The FCH1JU and FCH2JU have proven effective in developing hydrogen technologies to a high Technology Readiness Level (TRL) allowing for large-scale deployment. Yet there is still an important work to be performed in terms of Research and Innovation in order to develop the next generation of products as well as technologies that did not reach a sufficiently high TRL to envisage a large-scale deployment.<br/><br/>Within the framework of the preparation of the foreseen Clean Hydrogen for Europe (the third public-private partnership continuation of the FCH2JU) Hydrogen Europe and Hydrogen Europe Research have prepared their Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) which is made of a set of approximately 20 roadmaps. This SRIA represents the view of the private partner and will be used as a basis to develop the Multi Annual Work Plan (MAWP) of the Clean Hydrogen for Europe partnership. The current version (July 2020) is the final draft that has been submitted to the European Commission.

Carbon-based nanocomposites have developed as the most promising and emerging materials in nanoscience and technology during the last several years. They are microscopic materials that range in size from 1 to 100 nanometers. They may be distinguished from bulk materials by their size shape increased surface-to-volume ratio and unique physical and chemical characteristics. Carbon nanocomposite matrixes are often created by combining more than two distinct solid phase types. The nanocomposites that were constructed exhibit unique properties such as significantly enhanced toughness mechanical strength and thermal/electrochemical conductivity. As a result of these advantages nanocomposites have been used in a variety of applications including catalysts electrochemical sensors biosensors and energy storage devices among others. This study focuses on the usage of several forms of carbon nanomaterials such as carbon aerogels carbon nanofibers graphene carbon nanotubes and fullerenes in the development of hydrogen fuel cells. These fuel cells have been successfully employed in numerous commercial sectors in recent years notably in the car industry due to their cost-effectiveness eco-friendliness and long-cyclic durability. Further; we discuss the principles reaction mechanisms and cyclic stability of the fuel cells and also new strategies and future challenges related to the development of viable fuel cells.

Offshore renewable energy – including offshore wind and solar power as well as emerging ocean energy technologies – could support sustainable long-term development and drive a vibrant blue economy. For countries and communities around the world offshore renewables can provide reliable stable electricity as well as support water desalination and aquaculture.

This report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) considers the status and prospects of offshore renewable sources and recommends key actions to accelerate their uptake.

The development of renewable sources and technologies at sea promises to spur new industries and create jobs in line with the global energy transition. Offshore wind towers with either fixed or floating foundations and floating solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays offer clear technological and logistical synergies with the existing offshore oil and gas industry.

Offshore renewables could provide clean power and ensure energy security for small island developing states (SIDS) and many of the least-developed countries (LDCs).

Among other findings:

• The predictability of power generation from ocean energy technologies complements the variable character solar PV and wind.
• Desalination of seawater using renewable energy sources – including solar and wind power but also direct solar and geothermal heat – can further enhance the sustainable blue economy.
• Renewable-based shipping powered with advanced biofuels hydrogen or synthetic fuels as alternatives to oil offer further synergies with offshore renewable energy.
• Islands and coastal territories could adopt renewable-based electric propulsion for short-distance (< 100 km) sea transport.
• Two reports released concurrently examine the potential for offshore renewables:

This study investigates the integration of water electrolysis technologies in fossil-free steelmaking via the direct reduction of iron ore followed by processing in an electric arc furnace (EAF). Hydrogen (H₂) production via low or high temperature electrolysis (LTE and HTE) is considered for the production of carbon-free direct reduced iron (DRI). The introduction of carbon into the DRI reduces the electricity demand of the EAF. Such carburization can be achieved by introducing carbon monoxide (CO) into the direct reduction process. Therefore the production of mixtures of H₂ and CO using either a combination of LTE coupled with a reverse water-gas shift reactor (rWGS-LTE) or high-temperature co-electrolysis (HTCE) was also investigated. The results show that HTE has the potential to reduce the specific electricity consumption (SEC) of liquid steel (LS) production by 21% compared to the LTE case. Nevertheless due to the high investment cost of HTE units both routes reach similar LS production costs of approximately 400 €/tonne LS. However if future investment cost targets for HTE units are reached a production cost of 301 €/tonne LS is attainable under the conditions given in this study. For the production of DRI containing carbon a higher SEC is calculated for the LTE-rWGS system compared to HTCE (4.80 vs. 3.07 MWh/tonne LS). Although the use of HTCE or LTE-rWGS leads to similar LS production costs future cost reduction of HTCE could result in a 10% reduction in LS production cost (418 vs. 375 €/tonne LS). We show that the use of HTE either for the production of pure H₂ or H₂ and CO mixtures may be advantageous compared to the use of LTE in H₂ -based steelmaking although results are sensitive to electrolyzer investment costs efficiencies and electricity prices.

The permanent introduction of green hydrogen into the energy economy would require that a discriminating selection be made of its use in the sectors where its value is optimal in terms of relative cost and life cycle reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. Consequently hydrogen can be used as an energy storage medium when intermittent wind and solar power exceed certain penetration in the grid likely above 40% and in road transportation right away to begin displacing gasoline and diesel fuels. To this end the proposed approach is to utilize current technologies represented by PHEV in light-duty and HEV in heavy-duty vehicles where a high-performance internal combustion engine is used with a fuel comprised of 15–20% green hydrogen and 85–89% green methane depending on vehicle type. This fuel designated as RHYME takes advantage of the best attributes of hydrogen and methane results in lower life cycle carbon dioxide emissions than BEVs or FCEVs and offers a cost-effective and pragmatic approach both locally as well as globally in establishing hydrogen as part of the energy economy over the next ten to thirty years.

In future energy supply systems hydrogen and electricity may be generated in decarbonized industrial clusters using a common infrastructure for natural gas supply electricity grid and transport and geological storage of CO_2. The novel contribution of this article consists of using sequential combustion in a steam methane reforming (SMR) hydrogen plant to allow for capital and operating cost reduction by using a single post-combustion carbon capture system for both the hydrogen process and the combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant plus appropriate integration for this new equipment combination. The concept would be widely applied to any post-combustion CO₂ capture process. A newly developed rigorous gPROMs model of two hydrogen production technologies covering a wide range of hydrogen production capacities thermodynamically integrated with commercially available gas turbine engines quantifies the step change in thermal efficiency and hydrogen production efficiency. It includes a generic post-combustion capture technology – a conventional 30%wt MEA process - to quantify the reduction in size of CO₂ absorber columns the most capital intensive part of solvent-based capture systems. For a conventional SMR located downstream of an H-class gas turbine engine followed by a three-pressure level HRSG and a capture plant with two absorbers the integrated system produces ca. 696400 Nm3/h of H₂ with a net power output of 651 MWe at a net thermal efficiency of 38.9%LHV. This corresponds to 34 MWe of additional power increasing efficiency by 4.9% points and makes one absorber redundant compared to the equivalent non-integrated system producing the same volume of H₂. For a dedicated gas heated reformer (GHR) located downstream of an aeroderivative gas turbine engine followed by a two-pressure level HRSG and a capture plant with one absorber the integrated system produces ca. 80750 Nm3/h of H₂ with a net power output of 73 MWe and a net thermal efficiency of 54.7%LHV. This corresponds to 13 MWe of additional power output increasing efficiency by 13.5% points and also makes one absorber redundant. The article also presents new insights for the design and operation of reformers integrated with gas turbines and with CO₂ capture.

In the transition to a climate neutral future the transportation sector needs to be sustainably decarbonized. Producing advanced fuels (such as biomethane) and bio-based valorised products (such as pyrochar) may offer a solution to significantly reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with energy and agricultural circular economy systems. Biological and thermochemical bioenergy technologies together with power to gas (P2G) systems can generate green renewable gas which is essential to reduce the GHG footprint of industry. However each technology faces challenges with respect to sustainability and conversion efficiency. Here this study identifies an optimal pathway leading to a sustainable bioenergy system where the carbon released in the fuel is offset by the GHG savings of the circular bio-based system. It provides a state-of-the-art review of individual technologies and proposes a bespoke circular cascading bio-based system with anaerobic digestion as the key platform integrating electro-fuels via P2G systems and value-added pyrochar via pyrolysis of solid digestate. The mass and energy analysis suggests that a reduction of 11% in digestate mass flow with the production of pyrochar bio-oil and syngas and an increase of 70% in biomethane production with the utilization of curtailed or constrained electricity can be achieved in the proposed bio-based system enabling a 70% increase in net energy output as compared with a conventional biomethane system. However the carbon footprint of the electricity from which the hydrogen is sourced is shown to be a critical parameter in assessing the GHG balance of the bespoke system.

Many railway vehicles use diesel as their energy source but exhaust emissions and concerns about economical fuel supply demand alternatives. Railway electrification is not cost effective for some routes particularly low-traffic density regional lines. The journey of a regional diesel–electric train is simulated over the British route Birmingham Moor Street to Stratford-upon-Avon and return to establish a benchmark for the conceptual design of a hydrogen-powered and hydrogen-hybrid vehicle. A fuel cell power plant compressed hydrogen at 350 and 700 bar and metal-hydride storage are evaluated. All equipment required for the propulsion can be accommodated within the space of the original diesel– electric train while not compromising passenger-carrying capacity if 700 bar hydrogen tanks are employed. The hydrogen trains are designed to meet the benchmark journey time of 94 min and the operating range of a day without refuelling. An energy consumption reduction of 34% with the hydrogen-powered vehicle and a decrease of 55% with the hydrogen-hybrid train are achieved compared with the original diesel–electric. The well-to-wheel carbon dioxide emissions are lower for the conceptual trains: 55% decrease for the hydrogen-powered and 72% reduction for the hydrogen-hybrid assuming that the hydrogen is produced from natural gas.

The environmental impact of the road transport sector together with urban freight transport growth has a notable repercussions in global warming health and economy. The need to reduce emissions caused by fossil fuel dependence and to foster the use of renewable energy sources has driven the development of zero-emissions powertrains. These clean transportation technologies are not only necessary to move people but to transport the increasing demand for goods and services that is currently taking place in the larger cities. Full electric battery-powered vans seem to be the best-placed solution to the problem. However despite the progress in driving range and recharge options those and other market barriers remain unsolved and the current market share of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) is not significant. Based on the development of hydrogen fuel cell stacks this work explains an emerging powertrain architecture concept for N1 class type vans that combines a battery-electric configuration with a fuel cell stack powered by hydrogen that works as a range extender (FC-EREV). A literature review is conducted with the aim to shed light on the possibilities of this hybrid light-duty commercial van for metropolitan delivery tasks providing insights into the key factors and issues for sizing the powertrain components and fuel management strategies to meet metropolitan freight fleet needs.

The European Union set a 2050 decarbonization target in the Paris Agreement to reduce carbon emissions by 90–95% relative to 1990 emission levels. The path toward achieving those deep decarbonization targets can take various shapes but will surely include a portfolio of economy-wide low-carbon energy technologies/options. The growth of the intermittent renewable power sources in the grid mix has helped reduce the carbon footprint of the electric power sector. Under the need for decarbonizing the electric power sector we simulated a low-carbon power system. We investigated the role of hydrogen for future electric power systems under current cost projections. The model optimizes the power generation mix economically for a given carbon constraint. The generation mix consists of intermittent renewable power sources (solar and wind) and dispatchable gas turbine and combined cycle units fuelled by natural gas with carbon capture and sequestration as well as hydrogen. We created several scenarios with battery storage options pumped hydro hydrogen storage and demand-side response (DSR). The results show that energy storage replaces power generation and pumped hydro entirely replaces battery storage under given conditions. The availability of pumped hydro storage and demand-side response reduced the total cost as well as the combination of solar photovoltaic and pumped hydro storage. Demand-side response reduces relatively costly dispatchable power generation reduces annual power generation halves the shadow carbon price and is a viable alternative to energy storage. The carbon constrain defines the generation mix and initializes the integration of hydrogen (H₂). Although the model rates power to gas with hydrogen as not economically viable in this power system under the given conditions and assumptions hydrogen is important for hard-to-abate sectors and enables sector coupling in a real energy system. This study discusses the potential for hydrogen beyond this model approach and shows the differences between cost optimization models and real-world feasibility.

Steelmaking is responsible for around 7% of the global emissions of carbon dioxide and new steelmaking processes are necessary to reach international climate targets. As a response to this steelmaking processes based on the direct reduction of iron ore by hydrogen produced via water electrolysis powered by renewable electricity have been suggested. Here we present a novel variant of hydrogen-based steelmaking incorporating methanol as a hydrogen and carbon carrier together with high-temperature co-electrolysis of water and carbon dioxide and biomass oxy-fuel combustion. The energy and mass balances of the process are analyzed. It is found that this methanol-based direct reduction process may potentially offer a number of process-related advantages over a process based on pure hydrogen featuring several process integration options. Notably the electricity and total energy use of the steelmaking process could be reduced by up to 25% and 8% compared to a reference pure hydrogen process respectively. The amount of high-temperature (> 200 °C) heat that must be supplied to the process could also be reduced by up to approximately 34% although the demand for medium-temperature heat is substantially increased. Furthermore the suggested process could allow for the production of high-quality direct reduced iron with appropriate carburization to alleviate downstream processing in an electric arc furnace which is not the case for a process based on pure hydrogen.

As one of the most promising alternative fuels hydrogen is expected with high hopes. The electrolysis of water is regarded as the cleanest and most efficient method of hydrogen production. Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) is deemed as one of the most promising alternatives HER catalysts owing to its high catalytic activity and low cost. Its continuous production and efficient preparation become the key problems in future industrial production. In this work we first developed a continuous micro-reaction approach with high heat and mass transfer rates to synthesize few-layer MoS2 nanoplates with abundant active sites. The defective MoS2 ultrathin nanoplates exhibit excellent HER performance with an overpotential of 260 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm-2 small Tafel slope (53.6 mV dec-1) and prominent durability which are comparable to most reported MoS2 based catalysts. Considering the existence of continuous devices it’s suitable for the synthesis of MoS2 as high-performance electrocatalysts for the industrial water electrolysis. The novel preparation method may open up a new way to synthesize all two-dimension materials toward HER.

Hydrogen is an essential element in the energy transition and can account for 24% of final energy demand and 5.4m jobs by 2050 says the new study by the FCH JU “Hydrogen Roadmap Europe: A sustainable pathway for the European Energy Transition“. Developed with input from 17 leading European industrial actors the study lays out a pathway for the large-scale deployment of hydrogen and fuel cells until 2050 and quantifies the associated socio-economic impacts.<br/>The report makes the case that hydrogen is required to address the challenges ahead. At scale decarbonisation of key segments such as the gas grid transport (particularly as relates to heavy duty vehicles) industrial processes that use high-grade heat and hydrogen as chemical feedstock require the use of hydrogen in large quantities.<br/>In addition the electrification of the economy and the large scale integration of intermittent renewable energy sources require large scale energy storage enabling seasonal storage and the efficient transport of clean energy across regions at low cost. Hydrogen is the only at scale technology capable of addressing all of these challenges.<br/>Importantly there will be important socio-economic and environmental benefits associated with this deployment such as an EUR 820B per year market and a total of 560Mt CO2 abated. The report lays out a roadmap for the ramp-up of market deployment across applications setting specific milestones between now and 2050. It also calls for a coordinated approach from policy makers industry and investors in order to achieve the 2-degree scenario.

Cleavage of aromatic ether bonds through hydrogenolysis is one of the most promising routes for depolymerisation and transformation of lignin into value-added chemicals. Instead of using pressurized hydrogen gas as hydrogen source some reductive organic molecules such as methanol ethanol isopropanol as well as formates and formic acid can serve as hydrogen donor is the process called catalytic transfer hydrogenolysis. This is an emerging and promising research field but there are very few reports. In this paper a comprehensive review of the works is presented on catalytic transfer hydrogenolysis of lignin and lignin model compounds aiming to breakdown the aromatic ethers including α-O-4 β-O-4 and 4-O-5 linkages with focus on reaction mechanisms. The works are organised regarding to different hydrogen donors used to gain an in-depth understanding of the special role of various hydrogen donors in this process. Perspectives on current challenges and opportunities of future research to develop catalytic transfer hydrogenolysis as a competitive and unique strategy for lignin valorisation are also provided.

While current climate targets demand substantial reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions the potentials to further reduce carbon dioxide emissions in traditional primary steel-making are limited. One possible solution that is receiving increasing attention is the direct reduction (DR) technology operated either with renewable hydrogen (H2) from electrolysis or with conventional natural gas (NG). DR technology makes it possible to decouple steel and hydrogen production by temporarily using overcapacities to produce and store intermediary products during periods of low renewable electricity prices or by switching between H2 and NG. This paper aims to explore the impact of this decoupling on overall costs and the corresponding dimensioning of production and storage capacities. An optimization model is developed to determine the least-cost operation based on perfect-foresight. This model can determine the minimum costs for optimal production and storage capacities under various assumptions considering fluctuating H2 and NG prices and increasing H2 shares. The model is applied to a case study for Germany and covers the current situation the medium term until 2030 and the long term until 2050. Under the assumptions made the role of using direct reduced iron (DRI) storage as a buffer seems less relevant. DRI mainly serves as long-term storage for several weeks similar to usual balancing storage capacities. Storing H2 on the contrary is used for short-term fluctuations and could balance H2 demand in the hourly range until 2050. From an economic perspective DRI production using NG tends to be cheaper than using H2 in the short term and potential savings from the flexible operation with storages are small at first. However in the long term until 2050 NG and H2 could achieve similar total costs if buffers are used. Otherwise temporarily occurring electricity price spikes imply substantial increases in total costs if high shares of H2 need to be achieved.

Hydrogen is widely produced and used for our day-to-day needs. It has also the potential to be used as fuel for industry or can be used as an energy carrier for stationary power. Hydrogen can be produced by different processes like from fossil fuels (Steam methane reforming coal gasification cracking of natural gas); renewable resources (electrolysis wind etc.); nuclear energy (thermochemical water splitting). In this paper few processes have been discussed briefly. Cracking of methane has been given special emphasis in this review for production of hydrogen. There are mainly two types of cracking non-catalytic and catalytic. Catalytic cracking of methane is governed mainly by finding a suitable catalyst; its generation deactivation activation and filament formation for the adsorption of carbon particles (deposited on metal surface); study of metallic support which helps in finding active sites of the catalyst for the reaction to proceed easily. Non-catalytic cracking of methane is mainly based on thermal cracking. Moreover several thermal cracking processes with their reactor configurations have been discussed.

Hydrogen has received tremendous global attention as an energy carrier and an energy storage system. Hydrogen carrier introduces a power to hydrogen (P2H) and power to hydrogen to power (P2H2P) facility to store the excess energy in renewable energy storage systems with the facts of large-scale storage capacity transportability and multiple utilities. This work examines the techno-economic feasibility of hybrid solar photovoltaic (PV)/hydrogen/fuel cell-powered cellular base stations for developing green mobile communication to decrease environmental degradation and mitigate fossil-fuel crises. Extensive simulation is carried out using a hybrid optimization model for electric renewables (HOMER) optimization tool to evaluate the optimal size energy production total production cost per unit energy production cost and emission of carbon footprints subject to different relevant system parameters. In addition the throughput and energy efficiency performance of the wireless network is critically evaluated with the help of MATLAB-based Monte-Carlo simulations taking multipath fading system bandwidth transmission power and inter-cell interference (ICI) into consideration. Results show that a more stable and reliable green solution for the telecommunications sector will be the macro cellular basis stations driven by the recommended hybrid supply system. The hybrid supply system has around 17% surplus electricity and 48.1 h backup capacity that increases the system reliability by maintaining a better quality of service (QoS). To end the outcomes of the suggested system are compared with the other supply scheme and the previously published research work for justifying the validity of the proposed system.

On this weeks episode the team are talking all things hydrogen with Craig Scott the Group Manager for Toyota North America a global automotive giant and a recognised pioneer in the field of fuel cell mobility. On the show we get into the story of Toyota’s roll out of fuel cell mobility solutions in North America the challenges and opportunities that fuel cell vehicles can offer in the hydrogen market and the challenges around infrastructure. Importantly we also dive into the scaling up work that Toyota is undertaking and some of its plans for next steps on the mission to become the world’s leader in fuel cell mobility solutions. All this and more on the show!

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“Linking the power and transport sectors—Part 1” describes the general principle of “sector coupling” (SC) develops a working definition intended of the concept to be of utility to the international scientific community contains a literature review that provides an overview of relevant scientific papers on this topic and conducts a rudimentary analysis of the linking of the power and transport sectors on a worldwide EU and German level. The aim of this follow-on paper is to outline an approach to the modelling of SC. Therefore a study of Germany as a case study was conducted. This study assumes a high share of renewable energy sources (RES) contributing to the grid and significant proportion of fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) in the year 2050 along with a dedicated hydrogen pipeline grid to meet hydrogen demand. To construct a model of this nature the model environment “METIS” (models for energy transformation and integration systems) we developed will be described in more detail in this paper. Within this framework a detailed model of the power and transport sector in Germany will be presented in this paper and the rationale behind its assumptions described. Furthermore an intensive result analysis for the power surplus utilization of electrolysis hydrogen pipeline and economic considerations has been conducted to show the potential outcomes of modelling SC. It is hoped that this will serve as a basis for researchers to apply this framework in future to models and analysis with an international focus.

Decarbonizing aviation is a big challenge. It is one of the most carbon intensive business sectors in the modern world and change comes slowly to the aviation industry. Hydrogen and fuel cell technologies offer a pathway to decarbonize regional flights in the not-so-distant future and big names are looking at potential solutions for long-haul flights in the longer term. But even if we build the aircraft that can use hydrogen as a fuel how do we get the fuel to them in a timely reliable and cost-efficient way?

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The achievement of a carbon-free emissions economy is one of the main goals to reduce climate change and its negative effects. Scientists and technological improvements have followed this trend improving efficiency and reducing carbon and other compounds that foment climate change. Since the main contributor of these emissions is transportation detaching this sector from fossil fuels is a necessary step towards an environmentally friendly future. Therefore an evaluation of alternative fuels will be needed to find a suitable replacement for traditional fossil-based fuels. In this scenario hydrogen appears as a possible solution. However the existence of the drawbacks associated with the application of H2 -ICE redirects the solution to dual-fuel strategies which consist of mixing different fuels to reduce negative aspects of their separate use while enhancing the benefits. In this work a new combustion modelling approach based on machine learning (ML) modeling is proposed for predicting the burning rate of different mixtures of methane (CH4 ) and hydrogen (H2). Laminar flame speed calculations have been performed to train the ML model finding a faster way to obtain good results in comparison with actual models applied to SI engines in the virtual engine model framework.

Carbon efficiency of a biomass to liquid process can be increased from ca. 30 to more than 90% by adding hydrogen generated from renewable power. The main reason is that in order to increase the H2/CO ratio after gasification to the value required for Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis the water gas shift reaction step can be avoided; instead a reversed water gas shift reactor is introduced to convert produced CO2 to CO. Process simulations are done for a 46 t/h FT biofuel production unit. Previous results are confirmed and it is shown how the process can be further improved. The effect of changing the H2/CO ratio to the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis reactors is studied with the use of three different kinetic models. Keeping the CO conversion in the reactors constant at 55% the volume of the reactors decreases with increasing H2/CO ratio because the reaction rates increase with the partial pressure of hydrogen. Concurrently the production of C5+ products and the consumption of hydrogen increases. However the power required per extra produced liter fuel also increases pointing at optimum conditions at a H2/CO feed ratio significantly lower than 2. The trends are the same for all three kinetic models although one of the models is less sensitive to the hydrogen partial pressure. Finally excess renewable energy can be transformed to FT syncrude with an efficiency of 0.8–0.88 on energy basis.

The development of hydrogen energy is an effective solution to the energy and environmental crisis. Hydrogen fuel cells and energy storage cells as hybrid power have broad application prospects in the field of vehicle power. Energy management strategies are key technologies for fuel cell hybrid systems. The traditional optimization strategy is generally based on optimization under the global operating conditions. The purpose of this project is to develop a power allocation optimization method based on real-time load forecasting for fuel cell/lithium battery hybrid electric vehicles which does not depend on specific working conditions or causal control methods. This paper presents an energy-management algorithm based on real-time load forecasting using GRU neural networks to predict load requirements in the short time domain and then the local optimization problem for each predictive domain is solved using a method based on Pontryagin’s minimum principle (PMP). The algorithm adopts the idea of model prediction control (MPC) to transform the global optimization problem into a series of local optimization problems. The simulation results show that the proposed strategy can achieve a good fuel-saving control effect. Compared with the rule-based strategy and equivalent hydrogen consumption strategy (ECMS) the fuel consumption is lower under two typical urban conditions. In the 1800 s driving cycle under WTCL conditions the fuel consumption under the MPC-PMP strategy is 22.4% lower than that based on the ECMS strategy and 10.3% lower than the rules-based strategy. Under CTLT conditions the fuel consumption of the MPC-PMP strategy is 13.12% lower than that of the rule-based strategy and 3.01% lower than the ECMS strategy.

On this weeks episode the team are talking all things hydrogen with Maryline Daviaud Lewett Director of Business Development for Transformative Technologies at Black & Veatch (B&V). On the show we discuss the role that Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) firms are playing in developing hydrogen and fuel cell infrastructure as well as discussing the unique aspects of developing projects in North America. As the leading EPC for hydrogen refuelling stations in North America and a wealth of experience across electric vehicle charging and hydrogen Maryline brings a uniquely well rounded perspective to the discussion and shares a wealth of insights for how the market may evolve. All this and more on the show!

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‘E-fuels’ or ‘synthetic fuels’ are hydrocarbon fuels synthesized from hydrogen (H2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) where H2 can be produced via electrolysis of water or steam reforming of natural gas and CO2 is captured from the combustion of a fossil or biogenic source or directly from the atmosphere. E-fuels are drop-in substitutes for fossil fuels but their climate change mitigation benefits are largely unclear. This study evaluates the climate change impacts of e-fuels for aviation by combining different sources of CO2 and H2 up to 2050 under two contrasting policy scenarios. The analysis includes different climate metrics and the effects of near-term climate forcers which are particularly relevant for the aviation sector. Results are produced for European average conditions and for Poland and Norway two countries with high and low emission intensity from their electricity production mix. E-fuels can either have higher or lower climate change impacts than fossil fuels depending on multiple factors such as in order of importance the electricity mix the origin of CO2 the technology for H2 production and the electrolyzer efficiency. The climate benefits are generally higher for e-fuels produced from CO2 of biogenic origin while e-fuels produced from CO2 from direct air capture or fossil fuel combustion require countries with clean electricity to outperform fossil fuels. Synthetic fuels produced from H2 derived from natural gas have higher impacts than fossil fuels even when coupled with carbon capture and storage if CO2 is sourced from fossil fuels or the atmosphere. Climate change impacts of e-fuels improve in the future and they can all achieve considerable climate change mitigation in 2050 relative to fossil jet fuel provided that strict climate policy measures are implemented to decarbonize the electricity sector. Under reduced policy efforts future climate impacts in 2050 of e-fuels from atmospheric or fossil CO2 are still higher than those of fossil jet fuels with an average European electricity mix. This study shows the conditions to maximize the climate change mitigation benefits of e-fuels which essentially depend on progressive decarbonization of the electricity sector and on reduced use of CO2 sourced from fossil fuels.

Research into novel internal combustion engines requires consideration of the diversity in future fuels in an attempt to reduce drastically CO2 emissions from vehicles and promote energy sustainability. Hydrogen has been proposed as a possible fuel for future internal combustion engines and can be produced from renewable sources. Hydrogen’s wide flammability range allows higher engine efficiency than conventional fuels with both reduced toxic emissions and no CO2 gases. Most previous work on hydrogen engines has focused on spark-ignition operation. The current paper presents results from an optical study of controlled autoignition (or homogeneous charge compression ignition) of hydrogen in an engine of latest spark-ignition pentroof combustion chamber geometry with direct injection of hydrogen (100 bar). This was achieved by a combination of inlet air preheating in the range 200–400 C and residual gas recirculated internally by negative valve overlap. Hydrogen fuelling was set to various values of equivalence ratio typically in the range / = 0.40–0.63. Crank-angle resolved flame chemiluminescence images were acquired for a series of consecutive cycles at 1000 RPM in order to calculate in-cylinder rates of flame expansion and motion. Planar Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF) of OH was also applied to record more detailed features of the autoignition pattern. Single and double (i.e. ‘split’ per cycle) hydrogen injection strategies were employed in order to identify the effect of mixture preparation on autoignition’s timing and spatial development. An attempt was also made to review relevant in-cylinder phenomena from the limited literature on hydrogen-fuelled spark-ignition optical engines and make comparisons were appropriate.