Belgium

Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) water electrolysis has demonstrated its potentialities in terms of cell efficiency (energy consumption ≈ 4.0-4.2 kW/Nm3 H2) and gas purity (> 99.99% H2). Current research activities are aimed at increasing operating pressure up to several hundred bars for direct storage of hydrogen in pressurized vessels. Compared to atmospheric pressure electrolysis high-pressure operation yields additional problems especially with regard to safety considerations. In particular the rate of gases (H2 and O2) cross-permeation across the membrane and their water solubility both increase with pressure. As a result gas purity is affected in both anodic and cathodic circuits and this can lead to the formation of explosive gas mixtures. To prevent such risks two different solutions reported in this communication have been investigated. First the chemical modification of the solid polymer electrolyte in order to reduce cross-permeation phenomena. Second the use of catalytic H2/O2 recombiners to maintain H2 levels in O2 and O2 levels in H2 at values compatible with safety requirements.

The paper presents HyResponse project i.e. a European Hydrogen Safety Training Platform that targets to train First responders to acquire professional knowledge and skills to contribute to FCH permitting process as approving authority. The threefold training program is described: educational training operational-level training on mock-up real scale transport and hydrogen stationary installations and innovative virtual training exercises reproducing entire accident scenarios. The paper highlights how the three pilot sessions for European First Responders in a face to face mode will be organized to get a feedback on the training program. The expected outputs are also presented i.e. the Emergency Response Guide and a public website including teaching material and online interactive virtual training.

The Programme Review Report ensures that the FCH JU programme is aligned with its strategy and objectives. This year the programme review was performed following a new procedure: it was carried out by the European Commission’s in-house science service the Joint Research Committee (JRC). The 2017 review pays particular attention to the added value effectiveness and efficiency of FCH JU activities. The review is structured around six panels under three pillars: transport energy and cross-cutting projects summarising the FCH JU Project Portfolio

This report shows that low-carbon hydrogen supply at scale is economically and environmentally feasible and will have significant societal benefits if the right localised approach and best-practices for production are used. The report also demonstrates that there is not one single hydrogen production pathway to achieve low lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions but rather the need for a fact-based approach that leverages regional resources and includes a combination of different production pathways. This will achieve both emission and cost reductions ultimately helping to decarbonize the energy system and limit global warming.

In 2020 more than 15 countries launched major hydrogen plans and policies and industry players announced new projects of more than 35GW until 2030. As this hydrogen momentum accelerates it is increasingly clear that decision makers must put the focus on decarbonization to ensure hydrogen can fulfil its potential as a key solution in the global clean energy transition making a significant contribution to net zero emissions. To support this effort the two-part Hydrogen Council report provides new data based on an assessment of the GHG emissions generated through different hydrogen supply pathways and the lifecycle GHG emissions for different hydrogen applications (see report part 1 – A Life-cycle Assessment). In addition the report explores 3 hypothetical hydrogen supply scenarios to measure the feasibility and impact of deploying renewable and low-carbon hydrogen at scale (report part 2 – Potential Supply Scenarios).

The report outlines that there are many ways of producing hydrogen and although GHG emissions vary widely very high CO2 savings can be achieved across a broad range of different hydrogen production pathways and end-uses. For example while “green” hydrogen produced through water electrolysis with renewable power achieves the lowest emissions “blue” hydrogen produced from natural gas with high CO2 capture rate and storage can also achieve low emissions if best technologies are used and best practices are followed. Across eight illustrative pathways explored in the report analysis shows that if hydrogen is used significant GHG emission reductions can be made: as much as 60-90% or more compared to conventional fossil alternatives. The study also looked into the gross water demand of hydrogen supply pathways. Water electrolysis has a very low specific water demand of 9 kg per kg of hydrogen compared to cooling of thermal power plants (hundreds of kg/kg) or biomass cultivation (hundreds to thousands of kg/kg).

Furthermore low-carbon hydrogen supply at scale is fully achievable. Having investigated two hypothetical boundary scenarios (a “green-only” and a “blue-only” scenario) to assess the feasibility and impact of decarbonized hydrogen supply the report found that both scenarios are feasible: they are not limited by the world’s renewables potential or carbon sequestration (CCS) capacities and they do not exceed the speed at which industry can scale. In the Hydrogen Council’s “Scaling up” study a demand of 21800 TWh hydrogen has been identified for the year 2050. To achieve this a compound annual growth rate of 30-35% would be needed for electrolysers and CCS. This deployment rate is in line with the growth of the offshore wind and solar PV industry over the last decade.

Hydrogen Council data released in January 2020 showed that a wide range of hydrogen applications can become competitive by 2030 driven also by falling costs of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen[1]. The new study indicates that a combination of “green” and “blue” production pathways would lead to hydrogen cost reductions relative to either boundary scenario. By making use of the near-term cost advantage of “blue” while also scaling up “green” hydrogen as the most cost-efficient option in many regions in the medium and long-term the combined approach lowers average hydrogen costs between now and 2050 relative to either boundary scenario.

Part 1 – A Life-cycle Assessment

• The life-cycle assessment (LCA) analysis in this study addresses every aspect of the supply chain from primary energy extraction to end use. Eight primary-energy-to-hydrogen value chains have been selected for illustrative purposes.
• Across the hydrogen pathways and applications depicted very high to high GHG emission reduction can be demonstrated using green (solar wind) and blue hydrogen.
• In the LCA study renewables + electrolysis shows strongest GHG reduction of the different hydrogen supply pathways assessed in this study with a best-case blue hydrogen pathway also coming into the same order of magnitude.

Part 2 – Potential Supply Scenarios

• Currently the vast majority of hydrogen is produced by fossil pathways. To achieve a ten-fold build-out of hydrogen supply by 2050 as envisaged by the Hydrogen Council in its ‘Scaling Up’ report (2017) the existing use of hydrogen – and all its many potential new roles – need to be met by decarbonized sources.
• Three hypothetical supply scenarios with decarbonized hydrogen sources are considered in the study: 1) a “green-only” renewables-based world; 2) a “blue-only” world relying on carbon sequestration; and 3) a combined scenario that uses a region-specific combination of green and blue hydrogen based on the expected regional cost development of each source.
• The study finds that a decarbonized hydrogen supply is possible regardless of the production pathway: while both the green and blue boundary scenario would be highly ambitious regarding the required speed of scale-up they do not exceed the world’s resources on either renewable energy or carbon sequestration capabilities.
• A combination of production pathways would result in the least-cost global supply over the entire period of scale-up. It does so by making best use of the near-term cost advantage of “blue” in some regions while simultaneously achieving a scale-up in electrolysis.
• In reality the decarbonized supply scenario will combine a range of different renewable and low-carbon hydrogen production pathways that are optimally suited to local conditions political and societal preferences and regulations as well as industrial and cost developments for different technologies.

You can download the full reports from the Hydrogen Council website

Hydrogen Council Report- Decarbonization Pathways Part 1: Life Cycle Assessment here

Hydrogen Council Report-Decarbonization Pathways Part 2: Supply Scenarios here

An executive summary of the whole project can be found here

This paper addresses how a global climate target may influence iron and steel production technology deployment and scrap use. A global energy system model ETSAP-TIAM was used and a Scrap Availability Assessment Model (SAAM) was developed to analyse the relation between steel demand recycling and the availability of scrap and their implications for steel production technology choices. Steel production using recycled materials has a continuous growth and is likely to be a major route for steel production in the long run. However as the global average of in-use steel stock increases up to the current average stock of the industrialised economies global steel demand keeps growing and stagnates only after 2050. Due to high steel demand levels and scarcity of scrap more than 50% of the steel production in 2050 will still have to come from virgin materials. Hydrogen-based steel production could become a major technology option for production from virgin materials particularly in a scenario where Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is not available. Imposing a binding climate target will shift the crude steel price to approximately 500 USD per tonne in the year 2050 provided that CCS is available. However the increased prices are induced by CO₂ prices rather than inflated production costs. It is concluded that a global climate target is not likely to influence the use of scrap whereas it shall have an impact on the price of scrap. Finally the results indicate that energy efficiency improvements of current processes will only be sufficient to meet the climate target in combination with CCS. New innovative techniques with lower climate impact will be vital for mitigating climate change.

The main goal of the project is to enable the wide adoption of H2NG (hydrogen in natural gas) blends by closing knowledge gaps regarding technical impacts on residential and commercial gas appliances. The project consortium will identify and recommend appropriate codes and standards that should be adapted to answer the needs and develop a strategy for addressing the challenges for new and existing appliances.<br/>This deliverable on market segmentation is part of work package 2 and provides a quantitative segmentation of the gas appliance market in terms of appliance population numbers. It therefore prepares the project partners to perform the subsequent selection of the most representative product types to be tested in the laboratories of the THyGA partners.<br/>The classification is developed to categorise appliances installed in the field based on available statistics calculation methods and estimations. As a result appliance populations are provided for each technology segment that draw a representative picture of the installed end-use appliances within the European Union in 2020.

Globally the accelerating use of renewable energy sources enabled by increased efficiencies and reduced costs and driven by the need to mitigate the effects of climate change has significantly increased research in the areas of renewable energy production storage distribution and end-use. Central to this discussion is the use of hydrogen as a clean efficient energy vector for energy storage. This review by experts of Task 32 “Hydrogen-based Energy Storage” of the International Energy Agency Hydrogen TCP reports on the development over the last 6 years of hydrogen storage materials methods and techniques including electrochemical and thermal storage systems. An overview is given on the background to the various methods the current state of development and the future prospects. The following areas are covered; porous materials liquid hydrogen carriers complex hydrides intermetallic hydrides electro-chemical storage of energy thermal energy storage hydrogen energy systems and an outlook is presented for future prospects and research on hydrogen-based energy storage

The information in this report covers the period January 2019 – December 2019. The technology and market module of the FCHO presents a range of statistical data as an indicator of the health of the sector and the progress in market development over time. This includes statistical information on the size of the global fuel cell market including number and capacity of fuel cell systems shipped in a calendar year. For this first edition data to the end of 2019 is presented where possible alongside analysis of key sector developments. Fuel cell system shipments for each calendar year are presented both as numbers of units and total system megawatts. The data are further divided and subdivided by: • Application: Total system shipments are divided into Transport Stationary and Portable applications • Fuel cell type: Numbers are provided for each of the different fuel cell chemistry types • Region of integration: Region where the final manufacturer – usually the system integrator – integrates the fuel cell into the final product • Region of deployment: Region where the final product was shipped to for deployment The data is sourced directly from industry players as well as other relevant sources including press releases associations and other industry bodies.

The report “Hydrogen for Net Zero” presents an ambitious yet realistic deployment scenario until 2030 and 2050 to achieve Net Zero emissions considering the uses of hydrogen in industry power mobility and buildings. The scenario is described in terms of hydrogen demand supply infrastructure abatement potential and investments required and then compared with current momentum and investments in the industry to identify the investment gaps across value chains and geographies.

The report is based on the technoeconomic data of cost and performance of hydrogen technologies provided by Hydrogen Council members and McKinsey & Company as well as the Hydrogen Council investment tracker which covers all large-scale investments into hydrogen globally.

Link to their website

This work is part of a project that aims to develop a micromechanics based damage law taking into account hydrogen assisted degradation. A 'vintage' API 5L X56N and a 'modern' API 5L X70M pipeline steel have been selected for this purpose. The paper focuses on an experimental calibration of ductile damage properties of the well known complete Gurson model for the two steels in absence of hydrogen. A basic microstructural characterization is provided showing a banded ferrite-pearlite microstructure for both steels. Charpy impact tests showed splits at the fracture surface for the X70 steel. Double-notched round bar tensile tests are performed aiming to provide the appropriate input for damage model calibration. The double-notched nature of the specimens allows to examine the material state at maximum load in the unfailed notch and the final material state in the failed notch. Different notch radii are used capturing a broad range of positive stress triaxialities. The notches are optically monitored for transverse necking in two perpendicular directions (transverse to rolling and through thickness) to reveal any anisotropy in plastic deformation and/or damage. It is explained how the occurrence of splits at the segregation zone and anisotropy complicate the calibration procedure. Calibration is done for each steel and acceptable results are obtained. However the occurrence of splits did not allow to evaluate the damage model for the highest levels of tested stress triaxiality.

An ultra low carbon (ULC) steel was subjected to electrochemical hydrogen charging to provoke hydrogen induced damage in the material. The damage characteristics were analyzed for recrystallized partially recrystallized and cold deformed material. The goal of the study is to understand the effect of cold deformation on the hydrogen induced cracking behavior of a material which is subjected to cathodic hydrogen charging. Additionally charging conditions i.e. charging time and current density were varied in order to identify correlations between on the one hand crack initiation and propagation and on the other hand the charging conditions. The obtained hydrogen induced cracks were studied by optical microscopy scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). Hydrogen induced cracks were observed to propagate transgranularly independently of the state of the material. Deformed samples were considerably more sensitive to hydrogen induced cracking which implies the important role of dislocations in hydrogen induced damage mechanisms.

This study evaluates the environmental profile of a real biomass-based hydrogen production small-scale (1 MWth) system composed of catalytic candle indirectly heated steam gasifier coupled with zinc oxide (ZnO) guard bed water gas shift (WGS) and pressure swing absorber (PSA) reactors. Environmental performance from cradle-to-gate was investigated by life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. Biomass production shows high influence over all impact categories. In the syngas production process the main impacts observed are global warming potential (GWP) and acidification potential (AP). Flue gas emission from gasifier burner has the largest proportion of total GWP. The residual off gas use in internal combustion engine (ICE) leads to important environmental savings for all categories. Hydrogen renewability score is computed as 90% due to over 100% decline in non-renewable energy demand. Sensitivity analysis shows that increase in hydrogen production efficiency does not necessarily result in decrease in environmental impacts. In addition economic allocation of environmental charges increases all impact categories especially AP and photochemical oxidation (POFP).

The Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) has supported a range of initiatives in recent years designed to develop hydrogen fuel cell buses to a point where they can fulfil their promise as a mainstream zero emission vehicle for public transport.<br/>Within this study 90 different European cities and regions have been supported in understanding the business case of fuel cell bus deployment and across these locations. The study analyses the funding and financing for fuel cell bus deployment to make them become a mainstream zero emission choice for public transport providers in cities and regions across Europe. It also outlines possible solutions for further deployment of FC buses beyond the subsidised phase.<br/>In the light of the experience of the joint tender process in the UK and in Germany the study highlights best practices for ordering fuel cell buses. Other innovative instruments explored in other countries for the orders of large quantities of fuel cells buses are presented: Special Purpose Vehicles and centralised purchase office. Finally the study deeply analyses the funding and financing for fuel cell bus deployment to make them become a mainstream zero emission choice for public transport providers in cities and regions across Europe.

This report is prepared by thirty of the largest global car manufacturers oil and gas companies utilities equipment manufacturers NGOs governmental and clean energy organisations with the collaboration of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking.<br/>The analysis compares the economics sustainability and performance of the vehicles and infrastructures needed to reach the 80% decarbonisation goal set by the<br/>European Union and is an unprecedented effort from industry and other stakeholders to analyse the role of the various new car-types in meeting this objective on the basis of proprietary industrial data.

In the event of a fire composite pressure vessels behave very differently from metallic ones: the material is degraded potentially leading to a burst without significant pressure increase. Hence such objects are when necessary protected from fire by using thermally-activated devices (TPRD) and standards require testing cylinder and TPRD together. The pre-normative research project FireComp aimed at understanding better the conditions which may lead to burst through testing and simulation and proposed an alternative way of assessing the fire performance of composite cylinders. This approach is currently used by Air Liquide for the safety of composite bundles carrying large amounts of hydrogen gas.

The FCH 2 JU launched the European Hydrogen Safety Panel (EHSP) initiative in 2017. The mission of the EHSP is to assist the FCH 2 JU both at programme and at project level in assuring that hydrogen safety is adequately managed and to promote and disseminate H2 safety culture within and outside of the FCH 2 JU programme. The EHSP is composed of a multidisciplinary pool of safety experts grouped in ad-hoc working groups (task forces) according to the tasks to be performed and to expertise. The scope and activities of the EHSP are structured around four main areas:

Two electrolysis technologies fed with renewable energy sources are promising for the production of CO₂-free hydrogen and enabling the transition to a hydrogen society: Alkaline Electrolyte (AE) and Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM). However limited information exists on the potential environmental impacts of these promising sustainable innovations when operating on a large-scale. To fill this gap the performance of AE and PEM systems is compared using ex-ante Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) technology analysis and exploratory scenarios for which a refined methodology has been developed to study the effects of implementing large-scale sustainable hydrogen production systems. Ex-ante LCA allows modelling the environmental impacts of hydrogen production exploratory scenario analysis allows modelling possible upscaling effects at potential future states of hydrogen production and use in vehicles in the Netherlands in 2050. A bridging tool for mapping the technological field has been created enabling the combination of quantitative LCAs with qualitative scenarios. This tool also enables diversity for exploring multiple sets of visions. The main results from the paper show with an exception for the “ozone depletion” impact category (1) that large-scale AE and PEM systems have similar environmental impacts with variations lower than 7% in all impact categories (2) that the contribution of the electrolyser is limited to 10% of all impact categories results and (3) that the origin of the electricity is the largest contributor to the environmental impact contributing to more than 90% in all impact categories even when renewable energy sources are used. It is concluded that the methodology was applied successfully and provides a solid basis for an ex-ante assessment framework that can be applied to emerging technological systems.

The Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) has the ambitious objective to place Europe at the forefront of the development commercialization and deployment of fuel cells and hydrogen technologies as of 2015. About €470 million over a six year period have been granted by the European Union to achieve this and private funds are being attracted to support the same ambition as part of the global European effort embedded in the multi-annual implementation plan MAIP (2008-2013).

Fuel cells and hydrogen (FCH) could bring significant environmental benefits across the energy system if deployed widely: low carbon and highly efficient energy conversions with zero air quality emissions. The socio-economic benefits to Europe could also be substantial through employment in development manufacturing installation and service sectors and through technology export. Major corporations are stressing the economic and environmental value of FCH technologies and the importance of including them in both transport and stationary energy systems globally while national governments and independent agencies are supporting their role in the energy systems transition.

Recognising the potential economic and industrial benefits from a strong FCH supply chain in Europe and the opportunities for initiatives to support new energy supply chains the FCH 2 JU commissioned a study to evaluate for the first time the value added that the fuel cell and hydrogen sector can bring to Europe by 2030.

The outputs of the study are divided into three reports:

• A ‘Summary’ report that provides a synthetic overview of the study conclusions;
• a ‘Findings’ report that presents the approach and findings of the study;
• and an ‘Evidence’ report  that provides the detailed background information and analysis that supports the findings and recommendations.

Multiple indicators suggest that the FCH sector is starting to grow and poised to grow fast. In fact this growth must be relatively rapid to create both the size of industry and the mature supply chains required for it to be self-sustaining. The supply chain is currently global and likely to remain so and Europe occupies a strong position within it. The study has concluded and provided evidences showing that the FCH sector offers Europe a chance to benefit economically and environmentally from an emerging industry and strengthen its position in clean technologies generally.

The Value Chain study complements the Hydrogen Roadmap for Europe recently published by the FCH 2 JU. This lays out a pathway for the large-scale deployment of hydrogen and fuel cells to 2050 in order to achieve a 2-degree climate scenario. This study also quantified socio-economic and environmental benefits but with important differences in scope between the two studies. The Hydrogen Roadmap for Europe looked at the wider picture quantifying the scale of FCH roll-out needed to meet the 2-degree scenario objectives. It assessed the socio-economic impacts of a sector of that scale looking top-down at the entire FCH value chain. The Value Chain study presented here is a narrower and more detailed bottom-up assessment of the value-added in manufacturing activities and the immediate ecosystem of suppliers that this is likely to create.

Fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) are zero tailpipe emission vehicles. Their large-scale deployment is expected to play a major role in the de-carbonization of transportation in the European Union (EU) and is therefore an important policy element at EU and Member State level.<br/>For FCEVs to be introduced to the market a network of hydrogen refuelling stations (HRS) first has to exist. From a technological point of view FCEVs are ready for serial production already: Hyundaiand Toyota plan to introduce FCEVs into key markets from 2015 and Daimler Ford and Nissan plan to launch mass-market FCEVs in 2017.<br/>At the moment raising funds for building the hydrogen refuelling infrastructure appears to be challenging.<br/>This study explores options for financing the HRS rollout which facilitate the involvement of private lenders and investors. It  presents a number of different financing options involving public-sector bank loans funding from private-sector strategic equity investors commercial bank loans private equity and funding from infrastructure investors. The options outline the various requirements forn accessing these sources of funding with regard to project structure incentives and risk mitigation. The financing options were developed on the basis of discussions with stakeholders in the HRS rollout from industry and with financiers.<br/>This study was prepared by Roland Berger in close contact with European Investment banks and a series of private banks.<br/>This study explores in details the business cases for HRS in Germany and UK. The conclusion can be easily extrapolate to other countries.

The 2014 Review is the fourth review of the FCH JU project portfolio. The reviews began in 2011 following a recommendation arising from the interim evaluation of the FCH JU which identified the need to ensure that the FCH JU project portfolio as a whole fulfilled the objectives of the Multi-Annual Implementation or Work Plan.

Long-haul heavy-duty vehicles including trucks and coaches contribute to a substantial portion of the modern-day European carbon footprint and pose a major challenge in emissions reduction due to their energy-intensive usage. Depending on the hydrogen fuel source the use of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) for long-haul applications has shown significant potential in reducing road freight CO2 emissions until the possible maturity of future long-distance battery-electric mobility. Fuel cell heavy-duty (HD) propulsion presents some specific characteristics advantages and operating constraints along with the notable possibility of gains in powertrain efficiency and usability through improved system design and intelligent onboard energy and thermal management. This paper provides an overview of the FCEV powertrain topology suited for long-haul HD applications their operating limitations cooling requirements waste heat recovery techniques state-of-the-art in powertrain control energy and thermal management strategies and over-the-air route data based predictive powertrain management including V2X connectivity. A case study simulation analysis of an HD 40-tonne FCEV truck is also presented focusing on the comparison of powertrain losses and energy expenditures in different subsystems while running on VECTO Regional delivery and Long-haul cycles. The importance of hydrogen fuel production pathways onboard storage approaches refuelling and safety standards and fleet management is also discussed. Through a comprehensive review of the H2 fuel cell powertrain technology intelligent energy management thermal management requirements and strategies and challenges in hydrogen production storage and refuelling this article aims at helping stakeholders in the promotion and integration of H2 FCEV technology towards road freight decarbonisation.

Discover the colours of hydrogen debunk the myths around hydrogen and learn the facts and key moments in history for hydrogen as well as innovative technologies ground-breaking projects state-of-the-art research development and cooperation by members of Hydrogen Europe

The 2019 Programme Review Report presents the findings of a review into activities supported by the FCH 2 JU under the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme and Horizon 2020 by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC ). It pays particular attention to the added value effectiveness and techno-economic efficiency of FCH 2 JU projects assigned to six review panels under two main pillars:<br/>Transport and Energy (TRANSPORT: a.trials and deployment of fuel cell applications and b.the next generation of products) (ENERGY: a.trials and deployment of fuel cell applications b.next generation of products and c.hydrogen for sectoral integration)<br/>Support for market uptake (cross-cutting activities such as standards and consumer awareness)<br/>This report covers all 81 projects that were ongoing for any time between April and October 2018 and assesses the strengths and accomplishments of each panel and areas that would benefit from further attention.

As of 2003 15 hydrogen refuelling stations (HRSs) have been deployed in the Netherlands. To become established the HRS has to go through a permitting procedure. An important document of the permitting dossier is the quantitative risk assessment (QRA) as it assesses the risks of the HRS associated to people and buildings in the vicinity of the HRS. In the Netherlands a generic prescribed approach exists on how to perform a QRA however specific guidelines for HRSs do not exist. An intercomparison among the QRAs of permitted HRSs has revealed significant inconsistencies on various aspects of the QRA: namely the inclusion of HRS sub-systems and components the HRS sub-system and component considerations as predefined components the application of failure scenarios the determination of failure frequencies the application of input parameters the consideration of preventive and mitigation measures as well as information provided regarding the HRS surroundings and the societal risk. It is therefore recommended to develop specific QRA guidelines for HRSs.