Belgium

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.