United Kingdom

The engineering correlations for assessment of hazard distance defined by a size of fireball after either liquid hydrogen spill combustion or high-pressure hydrogen tank rupture in a fire in the open atmosphere (both for stand-alone and under-vehicle tanks) are presented. The term “fireball size” is used for the maximum horizontal size of a fireball that is different from the term “fireball diameter” applied to spherical or semi-spherical shape fireballs. Ther Read More

Renewable energy is a key solution in maintaining global warming below 2 °C. However its intermittency necessitates the need for energy conversion technologies to meet demand when there are insufficient renewable energy resources. This study aims to tackle these challenges by thermo-electrochemical modelling and simulation of a reversible solid oxide fuel cell (RSOFC) and integration with the Haber Bosch process. The novelty of the proposed s Read More

Hydrogen is considered as a low-carbon substitute for natural gas in the otherwise difficult to decarbonise domestic heating sector. This study presents for the first time a globally applicable source to sink methodology and analysis that matches geological storage capacity with energy demand. As a case study it is applied to the domestic heating system in the UK with a focus on maintaining the existing gas distribution network. To balance the significant an Read More

More effective energy production requires a greater penetration of storage technologies. This paper takes a looks at and compares the landscape of energy storage devices. Solutions across four categories of storage namely: mechanical chemical electromagnetic and thermal storage are compared on the basis of energy/power density specific energy/power efficiency lifespan cycle life self-discharge rates capital energy/power costs scale application techni Read More

This work focuses on the experimental and numerical investigation of maximum overpressure and pressure dynamics during ignited hydrogen releases in a storage enclosure e.g. in marine vessel or rail carriage with limited vent size area i.e. the pressure peaking phenomenon (PPP) revealed theoretically at Ulster University in 2010. The CFD model previously validated against small scale experiments in a 1 m3 enclosure is employed here to simulate r Read More

The building system is one of key energy consumption sector in the market and low-carbon building will make a significant contribution for the worldwide carbon emission reduction. The multiple energy systems including renewable generations hydrogen energy and energy storage is the perspective answer to the net-zero building system. However the research gap lies in the synergy power management among the renewable flexible loads batteries and Read More

Fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) have clear societal and environmental benefits and can help mitigate the issues of climate change urban air pollution and oil dependence. In order for FCVs to have the biggest impact on these issues they need to be employed in large numbers. First though they need to be adopted by consumers. Their acceptance depends on positive consumer attitudes towards the vehicles. Currently there is a limited understanding within th Read More

The assessment of appropriate operational procedures to govern the injection of a hydrogen/natural gas blend into the Keele University G3 gas distribution network was a requirement as part of the HyDeploy project. To perform this assessment a group of gas industry experts (from Cadent Northern Gas Networks and Keele University Estates Team) along with scientists and engineers from the Health & Safety Laboratory came together to form an Read More

The scope of this study includes modeling and experimental investigation of sulfide stress cracking (SSC) of high-strength carbon steel. A model has been developed to predict hydrogen permeation in steel for a given pressure and temperature condition. The model is validated with existing and new laboratory measurements. The experiments were performed using C-110 grade steel specimens. The specimens were aged in 2% (wt.) brine saturated with Read More

The UK government heat strategy is partially based on decarbonisation pathways from the UK MARKAL energy system model. We review how heat provision is represented in UK MARKAL identifying a number of shortcomings and areas for improvement. We present a completely revised model with improved estimations of future heat demands and a consistent representation of all heat generation technologies. This model represents all heat delivery in Read More

Overcoming diesel engine emissions trade-off effects especially NOx and Bosch smoke number (BSN) requires investigation of novel systems which can potentially serve the automobile industry towards further emissions reduction. Enrichment of the intake charge with H2 þ N2 containing gas mixture obtained from diesel fuel reforming system can lead to new generation low polluting diesel engines. This paper investigates the effect of simultaneous H2 þ Read More

The trial management philosophy of HyDeploy has been developed to enable the overall objectives of the project to be achieved; the safe demonstration of operating a Gas Distribution Network (GDN) on a blend of natural gas and hydrogen. This document provides an overview of the management and governance processes associated with the trial itself. The operational and safety related undertakings before during and after the trial are summa Read More

This report presents the results of research into consumer perceptions and the subsequent degree of acceptance of blended hydrogen in domestic properties. Evidence from two trial sites of the HyDeploy programme: i) a private site trial at Keele University North Staffordshire; ii) and a public site trial at Winlaton Gateshead are discussed.

The Paris Agreement marks a significant positive step in global action to tackle climate change. This report considers the domestic actions the UK Government should take as part of a fair contribution to the aims of the Agreement.The report concludes that the Paris Agreement is a significant step forward in global efforts to tackle climate change. It is more ambitious in its aims to limit climate change than the basis of the UK’s existing climat Read More

The Committee on Climate Change commissioned Ricardo Energy and Environment to carry out research to assess the infrastructure requirements and costs for the deployment of different zero emission heavy goods vehicle (HGV) technology options. The infrastructure considered includes hydrogen refuelling stations ultra-rapid charge points at strategic locations electric overhead recharging infrastructure on the roads and hybrid solutions combining th Read More

The term ‘decarbonised gas’ refers to biogases hydrogen and carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS). This strategy paper sets out how decarbonised gas can help to get net zero done by tackling the hard-to-decarbonise sectors – industry heavy transport and domestic heating – which together account for around 40% of UK greenhouse gas emissions. It also illustrates the crucial importance of supportive public opinion and sets out in detail how decar Read More

Gas Goes Green brings together the engineering expertise from the UK’s five gas network operators building on the foundations of our existing grid infrastructure innovation projects and the wider scientific community. This is a blueprint to meet the challenges and opportunities of climate change delivering net zero in the most cost effective and least disruptive way possible.Delivering our vision is not just an engineering challenge but will inv Read More

The paper presents an overview of the main achievements of the internal project InsHyde of the HySafe NoE. The scope of InsHyde was to investigate realistic small-medium indoor hydrogen leaks and provide recommendations for the safe use/storage of indoor hydrogen systems. Additionally InsHyde served to integrate proposals from HySafe work packages and existing external research projects towards a common effort. Following a state of t Read More

The paper presents the outcomes of the HyResponse project i.e. the European Hydrogen Safety Training Programme for first responders. The threefold training is described: the content of the educational training is presented the operational training platform and its mock-up real scale transport and hydrogen stationary installations are detailed and the innovative virtual tools and training exercises are highlighted. The paper underlines the outcomes the Read More

Shipping is a very important source of pollution worldwide. In recent years numerous actions and measures have been developed trying to reduce the levels of greenhouse gases (GHG) from the marine exhaust emissions in the fight against climate change boosting the Sustainable Development Goal 13. Following this target the action of hydrogen as energy vector makes it a suitable alternative to be used as fuel constituting a very promising energy carrier f Read More

Experiments were performed on the influence of oxidants (air pure oxygen O2 and pure nitrous oxide N2O at atmospheric pressure) in the straight expansion tube after the burst disk on the hydrogen spontaneous ignition. The lowest pressure at which the spontaneous ignition is observed has been researched for a 4 mm diameter tube with a length of 10 cm for the two oxidant gases. The ignition phenomenon is observed with a high speed camera and the ex Read More

The problem of anthropogenically driven climate change and its inextricable link to our global society’s present and future energy needs are arguably the greatest challenge facing our planet. Hydrogen is now widely regarded as one key element of a potential energy solution for the twenty-first century capable of assisting in issues of environmental emissions sustainability and energy security. Hydrogen has the potential to provide for energy in transportat Read More

This report Accelerating innovation towards net zero commissioned by the Aldersgate Group and co-authored with Vivid Economics identifies out how the government can achieve a net zero target cost-effectively in a way that enables the UK to capture competitive advantages.The unique contribution of this report is to identify the lessons from successful and more rapid historical innovations and apply them to the challenge of meeting net zero emissio Read More

A model has been derived for the magnesium hydrogenation reaction at conditions close to equilibrium. The reaction mechanism involves an adsorption element where the model is an extension of the Langmuir adsorption model. The concept of site availability (σs) is introduced whereby it has the capability to reduce the reaction rate. To improve representation of σs an adaptable semi-empirical equation has been developed. Supplement to the surface r Read More

Ferrosilicon 75 a 50:50 mixture of silicon and iron disilicide has been activated toward hydrogen generation by processing using ball milling allowing a much lower concentration of sodium hydroxide (2 wt %) to be used to generate hydrogen from the silicon in ferrosilicon with a shorter induction time than has been reported previously. An activation energy of 62 kJ/mol was determined for the reaction of ball-milled ferrosilicon powder with sodium hydroxide sol Read More

A turbulent combustion model based on the Linear Eddy Model for Large Eddy Simulation (LEM- LES) is currently proposed to study self-ignition events of rapidly expanding hydrogen jets. The model is a one-dimensional treatment of a diffusion-reaction system within each multi-dimensional LES cell. This reduces the expense of solving a complete multi-dimensional problem while preserving micro-scale hotspots and their effects on ignition. The curr Read More

The bioanode is important for a microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) and its robustness to maintain its catalytic activity affects the performance of the whole system. Bioanodes enriched at a potential of +0.2 V (vs. standard hydrogen electrode) were able to sustain their oxidation activity when the anode potential was varied from 0.3 up to +1.0 V. Chronoamperometric test revealed that the bioanode produced peak current density of 0.36 A/m2 and 0.37 A/ Read More

The addition of hydrogen to natural gas for heating and cooking is being considered as a route to reducing carbon emissions in the United Kingdom (UK). The HyDeploy programme (hereafter referred to as HyDeploy) aims to demonstrate that hydrogen can be added to the natural gas supply without compromising public safety or appliance performance. This paper relates to the preparatory work for hydrogen injection on a live site at Keele University closed Read More

This session concerned the political economic and environmental impact on the hydrogen economy due to hydrogen embrittlement.This article is a transcription of the recorded discussion of ‘Political economic and environmental concerns’ at the Royal Society Scientific Discussion Meeting Challenges of Hydrogen and Metals 16–18 January 2017. The text is approved by the contributors. G.C.G.S. transcribed the session and F.F.D. assisted in the prep Read More

Liquid hydrogen (LH2) compared to compressed gaseous hydrogen offers advantages for large scale transport and storage of hydrogen with higher densities and potentially better safety performance. Although the gas industry has good experience with LH2 only little experience is available for the new applications of LH2 as an energy carrier. Therefore the European FCH JU funded project PRESLHY conducts pre-normative research for the safe use of cryoge Read More

The 3D model of conjugate heat transfer from a fire to compressed gas storage cylinder is described. The model predictions of temperature outside and inside the cylinder as well as pressure increase during a fire are compared against a fire test experiment. The simulation reproduced measured in test temperatures and pressures. The original failure criterion of the cylinder in a fire has been applied in the model. This allowed for the prediction of Read More

Hydrogen Infrastructures are currently being built up to support the initial commercialization of the fuel cell vehicle by multiple automakers. Three primary markets are presently coordinating a large build up of hydrogen stations: Japan; USA; and Europe to support this. Hydrogen Fuelling Station General Safety and Performance Considerations are important to establish before a wide scale infrastructure is established.This document introduces the ISO Tec Read More

The United Kingdom has a vast scientific base across the entire Hydrogen and Fuel Cell research landscape with a world class academic community coupled with significant industrial activity from both UK-based Hydrogen and Fuel Cell companies and global companies with a strong presence within the country. The Hydrogen and Fuel Cell (H2FC) SUPERGEN Hub funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) was established in 2012 Read More

The three years European MATHRYCE project dedicated to material testing and design recommendations for components exposed to hydrogen enhanced fatigue started in October 2012. Its main goal is to provide an “easy” to implement methodology based on lab-scale experimental tests under hydrogen gas to assess the service life of a real scale component taking into account fatigue loading under hydrogen gas. Dedicated experimental tests will be d Read More

An experimental study of hydrogen/air premixed flame propagation in a closed rectangular channel with the inhibitions (N2 or CO2) was conducted to investigate the inhibiting effect of N2 and CO2 on the flame properties during its propagation. Both Schlieren system and the pressure sensor were used to capture the evolution of flame shape and pressure changes in the channel. It was found that both N2 and CO2 have considerable inhibiting effect Read More

A benchmarking exercise on quantitative risk assessment (QRA) methodologies has been conducted within the project HyQRA under the framework of the European Network of Excellence (NoE) HySafe. The aim of the exercise was basically twofold: (i) to identify the differences and similarities in approaches in a QRA and their results for a hydrogen installation between nine participating partners representing a broad spectrum of background in QRA culture Read More

The possibility of using a risk based approach for the safe installation and siting of stationary fuel cell systems depends upon the availability of normative data and guidance on potential hazards and the probabilities of their occurrence. Such guidance data is readily available for most common hydrocarbon fuels. For hydrogen however data is still required on the hazards associated with different release scenarios. This data can then be related to the probability Read More

This work presents the results of the Standard Benchmark Exercise Problem (SBEP) V20 of Work Package 6 (WP6) of HySafe Network of Excellence (NoE) co-funded by the European Commission in the frame of evaluating the quality and suitability of codes models and user practices by comparative assessments of code results. The benchmark problem SBEP-V20 covers release scenarios that were experimentally investigated in the past using helium as a subs Read More

Within the scope of the HyResponse project the development of a specialised training programme is currently underway. Utilizing an andragogy approach to teaching distance learning is mixed with classroom instructors-led activities while hands-on training on a full-scale simulator is coupled with an innovative virtual reality based experience. Although the course is dedicated mainly to first responders provision has been made to incorporate not only simp Read More

Commercial use of hydrogen on-board fuel cell vehicles necessitates the compression of hydrogen gas up to 700 bar raising unique safety challenges. Potential hazards to be addressed include jet fires from high-pressure hydrogen on-board storage. Previous studies investigated effects of jet fires that occur when pressure relief devices (PRDs) on hydrogen fuel cell vehicles activate. This investigation examines plane jets’ axis switching and flame length Read More

The debate on low-carbon heat in Europe has become focused on a narrow range of technological options and has largely neglected hydrogen and fuel cell technologies despite these receiving strong support towards commercialisation in Asia. This review examines the potential benefits of these technologies across different markets particularly the current state of development and performance of fuel cell micro-CHP. Fuel cells offer some important be Read More

The HyDeploy project seeks to address a key issue for UK customers: how to reduce the carbon they emit in heating their homes. The UK has a world class gas grid delivering heat conveniently and safely to over 83% of homes. Emissions can be reduced by lowering the carbon content of gas through blending with hydrogen. This delivers carbon savings without customers requiring disruptive and expensive changes in their homes. It also provides the plat Read More

This discussion session concerned experimental and theoretical investigations of the atomistic properties underlying the energetics and kinetics of hydrogen trapping and diffusion in metallic systems.This article is a transcription of the recorded discussion of ‘Hydrogen transport and trapping: from quantum effects to alloy design.‘ at the Royal Society Scientific Discussion Meeting Challenges of Hydrogen and Metals 16–18 January 2017. The text is approved by Read More

The paper describes a lumped-parameter model for vented deflagrations of localised and layered fuel air mixtures. Theoretical model background is described to allow insight into the model development with focus on lean mixtures and overpressures significantly below 0.1 MPa for protection of low strength equipment and buildings. Phenomena leading to combustion augmentation was accounted based on conclusions of recent CFD studies. T Read More

With the anticipated introduction of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to the market there is an increasing need to address the fire resistance of hydrogen cylinders for onboard storage. Sufficient fire resistance is essential to ensure safe evacuation in the event of car fire accidents. The authors have developed a Finite Element (FE) model for predicting the thermal response of composite hydrogen cylinders within the frame of the open source FE code Elmer. The Read More

"Because of the contrasting chemical kinetics of methane and hydrogen combustion the development of blending laws for laminar burning velocity ul and Markstein length for constituent mixtures of CH4/air and H2/air presents a formidable challenge. Guidance is sought through a study of analytical expressions for laminar burning velocity. For the prediction of burning velocities of blends six blending laws were scrutinised. The predictions were compared w Read More

Numerical simulations have been carried out for spontaneous ignition of pressurized hydrogen release directly into air. Results showed a possible mechanism for spontaneous ignition due to molecular diffusion. To accurately calculate the molecular transport of species momentum and energy in a multi-component gaseous mixture a mixture-averaged multi-component approach was employed in which thermal diffusion is accounted for. To reduce false numer Read More

The paper presented experimental studies of the liftoff and blowout stability of pure hydrogen hydrogen/propane and hydrogen/methane jet flam es using a 2 mm burner. Carbon dioxide and Argon gas were also used in the study for the comparison with hydrocarbon fuel. Comparisons of the stability of H 2/C3H8 H 2/CH4 H 2/Ar and H 2/CO2 flames showed that H 2/C3H8 produced the highest liftoff height and H 2/CH4 required highest liftoff and blowoff velociti Read More

This report summarises the results of an independent audit carried out by DNV GL on the model conversions from natural gas to hydrogen for the models being used as a benchmark for the wider UK proposed hydrogen conversion of the natural gas network. The detailed model conversion process was derived from the H21 modelling meetings and the detailed notes were put together by NGN as a basic guide which has been included in Appendix A and is Read More

Hydrogen dispersion in an enclosure is numerically studied using simple analytical solutions and a large-eddy-simulation based CFD code. In simple calculations the interface height and temperature rise of the upper layer are obtained based on mass and energy conservation and the centreline hydrogen volume fraction is derived from similarity solutions of buoyant jets. The calculated centreline hydrogen volume fraction using the two methods agr Read More