Italy

This article aims to develop a proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer emulator. This emulator is realized through an equivalent electrical scheme. It allows taking into consideration the dynamic operation of PEM electrolyzers which is generally neglected in the literature. PEM electrolyzer dynamics are reproduced by the use of supercapacitors due to the high value of the equivalent double-layer capacitance value. Steady-state and dynamics oper Read More

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 experiment Read More

In the context of the great research pulse on clean energy transition distributed energy systems have a key role especially in the case of integration of both renewable and traditional energy sources. The stable interest in small-scale gas turbines can further increase owing to their flexibility in both operation and fuel supply. Since their not-excellent electrical efficiency research activities on micro gas turbine (MGT) are focused on the performance improve Read More

The optimal sizing of stand-alone renewable H2-based microgrids requires the load demand to be reliably satisfied by means of local renewable energy supported by a hybrid battery/hydrogen storage unit while minimizing the system costs. However this task is challenging because of the high number of components that have to be installed and operated. In this work an MILP optimization framework has been developed and applied to the off-grid vi Read More

This paper describes the implementation of a hydrogen-based system for an autonomous surface vehicle in an effort to reduce environmental impact and increase driving range. In a suitable computational environment the dynamic electrical model of the entire hybrid powertrain consisting of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell a hydrogen metal hydride storage system a lithium battery two brushless DC motors and two control subsystems is implement Read More

Hydrogen is a carbon-free fuel that can be produced in many ways starting from different sources. Its use as a fuel in internal combustion engines could be a method of significantly reducing their environmental impact. In spark-ignition (SI) engines lean hydrogen–air mixtures can be burnt. When a gaseous fuel like hydrogen is port-injected in an SI engine working with lean mixtures supercharging becomes very useful in order not to excessively penalize the e Read More

Hydrogen is a crucial raw materials to other industries. Globally nearly 90% of the hydrogen or HyCO gas produced is consumed by the ammonia methanol and oil refining industries. In the future hydrogen could play an important role in the decarbonisation of transport fuel (i.e. use of fuel cell vehicles) and space heating (i.e. industrial commercial building and residential heating). This paper summarizes the results of the feasibility study carried out by Amec Read More

Green hydrogen exploitation plays a crucial role in achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. Hydrogen in fact provides a number of key benefits for the energy system due to its integrability with other clean technologies for energy production and consumption. This paper is aimed at presenting the project of recovery of an abandoned industrial area located in central Italy by developing a site for the production of green hydrogen. To this aim the analysis of the t Read More

Methanol is currently considered one of the most useful chemical products and is a promising building block for obtaining more complex chemical compounds such as acetic acid methyl tertiary butyl ether dimethyl ether methylamine etc. Methanol is the simplest alcohol appearing as a colorless liquid and with a distinctive smell and can be produced by converting CO2 and H2 with the further benefit of significantly reducing CO2 emissions in the Read More

In this report we focus on the fundamentals of energy and climate policy as reformulated in the EU Green Deal. The 2022 edition includes updates following the publication of the Fit for 55 Package and the EU Hydrogen and Decarbonised Gas Markets Package. The reader is guided through the landscape of EU climate and energy policy. Starting with the big picture of the foundations of energy and climate policy we then move to discussing in more detail Read More

Smooth power injection is one of the possible services that modern wind farms could provide in the not-so-far future for which energy storage is required. Indeed this is one among the three possible operations identified by the International Energy Agency (IEA)-Hydrogen Implementing Agreement (HIA) within the Task 24 final report that may promote their integration into the main grid in particular when paired to hydrogen-based energy storages. In gen Read More

The framework for life cycle sustainability analysis (LCSA) developed within the project CALCAS (Co-ordination Action for innovation in Life-Cycle Analysis for Sustainability) is introducing a truly integrated approach for sustainability studies. However it needs to be further conceptually refined and to be made operational. In particular one of the gaps still hindering the adoption of integrated analytic tools for sustainability studies is the lack of a clear link Read More

The Italian Recovery and Resilience Plan promotes among its many actions the use of hydrogen by the deployment of refuelling stations for heavy-duty vehicles predicting a 5–7% penetration rate of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) for long-distance freight transport. In this work the impact of this action on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and consumption was estimated assuming the plan’s objectives are met. To achieve this aim a national Read More

The transition toward high shares of non-programmable renewable energy sources in the power grid requires an increase in the grid flexibility to guarantee grid reliability and stability. This work developed within the EU project Grasshopper identifies hydrogen Fuel Cell (FC) power plants based on low temperature PEM cells as a source of flexibility for the power grid. A dynamic numerical model of the flexible FC system is developed and tested against experi Read More

Solar photovoltaic (PV) plants coupled with storage for domestic self-consumption purposes seem to be a promising technology in the next years as PV costs have decreased significantly and national regulations in many countries promote their installation in order to relax the energy requirements of power distribution grids. However electrochemical storage systems are still unaffordable for many domestic users and thus the advantages of self-consu Read More

In order to decarbonize the rail industry the development of innovative locomotives with the ability to use multiple energy sources constituting hybrid powertrains plays a central role in transitioning from conventional diesel trains. In this paper four configurations based on suitable combinations of fuel cells and/or batteries are designed to replace or supplement a diesel/overhead line powertrain on a real passenger train (the Hitachi Blues) tested on a Read More

In recent years power‐to‐gas technologies have been gaining ground and are increasingly proving their reliability. The possibility of implementing long‐term energy storage and that of being able to capture and utilize carbon dioxide are currently too important to be ignored. However sys‐ tems of this type are not yet experiencing extensive realization in practice. In this study an overview of the experimental research projects and the research and developm Read More

Liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs) are considered a promising hydrogen storage technology. Heat must be exchanged with an external medium such as a heat transfer fluid for the required chemical reactions to occur. Batch reactors are simple but useful solutions for small-scale storage applications which can be modelled with a lumped parameter approach adequately reproducing their dynamic performance. For such reactors power is consumed t Read More

This research investigated the suitability of air-to-water generator (AWG) technology to address one of the main concerns in green hydrogen production namely water supply. This study specifically addresses water quality and energy sustainability issues which are crucial research questions when AWG technology is intended for electrolysis. To this scope a reasoned summary of the main findings related to atmospheric water quality has been prov Read More

Fuel cell electric vehicles are a promising solution for reducing the environmental impacts of the automotive sector; however there are still some key points to address in finding the most efficient and less impactful implementation of this technology. In this work three electrical architectures of fuel cell electric vehicles were modeled and compared in terms of the environmental impacts of their manufacturing and use phases. The three architectures diffe Read More

Due to the emissions reduction commitments that Mexico compromised in the Paris Agreement several clean fuel and renewable energy technologies need to penetrate the market to accomplish the environmental goals. Therefore there is a need to develop achievable and realistic policies for such technologies to ease the decision-making on national energy strategies. Several countries are starting to develop large-scale green hydrogen production projec Read More

In the context of the European decarbonization strategy hydrogen is a key energy carrier in the medium to long term. The main advantages deriving from a greater penetration of hydrogen into the energy mix consist in its intrinsic characteristics of flexibility and integrability with alternative technologies for the production and consumption of energy. In particular hydrogen allows to: i) decarbonise end uses since it is a zero-emission energy carrier and can Read More

HyCARE project supported by the Clean Hydrogen Partnership of the European Union deals with a prototype of hydrogen storage tank using a solid-state hydrogen carrier. Up to 40 kilograms of hydrogen are stored in twelve tanks at less than 50 barg and less than 100 °C. The innovative design is based on a standard twenty-foot container including twelve TiFe-based metal hydride (MH) hydrogen storage tanks coupled with a thermal energy storage in Read More

HyResponder is a European Hydrogen Train the Trainer programme for responders. This paper describes the key outputs of the project and the steps taken to develop and implement a long-term sustainable train the trainer programme in hydrogen safety for responders across Europe and beyond. This FCH2 JU (now Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking) funded project has built on the successful outcomes of the previous HyResponse project. HyResponder ha Read More

Biomass gasification is a versatile thermochemical process that can be used for direct energy applications and the production of advanced liquid and gaseous energy carriers. In the present work the results are presented concerning the H2 production at a high purity grade from biomass feedstocks via steam/oxygen gasification. The data demonstrating such a process chain were collected at an innovative gasification prototype plant coupled to a Read More