Publications

Regularities of steel structure degradation of the “Novopskov-Aksay-Mozdok” gas main pipelines (Nevinnomysskaya CS) as well as the “Gorky-Center” pipelines (Gavrilovskaya CS) were studied. The revealed peculiarities of their degradation after long-term operation are suggested to be treated as a particular case of the damage accumulation classification (scheme) proposed by prof. H.M. Nykyforchyn. It is shown that the fracture surface consists of sections of ductile separation and localized zones of micro-spalling. The presence of the latter testifies to the hydrogen-induced embrittlement effect. However the steels under investigation possess sufficiently high levels of the mechanical properties required for their further safe exploitation both in terms of durability and cracking resistance.

The heating sector makes up 10% of the United Kingdom’s carbon footprint and residential homes account for a majority of demand. At present central heating from a natural gas-fired boiler is the most common system in the UK but low or zero-carbon hydrogen and renewable electricity are the two primary energy replacement options to reduce the carbon footprint. An important consideration is how using either energy source would affect heating costs. This assessment projects the costs for a typical single-family UK household and climate performance in 2050 using low-GHG or GHG-neutral hydrogen renewable electricity or a combination of both. The cost of using boilers or fuel cells in 2050 with two types of hydrogen are assessed: produced via steam-methane reforming (SMR) combined with carbon capture and storage (CCS) and electrolysis using zero-carbon renewable electricity. The costs of heat pumps the most promising heating technology for the direct use of renewable electricity are also assessed in two scenarios: a heat pump only and a hybrid heat pump with an auxiliary hydrogen boiler.

You can download this document from the International Council On Clean Transportation website linked here

Biomass gasification is a promising technology to produce secondary fuels or heat and power offering considerable advantages over fossil fuels. An important aspect in the usage of producer gas is the removal of harmful contaminants from the raw syngas. Thus the object of this study is the development of a simulation model for a gasifier including gas clean-up for which a fluidized-bed gasifier for biomass-derived syngas production was considered based on a quasi-equilibrium approach through Gibbs free energy minimisation and including an innovative hot gas cleaning constituted by a combination of catalyst sorbents inside the gasification reactor catalysts in the freeboard and subsequent sorbent reactors by using Aspen Plus software. The gas cleaning chain simulates the raw syngas clean-up for several organic and inorganic contaminants i.e. toluene benzene naphthalene hydrogen sulphide hydrogen chloride and ammonia. The tar and inorganic contaminants final values achieved are under 1 g/Nm3 and 1 ppm respectively.

Current developments of non-relativistic quantum mechanics appear to predict and reveal counter-intuitive dynamical effects of hydrogen in nanostructured materials that are of considerable importance for basic research as well as for technological applications. In this review the experimental focus is on H₂O and H molecules in carbon nanotubes and other nanocavities that have been experimentally investigated using the well-established technique of incoherent inelastic neutron scattering (INS). For instance the momentum and energy transfers as obtained from the commonly used standard data analysis techniques from a

(I) H₂ molecule in a C-nanotube resulting in a roto-translational motion along the nanotube axis seems to (1) either violate the standard conservation laws or (2) to attribute to the H molecule undergoing translation the effective mass a.m.u. (atomic mass units) instead of the expected 2 a.m.u. A similar striking anomalous effect has been found in the neutron-H scattering from the

(II) H₂O molecules in nano-channels of some solid materials in which O-H stretching vibrations along the channel axis are created.

The results of this scattering process seem to once again either violate the standard conservation laws or to attribute to the effective mass of the struck H₂ molecule as a.m.u. instead of the expected value of 1 a.m.u. We show that these counterintuitive observations from the INS studies have no conventional interpretation within the standard non-relativistic scattering theory. However they can be qualitatively interpreted “from first principles” within the framework of modern theories of

(III) time-symmetric quantum dynamics as provided by the weak values (WV) and two-state- vector formalism (TSVF)

and/or

(IV) quantum correlations especially quantum discord (QD) and quantum thermodynamics (QTD).

The theoretical analysis provides an intuitive understanding of the experimental results gives strong evidence that the nano-structured cavities do represent quantum systems which participate significantly in the dynamics of the neutron-H scattering and surprisingly shows that new physical information can be derived from the experimental data. This latter point may also have far-reaching consequences for technology and material sciences (e.g. fuel cells H storage materials etc.). Moreover novel insights into the short-lived quantum dynamics and/or quantum information theory can be gained.

The H21 Leeds City Gate project is a study with the aim of determining the feasibility from both a technical and economic viewpoint of converting the existing natural gas network in Leeds one of the largest UK cities to 100% hydrogen. The project has been designed to minimise disruption for existing customers and to deliver heat at the same cost as current natural gas to customers. The project has shown that:

• The gas network has the correct capacity for such a conversion
• It can be converted incrementally with minimal disruption to customers
• Minimal new energy infrastructure will be required compared to alternatives
• The existing heat demand for Leeds can be met via steam methane reforming and salt cavern storage using technology in use around the world today

The project has provided costs for the scheme and has modelled these costs in a regulatory finance model. In addition the availability of low-cost bulk hydrogen in a gas network could revolutionise the potential for hydrogen vehicles and via fuel cells support a decentralised model of combined heat and power and localised power generation.

This report and any attachment is freely available on the ENA Smarter Networks Portal here. IGEM Members can download the report and any attachment directly by clicking on the pdf icon above.

This paper presents a simplified procedure to analyse the Hydrogen Induced Cracking (HIC) of structural steels by means of the Small Punch Test (SPT). Two types of notched specimens were used: one with through-thickness lateral notch and another with surface longitudinal notch. The results for conventional specimens were compared with those for hydrogen pre-charged specimens. For this purpose two different methods to introduce hydrogen in the specimens were used: cathodic/electrochemical pre-charging and pressurized gaseous hydrogen pre-charging. The results obtained with both methods are also discussed.

Renewable energy has become very popular in recent years. The amount of renewable generation has increased in both grid-connected and stand-alone systems. This is because it can provide clean energy in a cost-effective and environmentally friendly fashion. Among all varieties photovoltaic (PV) is the ultimate rising star. Integration of other technologies with solar is enhancing the efficiency and reliability of the system. In this paper a fuel cell–solar photovoltaic (FC-PV)-based hybrid energy system has been proposed to meet the electrical load demand of a small community center in India. The system is developed with PV panels fuel cell an electrolyzer and hydrogen storage tank. Detailed mathematical modeling of this system as well as its operation algorithm have been presented. Furthermore cost optimization has been performed to determine ratings of PV and Hydrogen system components. The objective is to minimize the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of this standalone system. This optimization is performed in HOMER software as well as another tool using an artificial bee colony (ABC). The results obtained by both methods have been compared in terms of cost effectiveness. It is evident from the results that for a 68 MWh/yr of electricity demand is met by the 129 kW Solar PV 15 kW Fuel cell along with a 34 kW electrolyzer and a 20 kg hydrogen tank with a LPSP of 0.053%. The LCOE is found to be in 0.228 $/kWh. Results also show that use of more sophisticated algorithms such as ABC yields more optimized solutions than package programs such as HOMER. Finally operational details for FC-PV hybrid system using IEC 61850 inter-operable communication is presented. IEC 61850 information models for FC electrolyzer hydrogen tank were developed and relevent IEC 61850 message exchanges for energy management in FC-PV hybrid system are demonstrated.

Hydrogen production from surplus solar electricity as energy storage for export purposes can push towards large-scale application of solar energy in the United Arab Emirates and the Middle East region; this region’s properties of high solar irradiance and vast empty lands provide a good fit for solar technologies such as concentrated solar power and photovoltaics. However a thorough comparison between the two solar technologies as well as investigating the infrastructure of the United Arab Emirates for a well-to-ship hydrogen pathway is yet to be fully carried out. Therefore in this study we aim to provide a full model for solar hydrogen production and delivery by evaluating the potential of concentrated solar power and photovoltaics in the UAE then comparing two different pathways for hydrogen delivery based on the location of hydrogen production sites. A Solid Oxide Cell Electrolyzer (SOEC) is used for technical comparison while the shortest routes for hydrogen transport were analyzed using Geographical Information System (GIS). The results show that CSP technology coupled with SOEC is the most favorable pathway for large-scale hydrogen from solar energy production in the UAE for export purposes. Although PV has a slightly higher electricity potential compared to CSP around 42 GWh/km2 to 41.1 GWh/km2 respectively CSP show the highest productions rates of over 6 megatons of hydrogen when the electrolyzer is placed at the same site as the CSP plant while PV generates 5.15 megatons when hydrogen is produced at the same site with PV plants; meanwhile hydrogen from PV and CSP shows similar levels of 4.8 and 4.6 megatons of hydrogen respectively when electrolyzers are placed at port sites. Even considering the constraints in the UAE’s infrastructure and suggesting new shorter electrical transmission lines that could save up to 0.1 megatons of hydrogen in the second pathway production at the same site with CSP is still the most advantageous scenario.

Biofuels from biomass gasification are reviewed here and demonstrated to be an attractive option. Recent progress in gasification techniques and key generation pathways for biofuels production process design and integration and socio-environmental impacts of biofuel generation are discussed with the goal of investigating gasification-to-biofuels’ credentials as a sustainable and eco-friendly technology. The synthesis of important biofuels such as bio-methanol bio-ethanol and higher alcohols bio-dimethyl ether Fischer Tropsch fuels bio-methane bio-hydrogen and algae-based fuels is reviewed together with recent technologies catalysts and reactors. Significant thermodynamic studies for each biofuel are also examined. Syngas cleaning is demonstrated to be a critical issue for biofuel production and innovative pathways such as those employed by Choren Industrietechnik Germany and BioMCN the Netherlands are shown to allow efficient methanol generation. The conversion of syngas to FT transportation fuels such as gasoline and diesel over Co or Fe catalysts is reviewed and demonstrated to be a promising option for the future of biofuels. Bio-methane has emerged as a lucrative alternative for conventional transportation fuel with all the advantages of natural gas including a dense distribution trade and supply network. Routes to produce H2 are discussed though critical issues such as storage expensive production routes with low efficiencies remain. Algae-based fuels are in the research and development stage but are shown to have immense potential to become commercially important because of their capability to fix large amounts of CO₂ to rapidly grow in many environments and versatile end uses. However suitable process configurations resulting in optimal plant designs are crucial so detailed process integration is a powerful tool to optimize current and develop new processes. LCA and ethical issues are also discussed in brief. It is clear that the use of food crops as opposed to food wastes represents an area fraught with challenges which must be resolved on a case by case basis.

The effects of hot stamping (HS) and tempering on the hydrogen embrittlement (HE) behavior of a low-carbon boron-alloyed steel were studied by using slow strain rate tensile (SSRT) tests on notched sheet specimens. It was found that an additional significant hydrogen desorption peak at round 65–80 °C appeared after hydrogen-charging the corresponding hydrogen concentration (CHr) of the HS specimen was higher than that of the directed quenched (DQ) specimen and subsequent low-temperature tempering gave rise to a decrease of CHr. The DQ specimen exhibited a comparatively high HE susceptibility while tempering treatment at 100 °C could notably alleviate it by a relative decrease of ~24% at no expanse of strength and ductility. The HS specimen demonstrated much lower HE susceptibility compared with the DQ specimen and tempering at 200 °C could further alleviate its HE susceptibility. SEM analysis of fractured SSRT surfaces revealed that the DQ specimen showed a mixed transgranular-intergranular fracture while the HS and low-temperature tempered specimens exhibited a predominant quasi-cleavage transgranular fracture. Based on the obtained results we propose that a modified HS process coupled with low-temperature tempering treatment is a promising and feasible approach to ensure a low HE susceptibility for high-strength automobile parts made of this type of steel.