Publications

The European gas industry has argued that gas can be a bridging fuel in the transition to decarbonised energy markets because of the advantages of switching from coal to gas and the role of gas in backing up intermittent renewable power generation. While this remains a logical approach for some countries in others it has proved either not relevant or generally unsuccessful in gaining acceptance with either policymakers or the environmental community. Policy decisions will be taken in the next 5-10 years which will irreversibly impact the future of gas in the period 2030-50. A paradigm shift in commercial time horizons and gas value chain cooperation will be necessary for the industry to embrace decarbonisation technologies (such as carbon capture and storage) which will eventually be necessary if gas is to prolong its future in European energy markets. To ensure a post-2030 future in European energy balances the gas community will be obliged to adopt a new message: `Gas can Decarbonise’ (and remain competitive with other low/zero carbon energy supplies). It will need to back up this message with a strategy which will lead to the decarbonisation of methane starting no later than 2030. Failure to do so will be to accept a future of decline albeit on a scale of decades and to risk that by the time the community engages with decarbonisation non-methane policy options will have been adopted which will make that decline irreversible.

Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) are performed to investigate the process of spontaneous ignition of hydrogen flames at laminar turbulent adiabatic and non-adiabatic conditions. Mixtures of hydrogen and vitiated air at temperatures representing gas-turbine reheat combustion are considered. Adiabatic spontaneous ignition processes are investigated first providing a quantitative characterization of stable and unstable flames. Results indicate that in hydrogen reheat combustion compressibility effects play a key role in flame stability and that unstable ignition and combustion are consistently encountered for reactant temperatures close to the mixture’s characteristic crossover temperature. Furthermore it is also found that the characterization of the adiabatic processes is also valid in the presence of non-adiabaticity due to wall heat-loss. Finally a quantitative characterization of the instantaneous fuel consumption rate within the reaction front is obtained and of its ability at auto-ignitive conditions to advance against the approaching turbulent flow of the reactants for a range of different turbulence intensities temperatures and pressure levels.

A consortiumcomprising Cadent Gas Health and Safety Executive – Science Division ITMPower Keele University Northern Gas Networks and Progressive Energy is undertaking the second phase of the research project HyDeploy. The project the first two phase ofwhich are funded under the UK Network Innovation Competition scheme aims to demonstrate that natural gas containing levels of hydrogen beyond the upper limit set out in Schedule 3 of in the Gas Safety (Management) Regulations (GSMR) can be distributed and utilised safely and efficiently in the UK gas distribution networks.<br/>The first phase of the HyDeploy project concludes with a 10-month field trial in which hydrogen will be injected into part of a private gas distribution system owned and operated by Keele University.<br/>The second phase of the HyDeploy project (HyDeploy2) continues on from the work of the first phase and is scheduled to conclude with two 12-month field trials in which hydrogen will be injected into public gas networks owned and operated by Northern Gas Networks and Cadent Gas.<br/>Dave Lander Consulting Limited is providing technical support to the HyDeploy project and this report presents the results of Quantified Risk Assessment (QRA) for the proposed field trial of hydrogen injection into part of a gas distribution system owned and operated by Northern Gas Networks (NGN) near the town of Winlaton in Gateshead Tyne and Wear. The QRA is intended to support an application by NGN for exemption from the legal requirement to only convey gas that is compliant with the requirements of Schedule 3 of the GSMR. The QRA estimates the risk to persons within the trial area affected by the proposed injection. A similar QRA1 was developed for the original HyDeploy field trial at Keele University.<br/>Click on the supplement tab to see the other documents from this report

Hydrogen is an explosive gas which could create extremely hazardous conditions when released into an enclosure. Full-scale experiments of hydrogen release and dispersion in the confined space were conducted. The experiments were performed for hydrogen release outflow of 63 × 10−3 m3/s through a single nozzle and multi-point release way optionally. It was found that the hydrogen dispersion in an enclosure strongly depends on the gas release way. Significantly higher hydrogen stratification is observed in a single nozzle release than in the case of the multi-point release when the gas concentration becomes more uniform in the entire enclosure volume. The experimental results were confirmed on the basis of Froud number analysis. The CFD simulations realized with the FDS code by NIST allowed visualization of the experimental hydrogen dispersion phenomenon and confirmed that the varied distribution of hydrogen did not affect the effectiveness of the accidental mechanical ventilation system applied in the tested room.

Hydrogen embrittlement can cause catastrophic failure of high strength alloys yet determining localised hydrogen in the microstructure is analytically challenging. NanoSIMS is one of the few techniques that can map hydrogen and deuterium in metal samples at microstructurally relevant length scales. Therefore it is essential to understand the artefacts and determine the optimum methodology for its reliable detection. An experimental methodology/protocol for NanoSIMS analysis of deuterium (as a proxy for hydrogen) has been established uncovering unreported artefacts and a new approach is presented to minimise these artefacts in mapping hydrogen and deuterium in alloys. This method was used to map deuterium distributions in electrochemically charged austenitic stainless steel and precipitation hardened nickel-based alloys. Residual deuterium contamination was detected in the analysis chamber as a result of deuterium outgassing from the samples and the impact of this deuterium contamination was assessed by a series of NanoSIMS experiments. A new analysis protocol was developed that involves mapping deuterium in the passive oxide layer thus mitigating beam damage effects that may prevent the detection of localised deuterium signals when the surface is highly deuterated.

Preventing humanity from serious impact of climate crisis requires carbon neutrality across all economic sectors including steel industry. Although fossil-free steelmaking routes receiving increasing attention fundamental process aspects especially approaches towards the improvement of efficiency and flexibility are so far not comprehensively studied. In this paper optimized process concepts allowing for a gradual transition towards fossil-free steelmaking based on the coupling of direct reduction process electric arc furnace and electrolysis are presented. Both a high-temperature and low-temperature electrolysis were modeled and possibilities for the integration into existing infrastructure are discussed. Various schemes for heat integration especially when using high-temperature electrolysis are highlighted and quantified. It is demonstrated that the considered direct reduction-based process concepts allow for a high degree of flexibility in terms of feed gas composition when partially using natural gas as a bridge technology. This allows for an implementation in the near future as well as the possibility of supplying power grid services in a renewable energy system. Furthermore it is shown that an emission reduction potential of up to 97.8% can be achieved with a hydrogen-based process route and 99% with a syngas-based process route respectively provided that renewable electricity is used.

Wind and solar energies present a time and space disparity that generally leads to a mismatch between the demand and the supply. To harvest their maximum potentials one of the main challenges is the storage and transport of these energies. This challenge can be tackled by electrofuels such as hydrogen methane and methanol. They offer three main advantages: compatibility with existing distribution networks or technologies of conversion economical storage solution for high capacity and ability to couple sectors (i.e. electricity to transport to heat or to industry). However the level of contribution of electric-energy carriers is unknown. To assess their role in the future we used whole-energy system modelling (EnergyScope Typical Days) to study the case of Belgium in 2050. This model is multi-energy and multi-sector. It optimises the design of the overall system to minimise its costs and emissions. Such a model relies on many parameters (e.g. price of natural gas efficiency of heat pump) to represent as closely as possible the future energy system. However these parameters can be highly uncertain especially for long-term planning. Consequently this work uses the polynomial chaos expansion method to integrate a global sensitivity analysis in order to highlight the influence of the parameters on the total cost of the system. The outcome of this analysis points out that compared to the deterministic cost-optimum situation the system cost accounting for uncertainties becomes higher (+17%) and twice more uncertain at carbon neutrality and that electrofuels are a major contribution to the uncertainty (up to 53% in the variation of the costs) due to their importance in the energy system and their high uncertainties their higher price and uncertainty.

Preliminary research suggests domestic carbon monoxide detectors with an electrochemical sensor are approximately 10 -20% sensitive to hydrogen atmospheres in their factory configuration. That is the display on a carbon monoxide detector would give a carbon monoxide reading of approximately 10-20% of the concentration of hydrogen it is exposed to. Current British standards require detectors to sound an alarm within three minutes when subjected to a continuous concentration of ≥ 300 ppm CO. This would equate to a concentration of 1500-3000 ppm hydrogen in air or approximately 3.75 – 7% %LEL. The current evacuation criteria for a natural gas leak in a domestic property is 20 %LEL indicating that standard carbon monoxide detectors could be used as cheap and reliable early warning systems for hydrogen leaks. Given the wide use of carbon monoxide detectors and the affordability of the devices the use of carbon monoxide detectors for hydrogen detection is of particular interest as the UK drives towards energy decarbonisation. Experiments to determine the exact sensitivity of a range of the most common domestic carbon monoxide detectors have been completed by DNV Spadeadam Research & Testing. Determining the effects of repeated exposure to varying concentrations of hydrogen in air on the sensitivity of electrochemical sensors allows recommendations to be made on their adoption as hydrogen detectors. Changing the catalysts used within the electrochemical cell would improve the sensitivity to hydrogen however simply calibrating the sensor to report a concentration of hydrogen rather than carbon monoxide would represent no additional costs to manufacturers. Having determined the suitability of such sensors at an early stage; the technology can then be linked with other technological developments required for the change to hydrogen for domestic heating (e.g. change in metering equipment and appliances). This report finds that from five simple and widely available carbon monoxide detectors the lowest sensitivity to hydrogen measured at the concentration required to sound an alarm within three minutes was approximately 10%. It was also discovered that as the hydrogen concentration was increased over the range tested the sensitivity to hydrogen also increased. It is proposed that coupling these devices with other elements of the domestic gas system would allow actions such as remote meter isolation or automatic warning signals sent to response services would provide a reliable and inherently safe system for protecting occupants as gas networks transition to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. In this respect it is noted that wireless linking of smoke and heat detectors for domestic application is already widely available in low-cost devices. This could be extended to CO detectors adapted for hydrogen use.

Bilayer Mg/Ti (200 nm) thin films were successfully prepared by using D.C. magnetron sputtering unit. These films were vacuum annealed at 573 K temperature for one hour to obtain homogeneous and intermixed structure of bilayer. Hydrogenation of these thin film structures was made at different hydrogen pressure (15 30 & 45 psi) for 30 min to visualize the effect of hydrogen on film structure. The UV–Vis absorption spectra I-V characteristics and Raman spectroscopy were carried out to study the effect of hydrogen on optical electrical and structural properties of Mg/Ti bilayer thin films. The annealed thin film represents the semiconductor nature with the conductivity of the order of 10-5 Ώ⁻¹-m⁻¹ and it decreases as hydrogen pressure increases. The nonlinear dependence of resistivity on hydrogen pressure reveals inhomogeneous distribution of hydrogen in the thin film. Raman spectroscopy confirmed the presence of hydrogen in thin film where the intensity of peaks was found to be decreased with hydrogen pressure.

Electrochemical energy storage is a key enabling technology for further integration of renewables sources. Redox flow batteries(RFBs) are promising candidates for such applications as a result of their durability efficiency and fast response. However deployment of existing RFBs is hindered by the relatively high cost of the (typically vanadium-based) electrolyte. Manganese is an earth-abundant and inexpensive element that is widely used in disposable alkaline batteries. However it has hitherto been little explored for RFBs due to the instability of Mn(III) leading to precipitation of MnO2 via a disproportionation reaction. Here we show that by combining the facile hydrogen negative electrode reaction with electrolytes that suppress Mn(III) disproportionation it is possible to construct a hydrogen/manganese hybrid RFB with high round trip energy efficiency (82%) and high power and energy density (1410 mW cm−2 33 Wh l−1 ) at an estimated 70% cost reduction compared to vanadium redox flow batteries.