Publications

Biomaterials attract a lot of attention as next-generation materials. Especially in the energy field fuel cells based on biomaterials can further develop clean next-generation energy and are focused on with great interest. In this study solid-state hydrogen fuel (PSII–chitin composite) composed of the photosystem II (PSII) and hydrated chitin composite was successfully created. Moreover a biofuel cell consisting of the electrolyte of chitin and the hydrogen fuel using the PSII– chitin composite was fabricated and its characteristic feature was investigated. We found that proton conductivity in the PSII–chitin composite increases by light irradiation. This result indicates that protons generate in the PSII–chitin composite by light irradiation. It was also found that the biofuel cell using the PSII–chitin composite hydrogen fuel and the chitin electrolyte exhibits the maximum power density of 0.19 mW/cm2 . In addition this biofuel cell can drive an LED lamp. These results indicate that the solid-state biofuel cell based on the bioelectrolyte “chitin” and biofuel “the PSII–chitin composite” can be realized. This novel solid-state fuel cell will be helpful to the fabrication of next-generation energy.

As part of the LTS Futures HyTechnical project IGEM requested that DNV GL undertake an assessment of the possible impact of hydrogen transmission on BPDs to support the development of supplements to the existing suite of natural gas standards to accommodate the possible future use of hydrogen. The current state of knowledge of the behaviour of large scale high pressure hydrogen releases is limited in comparison with the considerable body of data from research and operational experience of natural gas but is adequate to undertake an impact assessment to take account of the different gas outflow and fire characteristics of 100% hydrogen vs. natural gas.<br/>Calculations of the BPDs for 100% hydrogen pipeline fires on an equivalent basis to those in IGEM/TD/1 for natural gas have been performed with a degree of confidence in the results and demonstrated that the equivalent BPDs for 100% hydrogen are approximately 10% smaller than for natural gas. The results are presented graphically in this report.<br/>However hydrogen introduces the potential for substantially higher overpressures than natural gas due to the higher flame speed and wider flammable limits if delayed ignition is a credible event. The overpressure estimates presented in this report are intended to be scoping calculations to put the likely overpressures into context. The results suggest that significant overpressures are possible at the BPDs but there is a lack of evidence to support the estimation of the overpressures following delayed ignition of a large turbulent hydrogen release in the open (in contrast to explosions in confined or congested regions) and there is a high degree of uncertainty in the predictions presented here. It is therefore recommended that large scale pipeline rupture experiments are performed similar to those undertaken previously for hydrogen natural gas and natural gas/hydrogen mixtures but with ignition engineered to take place after a short delay in order to measure the overpressures and provide the means to validate or refine the predictions made.<br/>The analysis has highlighted limitations in the original method of calculating BPDs in IGEM/TD/1 which reflects the techniques available at the time approximately 40 years ago. Since then understanding of the hazards from pipeline failures and the ability to model the consequences and predict the associated risks to people in the surrounding area have advanced very considerably facilitated by software tools and documented in standards such as IGEM/TD/2. These methods allow the highly transient nature of a high pressure gas pipeline rupture release to be modelled more accurately and for the thermal effects of fires on people and buildings to be calculated taking account of the time-varying thermal dose.<br/>For these reasons a simple comparison of the possible overpressure effects of delayed ignition of a 100% hydrogen release at the BPDs can be misleading and implies that the overpressure hazards could be more severe than those for fires which may not be the case. Example calculations have been performed for a representative pipeline case which indicate that using current methods the predicted thermal hazard distances for 100% hydrogen pipeline fires (house burning and escape for people) are substantially greater than those estimated for overpressures following delayed ignition for similar levels of vulnerability. This report addresses buried pipelines only – the potential for more severe explosion overpressure effects for hydrogen releases may be more significant for Above Ground Installations (AGIs) especially where congestion or confinement may be present. It is recommended that similar studies are conducted to quantify the effect of hydrogen conversion on the consequences and risks associated with hydrogen releases at AGIs.<br/>Finally it is stressed that the analysis in this report does not consider the relative risks for 100% hydrogen and the equivalent natural gas pipelines. There remain uncertainties in the failure frequencies for steel pipelines transporting hydrogen and particularly the probability of immediate and delayed ignition. The likelihood of delayed ignition of a large turbulent high pressure hydrogen gas pipeline rupture release may be very low due to the wider flammability limits and lower minimum ignition energy for hydrogen compared with natural gas. Additional research is currently ongoing or planned to address the gaps in knowledge for 100% hydrogen which should allow more robust comparisons of the relative risks to be made in the future.

With the decarbonization and electrification of modern railway transportation the demand for both the highcapacity electrical energy and hydrogen fuel energy is increasingly high. A novel scheme was proposed from liquid hydrogen production by surplus wind and solar energy to liquid hydrogen-electricity hybrid energy transmission for railway transportation. The 100 MW hybrid energy transmission pipeline was designed with the 10 kA/1.5 kV superconducting DC cable for electricity and cryogenic layers for liquid hydrogen and liquid nitrogen showing strong capability in transmitting “electricity + cold energy + chemical energy” simultaneously. Economic evaluation was performed with respect to the energy equipment capacity and costs with sensitivity and profitability analysis. With the discount rate 8% the dynamic payback period of the hybrid energy pipeline was 7.1 years. Results indicated that the shortest dynamic payback period of the hybrid energy pipeline was 4.8 years with the maximum transmission distance 93 km. Overall this article shows the novel concept and design of liquid hydrogen-electricity hybrid energy pipelines and proves the technical and economic feasibilities for future bulk hybrid energy transmission for railway transportation.

Variable renewable energy (VRE) has seen rapid growth in recent years. However VRE deployment requires a fleet of dispatchable power plants to supply electricity during periods with limited wind and sunlight. These plants will operate at reduced utilization rates that pose serious economic challenges. To address this challenge this paper presents the techno-economic assessment of flexible power and hydrogen production from integrated gasification combined cycles (IGCC) employing the gas switching combustion (GSC) technology for CO₂ capture and membrane assisted water gas shift (MAWGS) reactors for hydrogen production. Three GSC-MAWGS-IGCC plants are evaluated based on different gasification technologies: Shell High Temperature Winkler and GE. These advanced plants are compared to two benchmark IGCC plants one without and one with CO₂ capture. All plants utilize state-of-the-art H-class gas turbines and hot gas clean-up for maximum efficiency. Under baseload operation the GSC plants returned CO₂ avoidance costs in the range of 24.9–36.9 €/ton compared to 44.3 €/ton for the benchmark. However the major advantage of these plants is evident in the more realistic mid-load scenario. Due to the ability to keep operating and sell hydrogen to the market during times of abundant wind and sun the best GSC plants offer a 6–11%-point higher annual rate of return than the benchmark plant with CO₂ capture. This large economic advantage shows that the flexible GSC plants are a promising option for balancing VRE provided a market for the generated clean hydrogen exists.

Quantron AG was created in 2019 as a high-tech spin-off of the well-known Haller GmbH & Co. KG with the vision of paving the way for e-mobility in inner-city and regional passenger and cargo transportation. Quantron AG combines innovative ability and expertise in e-vans e-trucks and e-buses with the long-standing knowledge and experience of Haller GmbH & Co. KG in the commercial vehicle sector. The company's approach to e-Mobility is defined by its commitment to leveraging the most effective zero-emission vehicle technology for the use case which means Quantron is building both hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs) for its clients.

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On this week's show we speak with Trevor Best CEO of Syzygy Plasmonics a Houston area startup who is a pioneer in the field of photocatalytic based hydrogen production. The company has recently closed its series A funding round. We discuss with Trevor the potential applications of the Syzygy approach and where they are aiming to engage the market first as well as his view of the evolution of the hydrogen market today. All this and more on the show!

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The year 2014 marked hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) first becoming commercially available in California where significant investments are being made to promote the adoption of alternative transportation fuels. A refueling infrastructure network that guarantees adequate coverage and expands in line with vehicle sales is required for FCEVs to be successfully adopted by private customers. In this paper we provide an overview of modelling methodologies used to project hydrogen refueling infrastructure requirements to support FCEV adoption and we describe in detail the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s scenario evaluation and regionalization analysis (SERA) model. As an example we use SERA to explore two alternative scenarios of FCEV adoption: one in which FCEV deployment is limited to California and several major cities in the United States; and one in which FCEVs reach widespread adoption becoming a major option as passenger vehicles across the entire country. Such scenarios can provide guidance and insights for efforts required to deploy the infrastructure supporting transition toward different levels of hydrogen use as a transportation fuel for passenger vehicles in the United States.

In this paper a new gasification system is developed for the three useful outputs of electricity heat and hydrogen and reported for practical energy applications. The study also investigates the composition of syngas leaving biomass gasifier. The composition of syngas is represented by the fractions of hydrogen carbon dioxide carbon monoxide and water. The integrated energy system comprises of an entrained flow gasifier a Cryogenic Air Separation (CAS) unit a double-stage Rankine cycle Water Gas Shift Reactor (WGSR) a combined gas–steam power cycle and a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolyzer. The whole integrated system is modeled in the Aspen plus 9.0 excluding the PEM electrolyzer which is modeled in Engineering Equation Solver (EES). A comprehensive parametric investigation is conducted by varying numerous parameters like biomass flow rate steam flow rate air input flow rate combustion reactor temperature and power supplied to the electrolyzer. The system is designed in a way to supply the power produced by the steam Rankine cycle to the PEM electrolyzer for hydrogen production. The overall energy efficiency is obtained to be 53.7% where the exergy efficiency is found to be 45.5%. Furthermore the effect of the biomass flow rate is investigated on the various system operational parameters.

In recent years the growing concern for air quality has led to the development of sustainable vehicles to replace conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. Currently the most widespread technology in Europe and Portugal is that of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) or plug‐in HEV (PHEV) electric cars but hydrogen‐based transport has also shown significant growth in the commercialization of Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEV) and in the development of new infrastructural schemes. In the current panorama of EV particular attention should be paid to hydrogen technology i.e. FCEVs which is potentially a valid alternative to BEVs and can also be hybrid (FCHEV) and plug‐in hybrid (FCPHEV). Several sources cited show a positive trend of hydrogen in the transport sector identifying a growing trend in the expansion of hydrogen infrastructure although at this time it is still at an early stage of development. At the moment the cost of building the infrastructure is still high but on the basis of medium/long‐term scenarios it is clear that investments in hydrogen refueling stations will be profitable if the number of Fuel Cell vehicles increases. Conversely the Fuel Cell vehicle market is hampered if there is no adequate infrastructure for hydrogen development. The opportunity to use Fuel Cells to store electrical energy is quite fascinating and bypasses some obstacles encountered with BEVs. The advantages are clear since the charging times are reduced compared to charging from an electric charging post and the long‐distance voyage is made easier as the autonomy is much larger i.e. the psycho‐ sociological anxiety is avoided. Therefore the first part of the paper provides an overview of the current state of electric mobility in Portugal and the strategies adopted by the country. This is necessary to have a clear vision of how a new technology is accepted by the population and develops on the territory that is the propensity of citizens to technological change. Subsequently using current data on EV development and comparing information from recent years this work aims to investigate the future prospects of FCEVs in Portugal by adopting a dynamic model called SERA (Scenario Evaluation and Regionalization Analysis) with which it is possible to identify the Portuguese districts and cities where an FC charging infrastructure is expected to be most beneficial. From the results obtained the districts of Lisbon Porto and Aveiro seem to be the most interested in adopting FC technology. This analysis aims to ensure a measured view of the credible development of this market segment.

Currently hydrogen energy is the most promising energy vector while gasification is one of the major routes for its production. However gasification suffers from various issues including slower carbon conversion poor syngas quality lower heating value and higher emissions. Multiple factors affect gasification performance such as the selection of gasifiers feedstock’s physicochemical properties and operating conditions. In this review the status of gasification key gasifier technologies and the effect of solid-fuel (i.e. coal biomass and MSW) properties on gasification performance are reviewed critically. Based on the current review the co-gasification of coal biomass and solid waste along with a partial utilisation of CO2 as a reactant are suggested. Furthermore a technological breakthrough in carbon capture and sequestration is needed to make it industrially viable