Publications

The use of hydrogen as fuel presents many safety challenges due to its flammability and explosive nature combined with its lack of color taste and odor. The purpose of this paper is to present an electrochemical sensor that can achieve rapid and accurate detection of hydrogen leakage. This paper presents both the component elements of the sensor like sensing material sensing element and signal conditioning as well as the electronic protection and signaling module of the critical concentrations of H2. The sensing material consists of a catalyst type Vulcan XC72 40% Pt from FuelCellStore (Bryan TX USA). The sensing element is based on a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) system that includes a cathode electrode an ion-conducting membrane type Nafion 117 from FuelCellStore (Bryan TX USA). and an anode electrode mounted in a coin cell type CR2016 from Xiamen Tob New Energy Technology Co. Ltd (Xiamen City Fujian Province China). The electronic block for electrical signal conditioning which is delivered by the sensing element uses an INA111 from Burr-Brown by Texas Instruments Corporation (Dallas TX USA). instrumentation operational amplifier. The main characteristics of the electrochemical sensor for hydrogen leakage detection are operation at room temperature so it does not require a heater maximum amperometric response time of 1 s fast recovery time of maximum 1 s and extended range of hydrogen concentrations detection in a range of up to 20%.

This study offers a comprehensive analysis of the feasibility of green hydrogen economies in Western and Southern African regions focusing on the ECOWAS and SADC countries. Utilizing a novel approach based on composite indicators the research evaluates the potential readiness and overall feasibility of green hydrogen production and export across these regions. The study incorporates various factors including the technical potential of renewable energy sources water resource availability energy security and existing infrastructure for transport and export. Country-specific analyses reveal unique insights into the diverse potential of nations like South Africa Lesotho Ghana Nigeria Angola and Namibia each with its unique strengths and challenges in the context of green hydrogen. The research findings underscore the complexity of developing green hydrogen economies highlighting the need for nuanced region-specific approaches that consider technical socioeconomic geopolitical and environmental factors. The paper concludes that cooperation and integration between countries in the regions may be crucial for the success of a future green hydrogen economy

: This article investigates how safety culture impacts the safety performance of blue hydrogen projects. Blue hydrogen refers to decarbonized hydrogen produced through natural gas reforming with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. It is crucial to decide on a suitable safety policy to avoid potential injuries financial losses and loss of public goodwill. The system dynamics approach is a suitable tool for studying the impact of factors controlling safety culture. This study examines the interactions between influencing factors and implications of various strategies using what-if analyses. The conventional risk and safety assessments fail to consider the interconnectedness between the technical system and its social envelope. After identifying the key factors influencing safety culture a system dynamics model will be developed to evaluate the impact of those factors on the safety performance of the facility. The emphasis on safety culture is directed by the necessity to prevent major disasters that could threaten a company’s survival as well as to prevent minor yet disruptive incidents that may occur during day-to-day operations. Enhanced focus on safety culture is essential for maintaining an organization’s long-term viability. H2-CCS is a complex socio-technical system comprising interconnected subsystems and sub-subsystems. This study focuses on the safety culture sub-subsystem illustrating how human factors within the system contribute to the occurrence of incidents. The findings from this research study can assist in creating effective strategies to improve the sustainability of the operation. By doing so strategies can be formulated that not only enhance the integrity and reliability of an installation as well as its availability within the energy networks but also contribute to earning a good reputation in the community that it serves.

Reduction of the carbon dioxide emissions is a vital important environmental element in achieving the global climate neutrality. The integration of renewables and the Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS) technologies is seen as an important pillar for overall decarbonization. This work presents several innovative concepts in which the biogas reforming process in integrated with pre- and post-combustion CO2 capture using membranes for green hydrogen production. The assessment evaluates the most relevant techno-economic and environmental performances for 100 MWth green hydrogen plant capacity. Several biogas reforming designs with and without CO2 capture capability were evaluated. In respect to the CO2 capture rate several pre- and postcombustion systems provided decarbonization yields between 55% up to 99%. The results show that the decarbonized membrane-based green hydrogen production shows attractive performances such as high energy efficiency (55–60%) reduced energy and cost penalties for CO2 capture (3.6–15.5 net efficiency points depending on the carbon capture rate) low specific CO2 emissions at system level (down to 2 kg/MWh green hydrogen) and overall negative carbon emission for whole biogas value chain (up to − 468 kg/MWh green hydrogen). This analysis clearly shows how the integration of renewables with CCUS technologies can deliver applications with negative CO2 emissions for climate neutrality.

For fast-tracking climate change response green hydrogen is key for achieving greenhouse gas neutral energy systems. Especially Sub-Saharan Africa can benefit from it enabling an increased access to clean energy through utilizing its beneficial conditions for renewable energies. However developing green hydrogen strategies for Sub-Saharan Africa requires highly detailed and consistent information ranging from technical environmental economic and social dimensions which is currently lacking in literature. Therefore this paper provides a comprehensive novel approach embedding the required range of disciplines to analyze green hydrogen costpotentials in Sub-Saharan Africa. This approach stretches from a dedicated land eligibility based on local preferences a location specific renewable energy simulation locally derived sustainable groundwater limitations under climate change an optimization of local hydrogen energy systems and a socio-economic indicator-based impact analysis. The capability of the approach is shown for case study regions in Sub-Saharan Africa highlighting the need for a unified interdisciplinary approach.

This paper establishes a framework of boundary conditions for implementing hydrogen energy systems in ships identifying what is feasible within maritime constraints. To support a comprehensive understanding of hydrogen systems onboard vessels an extensive technical review of hydrogen storage and power systems is provided covering the entire power value chain. Key aspects include equipment arrangement integration of fuel cell powertrain and presentation of the complete storage system in compliance with regulations. Engineering considerations such as material selection and insulation equipment specifications (e.g. pressure relief valves and hydrogen purity) and system configurations are analysed. Key findings reveal that fuel cells must achieve operational lifespans exceeding 46000 h to be viable for maritime applications. Additionally reliance solely on volumetric energy density underestimates storage needs necessitating provisions for cofferdams ullage space tank heels and hydrogen conditioning areas. Regulatory gaps are identified including inadequate safety provisions and inappropriate material guidelines.