Publications

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.

With the growing need for decarbonization the future gas demand will decrease and the necessity of a gas distribution network is at stake. A remaining industrial gas demand on the distribution network level could lead to industry becoming the main gas consumer supplied by the gas distribution network leading to the question: can industry keep the gas distribution network alive? To answer this research question a three-stage analysis was conducted starting from a rough estimate of average gas demand per production site and then increasing the level of detail. This paper shows that about one third of the German industry sites investigated are currently supplied by the gas distribution network. While the steel industry offers new opportunities the food and tobacco industry alone cannot sustain the gas distribution network by itself.

Our new independent report finds that hydrogen can play an important role in UK’s ambitious decarbonisation plan and boost its global industrial competitiveness.

Key insights from this new analysis include:

• New independent report from Aurora Energy Research shows that hydrogen can meet up to half of Great Britain’s (GB) final energy demand by 2050 providing an important pathway to reaching UK’s ambitious Net Zero targets.
• The report concludes that both blue hydrogen (produced from natural gas after reforming to remove carbon content) and green hydrogen (produced by using power to electrolyse water) are expected to play an important role providing up to 480TWh of hydrogen or c.45% of GB’s final energy demand by 2050.
• All Net Zero scenarios require substantial growth in low-carbon generation such as renewables and nuclear. Large-scale hydrogen adoption could help to integrate renewables into the power system by reducing the power sector requirement for flexibility during peak winter months and boosting revenues for clean power generators by c. £3bn per year by 2050.
• The rollout of hydrogen could accelerate green growth and enable the development of globally competitive low-carbon industrial clusters while utilising UK’s competitive advantage on carbon capture.
• In facilitating the identification of a cost-effective hydrogen pathway there are some low-regret options for Government to explore including the stimulation of hydrogen demand in key sectors the deployment of CCS in strategic locations and the standardisation of networks. These initiatives could form an important part of the UK Government’s post-COVID stimulus plan.

Read the full report on Aurora Energy Research Website

Hydrogen embrittlement susceptibility ratios calculated from slow strain rate tensile tests have been employed to study the response of three high-strength mooring steels in cold and warm synthetic seawater. The selected nominal testing temperatures have been 3 °C and 23 °C in order to resemble sea sites of offshore platform installation interest such as the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico respectively. Three scenarios have been studied for each temperature: free corrosion cathodic protection and overprotection. An improvement on the hydrogen embrittlement tendency of the steels has been observed when working in cold conditions. This provides a new insight on the relevance of the seawater temperature as a characteristic to be taken into account for mooring line design in terms of hydrogen embrittlement assessment.

Scotland’s Climate Change Plan set an ambition for emissions from buildings to be near zero by 2050 and targets 35% of domestic and 70% of non-domestic buildings’ heat to be supplied using low carbon technologies by 2032. The Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019 set a new target for emissions to be net zero by 2045 with interim targets of 75% by 2030 and 90% by 2040. The update to the Climate Change Plan will be published at the end of 2020 to reflect these new targets. The Energy Efficient Scotland programme launched in May 2018 sets out a wide range of measures to promote low carbon heating alongside energy efficiency improvements in Scotland’s buildings. Meeting these targets will require almost all households in Scotland to change the way they heat their homes. It is therefore imperative to advance our understanding of the suitability of the available low carbon heating options across Scotland’s building stock.<br/><br/>The aim of this work is to assess the suitability of low carbon heating technologies in residential buildings in Scotland. The outputs generated through this work will form a key part of the evidence base on low carbon heat which the Scottish Government will use to further develop and strengthen Scotland’s low carbon heat policy in line with the increased level of ambition of achieving Net Zero by 2045.

Hydrogen is an emerging energy vector many components of which are mature technologies. Current hydrogen technology is already able to provide advantages over other energy vectors and many of its challenges are being actively addressed by research and development.<br/><br/>Hydrogen can be derived stored and converted through various processes each of which represents different levels of carbon intensity efficiency and end use functionality. Our latest five minute guide looks at this energy vector in brief including public perception transportation and storage as well as using hydrogen as a solution.

Future national electricity heating cooling and transport systems need to reach zero emissions. Significant numbers of back-up power plants as well as large-scale energy storage capacity are required to guarantee the reliability of energy supply in 100 percent renewable energy systems. Electricity can be partially converted into hydrogen which can be transported via pipelines stored in large quantities in underground salt caverns to overcome seasonal effects and used as electricity storage or as a clean fuel for transport. The question addressed in this paper is how parked and grid-connected hydrogen-fuelled Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles might balance 100 per cent renewable electricity heating cooling and transport systems at the national level in Denmark Germany Great Britain France and Spain? Five national electricity heating cooling and transport systems are modeled for the year 2050 for the five countries assuming only 50 percent of the passenger cars to be grid-connected Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles the remaining Battery Electric Vehicles. The grid-connected Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle fleet can always balance the energy systems and their usage is low having load factors of 2.1–5.5 percent corresponding to an average use of 190–480 h per car per year. At peak times occurring only a few hours per year 26 to 43 percent of the grid-connected Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle are required and in particular for energy systems with high shares of solar energy such as Spain balancing by grid-connected Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles is mainly required during the night which matches favorably with driving usage.

Hydrogen can be used for a variety of domestic and industrial purposes such as heating and cooking (as a replacement for natural gas) transportation (replacing petrol and diesel) and energy storage (by converting intermittent renewable energy into hydrogen). The key benefit of using hydrogen is that it is a clean fuel that emits only water vapour and heat when combusted.



To support implementation of the National Hydrogen Strategy Geoscience Australia in collaboration with Monash University are releasing the Hydrogen Economic Fairways Tool (HEFT).  HEFT is a free online tool designed to support decision making by policymakers and investors on the location of new infrastructure and development of hydrogen hubs in Australia. It considers both hydrogen produced from renewable energy and from fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage.



This seminar demonstrates HEFT’s capabilities its potential to attract worldwide investment into Australia’s hydrogen industry and what’s up next for hydrogen at Geoscience Australia.



You can use the Hydrogen Economic Fairways Tool (HEFT) on the Website of the Australian government at the link here

In this article the solution based on hydrogen generation to increase the flexibility of energy storage systems is proposed. Operating characteristics of a hydrogen generator with integrated electrical energy storage and a photovoltaic installation were determined. The key role of the electricity storage in the proposed system was to maintain the highest operating efficiency related to the nominal parameters of the hydrogen generator. The hydrogen generators achieved the highest energy efficiency for the nominal operating point at the highest power output. Lead-acid batteries were used to ensure the optimal operating conditions for the hydrogen generator supplied with renewable energy throughout the day. The proposed system reduces significantly the hydrogen generator nominal power and devices in system operate in such a way to improve their efficiency and durability. The relations between individual components and their constraints were determined. The proposed solution is fully in-line with previously investigated technologies for improving grid stability and can help incorporate renewable energy sources to increase the sustainability of the energy sector and green hydrogen production.

Initial assessment of Scotland’s opportunity to produce green hydrogen from offshore wind

Summary of Key Findings

• Scotland has an abundant offshore wind resource that has the potential to be a vital component in our net zero transition. If used to produce green hydrogen offshore wind can help abate the emissions of historically challenging sectors such as heating transport and industry.
• The production of green hydrogen from offshore wind can help overcome Scotland’s grid constraints and unlock a massive clean power generation resource creating a clean fuel for Scottish industry and households and a highly valuable commodity to supply rapidly growing UK and European markets.
• The primary export markets for Scottish green hydrogen are expected to be in Northern Europe (Germany Netherlands & Belgium). Strong competition to supply these markets is expected to come from green hydrogen produced from solar energy in Southern Europe and North Africa.
• Falling wind and electrolyser costs will enable green hydrogen production to be cost-competitive in the key transport and heat sectors by 2032. Strategic investment in hydrogen transportation and storage is essential to unlocking the economic opportunity for Scotland.
• Xodus’ analysis supports a long-term outlook of LCoH falling towards £2/kg with an estimated reference cost of £2.3 /kg in 2032 for hydrogen delivered to shore.
• Scotland has extensive port and pipeline infrastructure that can be repurposed for hydrogen export to the rest of UK and to Europe. Pipelines from the ‘90s are optimal for this purpose as they are likely to retain acceptable mechanical integrity and have a metallurgy better suited to hydrogen service. A more detailed assessment of export options should be performed to provide a firm foundation for early commercial green hydrogen projects.
• There is considerable hydrogen supply chain overlap with elements of parallel sectors most notably the oil and gas offshore wind and subsea engineering sectors. Scotland already has a mature hydrocarbon supply chain which is engaged in supporting green hydrogen. However a steady pipeline of early projects supported by a clear financeable route to market will be needed to secure this supply chain capability through to widescale commercial deployment.
• There are gaps in the Scottish supply chain in the areas of design manufacture and maintenance of hydrogen production storage and transportation systems. Support including apprenticeships will be needed to develop indigenous skills and capabilities in these areas.
• The development of green hydrogen from offshore wind has the potential to create high value jobs a significant proportion which are likely to be in remote rural/coastal communities located close to offshore wind resources. These can serve as an avenue for workers to redeploy and develop skills learned from oil and gas in line with Just Transition principles.

Climate change and environmental degradation are an existential threat to Europe and the world. To overcome these challenges Europe needs a new growth strategy that will transform the Union into a modern resource-efficient and competitive economy where

• there are no net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050
• economic growth is decoupled from resource use
• no person and no place is left behind

The European Green Deal is our plan to make the EU's economy sustainable. We can do this by turning climate and environmental challenges into opportunities and making the transition just and inclusive for all



The European Green Deal provides an action plan to

• boost the efficient use of resources by moving to a clean circular economy
• restore biodiversity and cut pollution

The plan outlines investments needed and financing tools available. It explains how to ensure a just and inclusive transition.



The EU aims to be climate neutral in 2050. We proposed a European Climate Law to turn this political commitment into a legal obligation.



Reaching this target will require action by all sectors of our economy including

• investing in environmentally-friendly technologies
• supporting industry to innovate
• rolling out cleaner cheaper and healthier forms of private and public transport
• decarbonising the energy sector
• ensuring buildings are more energy efficient
• working with international partners to improve global environmental standards

The EU will also provide financial support and technical assistance to help those that are most affected by the move towards the green economy. This is called the Just Transition Mechanism. It will help mobilise at least €100 billion over the period 2021-2027 in the most affected regions.

A Westminster Hall debate on the UK hydrogen economy has been scheduled for Thursday 17 December 2020 at 3.00pm. The debate will be led by Alexander Stafford MP. This House of Commons Library debate pack provides background information and press and parliamentary coverage of the issues.<br/><br/>The Government has legally binding targets under the Climate Change Act 2008 to reach ‘net zero’ carbon emissions by 2050. Background information is available from the Library webpage on Climate Change: an overview.<br/><br/>In order to meet the net zero target the use of fossil fuels (without abatement such as carbon capture usage and storage) across the economy will need to be almost entirely phased out by 2050. Hydrogen gas is regarded as an energy option to help decarbonisation especially in relation to applications that may be more challenging to decarbonise. These applications include heating transport (including heavy goods shipping and aviation) and some industrial processes.<br/><br/>The Government has legally binding targets under the Climate Change Act 2008 to reach ‘net zero’ carbon emissions by 2050. Background information is available from the Library webpage on Climate Change: an overview.<br/><br/>In order to meet the net zero target the use of fossil fuels (without abatement such as carbon capture usage and storage) across the economy will need to be almost entirely phased out by 2050. Hydrogen gas is regarded as an energy option to help decarbonisation especially in relation to applications that may be more challenging to decarbonise. These applications include heating transport (including heavy goods shipping and aviation) and some industrial processes.

Since the addition of Al to high-Mn steels is known to reduce their sensitivity to hydrogen-induced delayed fracture we investigate possible trapping effects connected to the presence of Al in the grain interior employing density-functional theory (DFT). The role of Al-based precipitates is also investigated to understand the relevance of short-range ordering effects. So-called E21-Fe3AlC κ-carbides are frequently observed in Fe-Mn-Al-C alloys. Since H tends to occupy the same positions as C in these precipitates the interaction and competition between both interstitials is also investigated via DFT-based simulations. While the individual H–H/C–H chemical interactions are generally repulsive the tendency of interstitials to increase the lattice parameter can yield a net increase of the trapping capability. An increased Mn content is shown to enhance H trapping due to attractive short-range interactions. Favorable short-range ordering is expected to occur at the interface between an Fe matrix and the E21-Fe3AlC κ-carbides which is identified as a particularly attractive trapping site for H. At the same time accumulation of H at sites of this type is observed to yield decohesion of this interface thereby promoting fracture formation. The interplay of these effects evident in the trapping energies at various locations and dependent on the H concentration can be expressed mathematically resulting in a term that describes the hydrogen embrittlement

In this work a low-temperature symmetrical solid oxide fuel cell with Ni-NCAL|SDC/NCAL|Ni-NCAL (70 SDC:30 NCAL) configuration was successfully constructed by a simple dry press method. At 500 and 550 ◦C the peak power densities of the cell in ammonia were 501 and 755 mW cm− 2 and in hydrogen were 670 and 895 mW cm− 2 respectively. EIS data showed that the Rp values of the cell in ammonia and hydrogen at 550 ◦C were 0.250 and 0.246 Ω cm− 2 respectively indicating the excellent catalytic activity of the Ni-NCAL electrode toward ammonia decomposition and hydrogen oxidation. The different cell output can be ascribed to additional ammonia decomposition steps compared to hydrogen. The noticeable reaction product on the surface of the Ni foam was detrimental to ammonia decomposition. In summary a symmetrical cell with SDC/NCAL semi-conductor electrolyte and Ni-NCAL electrodes exhibited higher electrochemical performance at low temperature than the results reported to date. Therefore higher electrochemical performance can be expected from this cell configuration with more efficient ammonia decomposition catalysts.

Hydrogen is an economical source of clean energy that has been utilized by industry for decades. In recent years demand for hydrogen has risen significantly. Hydrogen sources include water electrolysis hydrocarbon steam reforming and fossil fuels which emit hazardous greenhouse gases and therefore have a negative impact on global warming. The increasing worldwide population has created much pressure on natural fuels with a growing gap between demand for renewable energy and its insufficient supply. As a result the environment has suffered from alarming increases in pollution levels. Biohydrogen is a sustainable energy form and a preferable substitute for fossil fuel. Anaerobic fermentation photo fermentation microbial and enzymatic photolysis or combinations of such techniques are new approaches for producing biohydrogen. For cost-effective biohydrogen production the substrate should be cheap and renewable. Substrates including algal biomass agriculture residue and wastewaters are readily available. Moreover substrates rich in starch and cellulose such as plant stalks or agricultural waste or food industry waste such as cheese whey are reported to support dark- and photo-fermentation. However their direct utilization as a substrate is not recommended due to their complex nature. Therefore they must be pretreated before use to release fermentable sugars. Various pretreatment technologies have been established and are still being developed. This article focuses on pretreatment techniques for biohydrogen production and discusses their efficiency and suitability including hybrid-treatment technology

At present aero engine fault diagnosis is mainly based on the steady-state condition at the cruise phase and the gas path parameters in the entire flight process are not effectively used. At the same time high quality steady-state monitoring measurements are not always available and as a result the accuracy of diagnosis might be affected. There is a recognized need for real-time performance diagnosis of aero engines operating under transient conditions which can improve their condition-based maintenance. Recent studies have demonstrated the capability of the sequential model-based diagnostic method to predict accurately and efficiently the degradation of industrial gas turbines under steady-state conditions. Nevertheless incorporating real-time data for fault detection of aero engines that operate in dynamic conditions is a more challenging task. The primary objective of this study is to investigate the performance of the sequential diagnostic method when it is applied to aero engines that operate under transient conditions while there is a variation in the bypass ratio and the heat soakage effects are taken into consideration. This study provides a novel approach for quantifying component degradation such as fouling and erosion by using an adapted version of the sequential diagnostic method. The research presented here confirms that the proposed method could be applied to aero engine fault diagnosis under both steady-state and dynamic conditions in real-time. In addition the economic impact of engine degradation on fuel cost and payload revenue is evaluated when the engine under investigation is using hydrogen. The proposed method demonstrated promising diagnostic results where the maximum prediction errors for steady state and transient conditions are less than 0.006% and 0.016% respectively. The comparison of the proposed method to a benchmark diagnostic method revealed a 15% improvement in accuracy which can have great benefit when considering that the cost attributed to degradation can reach up to $702585 for 6000 flight cycles of a hydrogen powered aircraft fleet. This study provides an opportunity to improve our understanding of aero engine fault diagnosis in order to improve engine reliability availability and efficiency by online health monitoring.

HyNet North West is a significant clean growth opportunity for the UK. It is a low cost deliverable project which meets the major challenges of reducing carbon emissions from industry domestic heat and transport.<br/>HyNet North West is based on the production of hydrogen from natural gas. It includes the development of a new hydrogen pipeline; and the creation of the UK’s first carbon capture and storage (CCS) infrastructure. CCS is a vital technology to achieve the widespread emissions savings needed to meet the 2050 carbon reduction targets.<br/>Accelerating the development and deployment of hydrogen technologies and CCS through HyNet North West positions the UK strongly for skills export in a global low carbon economy.<br/>The North West is ideally placed to lead HyNet. The region has a history of bold innovation and today clean energy initiatives are thriving. On a practical level the concentration of industry existing technical skill base and unique geology means the region offers an unparalleled opportunity for a project of this kind.<br/>The new infrastructure built by HyNet is readily extendable beyond the initial project and provides a replicable model for similar programmes across the UK<br/>Contains Vision statement 2 leaflets a presentation and a summary report which are all stored as supplements.

We present a selection of scale transfer approaches from the electronic to the continuum regime for topics relevant to hydrogen embrittlement. With a focus on grain boundary related hydrogen embrittlement we discuss the scale transfer for the dependence of the carbon solution behavior in steel on elastic effects and the hydrogen solution in austenitic bulk regions depending on Al content. We introduce an approximative scheme to estimate grain boundary energies for varying carbon and hydrogen population. We employ this approach for a discussion of the suppressing influence of Al on the substitution of carbon with hydrogen at grain boundaries which is an assumed mechanism for grain boundary hydrogen embrittlement. Finally we discuss the dependence of hydride formation on the grain boundary stiffness

Today electricity & heat generation transportation and industrial sectors together produce more than 80% of energy-related CO₂ emissions. Hydrogen may be used as an energy carrier and an alternative fuel in the industrial residential and transportation sectors for either heating energy production from fuel cells or direct fueling of vehicles. In particular the use of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (HFCVs) has the potential to virtually eliminate CO₂ emissions from tailpipes and considerably reduce overall emissions from the transportation sector. Although steam methane reforming (SMR) is the dominant industrial process for hydrogen production environmental concerns associated with CO₂ emissions along with the process intensification and energy optimization are areas that still require improvement. Metallic membrane reactors (MRs) have the potential to address both challenges. MRs operate at significantly lower pressures and temperatures compared with the conventional reactors. Hence the capital and operating expenses could be considerably lower compared with the conventional reactors. Moreover metallic membranes specifically Pd and its alloys inherently allow for only hydrogen permeation making it possible to produce a stream of up to 99.999+% purity.

For smaller and emerging hydrogen markets such as the semiconductor and fuel cell industries Pd-based membranes may be an appropriate technology based on the scales and purity requirements. In particular at lower hydrogen production rates in small-scale plants MRs with CCUS could be competitive compared to centralized H₂ production. On-site hydrogen production would also provide a self-sufficient supply and further circumvent delivery delays as well as issues with storage safety. In addition hydrogen-producing MRs are a potential avenue to alleviate carbon emissions. However material availability Pd cost and scale-up potential on the order of 1.5 million m3/day may be limiting factors preventing wider application of Pd-based membranes.

Regarding the economic production of hydrogen the benchmark by the year 2020 has been determined and set in place by the U.S. DOE at less than $2.00 per kg of produced hydrogen. While the established SMR process can easily meet the set limit by DOE other carbon-free processes such as water electrolysis electron beam radiolysis and gliding arc technologies do not presently meet this requirement. In particular it is expected that the cost of hydrogen produced from natural gas without CCUS will remain the lowest among all of the technologies while the hydrogen cost produced from an SMR plant with solvent-based carbon capture could be twice as expensive as the conventional SMR without carbon capture. Pd-based MRs have the potential to produce hydrogen at competitive prices with SMR plants equipped with carbon capture.

Despite the significant improvements in the electrolysis technologies the cost of hydrogen produced by electrolysis may remain significantly higher in most geographical locations compared with the hydrogen produced from fossil fuels. The cost of hydrogen via electrolysis may vary up to a factor of ten depending on the location and the electricity source. Nevertheless due to its modular nature the electrolysis process will likely play a significant role in the hydrogen economy when implemented in suitable geographical locations and powered by renewable electricity.

This review provides a critical overview of the opportunities and challenges associated with the use of the MRs to produce high-purity hydrogen with low carbon emissions. Moreover a technoeconomic review of the potential methods for hydrogen production is provided and the drawbacks and advantages of each method are presented and discussed.

In order to achieve gradual but timely decarbonisation of the transport sector it is essential to evaluate which types of vehicles provide a suitable environmental performance while allowing the use of hydrogen as a fuel. This work compares the environmental life-cycle performance of three different passenger cars fuelled by hydrogen: a fuel cell electric vehicle an internal combustion engine car and a hybrid electric vehicle. Besides two vehicles that use hydrogen in a mixture with natural gas or gasoline were considered. In all cases hydrogen produced by wind power electrolysis was assumed. The resultant life-cycle profiles were benchmarked against those of a compressed natural gas car and a hybrid electric vehicle fed with natural gas. Vehicle infrastructure was identified as the main source of environmental burdens. Nevertheless the three pure hydrogen vehicles were all found to be excellent decarbonisation solutions whereas vehicles that use hydrogen mixed with natural gas or gasoline represent good opportunities to encourage the use of hydrogen in the short term while reducing emissions compared to ordinary vehicles.

Hydrogen crossover rate is an important indicator for characterizing the membrane degradation and failure in proton exchange membrane fuel cell. Several electrochemical methods have been applied to quantify it. But most of established methods are too rough to support follow-up applications. In this paper a systematic and consistent theoretical foundation for electrochemical measurements of hydrogen crossover is established for the first time. Different electrochemical processes occurring throughout the courses of applying potentiostatic or galvanostatic excitations on fuel cell are clarified and the linear current–voltage behavior observed in the steady-state voltammogram is reinterpreted. On this basis we propose a modified galvanostatic charging method with high practicality to achieve accurate electrochemical measurement of hydrogen crossover and the validity of this method is fully verified. This research provides an explicit framework for implementation of galvanostatic charging method and offers deeper insights into the principles of electrochemical methods for measuring hydrogen crossover.

The aim of this work is to study the effect of the displacement rate on the hydrogen embrittlement of two different structural steels grades used in energetic applications. With this purpose samples were pre-charged with gaseous hydrogen at 19.5 MPa and 450 °C for 21 h. Then fracture tests of the pre-charged specimens were performed using different displacement rates. It is showed that the lower is the displacement rate and the largest is the steel strength the strongest is the reduction of the fracture toughness due to the presence of internal hydrogen.

As a promising hydrogen storage medium methanol has many advantages such as a high hydrogen content (12.5 wt%) and low-cost. However conventional methanol–water reforming methods usually require a high temperature (>200 °C). In this research we successfully designed an effective strategy to fully convert methanol to hydrogen for at least 1900 min (∼32 h) at near-room temperature. The strategy involves two main procedures which are CH₃OH →HCOOH → H₂ and CH₃OH → NADH → H₂. HCOOH and the reduced form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) are simultaneously produced through the dehydrogenation of methanol by the cooperation of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH). Subsequently HCOOH is converted to H₂ by a new iridium polymer complex catalyst and an enzyme mimic is used to convert NADH to H₂ and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+). NAD+ can then be reconverted to NADH by repeating the dehydrogenation of methanol. This strategy and the catalysts invented in this research can also be applied to hydrogen production from other small organic molecules (e.g. ethanol) or biomass (e.g. glucose) and thus will have a high impact on hydrogen storage and applications.

Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC) have proven to be a promising energy conversion technology in various power applications and since it was developed it has been a potential alternative over fossil fuel-based engines and power plants all of which produce harmful by-products. The inlet air coolant and reactants have an important effect on the performance degradation of the PEMFC and certain power outputs. In this work a theoretical model of a PEM fuel cell with solar air heating system for the preheating hydrogen of PEM fuel cell to mitigate the performance degradation when the fuel cell operates in cold environment is proposed and evaluated by using energy analysis. Considering these heating and energy losses of heat generation by hydrogen fuel cells the idea of using transpired solar collectors (TSC) for air preheating to increase the inlet air temperature of the low-temperature fuel cell could be a potential development. The aim of the current article is applying solar air preheating for the hydrogen fuel cells system by applying TSC and analyzing system performance. Results aim to attention fellow scholars as well as industrial engineers in the deployment of solar air heating together with hydrogen fuel cell systems that could be useful for coping with fossil fuel-based power supply systems.

The Pressure Peaking Phenomena (PPP) is the effect of introducing a light gas into a vented volume of denser gas. This will result in a nonequilibrium pressure as the light gas pushes the dense gas out at the vent. Large scale experiments have been performed to produce relevant evidence. The results were used to validate an analytical model. Pressure and temperature were measured inside a constant volume while the mass flow and vent area were varied. The analytical model was based on the conservation of mass and energy. The results showed that increasing the mass flow rate the peak pressure increases and with increasing the ventilation area the peak pressure decreases. Peak pressure was measured above 45 kPa. Longer combustion time resulted in higher temperatures increasing an underpressure effect. The experimental results showed agreement with the analytical model results. The model predicts the pressures within reasonable limits of+/-2 kPa. The pressure peaking phenomena could be very relevant for hydrogen applications in enclosures with limited ventilation. This could include car garages ship hull compartments as well as compressor shielding. This work shows that the effect can be modeled and results can be used in design to reduce the consequences.