Applications & Pathways

Fuel Cell Vehicles (FCVs) are a disruptive innovation and are currently looking towards niche market entry. However commercialisation has been unsuccessful thus far and there is a limited amount of literature that can guide their market entry. In this paper a historical case study is undertaken which looks at Tesla Motors high-end encroachment market entry strategy. FCVs have been compared to Tesla vehicles due to their similarities; both are disruptive innovations both are high cost and both are zero emission vehicles. Therefore this paper looks at what can be learned form Tesla Motors successful market entry strategy and proposes a market entry strategy for FCVs. It was found that FCVs need to enact a paradigm shift from their current market entry strategy to one of high-end encroachment. When this has been achieved FCVs will have greater potential for market penetration.

Worldwide the road transport sector typically arises as one of the main sources of air pollutants due to its high energy intensity and the use of fossil fuels. Thus governments and social agents work on the development and prospective planning of decarbonisation strategies oriented towards sustainable transport. In this regard the increase in the use of alternative fuels is the recurrent approach to energy planning e.g. through the promotion of electric vehicles biofuels natural gas liquefied petroleum gas etc. However there is a lack of comprehensive information on the techno-economic performance of production pathways for alternative fuels. The acquisition of robust techno-economic data is still a challenge for energy planners modellers analysts and policy-makers when building their prospective models to support decision-making processes. Hence this article aims to fill this gap through a deep literature review including the most representative production routes for a wide range of road transportation fuels. This led to the development of datasets including investment costs operating and maintenance costs and transformation efficiencies for more than 40 production pathways. The techno-economic data presented in this work are expected to be especially useful to those energy actors interested in performing long-term studies on the transition to a sustainable transport system.

In this paper the effect of direct diesel injection timing and engine speed on the performance and emissions of CI engine operating on RCCI (H2/diesel mixture) coupled with water injection have been numerically investigated and validated. The simulation have been carried out using GT-Power professional software. A single cylinder dual fuel compression ignition model has been built. The diesel fuel was injected directly to the cylinder. The hydrogen and water were injected to the engine intake manifold and engine port with constant mass flow rate and constant temperature for all engine speed. During the simulation the engine speed was varied from 1000 to 5000 rpm and the diesel injection timing was varied from (−5° to −25° CAD). In addition the optimized diesel injection timing for specific engine operation parameters has also been performed. The results show that for specific injection timing and constant hydrogen and water mass flow rate the increase of engine speed results in an increase in the cylinder temperature engine brake power brake specific fuel consumption and NO emissions; but decreases brake thermal efficiency. Moreover the analysis performed shows that the advanced injection timing decreases the engine power brake thermal efficiency and CO emissions; but increases NO emissions.

The influence of the previous electrolytic hydrogenation on the micromechanical properties and tribological behavior of the surface layers of iron and carbon steels has been studied. The concentrations of diffusion-moving and residual hydrogen in steels are determined depending on the carbon content. It is shown that the amount of sorbed hydrogen is determined by the density of dislocations and the relative volume of cementite. After desorption of diffusion-moving hydrogen the microhardness increases and materials plasticity decreases. The change of these characteristics decreases with the increase of carbon content in the steels. Internal stresses increase and redistribute under hydrogen desorption. Fragmentation of ferrite and perlite occurs as a result of electrolytic hydrogenation. Ferrite is characterized by the structure fragmentation and change of the crystallographic orientation of planes. The perlite structure shows the crushing of cementite plates and their destruction. The influence of hydrogen desorption on the microhardness of structural components of ferrite-perlite steels is shown. Large scattering of microhardness is found in perlite due to different diffusion rates of hydrogen because of the unequally oriented cementite plates. It was found that the tendency of materials to blister formation is reduced with the increase of carbon content. The influence of hydrogen on the tribological behaviour of steels under dry and boundary friction has been studied. It is shown that hydrogen desorption intensifies the materials wear. After hydrogen desorption tribological behaviour is determined by the adhesion interaction between the contacting pairs.

As a developing country the Philippines must balance its rapid industrialization efforts with the realities and consequences of climate change on the country. A feasible option to achieve this is increasing the share of renewables in power generation coupled with energy storage technology. This paper examines the present situation and opportunities for development of hydrogen and fuel cell technology in the Philippines as promising alternatives with proven applications in niche energy demand sectors aside from renewables integration. Although the Philippines is considered a latecomer there is significant renewable resource potential available local experts and trained talents and enabling legislations in the country that provide opportunities in harnessing fuel cell technologies for the transition to energy self-sufficient and low-carbon society. Current advancement of the technology in the country is limited to an initial 5-year roadmap focused on component development from cheap and local materials. Provisions for large-scale hydrogen infrastructure have not yet been realized which is comparable to the early stages of development in other countries that are also pursuing fuel cell technology. Strong industry-academe partnerships should be pursued through a specific legislated agency to ensure future development of this technology for the country’s benefit. Lastly applications in distributed power generation poised to be a lucrative direction as demonstration and validation with other potential uses such as transportation remains a challenge.

This article presents a power to SNG (synthetic natural gas) system that converts hydrogen into SNG via a methanation process. In our analysis detailed models for all the elements of the system are built. We assume a direct connection between a wind farm and a hydrogen generator. For the purposes of our calculations we also assume that the hydrogen generator is powered by the renewable source over a nine-hour period per day (between 21:00 and 06:00) and this corresponds to the off-peak period in energy demand. In addition a hydrogen tank was introduced to maximize the operating time of the methanation reactor. The cooperation between the main components of the system were simulated using Matlab software. The primary aim of this paper is to assess the influence of various parameters on the operation of the proposed system and to optimize its yearly operation via a consideration of the most important constraints. The analyses also examine different nominal power values of renewables from 8 to 12 MW and hydrogen generators from 3 to 6 MW. Implementing the proposed configuration taking into account the direct connection of the hydrogen generator and the methanation reactor showed that it had a positive effect on the dynamics and the operating times of the individual subsystems within the tested configuration

Energy transition is a part of a much wider Grand Transition which is not all about energy. Energy transition cannot be achieved all at once or by any one actor. Relying only on better energy modelling and forecasting to guide successful transition will be fatal even in a data-rich era.<br/>It is timely for energy leaders to ask:<br/>Are global energy scenarios achieving their potential in opening up action on new energy futures?<br/>How do the Council’s World Energy Scenarios compare with global energy outlooks scenarios and normative visions used by others and what can we learn by contrasting the increasing richness of energy futures thinking?<br/>In anticipation of the 24th World Energy Congress the Council is refreshing its global energy foresight and updating its global scenarios narratives. The focus is on an ‘innovation twist to 2040’ and the use of scenarios to explore and navigate new exponential growth opportunities for accelerating successful energy transition in an era of epic and disruptive innovation.<br/>As a part of the refresh the Council has conducted a comparison study of global energy scenarios in order to test the continued plausibility relevance and challenge of its own existing scenario set the World Energy Scenarios 2016 launched at the 23rd World Energy Congress in Istanbul in 2016.<br/>By comparing the methods narratives and assumptions associated with a benchmarkable set of global energy futures initiatives and studies the Council seeks to provide our members with clearer understanding and new insights on energy transition while preparing them to better engage with leadership dialogues which pivot on visions of a new energy future.<br/>The review also provides an opportunity to reflect on the challenges and obstacles for utilising global energy scenarios to drive impact and the challenges in bridging agile and flexible qualitative storytelling with long term quantitative energy modelling."

In the past material innovation has changed society through new material-induced technologies adding a new value to society. In the present world engineers and scientists are expected to invent new materials to solve the global problem of climate change. For the transport sector the challenge for material engineers is to change the oil-based world into a sustainable world. After witnessing the recent high oil price and its adverse impact on the global economy it is time to accelerate our efforts towards this change.

Industries are tackling global energy issues such as oil and CO₂ as well as local environmental problems such as NOx and particulate matter. Hydrogen is the most promising candidate to provide carbon-free emission-free and oil-free mobility. As such engineers are working very hard to bring this technology into the real society. This paper describes recent progress of vehicle technologies as well as hydrogen-storage technologies to extend the cruise range and ensure the easiness of refuelling and requesting material scientists to collaborate with industry to fight against global warming.

Link to document download on Royal Society Website  

A new route for making steel from iron ore based on the use of hydrogen to reduce iron oxides is presented detailed and analyzed. The main advantage of this steelmaking route is the dramatic reduction (90% off) in CO2 emissions compared to those of the current standard blast-furnace route. The first process of the route is the production of hydrogen by water electrolysis using CO2-lean electricity. The challenge is to achieve massive production of H2 in acceptable economic conditions. The second process is the direct reduction of iron ore in a shaft furnace operated with hydrogen only. The third process is the melting of the carbon-free direct reduced iron in an electric arc furnace to produce steel. From mathematical modeling of the direct reduction furnace we show that complete metallization can be achieved in a reactor smaller than the current shaft furnaces that use syngas made from natural gas. The reduction processes at the scale of the ore pellets are described and modeled using a specific structural kinetic pellet model. Finally the differences between the reduction by hydrogen and by carbon monoxide are discussed from the grain scale to the reactor scale. Regarding the kinetics reduction with hydrogen is definitely faster. Several research and development and innovation projects have very recently been launched that should confirm the viability and performance of this breakthrough and environmentally friendly ironmaking process.

Hydrogen is expected to become a key component in the decarbonized energy systems of the future. Its unique chemical characteristics make hydrogen a carbon-free fuel that is suitable to be used as broadly as fossil fuels are used today. Since hydrogen can be produced by splitting water molecules using electricity as the only energy input needed hydrogen offers the opportunity to produce a fully renewable fuel if the electricity input also only stems from renewable sources. Once renewable electricity is converted into hydrogen it can be stored over long periods of time and transported over long even intercontinental distances. Underground hydrogen storage pipelines compressors liquefaction-units and transportation ships are infrastructures and suitable technologies to establish a global hydrogen energy system. Several chemical synthesis routes exist to produce more complex products from green hydrogen to fulfil the demands of various end-users and industries. One exemplary power-to-gas product is methane which can be used as a natural gas substitute. Furthermore ammonia alcohols kerosene and all other important products from hydrocarbon chemistry can be synthesized using green hydrogen.