An Extensive Review of Liquid Hydrogen in Transportation with Focus on the Maritime Sector

Abstract

The European Green Deal aims to transform the EU into a modern, resource-efficient, and competitive economy. The REPowerEU plan launched in May 2022 as part of the Green Deal reveals the willingness of several countries to become energy independent and tackle the climate crisis. Therefore, the decarbonization of different sectors such as maritime shipping is crucial and may be achieved through sustainable energy. Hydrogen is potentially clean and renewable and might be chosen as fuel to power ships and boats. Hydrogen technologies (e.g., fuel cells for propulsion) have already been implemented on board ships in the last 20 years, mainly during demonstration projects. Pressurized tanks filled with gaseous hydrogen were installed on most of these vessels. However, this type of storage would require enormous volumes for large long-range ships with high energy demands. One of the best options is to store this fuel in the cryogenic liquid phase. This paper initially introduces the hydrogen color codes and the carbon footprints of the different production techniques to effectively estimate the environmental impact when employing hydrogen technologies in any application. Afterward, a review of the implementation of liquid hydrogen (LH2) in the transportation sector including aerospace and aviation industries, automotive, and railways is provided. Then, the focus is placed on the maritime sector. The aim is to highlight the challenges for the adoption of LH2 technologies on board ships. Different aspects were investigated in this study, from LH2 bunkering, onboard utilization, regulations, codes and standards, and safety. Finally, this study offers a broad overview of the bottlenecks that might hamper the adoption of LH2 technologies in the maritime sector and discusses potential solutions.

Risk Assessment of Cryogenic Fuels in Marine Transportation

“…In contrast to LNG, ships powered by LH2 are not yet in operation anywhere (Ustolin et al, 2022). Two installations offering LH2 bunkering solutions have been established in two ports in Japan and Australia.…”

Boosting Renewable Methanol Production: A Study on Enriched Hydrogen Recovery Using Hollow Fiber Carbon Membranes in Syngas Stream Upgrades

“…13 The most appealing category is neutral CO 2 emissions, which can be achieved using biomass as a feedstock through biological (dark and photo fermentation, biophotolysis) or thermochemical processes (gasification and pyrolysis). 14 Although gasification is a technique that produces the largest amount of CO 2 and has the highest carbon footprint, 15 it remains one of the most commonly utilized processes for hydrogen production. 16−21 The main reason for this is that most existing industrial plants are large scale, which makes switchover to new technologies slower.…”

“…Although gasification is a technique that produces the largest amount of CO 2 and has the highest carbon footprint, it remains one of the most commonly utilized processes for hydrogen production. − The main reason for this is that most existing industrial plants are large scale, which makes switchover to new technologies slower. In addition, unexpected events, such as the recent global energy crisis, are directing governments to activate solutions for the production of energy based on fossil fuels .…”

Thermally Activated vs. Photochemical Hydrogen Evolution Reactions–A Tale of Three Metals

“…Hydrogen plays an important role in concepts for transforming the energy, transportation and chemical sectors towards a netzero-CO 2 economy. [1,2] The hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in electrochemical environments [3][4][5] as well as gas-phase model systems [6,7] are frequently studied to understand its mechanism and improve the efficiency of hydrogen generation for purposes like energy storage, [8] transportation [9,10] or decarbonization of large-scale CO 2 releasing processes, for example steel production [11] or ammonia synthesis. [12] Starting with the discovery of water electrolysis by Carlisle and Nicholson in 1800, [13] hydrogen evolution reactions have also sparked the curiosity of researchers.…”