Implementing a Hydrogen Energy Infrastructure:Storage Options and System Design

Abstract

The development of a hydrogen infrastructure has been identified as a key barrier to implementing hydrogen as for a future transportation fuel. Several recent studies of hydrogen infrastructure have assessed near-term and long-term alternatives for hydrogen supply [1][2]. In this paper, we discuss how advances in material science related to hydrogen storage could change how a future hydrogen infrastructure is designed. Using a simplified engineering/economic model for hydrogen infrastructure design and cost, we explore some potential impacts of advances in storage materials, in terms of system design, cost, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions. INTRODUCTIONHydrogen is receiving increased attention as a future transportation fuel. Fuel cell vehicles fueled by hydrogen offer the potential for a significant increase in vehicle efficiency, reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants to near zero and the possibility of using diverse primary energy sources for fuel production. Fuel cell vehicles might also enable new energy services, such as mobile electricity and the ability to plug in the electrical grid, and innovative automotive designs built around electric drive trains [3].There are also many challenges to overcome before hydrogen can be widely used for energy applications. Hydrogen production, storage and distribution are mature technologies that efficiently delivery large quantities of hydrogen to chemical users. However, many existing hydrogen technologies need further development, in order to reduce costs and improve performance, before they can be commercialized for consumer energy markets.Fuel cells for light duty vehicles are still an order of magnitude more costly than internal combustion engines, and durability needs to be increased by roughly a factor of three [4].To fully realize hydrogen's environmental benefits, low carbon emitting, low polluting, low cost hydrogen production systems are needed. Hydrogen is produced at large scale today for industrial applications such as oil refining and ammonia production (about 2% of world primary energy is used to produce industrial hydrogen). Hydrogen production via reforming or gasification of fossil fuels and water electrolysis are well-established commercial technologies. However, further work is needed on renewable hydrogen production methods such as biomass gasification, wind electrolysis and technologies for carbon capture and sequestration.Hydrogen storage onboard vehicles has been identified as a key challenge. Hydrogen energy storage density has been steadily increasing, but the range of today's experimental hydrogen cars (about 150-300 miles) is still substantially lower than cars using liquid fuels such as gasoline and diesel. New storage materials might also reduce energy requirements and emissions in the fuel chain.

Wind-to-Hydrogen Production Potential for Selected Sites in Pakistan

“…If the transportation radius is changed, the cost of the hydrogen transportation will also increase due to additional cost of the vehicle fuel. The results also have reasonable agreement with the hydrogen transportation cost estimated in number of other studies [96], [97]. It can be seen that the liquid hydrogen is more feasible for larger distances, generally, for transportation distances of more than 500km [98].…”