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Tag: hydrogen power unit

Hydrogen Vehicles Are on the Rise: Here’s What You Need to Know

Posted on by dishanth
Hydrogen Vehicles Are on the Rise: Here’s What You Need to Know

Hydrogen Vehicles Are on the Rise: Here’s What You Need to Know

The automotive industry is rapidly transitioning to alternative energy sources for fuel vehicles, considering the greenhouse gasses (GHGs) emitted every mile driven. Battery-electric cars are on the rise, but are better alternatives on the horizon?

Hydrogen emerged as a viable replacement for fossil fuels and could be the next big thing in the automotive industry. The rise of hydrogen fuel cells is coming sooner than you may think, so here’s what you need to know about these vehicles.

 

Rapid Market Growth

The future of hydrogen power is bright, as investors think it has massive potential for the automotive industry. Experts say the global hydrogen fuel cell vehicle market will have a compound annual growth rate of 43% until 2032, culminating in a $57.9 billion value. Automakers understand the severity of today’s climate crisis and use any means necessary to advance their sustainability goals.

 

Harnessing Hydrogen

Hydrogen is unstable, as it reacts with other atoms to form compounds. So, how can you harness this chemical element to be safe for your vehicle? Scientists typically use these methods for hydrogen fuel production:

  • Thermal: The Department of Energy (DoE) says about 95% of today’s hydrogen comes from repurposed natural gas. Scientists combine steam and hydrocarbon fuels to produce hydrogen fuel, requiring high temperatures and attention to detail.
  • Solar: Using renewable energy to produce clean fuel is smart, so experts have used solar power for hydrogen production. For instance, they can harness hydrogen fuel using bacteria and its natural photosynthetic activity.
  • Biology: Bacteria are also helpful for hydrogen fuel production through biological reactions. You can use microbes to break down biomass and wastewater, and these tiny organisms aren’t energy-intensive, as they harness sunlight for power.

 

Refueling Stations

Hydrogen fuel is already available if you live on the West Coast, as most of the existing stations are in California — primarily in Los Angeles and the Bay Area. You can also enjoy this alternative energy source in the Pacific Ocean at the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute. As hydrogen fuel grows in demand, you’ll see more opportunities to fill up with it.

The DoE says the United States has 59 retail hydrogen-fueling stations, but more projects are on the way. Fleet companies may have private areas for fueling their vehicles, especially as long-haul trucks convert to hydrogen fuel.

 

Can Semi-Trucks Use Hydrogen Fuel?

Battery-electric motors are a concern for larger vehicles like light-duty and long-haul trucks. These machines must be powerful enough to propel heavy machines for long distances, but their weight drains energy quickly. Will hydrogen fuel be a solution? The logistics industry has focused on this alternative fuel source for greener highways.

For instance, in 2025, Kenworth will begin full-scale production of Class 8 T680 hydrogen fuel cell electric trucks in collaboration with Toyota. The heavy-duty truck manufacturer will deliver its first hydrogen-powered vehicles this year and then expand production.

While the fuel source changes, the typical qualities in hydrogen-powered trucks do not. This Kenworth Class 8 T680 truck has a max payload of 82,000 pounds, demonstrating its ability to carry a significant amount of goods.

The truck uses Toyota’s 310kW Dual Motor Assembly, as the Japanese automaker has prioritized hydrogen fuel research in the last decade. It recently released the second-generation Mirai, which mixes hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity.

States like California have imposed strict requirements for long-haul trucks and other vehicles, so hydrogen-powered trucks could be the answer for sustainability and dependable transportation. Kenworth tested hydrogen fuel cell technology at the Port of Los Angeles in 2022 and used its success to build the Class 8 T680 semi-truck. Continued success will likely mean further North American expansion.

 

Powering Outside the Highways

Hydrogen has become a viable option for passenger cars and even long-haul trucks in its early stages. However, highway vehicles are not the only method of transportation using hydrogen power. Last year, North America debuted its first hydrogen train in Quebec, Canada. This machine uses about 50 kg of hydrogen daily and eliminates dependence upon fossil fuels for these trips.

Hydro-Quebec provides energy for the train, enabling it to travel about 90 km between Quebec City and Baie-Saint-Paul. Emissions are less of a worry for the train, as you only see water vapor emerging from its pipes.

 

What Are the Benefits of Hydrogen-Powered Vehicles?

Hydrogen-powered vehicles are likely the future, as automakers heavily invest in the technologies required for these machines. Driving a hydrogen-powered car delivers these four benefits.

1. Reducing Emissions

Auto manufacturers like Toyota are pushing hydrogen fuel technology because of its eco-friendliness. The only emissions are water vapor and heat, thus making them better for the environment. Turning hydrogen fuel cells mainstream would reduce the amount of GHGs emitted daily, which is crucial to combating climate change.

The transition to hydrogen fuel cells would significantly boost the logistics industry, considering how many long-haul trucks hit the road daily. Research shows medium and heavy-duty vehicles in the U.S. emit over 400 million metric tons of GHGs. Converting trucks worldwide would help the surrounding environment and improve health for each road traveled.

2. Easy Transition

While converting existing trucks to hydrogen fuel cells takes time, the transition might be easier than you think. Logistics companies can keep their current gas transport and storage mechanisms, repurposing them for hydrogen fuel.

Additionally, truck owners wouldn’t have to jump through hoops to let their vehicles take hydrogen power. Retrofitting combustion engines for hydrogen power is more straightforward than with electric motors, especially with heavy trucks.

3. Beating Battery-Powered Vehicles

Battery-electric trucks are best for short drives due to their limited range. However, logistics companies need their vehicles to travel hundreds of miles each trip to keep deliveries on time. Hydrogen-powered trucks allow fleet owners to combine sustainability and efficient travel due to their range.

For instance, the Kenworth T680 hydrogen fuel-powered truck ranges up to 450 miles, depending on the driving conditions. Regardless, it’s more than you’d get from an electric truck. In fact, the Kenworth machine boasts one of the highest ranges for any semi-truck using alternative energy sources.

4. Rapid Refueling

Another significant advantage of hydrogen trucks over battery-electric vehicles is the quick refueling. Fully electric trucks will need to wait for a few hours before they can head back on the road, causing trips to be longer than scheduled. However, hydrogen machines only require a few minutes to fill up, greatly boosting logistics companies. The Kenworth hydrogen fuel cell vehicle lets fleet owners increase uptime and reduce lead times.

Foreshadowing a Bright Future

The automotive industry is pushing for fossil fuel alternatives to help the planet’s transportation sector. While battery-electric technology has existed for over a decade, hydrogen fuel cells are another way for automakers to produce cleaner vehicles.

The future of hydrogen vehicles is bright as researchers continue to improve the technology and bring it into the mainstream.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source  Happy Eco News

Underground Hydrogen Touted As ‘Significant’ Clean Energy Resource In First U.S. Hearing

Posted on by dishanth
Underground Hydrogen Touted As ‘Significant’ Clean Energy Resource In First U.S. Hearing

The Senate held the first congressional hearing on geologic hydrogen, a promising new form of clean energy generated naturally underground, that’s attracted growing interest and investment over the past year.

The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, chaired by West Virginia’s Sen. Joe Manchin, heard testimony on Wednesday from the Energy Department’s advanced research unit, the U.S. Geological Survey and Pete Johnson, CEO of Koloma, the best-funded startup in the geologic hydrogen space. They concurred that more research is needed to identify the most abundant, promising sites and to develop techniques to amplify the natural production process, but were upbeat about the outlook.

“The potential for geologic hydrogen represents a paradigm shift in the way we think about hydrogen as an energy source,” Evelyn Wang, director of DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy told Senators. “This new source of hydrogen could lower energy costs and increase our nation’s energy security and supply chains.”

Federal scientists have begun working with universities and energy companies to find ways to map and locate potentially large pockets of hydrogen as current estimates are inadequate, said the Geological Survey’s Geoffrey Ellis. “The estimated in-place global geologic hydrogen resource ranges from 1000s to potentially billions of megatons,” he told the committee. “Given our understanding of other geologic resources, the vast majority of the in-place hydrogen is likely to be in accumulations that are either too far offshore or too small to ever be economically recovered. However, if even a small fraction of this amount could be recovered that would constitute a significant resource.”

Hydrogen is already heavily used in industry, including at oil refineries, chemical plants and as a key ingredient in ammonia for fertilizer. But nearly all of it is made by extracting hydrogen from natural gas, a dirty process that emits large amounts of carbon dioxide. Like green hydrogen — a new clean form of the element made from water and electricity, ideally from renewable power — the geologic variety is carbon-free. Scientists believe it’s generated in underground pockets of iron-rich rock in warm, moist conditions that are extremely common. Uniquely, it’s an energy source that’s just sitting there, not one that needs to be created.

“All other forms of hydrogen require more energy to produce than the hydrogen itself holds,” Koloma’s Johnson said. “This is incredibly clean energy. In multiple third-party lifecycle analyses and peer-reviewed journal articles, geologic hydrogen has been found to have a very low carbon footprint. In addition, geologic hydrogen will result in lower land use and lower water consumption than any other form of hydrogen.”

Johnson, Wang and Ellis also noted that drilling or mining for hydrogen leverages techniques used by the oil and gas industry. It’s also likely to aid domestic ammonia production.

“Hydrogen is a great feedstock and it’s used to create ammonia for fertilizer,” said Wang. “If we could really stimulate and extract this hydrogen and produce very large quantities at very low cost I think this could have significant implications to help and support farmers.”

Johnson provided no details about when Denver-based Koloma, which has raised over $300 million from investors including Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Energy Impact Partners and Amazon, would begin commercial extraction of hydrogen but is cautiously optimistic.

“This will take time, money and effort to figure out. Nobody has all the answers today,” he told the committee. “The early data looks promising and I believe that geologic hydrogen can play a very large role as we decarbonize the U.S. energy economy.”

 

 

 

 

Source    Forbes

 

National Grid posts success with hydrogen generator trial

Posted on by dishanth
National Grid posts success with hydrogen generator trial

The trial took ten weeks to complete and was hosted at National Grid’s Deeside Centre for Innovation in north Wales. The Centre is a testing facility, developed to enable 24/7 trials of innovative technologies and processes in an environment replicating a 400 kV substation.

During the trials, a 250kW hydrogen power unit (HPU) from GeoPura was used to power low-voltage equipment as well as site operations like cooling, pumps and lighting. The hydrogen to serve the generator was ‘green’, meaning that it was generated by running water through an electrolyser system served by renewable electricity.

National Grid was seeking to find out whether HPUs could be a feasible direct replacement for diesel backup generators, which are the chosen technology – along with battery energy storage – for providing emergency power at substation sites. National Grid operates more than 250 substations across the UK.

The trials confirmed that the HPU could provide up to 250kW for up to 45 minutes and up to 100kW for longer periods. They also revealed that the unit was considerably quieter than a diesel alternative.

While backup diesel generators are rarely used by National Grid, they are emissions-intensive when they are used. National Grid has stated that its diesel generator use generates more than 500,000 kg (500 tonnes) of carbon dioxide emissions each year.

Data resulting from the HPU trial will now be analysed. The results will be shared later this year, as well as decisions about any potential additional trials and rollout.

The manager of the Deeside Centre for Innovation, Dean Coleman, said his team is “delighted to have trialled this innovative off-grid power source”. He said: “The HPU powered our test facility 24 hours a day, seven days a week and we will now consider the findings, which we hope will help accelerate the transition to a flexible and low carbon future.”

HPU momentum

National Grid is aiming for net-zero by 2050, in line with the UK Government’s legally binding target. It is not the only organisation seeking a lower-emission alternative to diesel backup generators as the global net-zero transition builds momentum. Last year, Microsoft completed trials of HPUs to replace diesel backup generators at data centres, completing a pilot in Latham, New York.

Also using hydrogen generators is construction firm Mace Group.

Microsoft concluded that the large-scale adoption of hydrogen fuel cells should only be attempted once green hydrogen is “widely available and economically viable”. Most global hydrogen production at present is ‘grey’ – reliant on fossil fuels. This means that, while the hydrogen produces no greenhouse gas emissions at the point of combustion, it is not a low or no-emission product across its lifecycle. It also means that grey hydrogen is currently far cheaper than green, but nations have collectively pledged to bring green hydrogen to price parity with fossil hydrogen by 2030 through the Breakthorugh Agenda.

As an alternative to diesel that is more commercially mature than HPUs, some firms, including Skanska, McAlpine, Interxion and Kao Data, are choosing generators fuelled by hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO). However, others continue to invest in new diesel generators. Just this week, distribution company completed the acquisition of a diesel backup generator for its head office and distribution centre in Hatfield.

 

 

 

 

Source edie