1 Hydrogen Futures, Part 2
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Hydrogen Futures, Part 2 – Rev b By John Benson March 2020 1. Introduction This is a two part series on how we might produce and use hydrogen in the future for applications that cannot be economically addressed by batteries. Part 1 (linked below) explored current and future methods of hydrogen production. https://www.energycentral.com/c/cp/hydrogen-futures This post will deal with possible future roles of hydrogen-based mobility and hydrogen energy storage systems. 2. Mobility Applications Current lithium-chemistry battery technology works really well for a large majority of light vehicle applications. However there are three manufacturers that are producing and selling fuel cell electric vehicles using compressed hydrogen fuel, albeit in very small numbers and only in California (Honda-Clarity, Hyundai-Nexo and Toyota-Mira). At least one of the above manufacturers (Toyota) believes that they can shortly build fuel cell electric vehicles that are less expensive than hybrids and ultimately competitive with internal combustion powered vehicles.1 With some near-future extensions of lithium technologies that will bring faster charging capabilities, batteries will plug most remaining gaps in the light vehicle market, becoming even more dominant. However, there are some applications in heavy vehicles for which hydrogen-fuel-cell vehicles might be a better fit. These are described in the following subsections. 2.1. Long-Duration Requirements Trains: A large majority of tracks are not electrified, and are populated by diesel-electric locomotives. It may not be reasonably possible to electrify all tracks in time to meet "net zero" goals, especially for tracks that are primarily used for freight. An alternative would be to replace diesel-electric locomotives with hydrogen-fueled (plus batteries) locomotives. This would seem to relatively easy from a design standpoint. As more tracks electrify, these could be converted to dual-source (or tri-source: external, battery and hydrogen fueled) designs. Cargo Ships: Ships that transport cargo will eventually need to transition from fuel-oil to some other energy source. While batteries can only be used for short trips in inland water-ways, hydrogen is probably the primary contender for long voyages. Ultimately these will probably use fuel cells or hydrogen-fueled turbines that deliver electricity to battery storage, and then to electric drive motors. Storage of hydrogen will probably be 1 Bertel Schmitt, The Drive, " Exclusive: Toyota Hydrogen Boss Explains How Fuel Cells Can Achieve Corolla Costs", January 18, 2019, http://www.thedrive.com/tech/26050/exclusive-toyota-hydrogen-boss- explains-how-fuel-cells-can-achieve-corolla-costs 1 as compressed gas. Electric drives, including conventional drives, bow- and stern- thrusters (pods), are available for a large range of ships and have been used for years.2 Transport Aircraft: I would suggest that hydrogen-fueled turbines would be most likely path to a large transport aircraft. Hydrogen storage can use compressed gas, but liquid hydrogen might be reasonable given short flight times (vs. ships) and "professional" fuel- handling processes used by large aircraft. It will probably be possible to use hydrogen-combustion turbines rather than fuel cells for primary propulsion and possibly auxiliary electricity. The operation of a medium-sized combustion turbine on 100% hydrogen has been demonstrated and Siemens has made a commitment to have a production hydrogen-fueled gas turbine by 2030.3 If optimized for aero use and hydrogen fuel, this might have a sizable power-to-weight advantage vs. fuel cells. GE has demonstrated operation of an aero-derivative turbine on 90% hydrogen.4 Also, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems as demonstrate 90% hydrogen operation for at least some of their gas turbines.5 Note that converting any cargo or passenger jet to hydrogen operation will probably require extensive air-frame modifications, so 2030 is likely the earliest that a large air transport could be produced in significant quantity. 2.2. Requirements Remote from the Grid Remote Facilities: Facilities that are in remote areas that are not connected to the grid frequently use diesel generation for their power. Diesel fuel is quite expensive, and eventually will need to be replaced by some form of generation that does not emit greenhouse gas (GHG). Many of these areas will use photovoltaic plus battery energy storage in lieu of diesel generators, but areas in the far north have problems with this in winter months (little or no sunlight). Although wind energy may be an option in the winter months, there will be times where there is little or no wind. Although diesels burning bio- diesel fuel can be retained as a backup in these periods, but pressurized hydrogen driving fuel-cells might be an option. Construction / earth-moving equipment: When it comes time to replace diesel powered heavy construction and earth-moving equipment (and/or associated diesel generation), these will probably transition to electric power. Where a construction site is close enough to the grid for a connection this will provide the best source of electricity, and on-board batteries will power the equipment. When construction sites are far away from a grid connection, there will be two alternatives: (1) on-board turbines or fuel cells (plus batteries) providing the electricity, or (2) Hydrogen Energy Storage Systems (next section) recharging equipment with on-board batteries. 2 General Cargo Ship, "Ships bow thrusters-Electric drives, diesel drives, hydraulic drives & white Gill type", http://www.generalcargoship.com/bow-thrusters.html 3 Dr. Jenny Larfeldt, Siemens, " This Swedish scientist works towards fulfilling Siemens’ 2030 hydrogen pledge", June 201Aug 2, 2019, https://new.siemens.com/global/en/company/stories/energy/hydrogen- capable-gas-turbine.html 4 GE Power, “Can GE’s gas turbines run on hydrogen fuel?” https://www.ge.com/power/gas/fuel- capability/hydrogen-fueled-gas-turbines 5 Sonal Patel, Power, “High-Volume Hydrogen Gas Turbines Take Shape”, May 11, 2019, https://www.powermag.com/high-volume-hydrogen-gas-turbines-take-shape/ 2 3. Hydrogen Energy Storage Systems There are several applications where hydrogen energy storage systems (HESS) might be cost-effective. These are explored below. It should be noted, combining a HESS and battery energy storage systems results in a system that can be tailored to a specific application, and might offer: Very high amounts of energy storage (kWh) Very high power outputs (kW) Reasonably high round-trip efficiency 3.1. Long-Term Uninterruptable Power Systems Conventional uninterruptable power systems (UPSs) typically have run times of 20 minutes to a couple of hours. If a power interruption lasts longer than that, emergency generators are currently used for extended operation, and today these are generally diesel. In the future the diesels will need to be replaced. One particular system that may provide this in the future would retain existing UPSs, but replace the diesels with 1. Small advanced electrolyzers, high-temperature thermochemical or photo- electrochemical hydrogen production systems (see part 1 of this series section 3), whichever best meets the application's goals at the time of the deployment, 2. Large compressed hydrogen storage tanks, and 3. Hydrogen combustion turbines, or possibly fuel cells with the same capacity as the emergency generators It is hoped that mobility applications can drive down the cost of all of the above components to reasonable levels. Also the above can be used during peak power pricing, although this might requires a larger electrolyzer and/or storage tank. 3.2. Wind-power Energy Storage Battery energy storage systems are being effectively paired with photovoltaic generation to extend their power delivery into the early evening, thus increasing the value of this solar generation. However, wind-power has much longer periods where it is producing little or no power. Thus current batteries are only minimally suitable for filling this role. Combining electrolyzers with large hydrogen storage tanks, fuel cells or combustion turbines and batteries could provide long-term supplemental power, and greatly increase the value of the combined wind-power / energy storage system. 3 .