Hydrogen Energy: Today's Realities and Future Prospects. Part II
In the first part of our material, readers could get acquainted with the emergence and role of hydrogen energy in the world economic system. Their minds saw the enormous possibilities and prospects of the most widespread substance in the entire Universe, which allows them to extract huge reserves of thermal and electrical energy.
It is quite possible that some of them seriously thought about the possibilities of producing hydrogen in space conditions. And the more realistic pragmatists decided to study this issue in order to gain some economic benefit. All this is correct, but so far the interest in the achievements of this type of alternative energy seems to be much more relevant, applicable to the present time.
XXI Century. The hydrogen energy technology race is gaining momentum
The previously described rapid conquest of the market by means of hydrogen energy, naturally, found its continuation in the future. Today, everything that can only move has long been tested on hydrogen fuel cells or directly hydrogen fuel. Moreover, mixtures based on traditional fuels and hydrogen are already widely used. These include HSNG - a mixture containing hydrogen and natural gas.
Transport
Developers are actively looking for ways to produce the most common substance from distilled water directly on board almost any vehicle. These are heavy trucks and mining equipment, where the hydrogen produced in this way is mixed with diesel fuel. Then there are tankers that use the power of the wind to generate hydrogen.
With the aim of introducing hydrogen fuel cells and hydrogen fuel, a number of consortia and associations have been organized, including hundreds of organizations working in the field of maritime transport. Spain, represented by its shipbuilding company Navantia SA, is mastering the production of submarines, which will carry fuel cells using hydrogen obtained from ethanol. In 2008, the Zemships project was launched, which provides for the construction of ships equipped with power plants based on VTE. The Icelandic fishing fleet is rapidly converting all its ships to hydrogen. It is interesting that the fuel they need will be produced through the operation of hydroelectric power plants and sources of geothermal energy!
This applies directly to vehicles, among which one can also highlight:
- Production of cars on hydrogen fuel. A niche in the existing market has already been mastered by
such companies as Toyota (the mileage of 650 km until the next
refueling can be freely overcome by the Mirai car created by
it), Honda, Hyundai. In the near future, Audi, BMW, Daimler, Nissan, Ford are
planning to join them, developing appropriate energy models of
vehicles.
- Hydrogen trains in Denmark, Germany and Japan.
- Dual-fuel and hybrid cars, still produced in limited
quantities by well-known European manufacturers.
- An unmanned aircraft from the Boeing Company, capable of
flying long distances and flying at high altitudes.
- Cars equipped with hydrogen fuel cells, produced by dozens of
companies from America, Europe and Asia.
- A hybrid of a tram and a bus, equipped with VTE and a
flywheel, created by specialists from the Fraunhofer Institute
(Germany).
- Helicopter and unmanned aerial vehicles created in Germany,
the USA and Israel.
- Hydrogen fuel cell bicycles, forklift trucks, bicycles,
motorcycles, scooters and other forms of transportation.
- Elements of onboard power supply of airplanes, ships and
large-capacity trucks.
However, you should not delude yourself. There are many factors that have a constraining effect on the development of transport using hydrogen fuel. Its operation alone will cost the owner 100 times the operation of a gasoline car (a fact confirmed by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology)!
Energy
In 2008-2010, the largest Italian energy concern Enel managed to launch the first hydrogen power plant in the city of Fusine. Using hydrogen as a by-product of oil refining, the named station, with a capacity of 12 MW, also having 4 MW of additional power from the combustion of flue gas (obtained as a result of the operation of a hydrogen turbine of a coal-fired power plant) will be able to produce 60 million kWh of electricity per year. This will make it possible to provide stable energy needs for 20 thousand households.
In 2018, in the city of Kobe (Japan) at a gas turbine CHPP with a capacity of 1 MW, it was possible to bring the fuel balance to 100% H2 content!
2020 year. A little to the north of the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant, known to the whole world for its tragic events, a solar-powered station for the decomposition of water, designed to produce hydrogen, opens.
On June 25, 2020, the same Japan announced the launch of a hydrogen gas turbine power plant designed to meet the needs of the Tao Oil refinery.
On October 26, 2021, a solemn ceremony was held for the launch of the most powerful power plant to date, powered by WTE. The event, which provided 78.96 MW of generation to the residents of South Korea, took place in the port city of Incheon.
Household needs
It is possible that in the near future hydrogen will start heating living quarters, replacing natural gas. At the same time, the existing heating structures themselves can remain the same, only after undergoing some modernization. In any case, experiments in this direction are already underway in Australia, Great Britain and Germany. It is also possible to dilute natural gas by 20% with hydrogen, which is feasible without modernization.
There is another, more proven option for generating electricity and heat in the household - fuel cells. Statistics show that by the beginning of 2007 there were over 5 thousand stationary hydrogen stations with a capacity of up to 10 kW in the world.
Strategies and Companies The
current situation in the field of hydrogen energy is such
that it no longer satisfies its needs through the use of the
production capacities of organizations working in this
area. Measures of broad government support are required, aimed at
scientific research, the introduction of new technologies, a
significant increase in capacities, surveys focused on the
search for natural deposits of this gas. And this happens:
- Japan became the first sign to formulate its national
strategy for the use of hydrogen in 2017. By 2019, it has adopted a Strategic Roadmap for Hydrogen and
Fuel Cells.
- In 2019, the Republic of Korea entered the same path, and
then the largest exporter of energy resources - Australia.
- In March 2020, the Netherlands will join the Hydrogen Club
members, Germany and Norway will be added to them in June,
Portugal in July, and France in September.
- Having created the National Association for Hydrogen Energy
(NP NAVE) in 2003, the Russian government in 2020 approves an
action plan aimed at the comprehensive development of hydrogen
energy. It served as the basis for the Concept for the Development of
Hydrogen Energy until 2024, which provides for the export of
this energy carrier, which would make it possible to receive
from 23.6 to 100.2 billion dollars annually.
Today, the lists of the largest players in the hydrogen energy market include:
among the producers of the gas itself:
– Air Products
– Linde
– Cummins.
– Praxair.
– Air Liquide.
– BOC
Group.
– Iwatani
International.
among fuel cell manufacturers:
– Ballard Power Systems.
–
Bloom Energy.
– Fuel Cell
Energy.
– Plug Power.
– Power Cell Sweden.
among the companies producing electrolysers:
- McPhy Energy.
- In the ASA.
- ITM Power.
It can be stated that Rosatom and Gazprom are not among them, since they are engaged in the implementation of a number of pilot projects, including:
- the development of technical means for the production of
hydrogen on a low-carbon basis,
- the creation of turbines operating on methane-hydrogen
fuel,
- the study of the possibilities of producing hydrogen on the
basis of nuclear power plants,
- the gradual introduction of hydrogen energy in the field of
railway transport.
Among other companies operating in the area of the new energy sector, one can mention Norilsk Nickel, which at one time invested hundreds of millions of dollars here. However, later the initiative for the use of electrochemical technologies in the field of hydrogen energy passed into the hands of JSC InEnergy Group of Companies, which managed to implement a significant part of the existing ideas and developments. One of the positive results of the industry, which includes these and a number of other organizations, was a threefold increase in hydrogen production, which reached 1.95 billion m3 by 2019.
On the territory of the Russian Federation, one of the pilot sites for the implementation of the Russian hydrogen strategy is the Kola NPP, and Sakhalin, a place of significant concentration of energy resources, which attracted the attention of Russian and French organizers and manufacturers, and is aimed at consumers from Asia Pacific region.
In conclusion, it should be noted that hydrogen energy, which seems to be such a promising direction in the development of the world energy economy, is not devoid of a number of serious shortcomings that give rise to many difficult-to-solve problems. As always happens in such cases, their solution can be found only at the intersection - the synergy of traditional and renewable energy sources, which have a significant financial basis.
Only such interaction will allow to further develop both the industrial basis and the search for natural hydrogen deposits that can put hydrogen energy at a new economic and technical level of development.
— Олег Мічман (@olukawy) December 20, 2021
