Toward a hydrogen society: Hydrogen and smart grid integration

Hydrogen has an important role as a smart solution for Smart Grid, as it can play as an energy vector, a storage medium, and a clean fuel cell. The integration of Hydrogen and Smart Grid can minimize the impact on the environment while maximizing sustainability, which indicates that we are developing toward a hydrogen society. There have been already many studies on different aspects of this topic. For a better understanding of the related work, this paper proposed a comprehensive overview of the related work on the integration of Hydrogen and Smart Grid. Related literature is organized and analyzed from four categories, including Hydrogen energy in smart grids, Hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles, Hydrogen economy in smart grids, and Models for energy system in smart grids. And each subject has been introduced more carefully. What's more, for a clear understanding for readers, we provide overall scenario views for the organization of the related work.     

Hydrogen station evolution towards a poly-generation energy system

The present paper analyzes an innovative energy system based on a hydrogen station, as the core of a smart energy production center, where the produced hydrogen is then used in different hydrogen technologies adopted and installed nearby the station. A case study analysis has been proposed and then investigated, with a station capacity of up to 360 kg of hydrogen daily generated, located close to a University Campus. A hydrogen mobility network has been included, composed of a fuel cell hydrogen fleet of 41 vehicles, 43 bicycles, and 28 fuel cell forklifts. The innovative proposed energy system needs to meet also a power and heat demand for a student housing 5400 m² building of the University Campus. The performance of the system is presented and investigated, including technical and economic analyses, proposing a hydrogen refueling station as an innovative alternative fuel infrastructure, called Multi-modular Hydrogen Energy Station, marking its great potential in future energy scenarios.     

Optimal siting and sizing of hydrogen refueling stations considering distributed hydrogen production and cost reduction for regional consumers

Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are currently facing two difficulties in achieving their general use: the lack of hydrogen refueling stations and high hydrogen prices. Hydrogen refueling stations are the middle stage for delivering hydrogen from its sources to consumers, and their location could be affected by the distributed locations of hydrogen sources and consumers. The reasonable siting and sizing of hydrogen refueling stations could both improve the hydrogen infrastructure and reduce regional consumers' cost of using hydrogen. By considering the hydrogen life cycle cost and using a commercial volume forecasting model, this paper creates a relatively thorough and comprehensive model for hydrogen station siting and sizing with the objective of achieving the optimal costs for consumers using hydrogen. The cost‐based model includes the selection of the hydrogen sources, transportation methods, and storage methods, and thus, the hydrogen supply chain can also be optimized. A numerical example is established in Section 4 with the solution algorithm and results.     

Technological-economic assessment and optimization of hydrogen-based transportation systems in China: A life cycle perspective

Hydrogen energy is increasingly incorporated into long-distance transportation systems. Whether the coupled hydrogen-based transportation system can achieve a sustainable business operation mode requires quantification of environmental and economic performance by a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis. This study proposes a cost-based life cycle assessment method to evaluate the environmental and economic benefits of hydrogen-based long-distance transportation systems. The innovative cost assessment method introduces internal and external economic costs to conduct a multi-scenario assessment. According to the key factors of mileage, government subsidies and hydrogen fuel prices, this research identifies the key cost component of the hydrogen-based transportation system in China by using a multilevel comparison with cell-driven and oil-fueled vehicles. The results show that hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles are competitive in terms of both fuel costs and environmental costs. As hydrogen costs are expected to be gradually reduced by 43% in the future, hydrogen logistics vehicles and heavy trucks are expected to have better life-cycle economics than other energy vehicles by approximately 2030. Hydrogen buses will outperform other vehicles by approximately 2033, while hydrogen passenger cars will have a reduced life-cycle cost per kilometre within 0.1 CHY/km compared to other vehicles by approximately 2035. Ultimately, fuel consumption, average annual mileage, and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle policy are three factors that have greater impacts. Policy implications are put forward to implement optimal investment plan for hydrogen transportation systems.     

On-site hydrogen production from transportation fuels: An overview and techno-economic assessment

Hydrogen production for future transportation applications have received increased interest due to its inherent environmental and efficiency benefits. Currently, hydrogen is produced from natural gas and naphtha for its use in refineries for clean fuel production along with its use in ammonia production. The hydrogen demand will grow in future for hydrogen based fuel cell vehicles. Significant research is underway to produce hydrogen from renewable and fossil fuel sources. However, on-site hydrogen production using existing fuel and gas station infrastructure to support future hydrogen based fuel cell vehicles has advantages over other approaches. In this context, this study is focused on a techno-economic assessment of hydrogen production from transportation fuels using different conversion technologies. In addition, detailed economics with higher capacity and volume of the hydrogen stations are also discussed. Finally, a detailed roadmap is presented to produce on-site hydrogen at commercial scale.     

An overview of hydrogen as a vehicle fuel

As hydrogen fuel cell vehicles move from manifestation to commercialization, the users expect safe, convenient and customer-friendly fuelling. Hydrogen quality affects fuel cell stack performance and lifetime, as well as other factors such as valve operation. In this paper, previous researcher's development on hydrogen as a possible major fuel of the future has been studied thoroughly. Hydrogen is one of the energy carriers which can replace fossil fuel and can be used as fuel in an internal combustion engines and as a fuel cell in vehicles. To use hydrogen as a fuel of internal combustion engine, engine design should be considered for avoiding abnormal combustion. As a result it can improve engine efficiency, power output and reduce NO_x emissions. The emission of fuel cell is low as compared to conventional vehicles but as penalty, fuel cell vehicles need additional space and weight to install the battery and storage tank, thus increases it production cost. The production of hydrogen can be ‘carbon-free’ only if it is generated by employing genuinely carbon-free renewable energy sources. The acceptability of hydrogen technology depends on the knowledge and awareness of the hydrogen benefits towards environment and human life. Recent study shows that people still do not have the sufficient information of hydrogen.     

Simulation,economic and environmental evaluations of green solar parking (refueling station) for fuel cell vehicle

Energy storage is needed for renewable systems due to the intermittent nature of wind and solar energy. Hydrogen can be used to store variable renewable energy such as solar and wind energy. According to this fact, there is an increasing interest in use of solar-hydrogen systems for power supply in remote areas or other standalone applications. One of these applications is Hydrogen production station working by solar energy to use in fuel cell vehicle. Time consuming aspect of solar-hydrogen production is the most prominent reason for presenting a new scheme as a parking-refueling station for fuel cell vehicles in this study. To do this, Simulation, economic and environmental evaluations of the solar parking-refueling station are considered in this article. Because of using an independent hydrogen compression system, the suggested parking-refueling station can be used in a standalone area such as rural and military applications. Results show that the proposed system seems to be economic in present condition. It also illustrates that the Levelized Cost of Product (Km-Passenger) is in a range of 0.15–0.28 US$. Although using the tracker system is not economically efficient, the effect of such a structure is more obvious in the points far from tropical area.     

The fuel cell electric vehicles: The highlight review

Transportation sector is the important sector and consumed the most fossil fuel in the world. Since COVID-19 started in 2019, this sector had become the world connector because every country relies on logistics. The transportation sector does not only deal with the human transportation but also relates to logistics. Research in every country has searched for alternative transportation to replace internal combustion engines using fossil fuel, one of the most prominent choices is fuel cells. Fuel cells can use hydrogen as fuel. Hydrogen can be fed to the fuel cells to provide electric power to drive vehicles, no greenhouse gas emission and no direct combustion required. The fuel cells have been developed widely as the 21st century energy-conservation devices for mobile, stationary, and especially vehicles. The fuel cell electric vehicles using hydrogen as fuel were also called hydrogen fuel cell vehicles or hydrogen electric vehicles. The fuel cells were misconceived by several people that they were batteries, but the fuel cells could provide electric power continuously if their fuel was provided continuously. The batteries could provide electric power as their only capacities, when all ions are released, no power could be provided. Because the fuel cell vehicles play important roles for our future transportation, the overall review for these vehicles is significantly interesting. This overall review can provide general and technical information, variety of readers; vehicle users, manufacturers, and scientists, can perceive and understand the fuel cell vehicles within this review. The readers can realize how important the fuel cell technologies are and support research around the world to drive the fuel cell vehicles to be the leading vehicles in our sustainable developing world.     

Techno-economical evaluation of a hydrogen refuelling station powered by Wind-PV hybrid power system: A case study for İzmir-Çeşme

Hydrogen fuelling station is an infrastructure for the commercialisation of hydrogen energy utilising fuel cells, particularly, in the automotive sector. Hydrogen fuel produced by renewable sources such as the solar and wind energy can be an alternative fuel to depress the use of fuels based on fossil sources in the transport sector for sustainable clean energy strategy in future. By replacing the primary fuel with hydrogen fuel produced using renewable sources in road transport sector, environmental benefits can be achieved. In the present study, techno-economic analysis of hydrogen refuelling station powered by wind-photovoltaics (PV) hybrid power system to be installed in ?zmir-Çe?me, Turkey is performed. This analysis is carried out to a design of hydrogen refuelling station which is refuelling 25 fuel cell electric vehicles on a daily basis using hybrid optimisation model for electric renewable (HOMER) software. In this study, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) surface meteorology and solar energy database were used. Therefore, the average wind speed during the year was assessed to be 5.72 m/s and the annual average solar irradiation was used to be 5.08 kW h/m²/day for the considered site. According to optimisation results obtained for the proposed configuration, the levelised cost of hydrogen production was found to be US $7.526–7.866/kg in different system configurations. These results show that hydrogen refuelling station powered by renewable energy is economically appropriate for the considered site. It is expected that this study is the pre-feasibility study and obtained results encougare the hydrogen refuelling station to be established in Turkey by inventors or public institutions.     

Developing an infrastructure for hydrogen vehicles: a Southern California case study

We have examined the technical feasibility and economics of developing a hydrogen vehicle refueling infrastructure for a specific area where zero emission vehicles are being considered, Southern California. Potential hydrogen demands for zero emission vehicles are estimated. We then assess in detail several near term possibilities for producing and delivering gaseous hydrogen transportation fuel including: (1) hydrogen produced from natural gas in a large, centralized steam reforming plant, and truck delivered as a liquid to refueling stations; (2) hydrogen produced in a large, centralized steam reforming plant, and delivered via small scale hydrogen gas pipeline to refueling stations; (3) by-product hydrogen from chemical industry sources; (4) hydrogen produced at the refueling station via small scale steam reforming of natural gas; and (5) hydrogen produced via small scale electrolysis at the refueling station. The capital cost of infrastructure and the delivered cost of hydrogen are estimated for each hydrogen supply option. Hydrogen is compared to other fuels for fuel cell vehicles (methanol, gasoline) in terms of vehicle cost, infrastructure cost and lifecycle cost of transportation. Finally, we discuss possible scenarios for introducing hydrogen as a fuel for fuel cell vehicles.     

Design of a solar hydrogen refuelling station following the development of the first Croatian fuel cell powered bicycle to boost hydrogen urban mobility

Hydrogen refuelling stations are important for achieving sustainable hydrogen economy in low carbon transport and fuel cell electric vehicles. The solution presented in this paper provides us with a technology for producing carbon dioxide free hydrogen, which is an approach that goes beyond the existing large-scale hydrogen production technologies that use fossil fuel reforming. Hence, the main goal of this work was to design a hydrogen refuelling station to secure the autonomy of a hydrogen powered bicycle. The bicycle hydrogen system is equipped with a proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack of 300 W, a DC/DC converter, and a metal hydride storage tank of 350 NL of hydrogen. The hydrogen power system was made of readily available commercial components. The hydrogen station was designed as an off-grid system in which the installed proton exchange membrane electrolyzer is supplied with electric energy by direct conversion using photovoltaic cells. With the hydrogen flow rate of 2000 cc min⁻¹ the hydrogen station is expected to supply at least 5 bicycles to be used in 20 km long city tourist routes.     

Multi-period planning of hydrogen refuelling stations using flow data: A case study for Istanbul

Decreasing energy resources is among the future concerns of almost all sectors, including transportation. Hydrogen is one of the major alternatives. Although the promotion of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (HFCVs) is supported by the governments and automobile companies, hydrogen refuelling stations (HRSs) should be accessible in order for HFCV to become widespread. Therefore the location and the number of HRS play an essential role for the spread of the HFCVs. In this study, we aim to find the number and the location of HRSs to be operated in Istanbul by using a multi-period p-median model. The adaptation to hydrogen technology for each district of the city is modelled using human development index, a measure for life quality which is then used to determine the HFCVs’ demand based on traffic flow data. It turns out that ignoring the transition of adopting hydrogen technology may result in a significant loss. HRSs have a cluster-like structure which is due to the demographic structure of the city. One cluster of stations serves to the underpopulated region (at the peripherals) and the other cluster is located at the densely populated districts (the middle regions of the city). It turns out that instead of spreading from the center to the city boundary, the stations appear at both clusters from early periods of the 30 years planning horizon.     

Efficient four-electron transfer platinum-based oxygen reduction catalysts: A mini review

Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have attracted extensive attention for conversion equipment and new energy storage technologies. As an important component of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, highly stable and active platinum-based (Pt-based) catalysts with 4-electron oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) selectivity are extremely important for promoting the application of this field. In this mini review, based on the ORR mechanism, the feasible strategies to enhance the catalytic stability and 4-electron selectivity of Pt-based catalysts were summarized. Furthermore, the effect mechanisms of each strategy in enhancing catalytic activity and 4-electron selectivity were emphatically discussed and their superiorities and limitations were evaluated. Finally, the research direction and current challenges of Pt-based catalysts were prospected from the perspective of their practical application in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.     

The potential role of hydrogen as a sustainable transportation fuel to combat global warming

Hydrogen is recognized as a key source of the sustainable energy solutions. The transportation sector is known as one of the largest fuel consumers of the global energy market. Hydrogen can become a promising fuel for sustainable transportation by providing clean, reliable, safe, convenient, customer friendly, and affordable energy. In this study, the possibility of hydrogen as the major fuel for transportation systems is investigated comprehensively based on the recent data published in the literature. Due to its several characteristic advantages, such as energy density, abundance, ease of transportation, a wide variety of production methods from clean and renewable fuels with zero or minimal emissions; hydrogen appears to be a great chemical fuel which can potentially replace fossil fuel use in internal combustion engines. In order to take advantage of hydrogen as an internal combustion engine fuel, existing engines should be redesigned to avoid abnormal combustion. Hydrogen use in internal combustion engines could enhance system efficiencies, offer higher power outputs per vehicle, and emit lower amounts of greenhouse gases. Even though hydrogen-powered fuel cells have lower emissions than internal combustion engines, they require additional space and weight and they are generally more expensive. Therefore, the scope of this study is hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engines. It is also highlighted that in order to become a truly sustainable and clean fuel, hydrogen should be produced from renewable energy and material resources with zero or minimal emissions at high efficiencies. In addition, in this study, conventional, hybrid, electric, biofuel, fuel cell, and hydrogen fueled ICE vehicles are comparatively assessed based on their CO₂ and SO₂ emissions, social cost of carbon, energy and exergy efficiencies, fuel consumption, fuel price, and driving range. The results show that when all of these criteria are taken into account, fuel cell vehicles have the highest average performance ranking (4.97/10), followed by hydrogen fueled ICEs (4.81/10) and biofuel vehicles (4.71/10). On the other hand, conventional vehicles have the lowest average performance ranking (1.21/10), followed by electric vehicles (4.24/10) and hybrid vehicles (4.53/10).     

世界各国加快氢能源市场化步伐——记第18届世界氢能大会(WHEC 2010)

2010年5月在德国埃森召开的"第18届世界氢能大会"上,来自美国、德国、日本、中国等国家的代表介绍了各自国家最新的氢能进展。中国科技部部长万钢出席大会并发言指出:中国要制订国家氢能规划,加大对氢能的投入,扩大氢能示范和应用,加强氢能的国际合作。美国能源部Nancy L Garland博士和Michacel Mills介绍了美国氢能的总体情况,指出:目前美国每年生产5000×104m3氢气,拥有氢气管道3000km以上,现有氢燃料电池轿车230多辆,氢燃料电池公共汽车130多辆,加氢站约200座。在燃料电池商业化方面,美国仍存在着技术上和经济性方面的障碍。在2007~2010财政年度,美国通过立法和各类货款、补贴,进一步加大了对氢能的扶持力度,美国能源部多次联合其他机构,召开氢能基础设施研讨会,就降低燃料电池成本、氢能政策、税收、碳税、氢能信息和教育、燃料电池革新方向,以及新的商业模式等进行讨论。目前,美国加州是美国最积极推进氢燃料电池技术与示范的州,该州预计于2016~2018年,其氢燃料电池轿车数量将达到54300辆,并计划进一步发展氢能高速公路。德国国家全资公司NOW公司总经理波霍夫博士等人介绍了德国的氢能进展。主要内容包括:德国准备到2015年,共建造1000座加氢站,将为10×104辆氢燃料电池车提供氢气;德国在氢气来源方面,2020年以前主要来源于副产氢气和天然气制氢,2030年以后主要依靠煤制氢(集合CO2捕集)、风能制氢、生物质能制氢等。日本为了尽快研发、推广燃料电池车,采取了全额投入经费的办法,委托日本产业省(METI)的全资公司VEDO公司负责管理"日本氢能和燃料电池示范项目(JHFC)",该项目的目标之一,就是到2025年,在全日本建立1000座加氢站。     

Design of a hydrogen community

This paper discusses the conceptual design of a scalable and reproducible hydrogen fueling station at Santa Monica, California. Hydrogen production using renewable energy sources such as biogas, which accounts for 100% of the total production, has been discussed. The fueling station consists of a direct fuel cell (DFC) 300 fuel cell for on-site generation of 136 kg/day of hydrogen and 300 kW of electric power, five hydrogen storage tanks (storage capacity of 198 kg of H₂ at 350 and 700 bar), four compressors which assist in dispensing 400 kg of hydrogen in 14 h, two hydrogen dispensers operating at 350 bar and 700 bar independently and a SAE J2600 compliant hydrogen nozzle. Potential early market customers for hydrogen fuel cells and their daily fuel requirements have been computed. The safety codes, potential failure modes and the methods to mitigate risks have been explained. A well-to-wheel analysis is performed to compare the emissions and the total energy requirements of conventional gasoline and fuel cell vehicles.     

Advancements and current technologies on hydrogen fuel cell applications for marine vehicles

Maritime industry has led renewable energy sources for the greener environment and efficient vehicles that effect by increasing population and energy demands. Hydrogen is one of the most popular of these renewable energy sources and one of the most favourable research area, worldwide. In this study, authors reported the usage of hydrogen fuel cells in marine transport as main power forwarder, their advantages and challenges under the lights on state of art and furthermore new technologies perspective. The latest research activities, hydrogen production and storage methods with challenges are analyzed and the developments of fuel cell based marine vehicles are discussed. In detailed, newly approachment of electrolyses from seawater for sustainable fuel necessity is discussed. As a result, this forseen study is important in terms of handling energy from seawater and compiling the latest technology for marine transport.     

Hydrogen station location optimization based on multiple data sources

A hydrogen station is one that fills or stores the hydrogen, which is critical to the commercial development of hydrogen energy and fuel cell vehicle industry. Therefore, its location planning becomes an important issue. Similar to the electric vehicle (EV) charging station's planning, several factors are considered including the location, the demand of the fuel, the driving distance, etc. In this paper, multiple data sources are applied to the site selection model, including the existing petrol-refueling station network data, geographic information system (GIS) data, population data and regional economic data. Based on the operation of the genetic algorithm, combined with the idea of the greedy algorithm and the annealing algorithm, we propose a multi-algorithm hybrid solution, which not only can avoid local optimal, but also can converge quickly. On the basis of the site selection scheme of the hydrogen station in California, we have optimized the location scheme in Beijing. Finally, we present the feasibility proposals for hydrogen station location in Beijing, including the appropriate number of hydrogen stations in different regions, the reasonable coverage distance of hydrogen stations, etc. Due to the huge development prospects for hydrogen energy and the urgent need to reduce the construction cost of hydrogen stations in China, this research can quickly optimize the location of the hydrogen station and further explore potential mathematical relationships, which has certain social significance and economic benefits.     

Hydrogen as a fuel

Hydrogen, used as fuel, has a number of attractive features that make it a leading candidate in the search for an alternative to the dwindling and progressively less reliable supply of fluid hydrocarbon fuels. Hydrogen produced by electrolysis using hydro- or nuclear-generated electricity will be available in Canada at prices competitive with other portable forms of energy before the end of the century. This paper examines the use of carbon-free electrolytic hydrogen as a motor vehicle fuel and as a fuel for fuel cells. A review of onboard hydrogen storage systems indicates that the propulsion power unit of hydrogen-fueled vehicles must be considerably more efficient than present gasoline-fueled internal combustion engines in order to compensate for the larger size and greater weight of hydrogen storage systems. Hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engines are more efficient than similar gasoline-fueled engines, but the improvement is not sufficient to offset the storage system limitation. Fuel cells operate with much higher efficiency than internal combustion engines, especially at partial loads. A comparison between H₃PO₄ and KOH fuel cells show that where carbon-free hydrogen is available from the onboard storage system, the KOH fuel cell offers the higher level of performance.     

燃料电池汽车氢能系统的环境、经济和能源评价

为了推动氢能系统评价工作的深入进行并为我国在近期发展燃料电池汽车氢能系统(包括燃料电池汽车及其氢源)提供有价值的参考，根据现有的生产、储存和输运氢的技术，设计了11种可行方案，运用生命周期评价方法对这些方案的环境性、经济性和能源利用情况进行了评价，得到了每种方案的分类环境效应指数、氢气总成本和总能量利用效率。结果表明，综合指标最优的燃料电池汽车氢能系统方案是：天然气集中制氢厂制氢，然后用汽车将装有氢气的高压钢瓶输运到加氢站，加注给以氢气为燃料的燃料电池汽车。