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Opportunities, Challenges and Solutions for the Development of the Hydrogen Economy

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A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "A5: Hydrogen Energy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 April 2021) | Viewed by 30213

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. James Trevor Hinkley

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Guest Editor

School of Engineering and Computer Science, Victoria University of Wellington, Kelburn, Wellington 6012, New Zealand
Interests: renewable energy; hydrogen; hydrogen production technologies; solar thermal; solar chemistry; process heat; thermal energy storage and fuel production

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is now abundantly clear that we need to restructure the use of energy across our society to avoid catastrophic climate change. Hydrogen is widely anticipated to play at least some role in the decarbonisation of industry, transport and building energy systems, although it is quite clear that there are also a number of challenges associated with such a transition.

For example, hydrogen vehicles—both for passengers and freight—offer the promise of a driver experience and utilisation profile similar to gasoline-fuelled vehicles in terms of range and refuelling time but require new refuelling infrastructure. Hydrogen may also play a critical role in industries that are challenging to decarbonise in other ways, including steel making and processes requiring combustion temperatures.

This Special Issue, therefore, seeks to contribute to the understanding of hydrogen technologies through enhanced scientific and multidisciplinary knowledge that can highlight some of the challenges—and opportunities—associated with the uptake of hydrogen for decarbonisation. We therefore invite papers on innovative technical developments, reviews, case studies, analytical, as well as assessment, papers from different disciplines, which are relevant to hydrogen energy systems.

Dr. James Trevor Hinkley
Guest Editor

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Keywords

Economics, efficiency and utility of hydrogen energy systems
Economics of hydrogen production
Role of hydrogen in future low carbon energy systems
Catalysts and materials challenges for hydrogen technologies
Hydrogen production, dispensing and storage
Renewable energy
Life cycle analysis

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 3587 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Development of Synthesis and Fabrication Process for Mn-CeO₂ Foam via Two-Step Water-Splitting Cycle Hydrogen Production

by Hyun-Seok Cho, Tatsuya Kodama, Nobuyuki Gokon, Selvan Bellan and Jong-Kyu Kim

Energies 2021, 14(21), 6919; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14216919 - 21 Oct 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2378

Abstract

The effects of doping manganese ions into a cerium oxide lattice for a thermochemical two-step water-splitting cycle to produce oxygen and hydrogen and new synthesis methods were experimentally investigated. In order to comparison of oxygen/hydrogen producing performance, pristine CeO₂, a coprecipitation method for Mn-CeO₂, and a direct depositing method for Mn-CeO₂ with different particle sizes (50~75, 100–212, over 212 μm) and doping extents (0, 5, 15 mol%) were tested in the context of synthesis and fabrication processes of reactive metal oxide coated ceramic foam devices. Sample powders were coated onto zirconia (magnesium partially stabilized zirconia oxide, MPSZ) porous foam at 30 weight percent using spin coating or a direct depositing method, tested using a solar reactor at 1400 °C as a thermal reduction step and at 1200 °C as a water decomposition step for five repeated cycles. The sample foam devices were irradiated using a 3-kWth sun-simulator, and all reactive foam devices recorded successful oxygen/hydrogen production using the two-step water-splitting cycles. Among the seven sample devices, the 5 mol% Mn-CeO₂ foam device, that synthesized using the coprecipitation method, showed the greatest hydrogen production. The newly suggested direct depositing method, with its contemporaneous synthesis and coating of the Mn-CeO₂ foam device, showed successful oxygen/hydrogen production with a reduction in the manufacturing time and reactants, which was lossless compared to conventional spin coating processes. However, proposed direct depositing method still needs further investigation to improve its stability and long-term device durability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Opportunities, Challenges and Solutions for the Development of the Hydrogen Economy)

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15 pages, 1320 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A New Zealand Perspective on Hydrogen as an Export Commodity: Timing of Market Development and an Energy Assessment of Hydrogen Carriers

by James T. Hinkley

Energies 2021, 14(16), 4876; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14164876 - 10 Aug 2021

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3625

Abstract

Hydrogen is currently receiving significant attention and investment as a key enabler of defossilised global energy systems. Many believe this will eventually result in the international trade of hydrogen as a commodity from countries with significant renewable energy resources, for example New Zealand and Australia, to net energy importing countries including Japan and Korea. Japan has, since 2014, been actively exploring the components of the necessary supply chains, including the assessment of different hydrogen carriers. Public/private partnerships have invested in demonstration projects to assess the comparative merits of liquid hydrogen, ammonia, and organic carriers. On the supply side, significant projects have been proposed in Australia while the impending closure of New Zealand’s Tiwai Point aluminium smelter at the end of 2024 may provide an opportunity for green hydrogen production. However, it is also evident that the transition to a hydrogen economy will take some years and confidence around the timing of supply and demand capacity is essential for new energy infrastructure investment. This paper reviews the expected development of an export market to Japan and concludes that large scale imports are unlikely before the late 2020s. Comparative evaluation of the energy efficiency of various hydrogen carriers concludes that it is too early to call a winner, but that ammonia has key advantages as a fungible commodity today, while liquid hydrogen has the potential to be a more efficient energy carrier. Ultimately it will be the delivered cost of hydrogen that will determine which carriers are used, and while energy efficiency is a key metric, there are other considerations such as infrastructure availability, and capital and operating costs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Opportunities, Challenges and Solutions for the Development of the Hydrogen Economy)

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31 pages, 20254 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Comparative TCO Analysis of Battery Electric and Hydrogen Fuel Cell Buses for Public Transport System in Small to Midsize Cities

by Hanhee Kim, Niklas Hartmann, Maxime Zeller, Renato Luise and Tamer Soylu

Energies 2021, 14(14), 4384; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14144384 - 20 Jul 2021

Cited by 42 | Viewed by 10309

Abstract

This paper shows the results of an in-depth techno-economic analysis of the public transport sector in a small to midsize city and its surrounding area. Public battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell buses are comparatively evaluated by means of a total cost of ownership (TCO) model building on historical data and a projection of market prices. Additionally, a structural analysis of the public transport system of a specific city is performed, assessing best fitting bus lines for the use of electric or hydrogen busses, which is supported by a brief acceptance evaluation of the local citizens. The TCO results for electric buses show a strong cost decrease until the year 2030, reaching 23.5% lower TCOs compared to the conventional diesel bus. The optimal electric bus charging system will be the opportunity (pantograph) charging infrastructure. However, the opportunity charging method is applicable under the assumption that several buses share the same station and there is a “hotspot” where as many as possible bus lines converge. In the case of electric buses for the year 2020, the parameter which influenced the most on the TCO was the battery cost, opposite to the year 2030 in where the bus body cost and fuel cost parameters are the ones that dominate the TCO, due to the learning rate of the batteries. For H₂ buses, finding a hotspot is not crucial because they have a similar range to the diesel ones as well as a similar refueling time. H₂ buses until 2030 still have 15.4% higher TCO than the diesel bus system. Considering the benefits of a hypothetical scaling-up effect of hydrogen infrastructures in the region, the hydrogen cost could drop to 5 €/kg. In this case, the overall TCO of the hydrogen solution would drop to a slightly lower TCO than the diesel solution in 2030. Therefore, hydrogen buses can be competitive in small to midsize cities, even with limited routes. For hydrogen buses, the bus body and fuel cost make up a large part of the TCO. Reducing the fuel cost will be an important aspect to reduce the total TCO of the hydrogen bus. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Opportunities, Challenges and Solutions for the Development of the Hydrogen Economy)

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22 pages, 4990 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Electrochemical Hydrogen Production Powered by PV/CSP Hybrid Power Plants: A Modelling Approach for Cost Optimal System Design

by Andreas Rosenstiel, Nathalie Monnerie, Jürgen Dersch, Martin Roeb, Robert Pitz-Paal and Christian Sattler

Energies 2021, 14(12), 3437; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14123437 - 10 Jun 2021

Cited by 28 | Viewed by 4822

Abstract

Global trade of green hydrogen will probably become a vital factor in reaching climate neutrality. The sunbelt of the Earth has a great potential for large-scale hydrogen production. One promising pathway to solar hydrogen is to use economically priced electricity from photovoltaics (PV) for electrochemical water splitting. However, storing electricity with batteries is still expensive and without storage only a small operating capacity of electrolyser systems can be reached. Combining PV with concentrated solar power (CSP) and thermal energy storage (TES) seems a good pathway to reach more electrolyser full load hours and thereby lower levelized costs of hydrogen (LCOH). This work introduces an energy system model for finding cost-optimal designs of such PV/CSP hybrid hydrogen production plants based on a global optimization algorithm. The model includes an operational strategy which improves the interplay between PV and CSP part, allowing also to store PV surplus electricity as heat. An exemplary study for stand-alone hydrogen production with an alkaline electrolyser (AEL) system is carried out. Three different locations with different solar resources are considered, regarding the total installed costs (TIC) to obtain realistic LCOH values. The study shows that a combination of PV and CSP is an auspicious concept for large-scale solar hydrogen production, leading to lower costs than using one of the technologies on its own. For today’s PV and CSP costs, minimum levelized costs of hydrogen of 4.04 USD/kg were determined for a plant located in Ouarzazate (Morocco). Considering the foreseen decrease in PV and CSP costs until 2030, cuts the LCOH to 3.09 USD/kg while still a combination of PV and CSP is the most economic system. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Opportunities, Challenges and Solutions for the Development of the Hydrogen Economy)

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12 pages, 840 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessment of the Potential for Green Hydrogen Fuelling of Very Heavy Vehicles in New Zealand

by Rapha Julysses Perez, Alan C. Brent and James Hinkley

Energies 2021, 14(9), 2636; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14092636 - 4 May 2021

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 4533

Abstract

This study examined the feasibility of green hydrogen as a transport fuel for the very heavy vehicle (VHV) fleet in New Zealand. Green hydrogen is assumed to be produced through water electrolysis using purely renewable energy (RE) as an electricity source. This study chose very heavy vehicles as a potential market for green hydrogen, because it is considered “low-hanging fruit” for hydrogen fuel in a sector where battery electrification is less feasible. The study assumed a large-scale, decentralized, embedded (dedicated) grid-connected hydrogen system of production using polymer electrolytic membrane (PEM) electrolysers. The analysis comprised three steps. First, the hydrogen demand was calculated. Second, the additional RE requirement was determined and compared with consented, but unbuilt, capacity. Finally, the hydrogen production cost was calculated using the concept of levelized cost. Sensitivity analysis and cost reduction scenarios were also undertaken. The results indicate an overall green hydrogen demand for VHVs of 71 million kg, or 8.5 PJ, per year, compared to the 14.7 PJ of diesel fuel demand for the same VHV travelled kilometres. The results also indicate that the estimated 9824 GWh of RE electricity that could be generated from consented, yet unbuilt, RE projects is greater than the electricity demand for green hydrogen production, which was calculated to be 4492 GWh. The calculated levelized hydrogen cost is NZD 6.83/kg. Electricity cost was found to be the most significant cost parameter for green hydrogen production. A combined cost reduction for CAPEX and electricity translates to a hydrogen cost reduction in 10 to 20 years. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Opportunities, Challenges and Solutions for the Development of the Hydrogen Economy)

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22 pages, 1775 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Investigating the Investments Required to Transition New Zealand’s Heavy-Duty Vehicles to Hydrogen

by Rick Kotze, Alan C. Brent, Josephine Musango, Imke de Kock and Leonard A. Malczynski

Energies 2021, 14(6), 1646; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14061646 - 16 Mar 2021

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 3354

Abstract

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector is known to be an important contribution to climate change mitigation. Some parts of the transport sector are particularly difficult to decarbonize; this includes the heavy-duty vehicle sector, which is considered one of the “hard-to-abate” sectors of the economy. Transitioning from diesel trucks to hydrogen fuel cell trucks has been identified as a potential way to decarbonize the sector. However, the current and future costs and efficiencies of the enabling technologies remain unclear. In light of these uncertainties, this paper investigates the investments required to decarbonize New Zealand’s heavy-duty vehicle sector with green hydrogen. By combining system dynamics modelling literature and hydrogen transition modelling literature a customized methodology is developed for modelling hydrogen transitions with system dynamics modelling. Results are presented in terms of the investments required to purchase the hydrogen production capacity and the investments required to supply electricity to the hydrogen production systems. Production capacity investments are found to range between 1.59 and 2.58 billion New Zealand Dollars, and marginal electricity investments are found to range between 4.14 and 7.65 billion New Zealand Dollars. These investments represent scenarios in which 71% to 90% of the heavy-duty vehicle fleet are replaced with fuel cell trucks by 2050. The wide range of these findings reflects the large uncertainties in estimates of how hydrogen technologies will develop over the course of the next thirty years. Policy recommendations are drawn from these results, and a clear opportunity for future work is outlined. Most notably, the results from this study should be compared with research investigating the investments required to decarbonize the heavy-duty vehicle sectors with alternative technologies such as battery-electric trucks, biodiesel, and catenary systems. Such a comparison would ensure that the most cost effective decarbonization strategy is employed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Opportunities, Challenges and Solutions for the Development of the Hydrogen Economy)

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