A Hydrogen Economy

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A Hydrogen Economy
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Agenda

• A Hydrogen Vision of the Future
• Hydrogen Systems
• Producing Hydrogen
• Storing and Transporting Hydrogen
• Hydrogen Fueled Transport
• Problems with Hydrogen
• The Promise of Hydrogen
• Hydrogen Summary

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A Vision of a Hydrogen Future
"I believe that water will one day be employed as
fuel, that hydrogen and oxygen which constitute
it, used singly or together, will furnish an
inexhaustible source of heat and light, of an
intensity of which coal is not capable. I believe
then that when the deposits of coal are
exhausted, we shall heat and warm ourselves with
water. Water will be the coal of the
future."  Jules Vernes (1870) Lîle mystérieuse
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The Hydrogen H2 Molecule
http//planetforlife.com/h2/index.html
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Hydrogen Economy Schematic
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Hydrogen Economy in Hong Kong
http//www.gii.com.hk/eng/clean_energy.htm
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Hydrogen Fueling Station
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Hydrogen Systems
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Hydrogen Energy Cycle
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_economy
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Hydrogen Production Cycle
Crabtree et al., The Hydrogen Economy, Physics
Today, Dec 2004
11
Operating the Hydrogen Economy
Bossel et al., The Future of the Hydrogen
Economy Bright or Bleak?, Oct 28,
2004 http//www.oilcrash.com/articles/h2_eco.htm
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Hydrogen Economy Supply Chain
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Hydrogen Pathways
http//www.ch2bc.org/index2.htm
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Advantages of a Hydrogen Economy

• Waste product of burning H2 is water
• Elimination of fossil fuel pollution
• Elimination of greenhouse gases
• Elimination of economic dependence
• Distributed production

http//www.howstuffworks.com/hydrogen-economy.htm
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Issues with Hydrogen

• Not widely available on planet earth
• Usually chemically combined in water or fossil
  fuels (must be separated)
• Fossil fuel sources contribute to pollution and
  greenhouse gases
• Electrolysis requires prodigious amounts of energy

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Technological Questions

• Where does hydrogen come from?
• How is it transported?
• How is it distributed?
• How is it stored?

http//www.howstuffworks.com/hydrogen-economy.htm
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Producing Hydrogen
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Current Hydrogen Production

• Current hydrogen production
• 48 natural gas
• 30 oil
• 18 coal
• 4 electrolysis
• Global Production
• 50 million tonnes / yr
• Growing 10 / yr
• US Production
• 11 million tonnes / yr

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How is Hydrogen Produced?

• Reforming fossil fuels
• Heat hydrocarbons with steam
• Produce H2 and CO
• Electrolysis of water
• Use electricity to split water into O2 and H2
• High Temperature Electrolysis
• Experimental
• Biological processes
• Very common in nature
• Experimental in laboratories

http//www.howstuffworks.com/hydrogen-economy.htm
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Steam Reforming

• From any hydrocarbon
• Natural gas typically used
• Water (steam) and hydrocarbon mixed at high
  temperature (7001100 C)
• Steam (H2O) reacts with methane (CH4)
• CH4 H2O ? CO 3 H2 - 191.7 kJ/mol
• The thermodynamic efficiency comparable to (or
  worse than) an internal combustion engine
• Difficult to motivate investment in technology

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Carbon Monoxide Reforming

• Additional hydrogen can be recovered using carbon
  monoxide (CO)
• low-temp (130C) water gas shift reaction
• CO H2O ? CO2 H2 40.4 kJ/mol
• Oxygen (O) atom stripped from steam
• Oxidizes the carbon (C)
• Liberates hydrogen bound to C and O2

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Hydrogen Steam Reforming
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Hydrogen Steam Reforming Plants
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Electrolysis of Water (H2O)
http//www.gm.com/company/gmability/edu_k-12/9-12/
fc_energy/make_your_own_hydrogen_results.html
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Electrolysis of Water
http//hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/thermo/
electrol.html
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Renewable Energy for Electrolysis
http//www.howstuffworks.com/hydrogen-economy4.htm
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Biomass Electrolysis Module
http//www.nrel.gov/hydrogen/photos.html
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High Temperature Electrolysis

• Electrolysis at high temperatures
• Use less energy to split water

http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_economy
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Biological H2 Creation

• Nature has very simple methods to split water
• Scientists are working to mimic these processes
  in the lab then commercially

Crabtree et al., The Hydrogen Economy, Physics
Today, Dec 2004
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Storing Transporting Hydrogen
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Hydrogen Storage

• Storage a major difficulty with hydrogen
• H2 has low energy density per volume
• Requires large tanks to store
• H2 can be compressed to reduce volume
• Requires heavy, strong tanks
• H2 can be liquefied to reduce volume
• Boils at -423 F (cryogenic)
• Requires heavily insulated, expensive tanks
• Both compression and liquefaction require a lot
  of energy

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Ammonia Storage

• H2 can be stored as ammonia (NH3)
• Exceptionally high hydrogen densities
• Ammonia very common chemical
• Large infrastructure already exists
• Easily reformed to produce hydrogen
• No harmful waste
• BUT
• Ammonia production is energy intensive
• Ammonia is a toxic gas

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Metal Hydride Storage

• Metal hydrides can carry hydrogen
• Boron, lithium, sodium
• Good energy density, but worse than gas
• Volumes much larger than gasoline
• Three times more volume
• Four times heavier
• Hydrides can react violently with water
• Leading contenders
• Sodium Borohydride
• Lithium Aluminum Hydride
• Ammonia Borane

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Alkali Prod. Energy vs. Instrinsic Energy
Energy needed to produce alkali metal hydrides
relative to the energy content of the liberated
hydrogen.
Bossel et al., The Future of the Hydrogen
Economy Bright or Bleak?, Oct 28,
2004 http//www.oilcrash.com/articles/h2_eco.htm
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Transporting Hydrogen
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Storing Transporting Hydrogen

• Store and Transport as a Gas
• Bulky gas
• Compressing H2 requires energy
• Compressed H2 has far less energy than the same
  volume of gasoline
• Store and Transport as a Solid
• Sodium Borohydride
• Calcium Hydride
• Lithium Hydride
• Sodium Hydride

http//www.howstuffworks.com/hydrogen-economy.htm
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Hydrogen Fueled Transport
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Hydrogen-Powered Autos
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Hydrogen-Powered Autos
http//planetforlife.com/h2/h2vehicle.html
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Hydrogen-Powered Trucks
http//planetforlife.com/h2/h2vehicle.html
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Hydrogen-Powered Aircraft
Hydrogen powered passenger aircraft with
cryogenic tanks along spine of fuselage.
Hydrogen fuel requires about 4 times the volume
of standard jet fuel (kerosene).
http//planetforlife.com/h2/h2vehicle.html
http//aix.meng.auth.gr/lhtee/projects/cryoplane/
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Hydrogen-Powered Rockets
http//planetforlife.com/h2/h2vehicle.html
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Implications of Hydrogen Transport
  Weight of fuel Weight of steel tank Weight of carbon fiber tank Volume of tank contents Volume of tank
Typical 18 wheel truck (diesel) 1175 lb (small) NA 22.5 feet3 24.0 feet3
Typical sedan (gasoline) 108 lb (small) NA 2.25 feet3 2.5 feet3
Truck converted to ICE hydrogen 313 lb 31,300 lb 6,960 lb 67.5 feet3 157 feet3
Sedan converted to hydrogen fuel cell 17.4 lb 1740 lb 387 lb 4 feet3 9 feet3
http//planetforlife.com/h2/h2swiss.html
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Problems with Hydrogen
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Environmental Concerns

• 48 of hydrogen made from natural gas
• Creates CO2 a greenhouse gas
• Hydrogen H2 inevitably leaks from containers
• Creates free radicals (H) in stratosphere due to
  ultraviolet radiation
• Could act as catalysts for ozone depletion

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H2 Energy Densities
Crabtree et al., The Hydrogen Economy, Physics
Today, Dec 2004
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Energy Densities for Various Fuels
Higher Heating Value (HHV) is a measure of energy
Bossel et al., The Future of the Hydrogen
Economy Bright or Bleak?, Oct 28,
2004 http//www.oilcrash.com/articles/h2_eco.htm
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H2 and Energy Density for Various Fuels
Hydrogen density and HHV energy content of
ammonia and selected synthetic liquid hydrocarbon
fuels
Bossel et al., The Future of the Hydrogen
Economy Bright or Bleak?, Oct 28,
2004 http//www.oilcrash.com/articles/h2_eco.htm
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Hydrogen vs. Methane
Units Hydrogen Methane
Density kg/m3 0.0887 0.707
Gravimetric Energy MJ/kg 142.0 55.6
Volumetric Energy MJ/m3 12.7 40.0
Bossel et al., The Future of the Hydrogen
Economy Bright or Bleak?, Oct 28,
2004 http//www.oilcrash.com/articles/h2_eco.htm
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Liquifaction Energy vs. Intrinsic Energy
Bossel et al., The Future of the Hydrogen
Economy Bright or Bleak?, Oct 28,
2004 http//www.oilcrash.com/articles/h2_eco.htm
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Hydrogen Storage Densities
Crabtree et al., The Hydrogen Economy, Physics
Today, Dec 2004
52
Hydrogen Energy Losses

• Windmills generate electricity.
• Electricity converted to H2 70 efficiency.
• H2 compressed for pumping 20 energy loss
• H2 pumped long distance 30 loss
• 65 loss to Europe from the Sahara).
• Loss at filling stations assume 5
• Loss in fuel cell 50 (possibly only 40)
• Combining losses ? only 15-18 useful
  electricity, or vehicle motor power
• 9.3 in the case of the Sahara

Bossel et al., The Future of the Hydrogen
Economy Bright or Bleak?, Oct 28,
2004 http//www.oilcrash.com/articles/h2_eco.htm
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Criticism of Hydrogen Economy

• Hydrogen economy idea does not work for multiple
  reasons.
• No practical source of cheap hydrogen
• No good way to store hydrogen
• No good way to distribute hydrogen
• Problems with physical chemical properties of
  hydrogen
• Technology cannot change these facts.
• Compact / convenient future energy carrier needed
• Methane, ethane, methanol, ethanol, butane,
  octane, ammonia, etc. are better energy carriers.
• Difficult to understand the enthusiasm for
  hydrogen
• Hydrogen does not solve the energy problem and it
  is a bad choice for carrying energy.

Bossel et al., The Future of the Hydrogen
Economy Bright or Bleak?, Oct 28,
2004 http//www.oilcrash.com/articles/h2_eco.htm
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Elemental Hydrogen Economy
Elemental Hydrogen Economy based on the natural
cycle of water. Elemental hydrogen is provided to
the user
Bossel et al., The Future of the Hydrogen
Economy Bright or Bleak?, Oct 28,
2004 http//www.oilcrash.com/articles/h2_eco.htm
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Synthetic Liquid Hydrocarbon Economy
A Synthetic Liquid Hydrocarbon Economy may be
based on the two natural cycles of water and
carbon dioxide. Natural and synthetic liquid
hydrocarbons are provided to the user.
Bossel et al., The Future of the Hydrogen
Economy Bright or Bleak?, Oct 28,
2004 http//www.oilcrash.com/articles/h2_eco.htm
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The Promise of Hydrogen
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UNIDO-ICHET Projection
UNITED NATIONS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT
ORGANIZATIONINTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR HYDROGEN
ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES
http//www.unido-ichet.org/ICHET-transition.php
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The Iceland Example

• Iceland committed to be the first hydrogen
  economy
• 2050 goal
• Will use geothermal resources to create hydrogen
• Power autos, buses, and fishing fleet with
  hydrogen

http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_economy
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Hydrogen Summary
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Advantages of a Hydrogen Economy

• Waste product of burning H2 is water
• Elimination of fossil fuel pollution
• Elimination of greenhouse gases
• Elimination of economic dependence
• Distributed production
• The stuff of stars

http//www.howstuffworks.com/hydrogen-economy.htm
61
Disadvantages of Hydrogen

• Low energy densities
• Difficulty in handling, storage, transport
• Requires an entirely new infrastructure
• Creates CO2 if made from fossil fuels
• Low net energy yields
• Much energy needed to create hydrogen
• Possible environmental problems
• Ozone depletion (not proven at this point)

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Extra Slides
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Energy Density of Hydrogen
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Current Uses of Hydrogen
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Thermochemical Production
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Problems with Hydrogen
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Prospects for the Future
http//www.howstuffworks.com/hydrogen-economy.htm
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The Hydrogen Vision