Hydrogen Economy and Fuel Cells.

Once every ten years the promising future of a hydrogen economy and fuel cells is announced.

Hydrogen over the years has had several periods of hypes, which always blow off as nothing concrete, but why are we still talking about it? And why is there still the belief of a hydrogen economy, when Li-ion batteries are dominating the market?

Looking at the periods where hydrogen technologies, in particular fuel cells, were promoted, it is possible to recognize two main periods:
The oil crisis in the 1970’s
The global warming issue in the 2000’s

During the 1970’s a first spark for hydrogen technologies led to an increase of government subsidy, particularly in US. The large availability of oil and the related widespread and low-cost technologies, completely overwhelmed the adoption of hydrogen. In the 2000’s, after several millions of investments in hydrogen technologies, the effect of the climate change set higher standards and requirements for new and green technologies.

Several governments began in early 2000’s to seriously consider the adoption of a hydrogen economy, first to do so was Japan.

The necessity of a new energy vector, produced and consumed without emissions, has been found in hydrogen.

Therefore, why are we still talking about hydrogen? Because, hydrogen has been considered the oil of the future. Produced from renewable sources, consumed without polluting, and used in several sectors, including transportation (i.e. cars, buses, heavy duty vehicles, marine), energy storage, residential and industrial applications such as in the steel industry and high-grade heat production, to mention a few.

How about batteries? First of all, it is important to clarify that batteries are energy storage devices, while hydrogen is an energy carrier. Besides the fact that batteries and fuel cells can be adopted in the same sectors, such as automotive sector, a hydrogen economy is not meant to substitute, or compete with battery technologies. The hydrogen economy purpose is to be adopted together with battery technologies, to reach the target they are meant to be used: reducing pollution by sector electrification.

Due to the growing interest in hydrogen technologies IDTechEx have released the new report: “The Hydrogen Economy, Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Production Methods”, to explain the current status of the hydrogen economy, and showing the state-of-the-art fuel cells and electrolyzers. The reader will be able to understand the working mechanism and material involved of the different fuel cell technologies, together with the limitations affecting each and every technology.

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Analyser performs vital role in Hydrogen fuel project

A highly-advanced Process Hydrogen Analyser from Quantitech is performing critical safety analysis in Britain's largest ever cross sector hydrogen vehicle refuelling trial.

The trials are being managed by the energy storage and clean fuel company, ITM Power, which has deployed an H2scan HyOptima 720 analyser as they undertake trials of the company’s Transportable Hydrogen Refuelling Station (HFuel); a self-contained module suitable for refuelling hydrogen-powered road vehicles and forklift trucks.

HFuel generates hydrogen by electrolysis, compresses it, stores it and dispenses the gas on demand at high pressure. The refueller is currently being used across the UK for the company’s Hydrogen On Site Trials (HOST), which has already experienced broad support from organisations such as UK local authorities, DHL, UPS, the RAC, Tarmac, Amey, May Gurney, Scottish Water and Stansted Airport.

Explaining the importance of the HyOptima 720 in the trials, ITM’s Nick Hart said: “We primarily use the analyser to detect trace hydrogen crossover levels in the oxygen stream of our electrolyser stacks, to ensure that flammable gas mixtures are not formed. This serves as a sensitive gauge on stack integrity and is a key element of our rigorous systems testing.

“This monitor was selected due to its high accuracy and stability in both oxygen and air environments and has been an important contributor to the success of our work.”

The 720 is a solid-state sensor configured to operate in background gas streams having up to 95% relative humidity and temperatures up to 100ºC. A vacuum pump is used to draw the source gas into the monitor and a vacuum regulator and flow meter are used to control the process stream to the sensor. It is capable of measuring gases from two alternate sources and of undertaking field calibration without removal from the system.

Highlighting the importance of being able to measure hydrogen accurately in a mixture of other gases, Quantitech Managing Director Keith Golding said: "There are many applications for which hydrogen specific monitoring is important. These include health and safety, and process control within a wide variety of industrial applications such as petrochemical refineries, lead acid battery monitoring, chlorine manufacture, nuclear power/waste, fossil fuel power, chrome plating, research, semiconductor and electronics manufacture, abatement exhausts, transformer oil, fuel cell technologies and of course hydrogen production."

Commenting on Quantitech's participation in the ITM Power project, he continued: "ITM's hydrogen systems are able to convert renewable energy to a clean fuel that can be indefinitely stored for use in transport, residential and industrial applications, and we are delighted to be able to make a contribution to a project that offers enormous potential to reduce the burning of fossil fuels and thereby help in the fight against climate change."