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HYDROGEN – ITS PROSPECTS

AS A CLEAN ENERGYOPTION OF21STCENTURY

Authors
K.SRINIVAS A. VENKATA RAMANA
Mechanical Engineering Mechanical Engineering
III/IV B.Tech III/IV B.Tech
MailID:srinivas_mech08@yahoo.co.in
venkataramana_ari@yahoo.co.in
9885941579:mobile

BAPATLA ENGINEERING
COLLEGE
BAPATLA

A major portion of the world’s


energy needs is obtained through fossil
fuels. Coal provides a dominant portion of
ABSTRACT:: the electrical energy production in the
world and specially in India. However the including power generation, transport and
future of fossil fuels and particularly coal heating applications. However, transition
is clouded by the environmental threat to the Hydrogen economy from the present
posed by green house gas effect caused by fossil fuel based economy will require
release of green house gases such as CO2, many challenges specifically in the area of
SO2, and NOx. Several alternate production, storage, delivery, applications
technologies are under development for and expanding infrastructure technology,
containing green house gas emissions, and economics and large scale public
one such promising technology is the awareness.
Hydrogen energy. Hydrogen holds the
potential to provide a clean, reliable and Hydrogen is about 15 times lighter than
economical source of energy for meeting air and therefore requires large volumes to
the growing energy needs for India in be stored like CNG and LPG. Several
future. properties of hydrogen require safe
The present paper is an attempt to handling, which is different from other
review the technological options being fuels; therefore, it will be necessary to
pursued for production and storage of have new safety standards & codes, and
hydrogen energy. Also this paper presents regulations.
the road for key areas of research and
development of hydrogen energy in a
phased manner.

Hydrogen production is the key area of

Introduction concern. .Similarly in the area of


hydrogen storage including gaseous, liquid
Hydrogen holds the potential to provide a
and solid state storage, various issues
clean, reliable affordable supply of energy
concerning energy efficiency of storage,
for meeting the growing needs for India’s
its useful life on recycling, compactness
economy while protecting the environment
etc. have been addressed in this paper.
and ensuring energy security. Hydrogen
can be used in wide range of applications
produced from hydrocarbons such as
natural gas, naphtha, methanol etc. and
Hydrogen as a fuel
also renewable energy sources, such as the
Hydrogen is a clean fuel and an
gasification or pyrolysis of biomass,
efficient energy carrier. Hydrogen is found
organic material which can be used to
in water, organic compounds and
generate a fuel / gas that can be reformed
hydrocarbons such as petrol, natural gas,
into hydrogen.
methanol and propane. Hydrogen is a
(ii) Electrolysis of water to produce
colorless, odorless, tasteless, flammable
hydrogen by passing an electrical current
gaseous substance. Hydrogen is high in
through it by conventional grid power or
energy content as it contains120.07 Kilo
through renewable energy sources like
Joules/gram, which is the highest for any
solar, wind etc.
known fuel. However, its energy content
(iii) The photo electrochemical (PEC)
compared to volume is rather low. This
process produces hydrogen in one step,
poses challenges with regard to its storage
splitting water by illuminating a water-
for civilian applications, when compared
immersed semiconductor, with sunlight.
to a storage of liquid fossil fuels. When
(iv) Biological systems gradually use
burnt hydrogen produces water as a
the natural photosynthetic
byproduct and is therefore, environment
activity of bacteria, green algae
Friendly as the greenhouse gases emission
and fermentative characteristics
is curbed.
of bacteria for production of
hydrogen.

Hydrogen Production
Hydrogen Storage:
Hydrogen storage is one of the
Several known technologies with the
key areas where significant developments
best potential for producing hydrogen to
are required to accelerate the use of
meet future energy demand fall into four
hydrogen in transportation and stationary
broad categories as given below:
power generation applications. For
(i) Thermo chemical processes like
transport applications and the major
steam reforming where hydrogen is
technical challenge for hydrogen storage
is how to store sufficient amount of
hydrogen for a convenient driving range
before refueling, keeping in view the
constraints of weight, volume, efficiency,
safety, and cost requirements for on-board
storage. In addition, storage will also be
required at hydrogen production and
hydrogen refueling stations.

Compressed Hydrogen::
Storing hydrogen under pressure has
been done successfully for a very long
Fig 1.Compressed storage
time. These cylinders/tanks are being
tank of hydrogen.
made from (i) steel (ii) Aluminum core
encased with fiberglass and (iii) Plastic
Liquid Hydrogen Storage::
core encased with fiberglass. In stationary
Liquid hydrogen can be stored just
systems where weights and size are not
below its normal boiling point of 20K at or
important applications, traditional pressure
close to ambient pressure in a double
tanks are an issue with regard to both
walled, super insulating Dewar’s. Liquid
weight and volume. The commercially
hydrogen tanks do not need to be as strong
as high pressure gas cylinders although
they need to be adequately robust for
automotive use. However hydrogen cannot
be stored in liquid form indefinitely. All
tanks, no matter how good the insulation,
allow some heat transfer from ambient
Used tanks store hydrogen at about 120-
surroundings. The heat leakage rate
170 bar pressure as shown in fig 1.

depends on the design and size of the tank


and in this case bigger is better. This heat
causes some of the hydrogen to vaporize manner. A metal hydride storage tank
and tank pressure to increase. Stationary contains, in addition to a heat exchanger
liquid hydrogen tanks are often spherical system, granular metal that absorbs the
since this shape offers the smallest surface hydrogen like a sponge absorbs water. The
area for a given volume, and therefore heat system draws heat away when
presents the smallest heat transfer area. hydrogen is filled into the tank, and
The storage tanks have a maximum applies heat when the hydrogen is taken
capacity of about 5 bar. out of the tank. The hydrogen is released
from the metal hydride when heat is
Solid State Storage:: applied

Some metals readily absorb gaseous Issues in Hydrogen Storage


hydrogen under conditions of high
The existing storage methods with some
pressure and moderate temperature to form
improvements may be adequate stationary
metal hydrides. In the metal hydride
power generation plants. However the on
storage systems hydrogen becomes part of
board storage requirement for vehicular
the chemical structure of the metal itself as
applications are far more stringent. The
shown in Fig 2. Therefore solid state
present cost of on-board hydrogen storage
storage does not require high pressures or
systems is very high, as compared to the
cryogenic temperatures for operation. In
petroleum fuels. Low-cost materials and
essence, the metals soak up and release
components for hydrogen storage systems
hydrogen like sponge. Since hydrogen is
are needed, as well as low-cost, high
released from the hydride for use at low
volume manufacturing methods. The
pressure, hydrides are the most
weight and volume of hydrogen storage
intrinsically safe of all methods of storing
systems are also high, resulting in
hydrogen.
inadequate vehicle range compared to
conventional petroleum fuelled vehicles.

Metal hydrides are required to be stored in


Hydrogen Applications:
tanks before actual use in a convenient
Hydrogen can be used Can run on air-fuel ratios ranging from
directly in internal combustion engines 34:1 (stochiometric) to 180:1.
and turbines in place of fossil fuels or as a Hydrogen has very low ignition
blended mixture with fossil fuels. It can energy. The amount of hydrogen is
also be used in the fuel cells to generate significantly less than that required for
electricity. Hydrogen to electricity petrol. This enables hydrogen engines
conversion efficiency in fuel cell systems, to ignite lean mixtures and ensure easy
which are based on electro chemical ignition.
conversion, is higher than thermal based
conversion in internal combustion engines Additionally, the final combustion
and turbines. Further, hydrogen’s temperature is generally lower,
advantage in transport applications is reducing the amount of pollutants,
especially significant because IC engines such as nitrogen oxides, emitted in
when running on low loads are less exhaust.
efficient, whereas fuel cells continue to 2. The auto ignition temperature of
remain very efficient even at low loads. hydrogen allows larger
compression ratios to be used in a
Hydrogen use in Internal Combustion hydrogen engine than in a petrol
Engines/Turbines engine. However, hydrogen is
difficult to ignite in a compression
1. Hydrogen has a wide flammability ignition or diesel configuration,
range in comparison with all other because the temperatures needed
fuels. Therefore, hydrogen can be for those types of ignition are
combusted in an internal relatively high.
combustion engine over a wide 3. Hydrogen has high flame speed at
range of hydrogen-air mixtures, stoichiometric ratios, which is
specially a lean mixture. Because significantly higher than that of
of hydrogen’s wide range of petrol. This means that hydrogen
hydrogen flammability, hydrogen engines can more closely approach
the thermodynamically ideal

engine cycle. At leaner mixtures,


however, the flame speed decreases
significantly. The stoichiometric ratio heat is also produced in a fuel cell system,
for the complete combustion of which can be used to produce steam or
hydrogen in air is about 34:1 by mass converted into electricity using turbines.
which is much higher than 14.7:1 for
petrol. Fuel cell systems generally operate
Status of Development Of Hydrogen for on pure hydrogen and air to produce
IC Engine electricity, water and heat being the only
by-products as shown in fig.3. Therefore,
(a). Small vehicles and generators, which fuel cell systems are pollution free. Fuel
work with internal combustion engines, cells are modular in construction and their
have been modified to work with efficiency is independent of size Fuel cells
hydrogen. Hydrogen operated motor are the long term option for hydrogen
cycles and three wheelers have been applications both for transportation and
developed and demonstrated. power generation. Fuel cells especially for
vehicular applications in the early stages
(b). A 10Kw, single cylinder spark ignition of development and the country needs to
(petrol) engine generator set has been identify the path for fuel cell development
converted by IIT-Delhi to operate on taking into account the technology
hydrogen stored in cylinders. development efforts going on worldwide
and country’s specific priorities and the

Hydrogen Applications in achievements in this area so far.

Fuel Cells:
A fuel cell is an electrochemical
device that converts energy into electricity
and heat without combustion. Fuel Cell is
similar to a battery as it has electrodes, an
electrolyte and positive and negative
terminals. But it is different from a battery
as it does not release energy stored in the
cell nor does it require recharging. Fuel
cell co ntinues to work as long as
hydrogen is supplied. The use of fuel cells Status of Development of
does not permit pollutants. Fuel cells are
Hydrogen for Fuel Cell:
not heat engines but significant amount of
BHEL and SPIC Science
Foundation have developed and
demonstrated fuel cell power packs. These about 1250-1400 litres per hour hydrogen
fuel cell power packs work with hydrogen production from distillery waste has been
and oxygen/air as fuel to produce demonstrated. In photolytic process light
electricity. The SPIC Science foundation energy is used to split water and produce
has been working on development of hydrogen and potentially offer low cost
Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel cells and higher efficiency for collecting solar
(PEMFC). PEMFC systems are considered energy.
to be most suitable for use in vehicles due
to their low operating temperature and
better no load characteristics. Research on Hydrogen Storage:

Research areas on Hydrogen Further research is necessary on


developing techniques for higher
Production and Storage
compression pressure beyond 300 bar,
preferably up to 700 bar. This will also
Research on H2 Production: require research on materials required to
There are two main biological processes store hydrogen. It may also be necessary to
where hydrogen is released or appears as redesign the storage tanks for optimal
an intermediate product: Photosynthesis space utilization in vehicles and also to
process using algae and photosynthetic allow sufficient range to the vehicles. The
bacteria and fermentation process based on goal for research is hydrides and other
anaerobic decomposition of organic solid storage materials should be to
matter. The fermentative hydrogen achieve 9 wt% storage by 2020.
production is more advantageous as it can
convert a variety of biomass resources;
and it has the ability to recover energy
from waste materials produced from
agriculture and industry. At a pilot scale
Conclusions: Bibliography:
1) Hydrogen Energy and Power
Keeping in view the present status of Generation (Energy and
development of hydrogen energy Environmental Progress-I) by T.Nejat
technologies in the country for stationary Veziroglu
and vehicular applications and the need to 2) The Hydrogen Economy: The Creation
systematically improve these technologies of the Worldwide Energy and the
to make them commercially viable To Redistribution of Power on Earth by
begin with the technical developments Jeremy Rifkin
pursued in developing hydrogen powered
3) Fuel Cell Technology Handbook by
motor cycle, three wheeler and fuel cell
Gregor Hoogers
hybrid van, it is necessary to take up a 4) Hydrogen and Fuel Cells: Pathway to a
planned demonstration of these vehicles to Sustainable Energy Future by Dr.
monitor their performance and introduce Sandy Thomas
further improvements in the performance 5) Hydrogen-Fueled Vehicles: Hybrids
of vehicles and all sub systems including vs. Fuel Cells by Dr. Sandy Thomas
the on-board storage system. This phase 6) Tomorrow's Energy: Hydrogen, Fuel
Cells, and the Prospects for a Cleaner
may be followed by demonstration of
Planet by Peter Hoffman, Tom Harking
improved engineering models. The 7) www.nrel.gov/clean energy/ hydrogen
ultimate aim by 2020 should be to 8) www.h2net.org.uk
introduce such vehicles which are capable 9) www.h2eco.org
of providing technical performance
matching with conventional petroleum
driven vehicle.

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