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Alternative Fuels for Transportation
If a country is to increase the dependency of wind power in the future
further than 15–20%, some sort of electricity storage option is required in
order to balance the electricity grid. A part of the solution to this problem is
to establish electrolysis plants and H 2 storage facilities and use the hydrogen
in the transport sector. Even if the general development of hydrogen and
fuel cell technology will bring lower prices, longer cell lifetimes, better and
cheaper solutions for hydrogen storage, production and other benefits, some
areas of development are specific for railway use, and the technology needs
to be tested, adapted to and demonstrated in railway vehicles to ensure feasible solutions.
Hydrogen has the potential for use as a fuel source for engines as well as
fuel cells. However, like other fuels it has its own problems.
• Poor engine volumetric efficiency
• Higher NO x emissions because of its higher flame temperature
• Higher fuel cost
• Infrastructure for distribution network
• Storage of hydrogen in vehicles
• Low energy density
• Flame trap and flash back arrestors are necessary for hydrogen
systems
• Hydrogen requires 1/50th of energy gasoline-air mixtures to ignite
Use of hydrogen as a fuel in the transport sector would require significant
changes in infrastructure. Distribution of hydrogen and local fueling of cars
could not be done in the same way gasoline is handled today. Therefore the
infrastructural problems must be given careful consideration, both concerning economy and safety, in relation to possible utilization of hydrogen as an
energy carrier.
Hydrogen will emerge as the dominant fuel when climate change or greenhouse effects are strong and conventional fuel prices become very expensive.
Many of the centralized systems focus on hydrogen use in road transport,
and envisage local hydrogen pipeline grids linking early demonstration
projects and fleet vehicle refueling depots, creating hydrogen corridors in
areas of high demand. But the decentralized hydrogen production overcomes the infrastructural barriers associated with the hydrogen economy.
This allows the distributed generation, home refueling, and authorizing the
public to have control over the energy. For decentralized systems, the major
technological challenge is the expense of hydrogen from small-scale natural
gas reformers and electrolysers, while centralized systems rely on the viability of a large-scale hydrogen distribution infrastructure, and prospects for
centralized systems are greatly enhanced by cost-effective coal gasification
or nuclear–thermal water splitting (McDowall 2006).
Alternative Fuels for Transportation
If a country is to increase the dependency of wind power in the future
further than 15–20%, some sort of electricity storage option is required in
order to balance the electricity grid. A part of the solution to this problem is
to establish electrolysis plants and H 2 storage facilities and use the hydrogen
in the transport sector. Even if the general development of hydrogen and
fuel cell technology will bring lower prices, longer cell lifetimes, better and
cheaper solutions for hydrogen storage, production and other benefits, some
areas of development are specific for railway use, and the technology needs
to be tested, adapted to and demonstrated in railway vehicles to ensure feasible solutions.
Hydrogen has the potential for use as a fuel source for engines as well as
fuel cells. However, like other fuels it has its own problems.
• Poor engine volumetric efficiency
• Higher NO x emissions because of its higher flame temperature
• Higher fuel cost
• Infrastructure for distribution network
• Storage of hydrogen in vehicles
• Low energy density
• Flame trap and flash back arrestors are necessary for hydrogen
systems
• Hydrogen requires 1/50th of energy gasoline-air mixtures to ignite
Use of hydrogen as a fuel in the transport sector would require significant
changes in infrastructure. Distribution of hydrogen and local fueling of cars
could not be done in the same way gasoline is handled today. Therefore the
infrastructural problems must be given careful consideration, both concerning economy and safety, in relation to possible utilization of hydrogen as an
energy carrier.
Hydrogen will emerge as the dominant fuel when climate change or greenhouse effects are strong and conventional fuel prices become very expensive.
Many of the centralized systems focus on hydrogen use in road transport,
and envisage local hydrogen pipeline grids linking early demonstration
projects and fleet vehicle refueling depots, creating hydrogen corridors in
areas of high demand. But the decentralized hydrogen production overcomes the infrastructural barriers associated with the hydrogen economy.
This allows the distributed generation, home refueling, and authorizing the
public to have control over the energy. For decentralized systems, the major
technological challenge is the expense of hydrogen from small-scale natural
gas reformers and electrolysers, while centralized systems rely on the viability of a large-scale hydrogen distribution infrastructure, and prospects for
centralized systems are greatly enhanced by cost-effective coal gasification
or nuclear–thermal water splitting (McDowall 2006).