Technology Status of Hydrogen Road Vehicles

Moore, R.B.; V. Raman, “Hydrogen infrastructure for fuel cell transportation,” Air Products and
Chemicals, Pennsylvania, USA, pp. 133-142.
More than 8.5 million tonnes of H 2 are produced in the United States each year, but more than 95% is used
in-situ to refine oil or produce commodity chemicals such as ammonia and methanol.
The remaining “merchant” H 2 is used in the chemicals, metals, glass, and electronics industries. Only a tiny
fraction is used for transport, above all for the space program, and the LH 2 production capacity is 80 tonnes/yr
distributed in 20,000 trailer loads /yr.
The paper examines the infrastructure options to supply fueling stations, each with 500 cars/d capability (2.7
tonnes/d H 2); a home option for one car is also examined. Three main options, and some subdivisions, are
costed.
The options and costs under today’s market conditions, are:
1. Large-scale LH 2 production at remote natural gas wells, by steam methane reforming (SMR), shipped by
tankers an average of 800 km to 10-100 fueling stations. The remote plant maintains 5 days storage, the
fueling station 1.5 days’ storage, and the LH 2 is vaporized at 340 atm for vehicle use. The H 2 price at the
station would be $3.35/kg for a 27 tonne/d remote plant, and $2.35/kg for a 270 tonne/d plant.
2. Large regional and local GH 2 production by SMR of natural gas at 15-30 atm.; 50-km pipelines in straight
radial directions, each with 10 fueling stations spaced 5 km apart. Only 1.5 days’ storage at plant, none
at fueling stations. The H 2 price at the station would be $2.91/kg for 27 tonnes/d plant feeding one
pipeline, and $2.47/kg for 270 tonnes/d plant feeding 10 pipelines.
3. Individual fueling station producing 2.7 tonnes/d H 2 by SMR of natural gas. One-half day storage at
station. The H 2 price would be $3.57/kg.
4. Same as #3, but using on-site partial oxidation of heavy oil as production method. The H 2 price would
be $3.96/kg.
5. Home garage electrolysis producing 3 kg/d GH 2 for one car, half tank per day. The H 2 price would be
$6.97/kg.
6. Same as #3 and #4, except methanol stored and reformed at fueling station. The H 2 price would be
$3.76/kg.
The paper concludes with a discussion on how the market could grow, depending on the preferred form of onboard
hydrogen storage.
Specht, M., et al., “Comparison of the renewable transportation fuels liquid hydrogen and methanol
with gasoline--energetic and economic aspects,” Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research,
University of Stuttgart, Germany, pp. 227-239.
These researchers have developed a process to extract CO 2 from the atmosphere and combine it with H 2 from
sources such as hydroelectricity to produce methanol. This process, which includes shipping the product to
Europe, is now compared to LH 2 from the same hydropower, and both are compared to crude oil-gasoline
production from energy efficiency and cost viewpoints.
The overall efficiency of the crude oil-gasoline-vehicle system is about 19%, compared to about 9% for LH 2
and slightly more for pure methanol. The costs are determined largely by the energy input and capital cost
of production plants. When used in ICE cars, the renewable-based methanol and LH 2 are approximately equal;
gasoline is about 25% cheaper, all based on untaxed fuel.
Apart from a possible tax advantage for environmentally benign fuels such as LH 2 and methanol, the advent
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