Tanya Sriram

Hydrogen
Fuel
What is Hydrogen Fuel?

Diverse domestic resources produces

an alternative fuel called Hydrogen.

Even though in the market hydrogen is

not used much as a transportation fuel
for cars and vehicles, the governments
and industries are working on clean,
economical and safe hydrogen
production and distribution in fuel cell
electric vehicles (FCEV’s). These FCEV’s
are slowly entering the market in local,
domestic regions around the world.

Thanks to this innovation, the fuel is

beginning to be used to develop buses,
handling equipment’s (material), ground
support equipment’s, stationary Through the electrolysis of water, we can use the Hydrogen to power electrical devices.
applications,

Hydrogen is one of the basic building
blocks of life. Therefore, it is abundant in
the environment as its stored in water
(H2O) hydrocarbons (Like fats and other
macro molecules) and other organic
matter one of the main challenges is use
it efficiently by extracting it from these
compounds.
Hydrogen is mainly produced in USA
(steam reforming, combing high
temperature steam to with natural gas
to extract hydrogen) and is also
produced through electrolysis. The effort
to make it is more intensive but is
advantageous as it is abundant and
emmissionless.
However, some issues are that
production of hydrogen may affect the
air quality, depending on the source, a
FCEV runs of hydrogen only emitting
water vapor and warm air as exhaust
(considered zero-emission vehicle).
Major developments are done to make
them widespread use leading to the
initial rollout production in California and
more recently in northeastern states.

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Benefits of Hydrogen Fuel

It is good for the environment, proving

to be a near emission free source of
energy

It is abundant and renewable, therefore

not depleting the earth’s resources

It is more efficient than conventional

gasoline, therefore requiring less to
power the same devices

With increased funding, this could

become the best way to both preserve
the earth and grow production

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Legislation
It has been considered as an alternative fuel under the
Energy Policy Act in 1992. The interest was for it as an
alternative transportation fuel stem, domestic
production, fast filling time and the fuel’s cell high
efficiency. The fuel cell with the electrical motor is 2-3
times more efficient than an internal combustion running
on gasoline. Hydrogen can also be used in internal
combustion engines yet they will be less efficient
compared to the FCEVs.

Because hydrogen has a low volumetric energy density,

it is stored onboard a vehicle as a compressed gas to
achieve the driving range of conventional vehicles. Most
current applications use high-pressure tanks capable of
storing hydrogen at either 5,000 or 10,000 pounds per
square inch (psi). Retail dispensers, which are mostly co-
located at gasoline stations, can fill these tanks in about
5 minutes. Other storage technologies are under
development, including bonding hydrogen chemically
with a material such as metal hydride, or low-
temperature sorbent materials.

Data from retail hydrogen fueling stations, collected and

analyzed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory,
show the average time spent fueling an FCEV is less
than 4 minutes.