Dayalbagh Educational

Institute

Faculty of Engineering

Solar Photovoltaics Plant

Maintenance(VRE-307)

Project Report on-

Hydrogen Energy Storage

Submitted By-
Shubham Kr. Singh
B.Voc-RE(2nd Year)
Roll No-1703299
 Content
Topic Page Remark
Sr.No No.
1.) What is Hydrogen Energy? 1
2.) Occurrence And Storage 2
3.) Production 3
4.) Conversion To Electricity 4
5.) Hydrogen Storage 6
6.) Pros of Hydrogen 10
7.) Cons of Hydrogen 11
What is Hydrogen Energy?
Of all elements present in the universe, hydrogen is the most abundant.
Hydrogen gas has remarkable characteristics including colorless, tasteless and
invisible that make it hotly pursued. It can also be transformed into a
renewable, nonpolluting and zero emission energy resource. It’s considered
the cornerstone of the new energy economy. The pursuit of hydrogen
energy began way back in 1776 by the British scientist Henry Cavendish.
He first identified it as a distinct element after he developed hydrogen gas by
subjecting zinc metal to hydrochloric acid. Henry Cavendish made another
remarkable discovery during a demonstration to the Royal Society of London
when he introduced a spark to hydrogen gas, producing water in the process.
This historic development led to his conclusion that water (H2O) is
composed of hydrogen and oxygen. Since then, hydrogen technology has
grown in leaps and bounds, and today, it is used as an energy source to power
cars, electric systems, and production of pure water.
Hydrogen is the simplest and most abundant element in the universe. It does
not occur naturally. While it exists pretty much everywhere- in the air, in
space, in the ground- it is rarely alone. It’s obtainable in combination with
other elements such as water. Water is made up of hydrogen and oxygen.
This means that it is usually combined with another element, making it
necessary to extract and convert it to make it a usable energy source.
Hydrogen also occurs in numerous organic compounds, for example,
hydrocarbons that result in fuels like natural gas, gasoline, propane, and
methanol. The biggest challenge to harnessing hydrogen is harvesting it in its
purest form.
Hydrogen’s chemistry is very simple- a single atom is made up of only a
proton and an electron. In a gaseous form, it can be burned as a fuel. It can
be stored in power cells that generate explosive energy and propel rockets
and spaceships. It is volatile and combustible, and very, very powerful.
Occurrence And Storage
Speaking of its natural occurrence, it is the most abundant element in
the universe. The sun and other stars are composed largely of
hydrogen. Astronomers estimate that 90% of the atoms in the
universe are hydrogen atoms. Hydrogen is a component of more
compounds than any other element. Water is the most abundant
compound of hydrogen found on earth.
Molecular hydrogen is not available on Earth in convenient natural
reservoirs. Most hydrogen on Earth is bonded to oxygen in water and
to carbon in live or dead and/or fossilized biomass. It can be created
by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen. Water is again formed,
when hydrogen is used.
On the other hand, its preparation could be done by breaking the
chemical bonds from compounds. A few common methods include
electrolysis, from steam and hydro carbon or carbon, reaction of
metals with acids, ionic metal hydrides with water, etc. Currently,
global hydrogen production is 48% from natural gas, 30% from oil,
and 18% from coal; water electrolysis accounts for only 4%.
Its storage is important because it has wide range of applications.
They range from stationary power, portable power to transportation,
etc. Also it has the highest energy per mass of any fuel. However, its
low ambient temperature density results in a low energy per unit
volume, therefore requiring the development of advanced storage
methods that have potential for higher energy density.
Hydrogen can be stored physically as either a gas or a liquid. Storage
of hydrogen as a gas typically requires high-pressure tanks (350–700
bar [5,000–10,000 psi] tank pressure). Storage of hydrogen as a
liquid requires cryogenic temperatures because the boiling point of
hydrogen at one atmosphere pressure is −252.8°C. Hydrogen can
also be stored on the surfaces of solids (by adsorption) or within
solids (by absorption).
Production
Hydrogen is produced using two main methods; steam reforming and
electrolysis (commonly referred to as water splitting).

Steam reforming
This method produces hydrogen from hydrocarbon fuels such as methane,
oil, renewable liquid fuels, gasified biomass, gasified coal and natural gas. A
processing device called a reformer is used in this hydrogen production
process. The reformer react steam with the hydrocarbon fuels at extremely
high temperatures to generate hydrogen. Today, over 90% of hydrogen gas is
produced using the steam reforming technique.

Depending on the quality of the feedstock (natural gas, rich gases, naphtha,
etc.), one ton of hydrogen produced will also produce 9 to 12 tons of CO2.
For this process high temperature (700–1100 °C) steam (H2O) reacts
with methane (CH4) in an endothermic reaction to yield syngas.
CH4 + H2O → CO + 3 H2
In a second stage, additional hydrogen is generated through the lower-
temperature, exothermic, water gas shift reaction, performed at about
360 °C:
CO + H2O → CO2 + H2
Essentially, the oxygen (O) atom is stripped from the additional water
(steam) to oxidize CO to CO2. This oxidation also provides energy to
maintain the reaction. Additional heat required to drive the process is
generally supplied by burning some portion of the methane
Electrolysis
Electrolysis is a method that utilizes direct current (DC) to instigate a
chemical reaction. In the production of hydrogen, electrolysis decomposes
water and splits it into its main elements, which are hydrogen and oxygen
by use of an electric current. The electricity used in the electrolysis process
can be derived from fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas, and coal or
hydrocarbons.

Al + 3 H2O + NaOH→NaAl(OH)4 + 1.5 H2

Conversion of hydrogen into

electricity
The most effective way to convert hydrogen into oxygen is using a fuel cell.
A fuel cell converts chemical energy into electrical energy. A fuel cell
enables hydrogen and oxygen to blend in an electrochemical reaction. The
result is production of electricity, water, and heat. Fuel cells mimic batteries
since they both convert the energy generated by the electrochemical
reaction into useful electric power. Nonetheless, the fuel cell will generate
electric power as long as fuel, mainly hydrogen, is available.

Fuel cells represent a potential technology for use a source of electricity and
heat for buildings. It’s also a promising source of power for electric and
hybrid vehicles. Fuel cells function best on pure hydrogen. However, other
fuels such as gasoline, methanol, or natural gas can be reformed to generate
the needed hydrogen for fuel cells.

With technology moving fast, hydrogen could come on par with electricity
as a vital energy carrier. An energy carrier transmits energy to the customer
in a ready to use form. Some renewable energy sources such as wind and
sun may not be able to generate energy around the clock, but are able to
produce hydrogen and electric power and stored for later use.
Hydrogen Storage
Methods of hydrogen storage for subsequent use span many approaches
including high pressures, cryogenics, and chemical compounds that reversibly
release H2 upon heating. Underground hydrogen storage is useful to
provide grid energy storage for intermittent energy sources, like wind power,
as well as providing fuel for transportation, particularly for ships and
airplanes.
Most research into hydrogen storage is focused on storing hydrogen as a
lightweight, compact energy carrier for mobile applications.
Liquid hydrogen or slush hydrogen may be used, as in the Space Shuttle.
However liquid hydrogen requires cryogenic storage and boils around
20.268 K (−252.882 °C or −423.188 °F). Hence, its liquefaction imposes a
large energy loss (as energy is needed to cool it down to that temperature).
The tanks must also be well insulated to prevent boil off but adding
insulation increases cost. Liquid hydrogen has less energy density by
volume than hydrocarbon fuels such as gasoline by approximately a factor of
four. This highlights the density problem for pure hydrogen: there is actually
about 64% more hydrogen in a liter of gasoline (116 grams hydrogen) than
there is in a liter of pure liquid hydrogen (71 grams hydrogen). The carbon in
the gasoline also contributes to the energy of combustion.
Compressed hydrogen, by comparison, is stored quite differently. Hydrogen
gas has good energy density by weight, but poor energy density by volume
versus hydrocarbons, hence it requires a larger tank to store. A
large hydrogen tank will be heavier than the small hydrocarbon tank used to
store the same amount of energy, all other factors remaining equal.
Increasing gas pressure would improve the energy density by volume, making
for smaller, but not lighter container tanks (see hydrogen tank). Compressed
hydrogen costs 2.1% of the energy conten to power the compressor. Higher
compression without energy recovery will mean more energy lost to the
compression step. Compressed hydrogen storage can exhibit very
low permeation.
Current approaches include:
 High pressure H2 cylinders
 Cryogenic and liquid hydrogen
 High surface area sorbents
 Metal hydrides

High pressure H2 cylinders

The most common storage system is high pressure gas cylinders. Carbon
fiber-reinforced composite tanks for 350 bar and 700 bar compressed
hydrogen are under development and already in use in prototype hydrogen-
powered vehicles.

The cost of high-pressure compressed gas tanks is essentially dictated by the

cost and the amount of the carbon fiber that must be used for structural
reinforcement for the composite vessel.

The safety of pressurized cylinders is a concern. Industry has set itself a target
of a 110 kg, 70 MPa cylinder with a gravimetric storage density of 6 wt% and
a volumetric density of 30 kg/m3.

The relatively low hydrogen density together with the very high gas pressures
in the system are important drawbacks of this technically simple method.
Cryogenic and liquid hydrogen

Liquid hydrogen (LH2) tanks can, in principle, store more hydrogen in a

given volume than compressed gas tanks, since the volumetric capacity of
liquid hydrogen is 0.070 kg/L (compared to 0.039 kg/L at 700 bar).
Key issue with LH2 tanks are hydrogen boil-off, the energy required for
hydrogen liquefaction, as well as tank cost.

The energy required for liquefy hydrogen, over 30% of the lower heating
value of hydrogen, remains a key issue and impacts fuel cost as well as fuel
cycle energy efficiency.
The large amount of energy necessary for liquefaction and the continuous
boil-off of hydrogen limit the use of liquid hydrogen storage system.
To increase the storage capacities of these tanks, ‘Cryo-compresed’ tanks i.e.
compressed cryogenic hydrogen or a combination of liquid hydrogen and
high pressure hydrogen are developed.

High surface area sorbents

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), and several other high surface area sorbents (e.g.
carbon nanofibers, graphite materials, metal-organic frameworks, aerogels,
etc.) are being studied for hydrogen storage.
The process for hydrogen adsorption in high surface area sorbents is
physisorption, which is based on weak Van der Waals forces between
adsorbate and adsorbent.

Metal hydrides

It’s a chemical compound or form of a bond between hydrogen with a metal.

Metals hydrize at certain temperatures and pressures. Magnesium Hydride,
MgH2, stores the largest density of hydrogen but requires high temperature (>
300 °C) to let go of it.The temperature at which the metal hydrides release
the hydrogen at standard pressure.

There's about a 30% penalty to heat the magnesium (30% of the fuel cell
keeps the metal hot).
Again of the reversible hydrides simple magnesium does best. Magnesium is
the world's third most abundant metal. Iron titanium comes next for price.
Pretty much everything else is an exotic designer alloy as of now: tens of
thousands of dollars per kilo.

Pros of Hydrogen Energy

 Eco-friendly
Hydrogen is a nontoxic form of fuel since it doesn’t release harmful gasses into the
environment. Some fuel sources like gasoline, coal, oil and nuclear energy are toxic and
occur in areas with hazardous environment. In fact, when hydrogen is combusted, the
only by-product is water vapor, which is not toxic. Since hydrogen is friendly to Mother
Nature, it can be utilized in places where other forms of fuel cannot work.

 It’s a renewable energy source

Hydrogen is abundant virtually everywhere, and this means it’s a never-ending source of
energy. Other sources of fuel such as oil, natural gas, and coal are considered
nonrenewable, meaning they will get exhausted at some point. Hydrogen is one source
of energy that can be generated on demand.

 It’s powerful and efficient

The methods used to produce hydrogen yield a powerful and efficient energy source.
Hydrogen’s power and efficiency are the reasons it’s used in rockets and space ships. It’s
also preferred in space ships because it doesn’t produce greenhouse gasses. According
to statistics, hydrogen is 3 times more potent than gasoline and other fossil based fuel
sources, meaning it has the ability to accomplish more with less.

 Has a vital application in the oil and gas industry

Hydrogen is deployed to process crude oil into refined fuels like diesel and gasoline.
Hydrogen is also used to get rid of contaminants such as sulfur from these fuels. Other
industries also leverage hydrogen fuel, for example, chemical production, food
processing, metal refining, and electronics manufacturing .

Cons of Hydrogen Energy

 It’s daunting to store
Hydrogen energy has not been fully explored, so storage and support infrastructure have
not been hugely developed. Hydrogen molecules are minute, which renders hydrogen
more susceptible to leakage. This means that it must be stored at high pressure to give it
sufficient energy density. In its natural form, hydrogen is volatile and highly flammable,
which makes transporting it a lot harder.

 It’s relatively expensive

Despite the fact that hydrogen is readily available, the process of extraction such as
electrolysis is extremely expensive. The main reason for this is that it’s daunting to
separate its basic elements like hydrogen and oxygen. Even though hydrogen fuel cells
are increasingly being used in hybrid cars, it’s not quite affordable for everyone.
Scientists are working to discover technologies that could make harnessing of hydrogen a
lot easier, but until then, the price will continue to remain high.

 Still relies on fossils fuels

It’s a fact that hydrogen is a renewable resource and has no impact on the environment.
However, the separation of hydrogen components during production process still relies
on fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas. Fossil fuels contribute mightily to
emission of greenhouse gasses.

 It volatile and highly flammable

Hydrogen’s volatility and highly flammable attribute make it challenging to transport to
the final consumer. The unique characteristic that makes it hard to store also make its
daunting to transport. Hydrogen is majorly transported to the market through pipelines
or in tankers. Tanker trucks deliver hydrogen to the marketplace in a liquefied or
compressed state. This process leads to hydrogen leaks.

Although hydrogen is not widely used because of its hefty price tag and lack of
practicality in terms of lack of infrastructure to support it, researchers project that it will
catch up with electricity as an energy carrier. This is because it is derived from renewable
energy sources and is almost non-polluting. Its zero-emission property makes it ideal for
aircraft fuel, heating homes, and source of fuel for zero emission vehicles