Engineering

Posted by Winnie Melda on March 21st, 2019

The current interest in the use of hydrogen began during the 1960s and 1970s. From the 1990s, researchers began to study the potential infrastructures and strongly advocated for the use of hydrogen as the alternative fuel (Ogden et al., 2004). Though many scientists agree that hydrogen will soon be playing a critical role in the energy sector, there are several barriers hindering this goal (Edwards et al., 2008). The primary concern is the lack of a proper infrastructure that ensures that the increasing demand for carbon is met while at the same time ensuring that the production is cost effective and transported in the safest way. Thus, this dilemma is further added to the high energy requirements and cost necessary for the supply and distribution of hydrogen. However, current studies have made the effort of addressing these areas to ensure the achievement of progress (DOE, 2008).

A wide range of distribution and production options are under consideration in the development of hydrogen infrastructure. These options include gasification of coal, centralized reforming of natural gas, biomass gasification, and electrolysis. Others are onsite-reforming of ethanol or natural gas, liquid and gaseous delivery/ storage and industrial by-product hydrogen (Martin and Grasman, 2006; Turner et al., 2008). Ogden, et al. (2008) reviews the current technologies for hydrogen storage, transmission, distribution, and production. They also analyze the construction of an infrastructure for hydrogen energy that is areas needed in future research. Despite these developments, there is need to conceptualize these infrastructures. Mintz et al. (2003) provides an analysis of various support alternatives and the cost associated with them in hydrogen delivery. The limitation of this study is the self-reports affected the analysis y assuming little outcome from infrastructure and technology maturation, as well as technology development. An earlier study by Winebrake and Creswick (2003) on perspective based scenario analysis on different methods of production on analytic hierarchy process. Though there were various concepts that related to the achievement of meeting the increasing demand of hydrogen, through the introduction of individual vehicles for hydrogen, hydrogen infrastructure remained to be the main unsolved issue. It acted as a barrier to the migration towards the sustainable hydrogen economy.

The National Academy of Engineering provides four main factors that have an impact on the cost of hydrogen delivery (NAE, 2004). These are; 1. The transportation requirements and scale of the production unit. 2. Feedstock utilized in hydrogen production. 3. The use of carbon dioxide in product sequestration when fossil fuel as feedback. 4. The readiness level of the technology. Additionally, Melendez (2006) pointed out that the high cost and availability of alternative fuel infrastructure are the main barriers experienced by past alternative fuels, which hydrogen will also face. Such studies indicate the complexity of balancing fueling infrastructure availability with transportation costs and production scales.

Modern scientists champion the introduction of hydrogen being used in the transportation sector mainly in vehicle fuel. The idea not only gains support from the environmental and economic feasibility but also vital for significant improvements in general hydrogen vehicle performance and efficiency. Myers et al. [2002] point out that the cost of maintaining gasoline infrastructures that are currently is twice the costs of maintaining a hydrogen infrastructure. Thomas et al. (2003) provides a scenario that involves a hydrogen infrastructure that is much cheaper than the existing infrastructure. The infrastructure is a significant possibility given the potential pathway necessary for meeting the increasing demand for hydrogen to a point where it places gasoline infrastructure adding much value to life. The study by Melendez and Milbrandt [2006] also indicate the existence of a minimum infrastructure that supports the hydrogen vehicles introduction in the United States.

In answering questions on cost efficiency, many researchers have tried to evaluate the overall coast of hydrogen infrastructure and have applied various approaches to real problems. Thomas et al. (1998) studies a market scenario on FCVs. Ogaden et al. (2004), compares the use of hydrogen fuel with other fuels and determines the prospects of a hydrogen infrastructure. Van den Heever and Grossman provide a mathematical model for the supply chain of hydrogen. Shah and Almansoor (2003) have also proposed a mathematical model that is useful for various hydrogen activities. Ogden and Yang’s study is on the best transportation modes (Yang and Ogden, 2007, 267). Also, studies about hydrogen infrastructure and activities safety have also started to gain attention (Janssen, et al. 2004: Dorofeev, 2007: Jo 2001).

Parker et al. (2010) presents a nonlinear model that involves maximizing waste-based HSC profits, in which the price of hydrogen is an input in the optimization problem. The study takes into consideration a wide range of costs such as transportation, production and refueling stations. Various constraints add up to the optimal solution and satisfy the components capacity of the HSC in terms of conversion facilities, feedstock availability, delivery options and hydrogen terminals. The study also ensures that flows across the components are under consideration. Based on the potential sites lists of hydrogen infrastructure, it was possible to calculate the total costs of HSC (McDowall, 2013, p 518). The logic model by Parker et al. is similar to that of Johnson and Ogden. The design minimizes delivery and production costs of meeting a particular level of hydrogen demand. Pipelines are only considered as part of the delivery mode and enable this model to be the best in exploring the early transition starts to hydrogen and finally the transport models as presented by Yang and Ogden. Also in respect to the techno-economic specification, the approach requires the following input. Others are the location of hydrogen production plants, the magnitude of demand for hydrogen, and candidate pipeline network vital for meeting supply and demand (Yang and Ogden, 2012).

The model by Al Mansoor and Shah focus on energy production, sources, storage plans and transportation via railway tank car and tanker truck. The authors sum the total costs of all these aspects. These are the primary energy sources, transportation, store, and production occurring in different years and not examining them in a single year. This model by Almansoori and Shah (2006) has been approved by various researchers.

The safety and cost efficiency of a hydrogen infrastructure are vital in decision-making factors when generating investment strategies. It is possible to accomplish a sustainable hydrogen economy by solving various strategic problems that hinder the interaction between safety and cost efficiency. This study, therefore, aims to introduce various variables and parameters that need consideration in the overall risk of hydrogen infrastructure and also individual components risks within the system. The proposed model is generated by combining integer linear programming problem and applied to map out the future hydrogen infrastructure.

References

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Dorofeev S. Evaluation of safety distances related to unconfined hydrogen explosions. Int J Hydrogen Energy 2007; 32:2118–24

Edwards, P. P., Kuznetsov, V. I., David, W. I., & Brandon, N. P. (2008). Hydrogen and fuel cells: Towards a sustainable future. Energy Policy, 36(12), 4356-4362\

Janssen H, Brinkmann B, Schroeder V. Safety related studies on hydrogen production in the high-pressure electrolyzer. Int J Hydrogen Energy 2004; 29: 759–70

Johnson, J. Ogden (2012) a spatially-explicit optimization model for long-term hydrogen pipeline planning. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 37 (2012), pp. 5421–5433

Jo JK. Risk assessment for the energetic use of hydrogen, master thesis. Abteilung Anlagentechnik und Anlagensicherheit, Otto-von-Guericke-University ofMagdeburg, Germany, 2001.

Martin, K. B., & Gasman, S. E. (2009)The An assessment of systems for vehicles. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 34, 6581-6588.

Melendez, M. (2006). Transitioning Hydrogen Future from the Alternative Fuels Experience. NREL/TP-540-39423

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Turner, J., Sverdrup, G., Mann, M., Maness, P., Kroposki, B., Ghirardi, M., Evans, R., Blake, D. (2008). Renewable hydrogen production. International Journal of Energy Research, 35(5), 379-407

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Van den Heever S,and Grossmann I (2003) A strategy for the integration of in the optimization of a hydrogen supply chain network. Comput Chem Eng 27:1813–39.

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Carolyn Morgan is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in college research paper services. If you need a similar paper you can place your order from best medical essay service.