Hydrogen filling stations

Iceland, an island nation with abundant hydroelectric and geothermal power sources close to where people live, is using natural power sources to convert water into hydrogen and oxygen. In April 2003, Iceland opened its first hydrogen filling station for fuel-cell vehicles. If this initiative proves successful, perhaps the rest of the industrialized world will eventually convert to a hydrogen-fueled economy. 

LBST (2009b). Hydrogen Filling Stations Worldwide. www.netinform/net/h2/h2stations. 

In the hydrogen filling station layout by Ferrel et al. (1996), a maximum pressure of 56.9 MPa is selected, although BOC did not take into account the effects of heat of compression. Usually the maximum pressure has to be about 25% above the pressure level of the vehicle tank. For a pressure of 43.8 MPa at 85 °C, the pressure in the storage banks must be about 54.8 MPa, which is a good fit for the 56.9 MPa assumed. 

In a hydrogen filling station from Hydro, which has been in operation in Iceland since 2003, the pressure in the storage tanks is 44 MPa (ECTOS, 2003). 

Forsberg, P. and Karlstrom, M. (2006). On optimal investment strategies for a hydrogen filling station. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 32 (5),... 

Schwoon, M. (2006). A Tool to Optimise the Initial Distribution of Hydrogen Filling Stations. Working Paper No. 110. Hamburg Forschungsstelle fur Nachhaltige Umweltentwicklung (FNU). 

Hydrogen filling station Developed three H2 filling stations (PEM electrolysis, natural gas reforming and by-product hydrogen system). 

April 24,2003, Iceland opened the first public hydrogen filling station in the world, even though there are currently no privately owned hydrogen vehicles in the country. 

As of December 2009, there were 63 hydrogen filling stations in the United States. Many of them are located in California. 

Storage at filling stations poses problems of a nature similar to the other stationary stores mentioned above. Current hydrogen filling stations (most of which are part of demonstration programmes, e.g. for fuel cell city buses) mostly use compressed gas storage. 

Figure 6.3 shows the amounts of hydrogen required in the Japanese scenario, along with the associated cost. Figure 6.4 shows the number of hydrogen filling stations required and the annual cost of constructing them. 

Figure 6.4. Japanese requirement for hydrogen filling stations and their cost (annual expenditure) for the scenario of Fig. 6.2 (based on Tsuchiya et al., 2004).

The size of catalytic reactors is a factor of minor importance compared to catalyst and process cost in the industrial environment. This changes as we look at potential future applications of hydrogen production fuel cell reformers, hydrogen filling stations and on-site hydrogen generation. In some of these applications, size, simplicity, and durability are equally or even more important than minimal cost. 

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