Hydrogen transport fuel

Hilkert, M. (2003). Pathways for a transition to a sustainable hydrogen transportation fuel infrastructure in California. Diploma Thesis at the University of Karlsruhe with support of the University of California, Davis. 

As there are currently no retail markets for either hydrogen transportation fuel or fuel cell vehicles (FCVs), any discussion of such markets necessarily prospects the future. Such a task is inherently uncertain—many forecasts have been wrong even in mature markets. We undertake this risky enterprise by framing the discussion of future markets for hydrogen and FCVs around two questions. First, what is the history and future of mobility Second, within this future, why would anyone buy an FCV ... 

Hydrogen transportation, fueling station, and onboard safety issues can likely be resolved without onerous cost increases. 

Coal Hquefaction iavolves raising the atomic hydrogen-to-carbon ratio from approximately 0.8/1.0 for a typical bituminous coal, to 2/1 for Hquid transportation fuels or 4/1 for methane (4). In this process, molecular weight reduction and removal of mineral matter and heteroatoms such as sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen may need to be effected. 

Under the National Energy PoHcy Act of 1992 nonpetroleum-based transportation fuels are to be introduced in the United States. Such fuels include natural gas (see Gas, natural), Hquefied petroleum gas (qv) (LPG), methanol (qv), ethanol (qv), and hydrogen (qv), although hydrogen fuels are not expected to be a factor until after the year 2000 (see also Alcohol fuels Hydrogen energy). 

The Industrial Revolution was made possible by iron in the form of steel, an alloy used for construction and transportation. Other d-block metals, both as the elements and in compounds, are transforming our present. Copper, for instance, is an essential component of some superconductors. Vanadium and platinum are used in the development of catalysts to reduce pollution and in the continuing effort to make hydrogen the fuel of our future. 

At the exit of the WGS reactor, the reacted CaC03 particles are captured by a high-temperature cyclone and the spent solids are then sent to a rotary calciner to thermally decompose the CaC03 back to CaO at temperatures between 660°C and 900°C with pure C02 formed in the outlet gas stream. The pure C02 gas can be economically compressed, cooled, liquefied, and transported for its safe sequestration. Hydrogen can be used for various energy conversion systems or hydrogen-enriched fuel production without any further low-temperature cleanup requirement. 

In the end, both approaches require the calcination of limestone to lime. The energy penalty in this process is about 4.5-5 GJ/ton of C02, which amounts to a 30-40% energy penalty of a transportation sector that uses air extraction for managing its own C02 emissions. This is comparable to the energy penalty incurred in the conversion of fossil fuels into hydrogen as a transportation fuel (Zeman and Lackner, 2004). 

The transportation fuels produced and marketed (Table 18.9)40 met the South African fuel specifications of that time and included some coal-derived liquids (not shown in Figure 18.5). Although the refinery originally produced no jet fuel, it was demonstrated that the hydrogenated kerosene range oligomers from olefin oligomerization over a solid phosphoric acid catalyst met the requirements for jet fuel.38 (Semisynthetic jet fuel was approved in 1999 and fully synthetic jet fuel was approved in 2008 DEFSTAN 91-91/Issue 6). 

MTH [Mittel-Temperatur-Hydrierung German, meaning medium-temperature hydrogenation] A version of the TTH process, using different processing conditions, by which a larger proportion of transport fuels could be produced. 

The majority of the existing plants were designed and constructed to produce a synthetic gas, consisting primarily of hydrogen and carbon monoxide (CO), which is used for the production of hydrogen or Fischer-Tropsche (F-T) syncrude. Hydrogen is then used to produce a wide variety of chemicals and fertilizers. The Fisher-Tropsch syncrude is used to manufacture transportation fuels, lube oils, and specialty waxes. 

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