Refueling station

Natural gas, aloag with aatural gas Hquids, may also have an opportunity to provide energy as a transportation fuel. U.S. automakers are iavolved ia limited productioa of aatural gas-fueled vehicles, and approximately 500 refueling stations have been built as part of the iafrastmcture needed to support these vehicles (22). 

Recently in some types of refuelling stations, corrosion-resistant materials have been used between the filter-water separator and the outlet pipeline and valves, usually stainless steel, rarely aluminum. If these are buried, they must have good insulating coating and be electrically separated from other tank installations by insulating couplings. 

Protection currents of a few amperes are needed for the cathodic protection of assemblies of storage tanks or refuelling stations. In this case, electrical contact with grounded installations is the main problem. For cathodic protection, these contacts must be located and electrically separated. If this is not possible, then local cathodic protection should be installed (see Chapter 12). 

In the United States so many vehicles operate on hydrogen fuel cells (sec Box 12.1) that hydrogen refueling stations have opened in many cities, including Washington, DC. 

Detection Refueling station X-cutting issues Parking requirements... 

Sensors in Hydrogen Fuel Applications 15.5.1 Hydrogen Refueling Stations... 

Rules for this Part have been developed for hydrogen service included in petroleum refineries, refueling stations, chemical plants, power generation plants, semiconductor plants, cryogenic plants, hydrogen fuel appliances, and related facilities. 

An onboard hydrogen tank has several problems since hydrogen leaks easily, is hard to store and hard to compress and burns quickly. Overcoming all these concerns has been expensive but most of the major auto companies has solved these problems for the most part in their prototype fuel cell vehicles. Refueling tends to be difficult although there are now a number of hydrogen refueling stations in use around the world. 

The GAO stated that the goals in the act for fuel replacement were not met because alternative fuel vehicles have serious economic disadvantages compared to conventional gasoline engines. These included the comparative price of gasoline, the lack of refueling stations for alternative fuels and the additional costs of these vehicles. 

Chapter 12 discusses and analyses the different options for hydrogen distribution -pipelines and trailers (including liquefaction) - from a technical and economic point of view, in the same way as the hydrogen production technologies in Chapter 10. Further, different hydrogen refuelling station concepts are described and the necessity for the development of codes and standards addressed. 

Another alternative fuel already in use in many countries is (compressed) natural gas (CNG). Compressed natural gas is stored on board the vehicle at a pressure of around 200 bar and the range of CNG cars is comparable to gasoline cars. Compressed natural gas requires primarily the implementation of new refuelling stations, as a natural gas distribution infrastructure is already largely in place in many countries. Certain infrastructure components (e.g., pipelines or fuelling components) may possibly advance the introduction of hydrogen. 

Figure 8.3 shows the global distribution of existing hydrogen refuelling stations. Black spots represent operational stations, grey spots, planned stations and white ones indicate expired stations. 

Figure 8.3. Global distribution of existing hydrogen refuelling stations (LBST, 2009b).

Decentralised hydrogen production from natural gas for onsite applications (fuel cells, refuelling stations for hydrogen vehicles) eliminates or reduces the problems of distribution and storage. Nevertheless, current technology has high costs because it lacks economy of scale. Lower pressure and temperature and lower-cost materials are... 

An area-wide supply of hydrogen will, in the medium to long term, require the implementation of an extensive transport and distribution infrastructure. In addition, a dense network of refuelling stations will have to be put in place. This chapter first addresses the various options for hydrogen transport and their characteristics. Subsequently, different fuelling station concepts will be discussed. 

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