Green Fuel - New Alternative - Hydrogen

Picture Credits - BMW

Hydrogen is a clean fuel that, when consumed in a fuel cell, produces only water. Hydrogen can be produced from a variety of domestic resources, such as natural gas, nuclear power, biomass, and renewable power like solar and wind. These qualities make it a more attractive fuel option for transportation and electricity generation applications. That is also one of the reasons why many OEMs and Tier companies are opting for developing Hydrogen Fuel cars.

Hydrogen fuel can be produced through several methods. The most common methods today which are used in producing Hydrogen fuel are Thermal process (natural gas reforming), Electrolysis, solar-driven and biological processes. The method which is majorly used in Transportation industries is “Electrolysis”.

Electrolysis is generally a process of using electricity to split water into Hydrogen and Oxygen.
The electrolytic process takes place in the electrolyzer, which is working off the Fuel cell in reverse – that is instead of using the energy of the Hydrogen molecule, it creates Hydrogen from Water. It is profoundly known that Hydrogen fuel is a promising option for a Carbon-free world.

Decarbonization has become a major topic, and proponents of using hydrogen as a clean fuel have
struck many minds for a decade now. A number of countries have launched many clean fuel strategies
in recent years, notably European countries strongly posing Green Fuel.

It might sound silly, but why Hydrogen is a “Green fuel” and “why is everyone opting for it”– Have we ever thought about it? 

Hydrogen is generally labeled by color, based on how they are produced – 

“Grey” – Hydrogen is made from fossil fuels using steam reformation costing from $1/Kg.

“Blue” – Hydrogen is also from fossil fuels, but it captures and stores Carbon Dioxide and they are the
cheapest costing $2/Kg at its level and 

“Green” is produced by water electrolysis running off renewable
energy costing from $4/Kg.

But “why Green – Why not Grey or Blue “– Is it just based on Color, or does It have
other reasons too?

The government of Japan under its G20 presidency has requested, the International Energy Agency
to analyze the current state of play for hydrogen and to offer guidance on its future development.
The report said that clean hydrogen is currently enjoying unprecedented political and business
momentum, with the number of policies and projects around the world expanding rapidly. Demand
of Hydrogen has become so high, because it has become a major business around the world, since
1975 from powering the first internal combustion engines over 200 years ago to becoming an
an integral part of the modern refining industry almost entirely supplied from fossil fuels, with 6% of
global natural gas and 2% of global coal going to hydrogen production – but as a result, it
contradicting affected Carbon dioxide emissions of around 830 million tons per year, equivalent to the
CO2 emissions of the United Kingdom and Indonesia combined.

That is the main reason, every industry today is opting for Green Hydrogen to become Carbon Neutral to ensure a sustainable future. Emissions and Energy Efficiency are two cross-fitting terms, but they
work well together.

Now Coming to Cars –

How does a Hydrogen based Electrical engine (FCEV) works or is different, when
compared to normal Battery based Electrical engine (BEV).

One main difference between Hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle and a battery-managed electric
vehicle is Hydrogen can produce electricity itself, unlike other electric vehicles which get its
power from a built-in Battery that should be charged from an external power source. Hydrogen-based vehicles have their power plant on board called Fuel Cells, but they work in reverse by the
process of electrolysis. Here Hydrogen and Oxygen generate electrical energy and the energy is
directed toward the electric motor or the battery as needed. Where Hydrogen comes from one or two
tanks built inside the vehicle and Oxygen comes from ambient air.

Picture credits – BMW

Advantages of FCEV –

1. Purely Electrical – less Engine noise, lively start, full torque at low speeds.
2. Quick charging time – min of 5mins of time, unlike other electrical cars, where it needs many
hours to fully charge.
3. Long Lifetime/ Runtime – that is, it is not validated based on weather conditions.

Disadvantages of FCEV –

1. Biggest shortcoming of Hydrogen fuel cars is the scarcity of refueling of Hydrogen - “We
have a chicken and egg problem with hydrogen fuel cell technology,” explains a BMW expert
Rücker. “As long as the network of refueling stations for hydrogen-powered cars is so thin,
the low demand from customers will not allow for profitable mass production of fuel cell
vehicles. And as long as there are hardly any hydrogen cars on the roads, the operators will
only hesitantly expand their refueling station network.”
2. In addition to the thin fueling station network, there is another reason for the as-of-yet low
demand for hydrogen fuel cell cars: they are relatively expensive to buy. 
3. High purchase price is that hydrogen fuel cell cars tend to be quite large because the
hydrogen tank(s) take up a lot of space. The drive unit for a purely battery-driven electric
vehicle, on the other hand, also fits into small cars. 
4. one other disadvantage of producing hydrogen is the losses during electrolysis.
The overall efficiency in the “power to vehicle drive” energy chain is therefore
only half the level of a BEV.

A car that uses only renewable energy and produces no harmful emissions would be ideal from an
environmental point of view, but this would require expansion of technological infrastructure in
order to shorten the transportation distances. Hydrogen is also a by-product of many industrial
processes, where too often hydrogen is treated as waste. The Fuel cell battery offers a way to
upcycle this waste hydrogen, but it should be cleaned first.
When we regard Energy - Depending on the transportation technology used (liquid or gaseous),
different costs are implemented for compression, cooling, transport, and storage. Due to its better
transportability and storage ability, the trend is toward liquid hydrogen.

Nevertheless, the transportation and storage of hydrogen are – at this stage – still a good deal with
more complex and energy-intensive than gasoline or diesel.

In contrast to fossil fuels, hydrogen can be produced anywhere there is access to electricity and
water, maybe theoretically even at the actual filling stations for fuel cell cars. A more highly
developed infrastructure could thus shorten transportation distances significantly in the future.