H2Tech - Q1 2021 - 23

SPECIAL FOCUS: ADVANCES IN HYDROGEN TECHNOLOGY

Advances in chemical carriers for hydrogen
R. V. SCHNEIDER, Chiyoda Corp., Houston, Texas; and
D. KUROSAKI and M. OKI, Chiyoda Corp., Yokohama, Japan

Is hydrogen the fuel of the future? This
most-abundant element in the universe
has, for many years, played a key role in
the international space program and in
more down-to-earth applications for refinery upgrading and chemicals production, such as methanol and ammonia.
However, production of renewable H2
at a competitive cost, and the transport
thereof, present key issues that are being
studied and progressed by almost every
developed country in the world.
The benefits are obvious: H2 can be
made from many and varied processes
and burns completely and cleanly, with
only water vapor as a byproduct of combustion. Japan has progressed its H2
economy by developing detailed plans
to replace nuclear energy and fossil fuel
combustion with clean-burning H2, both
at the industrial and residential scale. Europe has, for several years, harnessed wind
energy for power production; this technology also can be used for H2 production where desired. A project is already
underway in Germany to provide H2 to
an existing refinery for fuels upgrading,
using wind energy to power the electrolyzer that will produce the renewable H2.
In the U.S., California leads the way
with initiatives that are not only policybased but are also state law. Almost 9,000
fuel cell personal vehicles traverse the
California freeways today, with fuel available for a 5-min fill-up from 42 stations.
By 2025, it is anticipated that there will
be many more fuel cell electric vehicles
(FCEVs) and many more refueling stations in use, along with H2 use in city buses and heavy transport vehicles, supported
by state laws driving these developments.
Northeastern states in the U.S. will
likely follow California's lead, and provincial energy ministries in Canada's eastern
and western regions are already progress-

ing initiatives that are modeled, to a degree, after those in California. While the
mid-section of the U.S. would not be a
likely place for H2 to take root, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-sponsored
study is already underway in oil- and gasrich Texas to consider and demonstrate
H2 as a fuel for data center backup power
and mobility uses. Additionally, the Texas
study will consider how the Port of Houston may benefit from material transport
using H2, similar to what is already being
done in Long Beach, California.
In this article, the authors introduce
liquid organic H2 carrier (LOHC) technology and how it has been applied to the
world's first global H2 supply chain demonstration project.
Demand drivers. Demand for H2 in the

U.S. alone is more than 11 metric MMtpy.
At present, the two largest uses for H2 are
hydroprocessing in refineries (57%) and
chemicals production (38%, ammonia
and methanol production combined).
Future additional demand will be driven
by a number of applications:
* Personal mobility
* Heavy transport of commercial
goods
* Mass transport fuels
* Warehouse forklifts and port heavy
goods movement
* Electric power backup
* Clean power generation
* Residential and industrial
applications.
Estimates project that U.S. H2 demand
will grow to about 17 metric MMtpy by
2030 and to 63 metric MMtpy or more by
2050. Considering mobility applications
alone, several automakers are producing
personal FCEV cars-Toyota (Mirai)
(FIG. 1), Honda (Clarity) and Hyundai
(Nexo). While less than 10,000 FCEVs

are on U.S. roads at present, projections
call for up to 150,000 FCEV sales by 2025
and more than 1 MM sales by 2030.
A personal FCEV requires a fill-up of
approximately 5 kg of H2. Considering the
current proven range of these vehicles and
average annual use, the 2030 FCEV H2 demand in California alone can be calculated
in the range of 250,000 metric t for passenger cars only. When heavy-duty vehicles
for material transport are factored into the
mix, demand will be considerably higher.
By 2030, fuel cell-powered forklifts
used by large-warehouse companies, such
as Walmart and Amazon, could number
more than 300,000. Total added H2 demand by 2030 could be approximately
3 metric MMt, although this number is
expected to increase by around 45 metric
MMt by 2050-a significant volume.
Investment in the H2 economy is forecast in the range of $8B-$10B by 2030,
and hundreds of thousands of new jobs
could be created. While these numbers
are not concrete, they impart a sense of
scale for the potential of H2 in the U.S.
and other forward-thinking countries.
Expected benefits from the integration
of H2 into the U.S. energy picture include
not only decarbonization, but also a bolstering of the overall economy, preservation and strengthening of the U.S. energy

FIG. 1. Toyota's Mirai FCEV passenger car,
produced starting in 2014.
H2Tech | Q1 2021 23

H2Tech - Q1 2021

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