Hydrogen storage and compression
📝 Abstract
Energy has always been the driving force in the technological and economic development of societies. The consumption of a significant amount of energy is required to provide basic living conditions of developed countries (heating, transportation, lighting, etc.). Today energy supply has a considerable impact on the environment, since it is fuelled by the burning of fossil fuels. In addition to this, the fossil fuel reserves are decreasing while the demand for energy is rapidly rising. Climate change, the depletion and geographical segregation of fossil fuel resources, health related issues as well as energy poverty constitute the driving forces towards the pursuit of alternative energy sources. In addition, countries with no access to oil reserves are being dependent from other countries for their energy supply, with a strong impact on politics and financial issues.
💡 Analysis
Energy has always been the driving force in the technological and economic development of societies. The consumption of a significant amount of energy is required to provide basic living conditions of developed countries (heating, transportation, lighting, etc.). Today energy supply has a considerable impact on the environment, since it is fuelled by the burning of fossil fuels. In addition to this, the fossil fuel reserves are decreasing while the demand for energy is rapidly rising. Climate change, the depletion and geographical segregation of fossil fuel resources, health related issues as well as energy poverty constitute the driving forces towards the pursuit of alternative energy sources. In addition, countries with no access to oil reserves are being dependent from other countries for their energy supply, with a strong impact on politics and financial issues.
📄 Content
Chapter 1 Hydrogen storage and compression Sofoklis S. Makridis1,2 1.1 Towards a hydrogen economy Energy has always been the driving force in the technological and economic development of societies. The consumption of a significant amount of energy is required to provide basic living conditions of developed countries (heating, trans- portation, lighting, etc.). Today’s energy supply has a considerable impact on the environment, since it is fuelled by the burning of fossil fuels. In addition to this, the fossil fuel reserves are decreasing while the demand for energy is rapidly rising. Climate change, the depletion and geographical segregation of fossil fuel resources, health related issues as well as energy poverty constitute the driving forces towards the pursuit of alternative energy sources. In addition, countries with no access to oil reserves are being dependent from other countries for their energy supply, with a strong impact on politics and financial issues. But apart from occasional financial recessions, the long-term need for increasing amounts of energy as countries develop will become a major rate limiting step in the growth of the world economy [1]. The last years there is an on-going research on alternative fuels in order to overcome the fossil energy dependence and to provide a sustainable growth of economies and societies. In view of the above, countries that release the largest amounts of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere compared to the energy production are expected to mini- mise CO2 emission and at the same time improve the share of ‘‘clean’’ energy in total energy consumption. The renewable, non-conventional energy sources, such as solar and wind energy, will remain available for infinite period. But due to the inherent nature of renewable energy resources being intermittent, there is a need to store any surplus electrical energy produced in order to be used during high energy 1Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Western Macedonia, GR50132 Kozani, Greece 2Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Management, University of Patras, GR30100 Agrinio, Greece CH001 18 June 2016; 11:30:13 demand periods [2, 3]. The following are the solutions to store surplus energy produced (either in full operation or in an experimental mode) [4–7]: a. compressed air energy storage b. batteries c. flywheel (mechanical inertia) energy storage d. hydroelectricity (pumped water energy storage) e. superconducting magnetic energy storage f. thermal energy storage g. hydrogen production and then storage or injection into natural gas grid (power to gas) In this study, only the solutions related to hydrogen are discussed. As it is derived from the above, hydrogen is an energy carrier and it is related to a process that begins and ends with plain water, known as the ‘‘hydrogen fuel cycle.’’ In a more particular manner, water is split into hydrogen and oxygen by the process of electrolysis and then they re-combine, producing electricity and water vapour, using a fuel cell. Furthermore, hydrogen is abundant (e.g. within water) and evenly distributed throughout the world providing security in energy. But even in this case, electricity is needed. Conventional sources of electricity are being used for electro- lysis, and as a result the hydrogen carbon footprint remains more or less high. Thus, with renewable energy powered electrolysers (i.e. from solar or aeolian generators), ‘‘green’’ hydrogen can be produced [3, 8]. But it is important to realise that hydrogen is not a fuel source; it is an energy carrier, and has led to a worldwide development effort for hydrogen technology to power industrial, residential and transportation infrastructure – a concept known as the Hydrogen Economy [9]. On Earth hydrogen is rarely found in the pure form, but usually in a wide variety of inorganic and organic chemical compounds, the most common being water (H2O). Hydrogen forms chemical compounds (hydrides) with nearly all other elements. Due to their ability to form long chains and complex molecules, combinations with carbon play a key role for organic life (hydrocarbons, carbohydrate) [10, 11]. The diatomic H2 gas molecule can be produced from various sources. Cur- rently, the most widespread process for the generation of hydrogen is the steam reforming from light carbohydrates, which, however, additionally generates unde- sirable CO2 [12]. Alternatively, hydrogen can be obtained from water dissociation during electrolysis. This ‘‘green’’ hydrogen production from sustainable energy sources is a fully reversible process and it is a solution for sustainable ongoing hydrogen production for industries, storing ‘‘green’’ energy without increasing its carbon footprint and supplying energy for ‘‘green’’ mobility (transportation) [13]. In a Hydrogen Economy the lightest of all gases has to be processed like any other market commodity. It has to be packaged, transported by surface vehicles or pipelines, stored and tra
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