However hydrogen is produced, its widespread use will require large-scale infrastructure to transport, distribute, store and dispense it as a fuel for vehicles or for stationary uses.
Because of its low volumetric energy density, hydrogen must be compressed and stored as a gas in a pressurized container or chilled and stored in a cryogenic liquid hydrogen tank for convenience. Both techniques have been demonstrated and are in commercial use today.
Today, hydrogen is transported from the point of production to the point of use via pipeline, over the road in cryogenic liquid tanker trucks or gaseous tube trailers, or by rail or barge.
Hydrogen used in portable or stationary applications can be delivered by truck to a storage facility or in cylinders, similar to the propane used for gas grills, or in cartridges similar to a battery.
Hydrogen Onshore Transportation
Pipelines are considered the best option to move large amounts of H2. They have been used to transport H2 for more than 70 years. Several thousand kms of H2 pipelines are currently in operation worldwide. But for long distances H2 transportation for energy use may not be economically competitive.
Transportation costs to deliver gaseous H2 to refueling stations are in the range from $1-$2/GJ, assuming that H2 compression to refueling pressure is included in the cost of the refueling station.
Liquid H2 transport by truck, rail or ship is another possibility to move hydrogen from short to very long distances.
Many countries like Japan, Korea, Germany, Norway, United States and Iceland are promoting hydrogen projects and infrastructure to diversify their energy strategy and become independent from fossil fuels. In this context, Hydrogen can play an important role to achieve this goal.
The HyNor-project started out as a hydrogen highway-project in Norway. It was initiated by large industrial actors such as Statoil and Norsk Hydro in 2003 with the goal of a market-realistic demonstration of hydrogen refueling stations, as well as hydrogen vehicles.
Several hydrogen refueling stations were built along the 580-kilometer (360 mi) route from Oslo to Stavanger. Toward the commercial introduction of hydrogen vehicles in 2015, the HyNor-project focused on acquiring an early pre-commercial fleet of hydrogen vehicles, and keeping a close dialogue with the leading car manufacturers and other similar initiatives in the Nordic countries and around the world.
Source: HyNor-project
Hydrogen Offshore Transportation
Liquified hydrogen carriers projects are developed by Kawasaky Heavy Industries. This technology allow to transport large volumes of hydrogen from overseas opening new possibilities for hydrogen infrastructure.
Liquified Hydrogen Carrier Ship
Today, LH2 is transported in cryo-containers or trailers of typically up to 41 m³ or 53 m³ at cryogenic temperatures.
Larger containers of between 300 and 600 m³ are only in use for space projects like Ariane and Space Shuttle. Detailed design studies for large seagoing containers for capacities of 3,600, 24,000, 50,000 and 100,000 m³ have been performed in Europe (EQHHPP, GL/HDW/LGA) and Japan (IHI in WE-NET).
Depending on layout criteria for design, the autonomy of these transport vessels (i.e. the time before the first evaporated LH2 has to be blown off in gaseous form) is between 30 and 60 days.
This technology allows the transport of large volumes of hydrogen from overseas opening new possibilities for hydrogen transportation.
The containment tanks developed for liquid hydrogen are accumulation type cargo containment vessels with a capacity of 1250 m³. Liquid hydrogen has to be transported at a very low temperature – below -252°C – so the containment vessel will be cylindrical in shape and carried horizontally. It will be installed entirely free from the ship’s structure.
The boil off gas that is generated due to external heat penetration will be tightly contained within the pressure resistant cargo containment vessel. This will allow the liquid hydrogen to be discharged either by means of a pump built into the containment vessel itself or simply by means of the pressure build up.
Ship Bunkering
The process of bunkering for a hydrogen ship will be similar to Liquid Natural Gas bunkering. We need a shoreside cryogenic storage tank, piping and connecting the fueling arm. Also similar protection measures need to be undertaken as per all cryogenic liquids.
But an important difference between liquid hydrogen and LNG is that hydrogen is non-toxic and is not a greenhouse gas. If vented or spilled, it quickly and completely evaporates with no harm to personnel or the environment. For information about Natural gas greenhouse effect, you can refer to the page H2 &other fuels.
The image below shows how renewable hydrogen can be produced from the renewable energy source to the electrical grid, transformed and finally supplied on a Vessel.
Hydrogen Supply chain for Automotive Industry
Hydrogen used in fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) is dispensed very much the way gasoline is. Drivers pull into a filling station, connect the dispenser to the vehicle, fill, disconnect, pay, and then drive away with a full tank.
Refueling a FCEV takes approximately the same amount of time as refueling a gasoline powered car 3-5 minutes. Several H2 refueling stations are in operation worldwide. Most stations deliver gaseous H2 at 350 bar.
H2 is either produced on-site from electrolysis or steam reforming, or received from centralized plants.
