Arcola Energy, Consortium Of Rail Industry Leaders To Deliver First Scottish Hydrogen-Powered Train
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on seanews.
The article describes the project to create a demonstrator hydrogen train for Scotland out of an old Class 314 train.
Note.
- Work will be needed on the interior.
- Is a three-car train long enough?
- Will the train still be able to use its pantograph?
The trains may be over forty years old, but they can probably made to look good, as they are closely related to these Class 508 trains, that are in superb condition on Merseyrail.
These trains were built in 1979 and are one of the oldest trains on the UK’s mainland network.
Wikipedia says this about the conversion to hydrogen.
In February 2020, ScotRail announced plans to convert one of the two remaining units, 314209, to run on hydrogen. This is a feasibility study running alongside ScotRail’s commitment to run no diesel trains by 2035.
The train will be displayed at the COP26 Climate Change Summit in Glasgow in 2021.
Sweden’s Grand Plan To Make Zero-Carbon Steel
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on theTelegraph.
It adds a lot of colour and background to Sweden’s plan to make zero-carbon stell using a process called HYBRIT, that I wrote about in Funding Award to Supply An 8MW Electrolyser and is illustrated in this infographic.
The amount of hydrogen needed is large as this paragraph from the Telegraph article says.
HYBRIT’s demonstration plant, for which an investment decision is due in 2022, will require 400MW of power just for the electrolysers to make the hydrogen. Sweden’s largest existing wind farm, Björkhöjden, produces just 288MW. Then to store the hydrogen, Vattenfall plans to build 120,000 m3 of lined underground storage, enough to store 100GWh worth of the gas.
Will they procure the electrolysers from the UK’s experts in the field; iTM Power? This innovative company is building the world’s largest electrolyser factory in Rotherham, which will be able to produce a GW of electrolysers in a year.
Conclusion
This well-written article in the Telegraph explains a lot about steel produced using hydrogen instead of coal.
Sweden has a lot of advantages at Lulea to create steel.
- The iron ore is mined locally.
- Sweden has ninety percent of Europe’s iron ore.
- Ships can sail to Lulea, which is at the top of the Baltic.
- There is gigawatts of zero-carbon electricity from the River Lule.
- They can build wind farms in the area, which has a low population.
It does look that they might export the iron ore as sponge iron, which can then be processed directly into steel products using electric arc furnaces.
Snam, ITM Power To Develop Green Hydrogen Projects
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Renewables Now.
Points from the article.
- Snam will pump £30 million into ITM Power.
- Snam are planning up to 100 MW of green hydrogen projects.
In Joint Venture With Linde AG And £38M Strategic Investment, I asked “How Much Hydrogen Would A 5 MW Electrolyser Create In A Day?”
- I gave the answer as 2.182 tonnes of hydrogen, so multiplying up by twenty gives 43.6 tonnes of hydrogen.
- In a Wikipedia entry called Renewable Energy in Italy, it is stated that Italy produced 51.5 GW of renewable energy in 2015.
- The UK produced 30 GW of renewable energy in 2015, but our capacity is growing fast.
I suspect Italy will have plenty enough renewable electricity to supply 100 MW for hydrogen.
As iTM Power are building a factory to manufacture one GW of electrolysers per year, I suspect they can provide their part of the hasrdware for the Italian job.
Renewable Hydrogen Will Replace Natural Gas In Millions Of Australian Households
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Hydrogen Fuel News.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Under a new Australian government-backed initiative, millions of households across the country will be supplied with renewable hydrogen in the place of natural gas.
The project will start in a small way by adding 10 % of hydrogen to the natural gas networks by the end of 2022.
Eventually, hydrogen will completely replace natural gas.
According to one of the comments to the article, ITM Power will supply the electrolysers.
That could be a nice little order.
Green Light For Fossil-Free Steel In Oxelösund
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Market Screener.
These are the first two paragraphs.
Green light for fossil-free steel in Oxelösund The Land and Environment Court has decided to grant SSAB Oxelösund an environmental permit to convert its steelmaking operations and reduce carbon dioxide activities by 2025. This also means that we will take a step nearer towards fossil-free steel production across SSAB in 2045.
This is an historic decision in many ways. It is the first time that Oxelösund has applied for changes in production to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Use of sponge iron made through HYBRIT technology, together with scrap iron as feedstock instead of iron ore and coal, will enable SSAB to reduce emissions in Oxelösund by around 80%.
Hydrogen steelmaking processes are surely the future of steelmaking, as they can be made zero-carbon.
It will need a lot of hydrogen and I can see processes like Shell’s Blue Hydrogen Process being ideal to produce the hydrogen.
But will China and the other countries that produce cheap steel, turn to hydrogen steel-making?
New Device Separates Hydrogen From Natural Gas When The Two Gases Are Blended In Pipelines
The title of this post, is the same as that of on this article on Hydrogen Fuel News.
This is the introductory paragraph.
With clean hydrogen gaining recognition worldwide as the carbon-free fuel capable of making a significant contribution to addressing climate change, Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) today announced it will field test a new technology that can simultaneously separate and compress hydrogen from a blend of hydrogen and natural gas.
It may sound rather mundane, but it means, you can convert surplus electricity into hydrogen and blend it with natural gas and distribute it in the local natural gas grid.
- As natural gas grids can contain a proportion of hydrogen, this shouldn’t be a problem.
- Any user, who needs hydrogen connects one of these clever devices to the grid and it separates out the hydrogen, for your use.
- All very simple and efficient, as you don’t need a second gas grid for hydrogen.
I very much like this idea, which was developed by a Dutch company called HyET Hydrogen.
There is also an explanatory video.
This invention could change the world!
Hydrogen Super-Hub May Be Headed To UK’s Port Of Southampton
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Hydrogen Fuel News.
It is an interesting article and behind Southampton’s move is this proposition.
The hope is that making the location a hydrogen super-hub would greatly reduce its CO2 emissions.
This paragraph, explains what they will do.
This location would not focus on green H2, but would instead use carbon capture, usage, and storage (CCUS) technology to cut back on the CO2 emissions produced through this hydrogen fuel production. In this way, it would provide a zero-emission fuel while decarbonizing much of the process of its creation. It would provide that locally produced fuel to industries and activities that are currently highly polluting.
Note.
- They are not going to generate green hydrogen, which is usually produced by electrolysis using renewable energy.
- So how will they create hydrogen?
- Increasingly, carbon capture, usage, and storage (CCUS) is being talked about, rather than just carbon capture and storage (CCS). Surely, this is an improvement.
- Will we see hydrogen-powered tugs and boats used by the port?
This could be a good move by the Port of Southampton.
This Company May Have Solved One Of The Hardest Problems In Clean Energy
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Vox.
I found the article about an American company called Hytech Power, very interesting.
The company has developed technology called Internal Combustion Assistance (ICA), that improves the fuel consumption and emissions performance of diesel engines, by injecting small amounts of hydrogen and oxygen into the cylinders at the right time.
This is a paragraph from the article, which gives the performance improvements.
HyTech’s offer to that market is pretty remarkable: it claims that its ICA can improve the fuel efficiency of a diesel engine between 20 and 30 percent, reduce particulate matter by 85 percent, and reduce NOx by between 50 and 90 percent. In concert with a DPF and some SCR, it can yield a diesel engine that meets official California standards for an “ultra-low emissions” vehicle.
Note.
- A DPF is a diesel particulate filter.
- SCR is selective catalytic reduction fluids.
Both are expensive!
This paragraph from the article gives some customer feedback.
The ICA has been listed by the EPA as a candidate for emissions-reduction technology; respected testing firm SGS found that the ICA boosted the fuel efficiency of a FedEx delivery truck by 27.4 percent; FedEx is currently road testing the ICA on a fleet of trucks and finding 20 to 30 percent better fuel economy and substantially reduced DPF maintenance costs. In third-party testing, and in limited local sales around Redmond, the ICA has performed as promised.
It never hurt a company to have FedEx on their side! Later on, the article says that Caterpillar are on board and their engines, generators and equipment features heavily on the Hytech Power web site.
If you look at the Wikipedia entry for Hydrogen Fuel Enhancement, you read a lot of sceptical words about this technology.
I would suggest that you read the Vox article, Hytech Power’s web site and the Wikipedia entry in detail before making your mind up.
My decision has been to file Hytech Power in a box, called Must Watch and set up a Google Alert.
For three of the last ten companies, I did that for, I made an investment in the shares. None are trading badly!
Nippon Steel Pledges To Be Carbon Neutral By 2050
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on NikkeiAsia.
These are the first two paragraphs.
Nippon Steel has set a goal to reach net-zero emission by 2050, Nikkei learned on Thursday, a move that could nudge other manufacturers to try to meet Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s pledge to achieve carbon neutrality across the country by the same year.
Nippon Steel, Japan’s biggest steelmaker, will introduce a new way of steelmaking using hydrogen which can reduce carbon emissions by up to 80% compared with conventional methods of production. The steelmaker’s new green target will be unveiled in a business plan it is currently drafting which will be published by March 2021.
To my mind, hydrogen is the way to go!
Arcola Energy Introduces A-Drive Fuel Cell Powertrain Platform
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on NGTNews.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Arcola Energy, a company that specializes in hydrogen and fuel cell systems, has developed a proprietary hydrogen fuel cell (HFC) powertrain platform – designed for vehicle applications requiring high-duty cycle capabilities and fast refueling.
\we will see more hydrogen powertrains produced by big companies; like Cummins and Daimler and small companies like Arcola.
Many of the smaller ones, will perish. just like many smaller car companies did in the first seventy years of the twentieth century. Who remembers names like Allard, Borgward, Humber, Panhard and Riley?
I suspect, that in the near future, wherever you live and you come up with an idea, that needs zero-carbon motive power, there will be a convenient company to provide you with that power, using hydrogen.
One of my clients with Daisy used to be Cummins Engines. They told me most firmly, that if I ever needed a diesel engine to provide power for an application, they would customise one of their engines to fit my application.
Now that Cummins have gone into hydrogen in a big way with the purchase of Hydrogenics, will we see a similar philosophy?
The Anonymous Widower 