Hoerbiger And HD Hyundai Infracore Cooperate On Hydrogen-Powered Combustion Engine
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Hydrogen Central.
These two paragraphs outline the story.
This year’s ConExpo in Las Vegas was full of surprises and amazing news. Among the stars of the exhibition was the hydrogen-powered internal combustion engine (ICE) from HD Hyundai Infracore equipped with H2PFI injectors made by HOERBIGER.
This hydrogen-powered ICE can produce a power output of 300 kW (402 HP) and will see mass production in 2025. It will be installed on buses, trucks and construction equipment. While meeting Zero CO2 and Zero Impact Emission requirements it is also 25-30% more economical than battery packs or fuel cells when vehicle price and maintenance costs are considered. One fueling of 10 minutes allows the vehicle to drive for a distance of up to 500 km (310.6 miles).
The more of these stories I read about hydrogen internal combustion engines, the more they convince me, that this is the way to go.
These advantages keep repeating themselves.
- Large range.
- Quick refuelling times.
- Understandable technology.
- Suitable for heavy applications.
- Similar manufacturing to current diesel and petrol engines.
- Less exotic rare earths and metals.
- Lower environmental footprint.
- Can be converted from existing diesels.
The one thing they all need is different lean-burn fuel injection. Hence Hyundai’s tie-up with HOERBIGER.
Centrica Business Solutions Begins Work On 20MW Hydrogen-Ready Peaker In Redditch
The title of this post, is the same as that as this news item from Centrica Business Systems.
This is the sub-heading.
Centrica Business Solutions has started work on a 20MW hydrogen-ready gas-fired peaking plant in Worcestershire, as it continues to expand its portfolio of energy assets.
These three paragraphs outline the project.
Centrica has purchased a previously decommissioned power plant in Redditch, and is set to install eight UK assembled containerised engines to burn natural gas.
Expected to be fully operational later this year, the peaking power plant will run only when there is high or peak demand for electricity, or when generation from renewables is low. The Redditch project will have the capacity to power the equivalent of 2,000 homes for a full day when required, helping to maintain stability and reliability on the grid.
The engines will also be capable of burning a blend of natural gas and hydrogen, futureproofing the site and helping the UK transition towards a decarbonised energy system.
- The original power station had Rolls-Royce generators.
- Cummins and Rolls-Royce mtu and possibly other companies can probably supply the dual fuel generators.
- Cummins have received UK Government funding to develop hydrogen-powered internal combustion engines.
- This press release from Cummins, which is entitled Dawn Of A New Chapter From Darlington, gives more details on Cummins’ plans for the Darlington factory and hydrogen.
Given that Cummins manufactured sixty-six thousand engines in Darlington in 2021 and it is stated that these containerised engines will be assembled in the UK, I feel, that these engines may be from Cummins.
Centrica’s Plans
This paragraph in the Centrica Business Systems news item, outlines their plans.
The Redditch peaking plant is part of Centrica’s plans to deliver around 1GW of flexible energy assets, that includes the redevelopment of several legacy-owned power stations, including the transformation of the former Brigg Power Station in Lincolnshire into a battery storage asset and the first plant in the UK to be part fuelled by hydrogen.
As Redditch power station is only 20 MW, Centrica could be thinking of around fifty assets of a similar size.
Brigg Power Station
The Wikipedia entry for Brigg Power station gives these details of the station.
- The station was built in 1993.
- It is a combined cycle gas turbine power station.
- The primary fuel is natural gas, but it can also run on diesel.
- It has a nameplate capacity of 240 MW.
Brigg power station is also to be used as a test site for hydrogen firing.
This news item from Centrica is entitled Centrica And HiiROC To Inject Hydrogen At Brigg Gas-Fired Power Station In UK First Project.
These paragraphs from the news item explains the process.
The 49MW gas fired plant at Brigg is designed to meet demand during peak times or when generation from renewables is low, typically operating for less than three hours a day. Mixing hydrogen in with natural gas reduces the overall carbon intensity.
It’s anticipated that during the trial, getting underway in Q3 2023, no more than three per cent of the gas mix could be hydrogen, increasing to 20% incrementally after the project. Longer term, the vision is to move towards 100% hydrogen and to deploy similar technology across all gas-fired peaking plant.
HiiROC’s proprietary technology converts biomethane, flare gas or natural gas into clean hydrogen and carbon black, through an innovative Thermal Plasma Electrolysis process. This results in a low carbon, or potentially negative carbon, ‘emerald hydrogen’.
Because the byproduct comes in the form of a valuable, solid, pure carbon it can be easily captured and used in applications ranging from tyres, rubbers and toners, and in new use cases like building materials and even as a soil enhancer.
It looks to me, that HiiROC are using an updated version of a process called pyrolysis, which is fully and well-described in this Wikipedia entry. This is the first paragraph.
The pyrolysis (or devolatilization) process is the thermal decomposition of materials at elevated temperatures, often in an inert atmosphere. It involves a change of chemical composition. The word is coined from the Greek-derived elements pyro “fire”, “heat”, “fever” and lysis “separating”.
Pyrolysis is more common than you think and is even used in cooking to do things like caramelise onions. This is a video of a chef giving a demonstration of caramelising onions.
On an industrial scale, pyrolysis is used to make coke and charcoal.
I came across pyrolysis in my first job after graduating, when I worked at ICI Runcorn.
ICI were trying to make acetylene in a process plant they had bought from BASF. Ethylene was burned in an atmosphere, that didn’t have much oxygen and then quenched in naphtha. This should have produced acetylene , but all it produced was tonnes of black soot, that it spread all over Runcorn.
I shared an office with a guy, who was using a purpose-built instrument to measure acetylene in the off-gas from the burners.
When he discovered that the gas could be in explosive limits, ICI shut the plant down. The Germans didn’t believe this and said, that anyway it was impossible to do the measurement.
ICI gave up on the process and demolished their plant, but sadly the German plant blew up and killed several workers.
It does look like HiiROC have tamed the process to be able to put hydrocarbons in one end and get hydrogen and carbon black out the other.
I wonder how many old and possibly dangerous chemical processes can be reimagined using modern technology.
It certainly appears that Centrica are not holding back on innovation.
Conclusion
I’ve never run a large electricity network. Not even a simulated one.
But I’m fairly sure that having a large number of assets of different sizes, that can be optimised to the load and the fuel available, creates a more reliable and efficient network.
Heavy energy users may even have their own small efficient power station, that is powered by gases piped from the local landfill.
Ricardo Supports Industry Leaders To Develop Innovative Dedicated Hydrogen Engine
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Ricardo.
This is the sub-heading.
Ricardo, a global strategic, environmental, and engineering consulting company, has delivered a hydrogen-fuelled research engine to global engine specialist Cummins and automotive supplier BorgWarner, as part of Project BRUNEL part funded by the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC)
These four paragraphs outline the project.
Cummins is a global specialist in diesel and alternative fuel engines and generators, and related components and technology. BorgWarner is an automotive tier 1 supplier and specialist in the design and manufacture of systems for electrified and conventional propulsion types, that includes injection equipment for conventional and renewable fuels. BorgWarner recently announced the intention to spin off its Fuel Systems segment. The intended company name is PHINIA Inc. PHINIA is expected to be a product leader in fuel systems, starters, alternators and aftermarket distribution.
The project aims to support internal combustion engine (ICE) sub-system suppliers to increase their use of hydrogen as an alternative zero-emissions fuel solution across the light commercial vehicle market.
The engine is specifically designed to burn only hydrogen – with no supporting fuels that could give rise to any carbonaceous, or excessive air quality emissions.
Experts in hydrogen technology and integration, Ricardo has provided an engine based upon its world-renowned series of single cylinder research units, which can help the research teams evaluate a wide variety of fuels. The engine is designed to help engineers evaluate a variety of injector types and will support increased fuel efficiency, reduced air quality emissions and the move towards carbon-free heavy-duty propulsion.
Reports of the death of the internal combustion engine are greatly exaggerated.
The Aims Of The Project
This talks about the light commercial market, which for Cummins means, that this engine could be a replacement for their B Series engine, which is described in Wikipedia like this.
In production since 1984, the B series engine family is intended for multiple applications on and off-highway, light-duty, and medium-duty. In the automotive industry, it is best known for its use in school buses, public service buses (most commonly the Dennis Dart and the Alexander Dennis Enviro400) in the United Kingdom, and Dodge/Ram pickup trucks.
A version is also used in London’s New Routemaster buses.
Speculation About A Hydrogen-Powered Dodge Ram Pickup
This article on Mopar Insiders is entitled Next-Gen Ram Heavy Duty Could Feature Cummins Hydrogen Powerplant!
It has this sub-heading.
Fast Refuel Times, Extended Range, & Zero-Emissions…
Sounds great for wide open spaces.
I’ve also read in an interview with a retiring Cummins Executive, who said that Dodge RAM trucks are being converted to hydrogen by enthusiasts.
Could New Routemasters Be Converted To Hydrogen?
In the Wikipedia entry for the Cummins B Series engine, this is said about the engine in a New Routemaster.
The 4.5L ISB is essentially a four-cylinder, two-thirds version of the 6.7L ISB rated at 185 hp (138 kW), used in the New Routemaster, a series hybrid diesel-electric doubledecker bus in London.
Having worked in the Cummins factory at Darlington, I know they are happy to produce specials for a particular application, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see a hydrogen-powered New Routemaster created by an engine and fuel system transplant.
Conclusion
The tie-up between Cummins, BorgWarner and Ricardo could be significant.
American power with a touch of Sussex finesse.
Electric Cars Are A Dead End!
When you introduce any product to the general population, you must think of all the consequences.
I found these statistics on the RAC Foundation web site.
There were 33.2 million cars (81.3 per cent), 4.63 million LGVs (11.3 per cent), 0.54 million HGVs (1.3 per cent), 1.46 million motorcycles (3.6 per cent), 0.15 million buses & coaches (0.4 per cent) and 0.84 million other vehicles (2 per cent) licensed at the end of September 2022.
Could anybody please tell me how the average guy or gal, who owns one of those 33.2 million cars is going to be able to afford to replace it, find a convenient place to park and charge it and go and visit their mum in say Scunthorpe from Plymouth?
We are going down a massive dead end!
The only sensible alternative is internal combustion engines running on hydrogen, many of which could be converted from existing diesel engines.
But only a few councils have a hydrogen policy, with the biggest disgrace being London, where the Mayor’s hydrogen policy, is to ignore it and hope it will go away.London has an air quality problem, which is not helped by large numbers of HGVs in the centre.
The technology exists to convert HGVs to hydrogen and it would be possible to insist that all vehicles over a certain weight were zero-carbon. But as London has no plans for hydrogen, it can’t happen.
Vote Hydrogen for Mayor in May 2024, to improve London’s air quality.
Notes.
- To replace 33.2 million cars with electric ones would cost 1660 billion pounds, assuming each electric car costs fifty grand.
- As most electric cars are not made in the UK, what would happen to our balance of payments?
- On average an electric car needs 63 kilos of lithium for its battery, so 33.2 million will need over two million tonnes of lithium.
This Hydrogen Combustion Engine Is The EV Alternative We’ve Been Waiting For – HotCars
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Hydrogen Central.
This must-read article is a reprint of an article in hotcars and it details the technology and thinking behind JCB’s new hydrogen engine.
As someone who believes, that hydrogen is the only way to go to power zero-emission vehicles in the future, I advise all hydrogen sceptics to read this article.
These two paragraphs, explain the thinking behind why JCB turned to hydrogen.
As they say, necessity is the mother of invention. JCB was struck with the problem of going zero emissions without sacrificing power and cost of purchase. In a previous Harry’s Garage episode, Lord Bamford, Chairman of JCB, mentioned that passenger cars, on average, run about 300 hours per year. In contrast, a regular heavy-duty backhoe would have running hours close to 10 times that amount. He adds that in countries like India, machines of this scale run for at least 5000 hours per year.
So, to have electricity run an industrial equipment for eight hours at the minimum requires significantly more batteries. Not only does it skyrocket the costs involved, but it will add a ton of complexity and increase the overall weight. Therefore, engineers had to think radically.
Many believe that Hydrogen engines will pump out loads of nitrogen oxides.
These two paragraphs outline JCB’s solution.
A known disadvantage of a hydrogen ICE is the production of Nitrogen oxides or NOX. The reason is high operating temperatures. JCB engineers, however, found a clever way to circumvent this by running the engine on a lean mixture of fuel. Hydrogen for a given mass has three times the energy density of its diesel equivalent.
This allowed the team to get the same torque figures without running the engine too rich. Another way to get rid of NOX is through selective catalytic reduction, a common practice in modern diesel engines.
It is my belief, that if a company or engineer solves the problem of making a small hydrogen internal combustion engine, they will make an absolute fortune, that will make Microsoft and Bill Gates look like paupers.
Engineering is the science of the possible, whereas politics is dreams of the impossible.
Cummins Fuel-Agnostic X Series Platform
This post shows a Cummins video on YouTube about their fuel-agnostic X Series engine.
Hydrogen Engines To Be Mass Produced By Hyundai By 2025
The title of this post, is the same as that, of this article on Hydrogen Fuel News.
This is the sub-heading.
Hyundai Doosan Infracore is accelerating engine development
These are the first two paragraphs.
After the completion of its H2 internal combustion engines (ICE) design and rolling out the prototype, Hyundai Doosan Infracore (HDI) is revving up the development of its hydrogen engines, with the aim to mass produce these engines by 2025.
The hydrogen-powered internal combustion engine can produce a power output of 300 kW (402 HP) and a torque of 1700 NM at 2000 RPM. Fulfilling Tier 5/Stage 5/Euro7 regulation, the engine satisfies the emission requirements to be 90% decreased to the current level to meet Zero CO2 (below 1g/kwh) and Zero Impact Emission.
Note.
- The engine is described as an 11 litre class engine.
- The new hydrogen engines that will be produced will be installed on commercial vehicles, including large buses, trucks and construction equipment.
It should also be noted that Hyundai are investors in Hull-based hydrogen production company; HiiROC, as I wrote about in Centrica Partners With Hull-Based HiiRoc For Hydrogen Fuel Switch Trial At Humber Power Plant.
Hyundai now have the hydrogen internal combustion engine to go with HiiROC, who are developing the means to produce hydrogen at a filling station or depot.
A Problem With The Hydrogen Fuel News Article
This article on Diesel Progress, which is entitled Hyundai Doosan Infracore To Launch Hydrogen Engine covers the same story.
But it shows a different picture of the hydrogen internal combustion engine, which as it looks like one, I assume it is the correct image.
Universal Hydrogen And Railway Locomotives
On the product page of the Universal Hydrogen web site, there is a section, which is entitled Other Transportation Applications, where this is said.
Our lightweight, aviation-grade modular hydrogen capsules can be used in a wide range of transportation applications where weight, safety, and speed of refueling are important. We are working with partners in automotive, heavy equipment, maritime, and railroad domains. If you have an application that can benefit from our global modular green hydrogen distribution network, please get in touch!
I believe that the railway locomotive of the future will be hydrogen-electric. And so do some of the UK’s rail freight companies, judging, by some of their press releases.
- It would have an electric transmission. like most locomotives today, such as the UK’s Class 66, Class 68, Class 70, Class 88, Class 93 and the upcoming Class 99 locomotives.
- It will be able to use 25 KVAC overhead electrification, where it exists.
- Hydrogen-power will be used, where there is no electrification.
The lowest-carbon of the locomotives, that I listed, will probably be the Class 99 locomotive.
- Thirty have been ordered by GB Railfreight, from Swiss company; Stadler.
- The locomotives will be built at Valencia in Spain.
- It will have up to 6 MW, when running using electrification.
- It will have up to 1.6 MW, when running using a Cummins diesel, with a rating of 2,150 hp.
- Because a proportion of UK freight routes are electrified, it is likely that these locomotives will substantially reduce carbon emissions for many locomotive-hauled operations.
It should be noted that Cummins are heavily into hydrogen and their philosophy seems to embrace families of engines, which are identical below the cylinder head gasket, but with appropriate cylinder heads and fuel systems, they can run on diesel, natural gas or hydrogen.
I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that the Class 99 locomotive will have a diesel engine, that has a hydrogen-powered sibling under development at Cummins.
With perhaps a power on hydrogen of about 2.5 MW, these zero-carbon locomotives would be able to handle upwards of ninety percent of all heavy freight trains in the UK.
These are further thoughts.
Alternatives To Cummins Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engines
There are two main alternatives, in addition to similar engines from companies like Caterpillar, JCB, Rolls-Royce mtu and others.
- Fuel cells
- Gas-turbine engines.
Note.
- Universal Hydrogen and others have fuel cells, that can probably deliver 2.5 MW.
- Universal Hydrogen use Plug Power fuel cells.
- Rolls-Royce have developed a 2.5 MW electrical generator, based on the engine in a Super Hercules, that is about the size of a typical beer-keg. I wrote about this generator in What Does 2.5 MW Look Like?.
Cummins may be in the pole position with Stadler, but there are interesting ideas out there!
Cummins have also indicated, they will build hydrogen internal combustion engines at Darlington in the UK.
Would One Of Universal Hydrogen’s Hydrogen Capsules Fit In A Railway Locomotive?
These are various widths.
- Class 66 locomotive – 2.63 metres.
- ATR72 airliner – 2.57 metres.
- DHC Dash-8 airliner – 2.52 metres
- Class 43 power car – 2.74 metres
I suspect that even if it was a bit smaller a hydrogen capsule could be made for a UK locomotive.
How Big Is The Market?
The UK has around five hundred diesel railway locomotives.
Cummins’ First Female Engineer Retiring After Nearly 40 Years In A Pioneering Role
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Commercial Carrier Journal.
The article was picked up by my Google Alert for the Cummins X15H, which is their new hydrogen internal combustion engine for large trucks.
This is the first paragraph.
Amy Boerger, Cummins vice president and general manager of on-highway for North America, is retiring in March following a nearly 40-year career. Srikanth Padmanabahn, president of Cummins’ engine business segment, said Boerger has been critical to the company’s success and leaves behind a legacy that will propel the company ahead. “She is a trusted partner and advisor and has strengthened many customer relationships that are more important than ever as they look to us for the solutions of today and tomorrow during this period of energy transition,” Padmanabahn said.
The article is an interesting long read for anybody, who is interested in the future of large diesel engines and the thinking of one of the world’s biggest players in the diesel engine industry.
This is an important paragraph.
“When we go to customers and they ask us ‘Hey, is electric for me?’ or ‘Is hydrogen for me?’ we try to steer them away from those questions,” said Samperio, who serves . “Instead, why don’t we start with the question on what are you trying to achieve. What are your goals? How do you operate? And then after we understand that, then we’ll be in a better position to say (whether) this technology fits your operation a little better or … that technology fits your operation a little better. That way, I think it allows us to just have a conversation more about what they’re trying to achieve rather than picking winners and losers.”
Samperio will be the lady’s successor.
Toyota Unveils AE86 Hydrogen Car Concept
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Hydrogen Fuel News.
The article is all about Toyota showing off, what they can do with hydrogen internal combustion engines.
It is an article that is very much worth a read.
This paragraph explains the work Toyota did to run the car on hydrogen.
Toyota explained that to create its new H2 burning internal combustion engine vehicle involved changing only “fuel injectors, fuel pipes, and spark plugs,” to make it possible to burn cleanly.
The article also suggests that conversion kits may be made available for older cars.
Hydrogen power is not one technology, but several that all might end up with sizeable shares of the market.
The Anonymous Widower 