Poland Investigates Use Of Hydrogen Fuel For Rail Freight
The title of this post is the same as that of this article in the International Railway Journal.
This first paragraph, outlines the project.
Polish coal mining company JSW and national rail freight operator PKP Cargo have agreed to cooperate to research, analyse and possibly produce new types of hydrogen-powered freight wagons and shunting locomotives.
Note that one of the collaborating companies is a coal company.
Statements later in the article indicate that JSW can create commercial quantities of hydrogen, as a by-product of making coke.
Some of us of a certain age, still remember coal gas, which was replaced by natural gas from the North Sea in the 1970s.
It looks like Poland are still using the same process to obtain coke and probably other products like coal tar, sulphur and ammonia.
According to Wikipedia, UK coal gas had the following composition.
- Hydrogen 50%
- Methane 35%
- Carbon monoxide 10%
- Ethylene 5%
It was one of the suicide methods of choice for the unhappily married. I don’t miss the foul stuff, with its poisonous carbon monoxide.
But as you can see, it does have a high percentage of hydrogen!
Conclusion
I’m not a fan of using coal gas, but these two Polish companies are another group investigating the use of hydrogen as a method of powering trains and other rail vehicles.
The Anonymous Widower 