Hydrogen as a fuel

Hello guys, here is a short article on how we can use hydrogen as a fuel in our modern vehicles and spacecraft.

Hydrogen is found in the first group and first period of periodic table, this means that it is the first element in the periodic table making it the lightest element. Hydrogen when burned with oxygen gives zero emission. It can be used in internal combustion engine and fuel cells. Fuel cell engines are now being commercialised. Hydrogen is the primary fuel used in the jet propulsion system and spacecraft propulsion.

Hydrogen is light, it rises in the atmosphere and is therefore rarely found in its pure form. It reacts with oxygen and water and energy is given out. Since hydrogen gas do not occur in its pure form on earth it would need a primary energy input to produce it on industrial scale. It can be extracted through by the process of electrolysis and steam methane reforming. In the process of electrolysis electricity is passed through the water to obtain hydrogen and oxygen in their pure form. This process can use various sustainable energy solutions such as wind, geothermal, solar, fossil, biomass, etc.. Obtaining hydrogen from this process is being studied as a viable way to produce it domestically at a low cost.  While in the steam methane reforming process hydrogen and carbon monoxide are obtained by reaction of hydrocarbons and natural gas. This process releases carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide into the atmosphere which are greenhouse gasses exogenous to carbon cycle and thus contribute to climate change.

Hydrogen fuel is hazardous because of the low ignition energy and high combustion energy of hydrogen, and because it tends to leak easily from tanks. Explosions at hydrogen filling stations have been reported. Hydrogen fuelling stations generally receive deliveries of hydrogen by truck from hydrogen suppliers. An interruption at a hydrogen supply facility can shut down multiple hydrogen fuelling stations.

Hydrogen can be produced from water through electrolysis, which is less carbon intensive if the electricity used to drive the reaction does not come from fossil-fuel power plants but rather renewable or nuclear energy instead. The efficiency of water electrolysis is between about 70-80%, with a goal set to reach 82-86% efficiency by 2030 using proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers. Once produced, hydrogen can be used in much the same way as natural gas - it can be delivered to fuel cells to generate electricity and heat, used in a combined cycle gas turbine to produce larger quantities of centrally produced electricity or burned to run a combustion engine; all methods producing no carbon or methane emissions. In each case hydrogen is combined with oxygen to form water.

Hydrogen fuel can provide motive power for liquid-propellant rockets, cars, trains, boats and airplanes, portable fuel cell applications or stationary fuel cell applications, which can power an electric motor. The problems of using hydrogen fuel in cars arise from the fact that hydrogen is difficult to store in either a high pressure tank or a cryogenic tank. Combustion engines in commercial vehicles have been converted to run on a hydrogen-diesel mix in the UK, where up to 70% of emissions have been reduced during normal driving conditions. This eliminates range anxiety as the vehicles can fill up on diesel. Minor modifications are needed to the engines, as well as the addition of hydrogen tanks at a compression of 350 bars.

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