Assessment of a Hydrogen-Fueled Heavy-Duty Yard Truck for Roll-On and Roll-Off Port Operations

The port-logistic industry has a significant impact on the urban environment nearby ports and on the surrounding coastal areas. This is due to the use of large auxiliary power systems on ships operating during port stays, as well as to the employment of a number of fossil fuel powered road vehicles required for port operations. The environmental impact related to the use of these vehicles is twofold: on one hand, they contribute directly to port emissions by fuel consumption; on the other hand, they require some of the ship auxiliary systems to operate intensively, such as the ventilation system, which must operate to remove the pollutants produced by the vehicle engines inside the ship. The pathway to achieve decarbonization and mitigation of energy use in ports involves therefore the adoption of alternative and cleaner technology solutions for the propulsion systems of such port vehicles. This paper presents the performance analysis of a hydrogen powered cargo-handling vehicle for roll-on and roll-off port operations in a real case scenario. The fuel cell/battery hybrid powertrain of the vehicle has been previously designed by the authors. On the base of real data acquired during an on-field measurement campaign, and by means of a validated numerical model of the vehicle dynamics, different mission profiles are defined, in terms of driving and duty cycles, in order to represent typical port operations. A rule-based energy management strategy is then used to estimate the energy and hydrogen consumptions required by the vehicle and to assess its suitability to accomplish the defined target port operations. Outputs from this study show the potential of the proposed solution to take the place, in a foreseeable future, of conventional Diesel-engine vehicles, today commonly used in port logistics, towards a zero-emission scenario

Hydrogen blending effect on fiscal and metrological instrumentation: A review

A green hydrogen (H2) economy requires a sustainable, efficient, safe, and widespread infrastructure for transporting and distributing H2 from production to consumption sites. Transporting a hydrogen/natural gas (H2NG) mixture, including pure H2, through the existing European natural gas (NG) infrastructure is considered a cost-effective solution, particularly in the transitional phase. Several reasons justify the H2NG blending option. The NG infrastructure can be efficiently repurposed to transport H2, by blending H2 with NG, to operate as H2 daily storage, matching production and demand and to enable large-scale seasonal H2 storage. Although many benefits exist, the potential of existing NG grids for transporting and distributing green H2 may face limitations due to technical, economic, or normative concerns. This paper focuses on the state of the art of the European NG transmission and distribution metrology normative framework and identifies the gaps to be filled in case of H2NG flowing into the existing grids. The paper was revised to provide a comprehensive analysis of the practical implications resulting from the H2NG blend option

Experimental and theoretical analysis of H2S effects on MCFCs

One important advantage of MCFCs is the possibility of using different fuel gases (natural gas, coal gas, biogas, landfill gas, etc.). However, these fuels contain impurities that can damage MCFCs, and, of these, sulphur compounds seem to be the most harmful, even at low concentrations. The aim of this work is to test the effect of different H2S compositions on operating variables, investigate the relationships, propose phenomena reading and obtain new information to define tolerance limits. In particular, chemical, electrochemical and physical poisoning mechanisms were taken into account, trying to evaluate their importance studying the effects of exposure time, temperature and current density on MCFC performance when H2S polluted anodic gas is fed. To support the investigation, experimental tests were performed at the Fuel Cell Research Center laboratories of KIST (South Korea) and a theoretical analysis was also proposed to suggest operating strategies, for example showing how high current density or temperature values can emphasize the negative effect of poisoning. The results obtained gave new suggestions for approaching data interpretation, confirming the possibility of using MCFCs when a number of ppm of H2S is present in the feeding fuel

Biomethane production through the power to gas concept: A strategy for increasing the renewable sources exploitation and promoting the green energy transition

Direct catalytic methanation of biogas using hydrogen from electrolysis is a promising pathway to store the electricity from renewable power plants according to the Power to Gas concept. This type of methanation offers technical and economic advantages over the methanation of carbon dioxide separated from biogas, since it eliminates the upgrading step.This work is focused on the sizing and performance analysis of a Power to Biomethane plant based on biogas direct catalytic methanation process. The plant consists of two main sections: i) the Renewable Island, in which an anaerobic digestion plant and a renewable power plant (Photovoltaic plant or Wind farm) supply the biogas and the electricity; ii) the Biomethane Production Island, in which the hydrogenation of the carbon dioxide in the biogas, in presence of methane, occurs.This study, by means of an optimization procedure based on a multi-objective approach, aims to evaluate the optimal size of the Power to Biomethane plant that assures the maximum biomethane production and the maximum exploitation of the renewable electricity. Two case studies, referring to the installation of a Photovoltaic plant and a Wind farm as renewable power plants, have been analyzed.Results have highlighted that, for obtaining an annual biomethane production in the range of 2550-3150 kNm3 and by starting from a biogas availability of 500 Nm3/h, the sizes of the renewable power plants must be in the range 15-20 MW and in the range 19-23 MW for the Wind farm and the Photovoltaic plant, respectively. In terms of performance indicators, even if the PV plant has the highest electricity storage factor (up to 69 %), the Wind-based plant has both the highest plant load factor (up to 81%) and the equivalent full load operating hours (up to 6081), so that it is more favorable for the development of the Power to Biomethane concept