Increased hydrogen capacity of GH 2 road trailers

As mentioned above, the improvement of compressed hydrogen transport requires a technical improvement that also takes into account financial, regulatory and normative aspects. Commercial solution starts to exist on the market in particular for pressure at 500 bar. The challenge is to go to higher pressure at a very significant lower cost.

The scope of this topic is to develop and validate a solution with a minimum payload of 1.2 tonne of compressed hydrogen above 500 bar by end of the project. The solution should be cost competitive compared to existing solutions reaching at least a cost of 600-650 €/kg of hydrogen.

Proposals should investigate the following aspects:

Technical aspects

There are several parameters to take into account. The increase in the transport efficiency is directly linked to the increase in the operating pressure and the decrease of the tube weight, which will allow a significant improvement in the mass per unit of compressed hydrogen transported. Existing transport solutions use an operating pressure (service pressure) of 200 bar. Solutions with higher pressure start to be available. The final objective is to reach an operating pressure of 700 bar by 2030.

At constant volume, the increase in operating pressure increases the mass of hydrogen contained in each gas tube. But, with no improvements in the tubes design and materials efficiency, increasing the pressure will significantly increase the weight of the tubes containing hydrogen. This will increase the lorry fuel consumption and the transport cost and environmental footprint. In addition, in compliance with EU regulation, the authorised transport weight in a trailer is limited. Therefore, new solutions, based on new competitive materials or concepts, are needed to achieve the target of 1,500 kg H2 tube trailer payload at operating pressure 700 bar by 2030, such as but not limited to:

• New lighter tubes manufactured with/without liners of improved performance materials (high strength alloyed steel, stainless steel or polymeric material) in combination with improved reinforcement (composite), in order to increase the pressure conditions, reducing the weight of the tube and assuring the requested safety levels and durability, with affordable manufacturing costs. Considerations for resistance to corrosion to be considered as necessary;
• The deployment of a new design of high-pressure cylinder based on regulatory / normative documents (as per example EN 17339 that allows composite tubes with reduced safety factor);
• Large diameter composite tubes;
• More efficient filament winding and components such as valves, etc.

Applicants should propose new solutions to decrease the specific weight (e.g. per unit of hydrogen transported) of the package.

All proposed solutions should take into account the safety of the peoples and goods. The proposal should describe the method that the applicant will apply to take into account the safety aspects for the transportation system (trailer, container, bundle), tube, frames, pressure relief system (e.g. risk assessment), etc.

Financial aspect

The proposed solutions should be innovative in terms of capital expenditure. That aspect may be addressed by using, innovative design, cost-effective materials, competitive manufacturing techniques, innovative organisation, etc.

The proposals may should also address the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

Regulatory and normative aspect

In order to protect the people and goods, the design, manufacturing and use of compressed gas solutions are heavily regulated by international (e.g. RID/ADR), EU (e.g. TPED) regulations and ISO (International Standard Organisation) and CEN (European Committee for standardisation) standards. Technical innovative solutions may not be covered by existing standards and regulations.

The applicant should identify if the proposed solutions are covered by existing standards and/or regulations. A maximal hazard potential and its likelihood should be taken into account. If gaps are identified, the proposal should list these gaps and indicate the relevant activities that should be performed to fill these gaps.

The applicant should include actions to monitor regulatory developments and as necessary and relevant, participate in working groups working on this topic.

Activities are expected to start at TRL 3 and achieve TRL 5 by the end of the project.

The conditions related to this topic are provided in the chapter 2.2.3.2 of the Clean Hydrogen JU 2022 Annual Work Plan and in the General Annexes to the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2021–2022 which apply mutatis mutandis.