Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CLEANER (Clean Heat and Power from Hydrogen)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2024-01-01 al 2025-06-30
Achieving the European Green Deal target of becoming the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050 will require deep cuts to emissions across all aspects of the economy, including the power generation and heating sector. This, combined with the REPowerEU plans, places hydrogen as a clean energy carrier in a unique position. It can be used in, and thereby couple, all sectors like; power&heat, transport and industry. Hydrogen offers long term storage, it can be transported over large distances and it can be produced and used without, or with very low emissions. A central part of the EU climate strategies is the target of domestic renewable hydrogen production of 10 million tons by 2030, in addition to the same amount imported. This volume of hydrogen requires massive amount of geological storage as well as transportation by pipelines. Large scale use of hydrogen requires infrastructure for distribution to end users all over Europe.
Hydrogen storage in underground salt caverns structures is very limited, all of which three are in the USA and the one in the United Kingdom. Since the hydrogen mainly origins from steam methane reforming (SMR), the purity is around 95%. Rock caverns (sealed) are being developed, one of them within the HYBRIT project in Sweden, where clean hydrogen from electrolysis will be stored. In most geological storages and pipelines hydrogen will be already, or become, contaminated with substances not suitable for use in all types of fuel cells (like N2, CO, CO2, HC, sulphurs etc). Hydrogen produced via electrolysis is considered “clean”, the only impurities are oxygen and water. However, other sources of hydrogen, like from natural gas reforming, have impurities remaining from the production process.
While re-purification of this H2 can, and should be done for some applications by e.g. Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA), it adds cost and complexity, and is not in all use cases economically feasible. Currently, there is no standard for the quality of H2 coming from geological storages or pipelines, and the knowledge about which contaminants are present in hydrogen from these storage sites is extremely limited.
Large-scale stationary fuel cells in the MW-range should be able to operate on such industrial quality H2 without repurification. They can offer a low-cost clean alternative for both large scale (peak) power and heat production, as well as for small, medium and large-scale back-up power units for the critical infrastructure, thereby also improving the resilience of the energy system. The H2 quality standard under development is expected to become around 98%, see table above, whereby the main relevant poisoning impurities are CO and sulphurs, in addition to inert gases like CO2 and N2, thus the fuel cell systems most tolerate these. With this background, the CLEANER consortium intends to develop a stationary 100 kW PEMFC module capable of operating on industrial quality hydrogen.
Hydrogen storage in underground salt caverns structures is very limited, all of which three are in the USA and the one in the United Kingdom. Since the hydrogen mainly origins from steam methane reforming (SMR), the purity is around 95%. Rock caverns (sealed) are being developed, one of them within the HYBRIT project in Sweden, where clean hydrogen from electrolysis will be stored. In most geological storages and pipelines hydrogen will be already, or become, contaminated with substances not suitable for use in all types of fuel cells (like N2, CO, CO2, HC, sulphurs etc). Hydrogen produced via electrolysis is considered “clean”, the only impurities are oxygen and water. However, other sources of hydrogen, like from natural gas reforming, have impurities remaining from the production process.
While re-purification of this H2 can, and should be done for some applications by e.g. Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA), it adds cost and complexity, and is not in all use cases economically feasible. Currently, there is no standard for the quality of H2 coming from geological storages or pipelines, and the knowledge about which contaminants are present in hydrogen from these storage sites is extremely limited.
Large-scale stationary fuel cells in the MW-range should be able to operate on such industrial quality H2 without repurification. They can offer a low-cost clean alternative for both large scale (peak) power and heat production, as well as for small, medium and large-scale back-up power units for the critical infrastructure, thereby also improving the resilience of the energy system. The H2 quality standard under development is expected to become around 98%, see table above, whereby the main relevant poisoning impurities are CO and sulphurs, in addition to inert gases like CO2 and N2, thus the fuel cell systems most tolerate these. With this background, the CLEANER consortium intends to develop a stationary 100 kW PEMFC module capable of operating on industrial quality hydrogen.
The project started in January 2024, and the main activities and achievements in the first 18 months are:
A 100 kW fuel cell system was designed and built, with a particular focus on creating a durable anode subsystem capable of operating on low-grade hydrogen. The system was equipped with extensive sensors to monitor its long-term health and performance. After a series of Factory Acceptance Tests (FAT) confirmed its functionality and safety, the system is rteady to be shipped to a prepared test facility. This test facility was modified with heating systems and insulation to allow for winter operation and a separate cabinet was installed to precisely mix impurity gases into the hydrogen fuel supply, enabling controlled testing of the system's tolerance to contaminants.
Noteworthy contributions were made in material science, focusing on the development of catalysts and advanced diagnostic tools. New N-HTC carbon supports were successfully synthesized and scaled up, with improvements in corrosion resistance and surface area while reducing costs. A major breakthrough was the development of a 13C-labelled N-HTC material, a novel tool for carbon corrosion diagnostics. This innovation allows for the accurate monitoring of carbon degradation in the presence of naturally occurring CO2, leading to a new patent application and a publication in the journal Advanced Energy Materials. The project also screened commercial catalysts for their potential use in CO-tolerant anode catalyst layers, identifying promising candidates such as PtCo/C and Pt3Co/C.
A comprehensive study was performed to identify and classify the risk of impurities found in low-grade hydrogen. The study classified CO as the only high-risk impurity due to its strong impact on fuel cell performance. Other impurities like methane, CO2, and nitrogen were identified as medium-risk. This research was crucial in defining which impurities would be evaluated in the later testing phases of the project.
The project initiated the development of a dynamic model for the fuel cell system. Information was gathered from the prototype to build a robust electrochemical and thermo-fluid model of the PEM cells. This model was preliminarily validated with provided data and will be updated to include a term that simulates degradation caused by contaminants, a crucial step for predicting the system's long-term behavior.
A 100 kW fuel cell system was designed and built, with a particular focus on creating a durable anode subsystem capable of operating on low-grade hydrogen. The system was equipped with extensive sensors to monitor its long-term health and performance. After a series of Factory Acceptance Tests (FAT) confirmed its functionality and safety, the system is rteady to be shipped to a prepared test facility. This test facility was modified with heating systems and insulation to allow for winter operation and a separate cabinet was installed to precisely mix impurity gases into the hydrogen fuel supply, enabling controlled testing of the system's tolerance to contaminants.
Noteworthy contributions were made in material science, focusing on the development of catalysts and advanced diagnostic tools. New N-HTC carbon supports were successfully synthesized and scaled up, with improvements in corrosion resistance and surface area while reducing costs. A major breakthrough was the development of a 13C-labelled N-HTC material, a novel tool for carbon corrosion diagnostics. This innovation allows for the accurate monitoring of carbon degradation in the presence of naturally occurring CO2, leading to a new patent application and a publication in the journal Advanced Energy Materials. The project also screened commercial catalysts for their potential use in CO-tolerant anode catalyst layers, identifying promising candidates such as PtCo/C and Pt3Co/C.
A comprehensive study was performed to identify and classify the risk of impurities found in low-grade hydrogen. The study classified CO as the only high-risk impurity due to its strong impact on fuel cell performance. Other impurities like methane, CO2, and nitrogen were identified as medium-risk. This research was crucial in defining which impurities would be evaluated in the later testing phases of the project.
The project initiated the development of a dynamic model for the fuel cell system. Information was gathered from the prototype to build a robust electrochemical and thermo-fluid model of the PEM cells. This model was preliminarily validated with provided data and will be updated to include a term that simulates degradation caused by contaminants, a crucial step for predicting the system's long-term behavior.
High costs, especially for clean hydrogen, hinder widespread use of large fuel cells in the heat and power sector. CLEANER tackles this by developing fuel cells that function on cheaper "industrial quality" hydrogen, drastically reducing operational expenses. This opens doors for large stationary fuel cells in applications like powering docked ships (cold ironing) and supplying electricity at airports. Increased hydrogen demand will spur the development of a large-scale hydrogen distribution infrastructure, primarily through pipelines for industrial use. This will empower the expansion of hydrogen supplier and end-user value chains in new locations. Ultimately, CLEANER contributes to accelerating the construction of a pan-European hydrogen pipeline network, supporting the entire EU hydrogen industry value chain.
Technically, CLEANER will develop lower cost and impurity-tolerant catalyst materials, evaluate new fluorine-free membranes, mitigation operating strategies to avoid impact of potential impurities, combined to a stationary PEM fuel cell system capable of operating with industrial quality hydrogen.
Technically, CLEANER will develop lower cost and impurity-tolerant catalyst materials, evaluate new fluorine-free membranes, mitigation operating strategies to avoid impact of potential impurities, combined to a stationary PEM fuel cell system capable of operating with industrial quality hydrogen.