As a solution to mobility and urban energy independence, expertise in the transportation and storage of hydrogen and its mixes.
This analysis focuses on the distribution and storage of hydrogen and hydrogen mixtures in their compressed or liquid states, primarily from producers (such as photovoltaic farms) to end users, which are typically retail or wholesale distribution facilities for gas or hydrogen, power plants, such as nuclear power plants. The end users are typically retail or wholesale gas/hydrogen distribution stations, power plants (for example, hydrogen cells switched on during the peak of power consumption), plants permanently using gas/hydrogen as a substitute, affordable, and environmentally friendly sources of energy, stations lowering gas/hydrogen pressure, and stations distributing gas/hydrogen further. What is crucial to note is that the dedicated approach outlined can be applied to individual residences or hydrogen manufacturing facilities.
This article’s scientific research focuses on the analysis of facilities for storing and transporting materials, particularly hydrogen and its mixtures in their compressed or liquid state, primarily from their producers (such as photovoltaic cell farms) to their final recipients, which are typically retail or wholesale distribution stations for gas or hydrogen, power plants that use hydrogen cells that are turned on during times of peak electricity demand. The ability to deploy the stated alternative option, which is geared towards individual houses or liquid hydrogen production facilities, as a means of relieving overloaded electricity systems, is particularly significant.
The use of hydrogen as an alternative to fossil fuels and as a form of energy storage will help the world meet the climate targets outlined in numerous laws and plans, such as the Paris Agreement and the European Union’s plan to become carbon neutral by 2050.
Hydrogen aids renewable energy development
Because hydrogen only produces water vapour during combustion, which immediately condenses and as ideally (de minimis) reduces greenhouse gas emissions, it turns out that only hydrogen can maintain the rapid development of the renewable energy sector. Additionally, as the cost of green energy decreases and the proportion of renewable energy sources in the energy mix increases, so does our understanding of hydrogen’s potential for storing solar and wind energy.
Several scientific articles have described an electrolysis process that separates water into its two constituents, oxygen and hydrogen, using a voltage delivered between two electrodes. The process is reversed in a fuel cell, where airborne hydrogen and oxygen combine to generate water without burning. In this cycle, hydrogen serves as the electricity carrier, producing both electricity and waste heat. Hydrogen can also be created on-site at renewable energy production facilities, stored, and shipped via pipelines to distant customers. Depending on the demands of the user, hydrogen can be burned, used as a material, or turned back into power.
Also, there are numerous electrolysis techniques and equipment utilised in this process that are currently recognised, such as high-temperature electrolysis, which has an efficiency of 90% and feeds the electrolysis with steam at high temperatures.
Compressed Air Energy Storage
Another popular and well-known technique for storing energy in compressed air is called CAES (Compressed Air Energy Storage), and it involves storing extra electricity as compressed air in underground tanks. The temperature of a gas at a pressure of 70 atmospheres, or 1,000 Kelvin, is greater than 700 degrees Celsius. The efficiency of this sort of energy storage ranges from 40% to 70%. When the demand for energy is extremely great, the air from the accumulator is released and used to drive a turbine where electricity is generated. An alternative to pumped storage power plants, which are capable of storing very large amounts of energy for a long time, drawing power from the system during times of excess supply and delivering it during times of increased demand, is this type of energy storage of excess in compressed air. The efficiency of energy storage in these power plants ranges from 65 to 85%.
Hydrogen is compressed in high-pressure tanks for storage, delivery, and dosing, or it is kept liquid in tanks below the hydrogen’s critical temperature, or below -240°C. Short-distance pipeline transportation of hydrogen is possible. Rail or road transportation utilising specialised containers, however, provides a simpler transit method over larger distances. In addition, hydrogen is stored using a variety of commercially accessible technologies. Using high-pressure tanks, which come in a variety of sizes and pressure levels, is the most popular technique. Moreover, hydrogen can be kept underground in aquifers, caves, and areas left over from oil and gas production. Similar to natural gas storage systems, underground hydrogen storage systems cost around three times as much.
As mentioned above, hydrogen is an excellent fuel with the best ratio of the amount of energy supplied during combustion to the weight of the fuel, which is why hydrogen is also used as rocket fuel. Attempts are currently being made to store energy in a chemical form based on the fact that the electric current decomposes water into oxygen and hydrogen.
Detrimental effects of CO2 accumulation
The usage of renewable energy sources has grown dramatically in recent years as a result of the dwindling resources of fossil energy carriers, according to the patent description of the innovation regarding energy storage. In addition to rising raw material costs, which will make using fossil fuels less profitable, an increase in the usage of these energy sources is anticipated in the next decades as energy policies take into consideration the detrimental effects of carbon dioxide (CO2) accumulation on the global climate.
• Several renewable energy sources, such as the use of solar radiation, wind power, or biomass, are known from the general state of the art. Efforts are being made to develop efficient energy storage facilities that can temporarily store energy from renewable energy sources electrically or mechanically and, if necessary, connect it to the electricity grid.
• Furthermore, based on DE 10 2010 037 474 A1 It is possible to create a tank device for an energy storage system that consists of at least one storage tank and at least one first heat transfer medium. The storage tank has a housing that houses the storage medium and at least one first heat exchanger system in contact with the storage medium. Within the housing is at least one more heat exchanger configuration with an additional heat transfer medium, which is primarily gaseous.
Patent description
In addition, the patent description reveals a technique for storing and delivering compressed gas, specifically to a gas distribution installation, where the gas is obtained from a gas supply point that is far away from the installation. The technique involves injecting the gas into a substantially continuous pipe that has been bent into multiple layers, each of which contains a large number of coils and/or loops of pipe.
While reviewing the information in the patent resources, one came across the description of an invention known as a compressed gas energy storage and release (CGESR) system. This system includes a gas compression compressor connected via a first conduit to a compressed gas storage container, from which the compressed gas is transported via a second conduit down to a high-temperature underground geothermal formation, where the gas is heated, and where the gas is released.
To compensate for the temperature reduction caused by the gas or air expansion and lengthen the life of the pressure motors, the gas or air is transmitted through pipes to geothermal formations with high-temperature regions. In this method, the geological formation serves as the gas or air storage and preservation facility rather than pipes.
