Oreca Magny-Cours developing hydrogen engine
The Oreca group’s Nivernais plant in Magny-Cours is developing a competition engine whose only fuel will be hydrogen.
Consider a hydrogen-powered racecar. Since last October, this has been the focus of the Oreca group’s Magny-Cours engine subsidiary’s efforts.
“We are in the exploratory phase and at 80% of what we have planned in our plan”, underlines Serge Meyer, director of the Nivernais site.
Kawasaki files for trademarks on name and logo of hydrogen motorcycle project
In addition to getting part in a hydrogen infrastructure project, Kawasaki has filed for trademarks on the name and logo of its hydrogen motorcycle project.
Kawasaki has reaffirmed its commitment to using hydrogen as a motorcycle fuel and given the element a name for its research. Kawasaki has also applied for patents to name its idea for hydrogen-powered motorcycles.
The trademark for “HySE,” the name the Akashi brand wants to give its hydrogen motorcycle project, as well as a logo with a shape resembling a water droplet and two circles that are evidently meant to represent wheels, have both been submitted by Kawasaki Motors.
The trademark application is significant in that it makes clear that the trademarks will apply to non-electric vehicles, indicating that Kawasaki is pursuing hydrogen combustion rather than hydrogen fuel cells.
Hazer to start hydrogen production in 2023 in Australia
The second half of 2023 will see the start of hydrogen production at the 100 t/yr commercial demonstration plant (CDP) in Munster, Western Australia, according to Australian technology company Hazer.
The CDP is the last step before a product is commercially released and serves as a continual commercial demonstration of Hazer’s technology. The facility will also generate 380 t/yr of graphitic carbon using biogas feedstock and iron ore as a catalyst.
Hazer will probably use some of the hydrogen to produce electricity at home. For the usage of the graphitic carbon, discussions with domestic and international offtakers are still ongoing.
HESC hydrogen project launches commercial phase in Australia
The commercial phase of Australia’s Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) project has begun.
For the HESC project, a facility at the Port of Hastings will sell liquefied hydrogen for 220 billion Japanese yen ($2.35 billion) from the Japanese government’s Green Innovation Fund. There will be 30,000 tons of delivery per year.
There will be multiple “links” in the “hydrogen supply chain”. At the Loy Yang mine in Victoria, Australia’s southeast, brown coal will be extracted as part of the first stage. The raw material will be removed, ground, dried, and gasified. Synthesis gas, which is composed of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen, is created when coal reacts with oxygen under high pressure (H2). Hydrogen will be released and carbon monoxide will be transformed into carbon dioxide as a result of additional exposure to water vapor.
Several Australian and Japanese businesses, including the industrial concern Kawasaki Heavy Industries, the electric power Electric Power Development Co. (J-Power), and the power distribution firm AGL Energy, are taking part in the HESC project. When the project is fully operational, it will be able to produce 225 thousand tons of hydrogen annually, saving 1.8 million tons of carbon dioxide annually—the same amount of emissions produced by 350 thousand gasoline-powered vehicles.
Extreme E could use only hydrogen in race series
Extreme E is a leader in electric racing and has been since its beginning in 2020. The restricted selection of battery-powered performance vehicles has suited the short course concept perfectly. According to CEO Alejandro Agag, the series may go in a different route in the future. It might develop into a groundbreaking hydrogen-powered racing series.
A rival hydrogen-powered Extreme E series named Extreme H, which was unveiled at the race in Neom, Saudi Arabia, last year, will be the first step in this path.
When Extreme H premieres as a television series in 2024, it is unknown how it will interact with the current Extreme E. However, Agag now asserts that the hydrogen variant will ultimately gain control as Extreme E and H co-develop.
