Hydrogen and Fuel Cell

Hydrogen and Fuel Cell

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Johannes T opler Jochen Lehmann Editors Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies and Market Perspectives

Editors Johannes T opler Berlin Germany Jochen Lehmann Stralsund Germany Translation from the German language edition: Wasserstoff und Brennstoffzelle by Töpler, Lehmann (Hrsg.) # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014 ISBN 978-3-662-44971-4 ISBN 978-3-662-44972-1 (ebook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-44972-1 Library of Congress Control Number: 2015951717 Springer Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper Springer-Verlag GmbH Berlin Heidelberg is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)

Foreword Sustainability is vital for survival. The basis for life must be preserved for future generations. The energy transition, which Germany decided following the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, is central to the current sustainability policy. Renewable energies, which received an enormous boost after the introduction of the German Renewable Energy Act (EEG), with its generous feed-in tariffs are currently in the spotlight. But renewable energy sources are dependent on the time of day, seasons, location and the weather, which means that the country is now faced with fluctuating power supplies. Two different infrastructure systems need to be expanded considerably: long-distance power lines and energy storage. Chemical storage is the most elegant solution, allowing large amounts of energy to be stored in a small space. Hydrogen, to which this book is dedicated, has an extremely high storage capacity. As soon as the majority of hydrogen is produced from renewable sources, it will become ideal for energy storage as part of a sustainable energy industry that includes the transport sector. There are technical challenges facing the development of the necessary components and the integration of systems into the overall ecological concept, although in some cases the existing natural gas distribution and storage network can be used. Depending on the individual application, optimization of the infrastructure needs to be ensured. This volume outlines and assesses all these issues as well as the latest technology for individual developments, and it includes alternatives for analysis. Thus, the book gives a comprehensive overview of hydrogen-based technologies and perspectives in the context of future sustainable energy supplies. It will provide experts and decision-makers in economics, industry and politics with a reliable foundation for their deliberations and strategies. I hope this book finds many interested readers who in turn will be inspired to develop further thoughts and make informed decisions. I wish them great success. E.U. von Weizsäcker v

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Preface Since the 1970s, public discussion of energy carriers has concentrated increasingly on a sustainable energy supply based on renewable energy sources as an alternative to the fossil energy sources, which were almost exclusively used till then. The reason for these considerations was the increasing awareness of the limited availability of fossil resources, created by the oil crisis at that time and problems with acquisition and transport ( Suez-Crisis ). Furthermore, the report of Club of Rome (1972) indicated environmental damages due to the use of fossil energies. In this context, the climate change caused by industrial CO 2 emissions takes on alarming proportions. In the case of fossil energy carriers, some new deposits were found, but their exploitation is more laborious and more expensive than in the case of hitherto existing deposits. Therefore, the basic fact of limited resources is still true; it will become even more serious because the earth s population will increase and larger proportions of it will participate in higher prosperity with an increased energy demand. Furthermore, detailed investigations demonstrate that economic damage due to CO 2 emissions resulting from human activities will be more expensive in a longer time frame than current climate protection would ever be. The use of renewable energy sources would solve these problems. However, especially in the case of wind and solar energy, these resources fluctuate in periodical and aperiodical changes and very often are not available on demand. Only energy storage on a large technical scale can balance these discontinuities for days or even weeks. Extension of the electrical network can contribute to a regional but not temporal compensation of energy fluctuations. The extension of the electric grid in Germany alone for the transfer of wind electricity from the north to the south of Germany is very difficult to realize. The network expansion for the whole continent of Europe is expected to be much more complicated. In Germany, the storage of electric energy on a large technical scale was realized by pumped-storage hydropower plants or in one case in a compressed air power storage system. Both methods use potential energy. For the storage of electricity on a large technical scale for a number of days or even weeks, a much higher energy density is needed. This can be made available by the use of chemical storage vii

viii Preface systems. For this purpose, hydrogen in combination with fuel cells offers a high efficiency for re-electrification. Since the political decision for the energy transition in Germany, all these issues are considered and discussed more intensively. But energy transition should not be understood as restricted to electricity change. It means the renovation of all kinds of energy, including electricity, heat, and fuel. In future, the consumption of energy will be more and more coupled and as in heat and power coupling it will combine different types of energy by one conversion process. In this context, hydrogen will have a central importance, because it can be produced by different means from all renewable primary energies, it can be stored by different phases (liquid or compressed gas) and processes (by chemical compounds), and it can be converted without any pollutant emissions in electricity, heat, or fuel for mobility. Due to this multipurpose application, the cost of hydrogen can be relativized. Seasonal storage is needed at rare intervals and therefore it is relatively expensive if applied in single use. However, additionally, hydrogen can be used as fuel for mobile application, as a raw material for production processes in chemical or food industry, for house-heating and backup power supply, and controlling power range in the electric grid as well. Due to this multiple applicability, the economical and commercial use of hydrogen is obvious. All applications need continuous availability and therefore electrolysis on a large technical scale, which should be operated with adaptable power, corresponding to the fluctuating of renewable energies. By combination of these relations, a future sustainable energy system will be more complex than the conventional energy one, but on the other hand by linking energy producers and consumers, it can offer an optimal basis for a broad energy saving. In this context, it should be mentioned that all elements of economic value added chain can be mainly conserved in the national economies: The exploitation of renewable energies for production of electricity The utilization of hydrogen as a medium for the storage of energy Its distribution for re-electrification and for the production of electricity as a medium for the storage of the energy For further use, for example, as a raw material for the chemical industry As clean fuel for electric vehicles with long ranges The interaction of the electric power grid and the gas distribution system has a special importance in new energy systems. This system enables the intake, transport, and storage of significant amounts of energy. Additionally, hydrogen can be mixed with natural gas, but only for further thermal use. For the utility with high energetic efficiency (e.g., as fuel in electric vehicles with fuel cells), pure hydrogen is necessary. The details of mobile application are described in Chap. 4. Some other

Preface ix technical applications of hydrogen including the use of oxygen-degraded waste air of fuels cells for safety-related systems are described in further chapters. Different techniques and components for various hydrogen applications are still in the development stage. Some of them are ready for serial production or just on the market, for example for mobility or for uninterruptable power supply, others are still in the phase of field tests. But with continuing developments synergetic effects are to be expected as well as the extension of infrastructure. For the economical utilization of hydrogen, the production prices have essential importance. A comparison of costs for different production processes are elaborated in Chap. 13. The fundamental process for hydrogen production in a sustainable energy system is the electrolysis with electricity from renewable energy sources which is described in Chaps. 11 and 12. The large-scale electrolyzer of some dozens of megawatt enables new dimensions for a central hydrogen production. The state of the art and potentials for future developments of fuel cells are finally described in Chap. 14. Naturally, this book doesn t claim to be complete. The application spectrum of hydrogen is broadly based and in future new potentials will be developed. However, the borderline for market penetration of hydrogen as an energy carrier has been crossed. The authors, editors, and the publisher want to encourage engineers, technicians, and managers to join the technology, to consider cooperation, and to enlarge the knowledge about market potentials. Hydrogen is not a magic bullet for a final transfer to a sustainable energy supply, but will make significant contributions to the energy transition in Germany successful. This book should give information and procure further ideas. The reader is requested to decide for him/herself, how s/he can participate in this way, and support the goal of sustainable energy market. The present English edition is a direct translation of the German version of this book published in Dec. 2013. Only minor improvements were done on the basis of recent developments. Johannes T opler German Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association, Berlin, Germany University of Applied Sciences, Esslingen, Germany Jochen Lehmann German Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association, Berlin, Germany University of Applied Sciences, Stralsund, Germany

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Contents 1 Hydrogen as a Strategic Secondary Energy Carrier... 1 Thomas Hamacher 2 The Role of Large-Scale Hydrogen Storage in the Power System... 21 Christian Heilek, Philipp Kuhn, and Maximilian Kühne 3 Safe Use of Hydrogen... 39 Ulrich Schmidtchen and Reinhold Wurster 4 Automobile Application... 55 Christian Mohrdieck, Massimo Venturi, Katrin Breitrück, and Herbert Schulze 5 Hydrogen and Fuel Cells: Mobile Application in Aviation... 107 Andreas Westenberger 6 Fuel Cells in the Energy Supply of Households... 127 Thomas Badenhop 7 Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)... 145 Hartmut Paul 8 Safety-Relevant Application... 155 Lars Frahm 9 Portable Fuel Cells... 163 Angelika Heinzel, Jens Wartmann, Georg Dura, and Peter Helm 10 Use of Conventional and Green Hydrogen in the Chemical Industry... 173 Christoph Stiller and Henning Hochrinner 11 Electrolytic Processes... 187 Bernd Pitschak and Jürgen Mergel xi

xii Contents 12 Development of Large Scale Electrolysis Systems: Necessity and Approach... 209 Fred Farchmin 13 Costs of Making Hydrogen Available in Supply Systems Based on Renewables... 223 Thomas Grube and Bernd H ohlein 14 Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells... 239 Ludwig J orissen and Jürgen Garche