First LH2 fuelled car to race
May 29, 2023
Toyota Motor Corporation has been competing since May 2021 with a GR Corolla H2 Concept powered by gaseous hydrogen.
Now it takes a big step forward with the on-board accumulation of liquid hydrogen which allows refuelling in the pits as with traditional cars. In fact, the refuelling area is much smaller because much of the equipment needed for gaseous hydrogen is no longer required. Furthermore, refuelling is decidedly faster and, for the same amount of time, a double quantity of hydrogen is supplied.
Obviously it was necessary to modify the fuel system, but the engine remained the same used for gaseous hydrogen.
The first race of this new model was the 24 hours of Super Taikyu Fuji in recent days.
Source: Toyota
A new milestone has been achieved in the decarbonisation of the steel industry.
May 29, 2023
In HBZX High Tech Plant in Xuan Hua, a mixture of more than 60% hydrogen has been successfully used in the production process of DRI (Direct Reduced Iron).
This plant is now the greenest industrial DRI plant in the world. It produces only 250 kg of carbon dioxide per ton of DRI. In addition, half of this gas will be reused in downstream processes (carbon capture and use or CCU / CCS storage) thus halving the net emission.
The direct reduction technology used is ENERGIRON®, jointly developed by Tenova and Gruppo Danieli. This technology allows the use of hydrogen as a reducing agent up to 100%.
Source: Tenova
Hydrogen Small mobility & Engine technology
May 18, 2023
Yamaha Motor, Honda Motor, Kawasaki Motors and Suzuki Motor have received approval from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to establish a technology research association named HySE (Hydrogen Small mobility & Engine technology) for the development of hydrogen-powered internal combustion engines intended for motorcycles, mini-vehicles, small boats, drones, etc.
A new nickel-based electrocatalyst to produce hydrogen from water.
May 9, 2023
Researchers at the University of Texas at El Paso have proposed a low-cost nickel-based material to make water electrolysis cheaper and more efficient.
Current techniques for splitting low-temperature water rely heavily on platinum as a catalyst, a very expensive material. This fact collides with the growing demand for the installation of electrolysers to produce green hydrogen.
Nickel is an abundant metal on Earth and much cheaper than platinum, but not as effective for low-temperature electrolysis.
The solution devised by the researchers was to enlarge the surface by designing a nanoscale structure.
Source: UTEP
Solid air hydrogen liquefaction, the missing link of the hydrogen economy
May 3, 2023
A group of researchers from various countries proposed an interesting solution to reduce the power consumption for hydrogen liquefaction.
Even not mentioned among the references, this solution has an ancestor proposed by one of the EnTraT partners. In 1993 at the 1st Conference on New Energy Systems and Conversions, in Yokohama (Japan), Giuseppe Spazzafumo presented the research entitled "Hydrogen energy storage: a specific plant for hydrogen liquefaction".
Leggi tutto: Solid air hydrogen liquefaction, the missing link of the hydrogen economy
A new project from ZeroAvia and Alaska Airlines
May 2, 2023
Alaska Airlines has made a Bombardier Q400 (Dash 8-400)) available to ZeroAvia for conversion to hydrogen electric propulsion. The aircraft will be equipped with proton exchange membrane fuel cells powered by hydrogen stored as a cryogenic liquid and a 1.8 MW propulsion system, i.e. two "HyperCore" engine modules, high-power permanent magnetic flux radial machines (900 kW) and high speed (20,000 rpm).
Source: ZeroAvia
A 2 kW photo-electrosysis system from EPFL
April 18, 2023
Researchers at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) have built a photo-electrochemical system for hydrogen production that uses concentrated sunlight to directly split water into hydrogen and oxygen. Although the technology had already been extensively tested by various researchers, this is the first complete system, i.e. inclusive of all auxiliary components.