A New Zealand collaboration with German researchers could accelerate the shift to a low-carbon economy in the South using "green hydrogen".
University of Otago chemistry professor Sally Brooker and University of Canterbury chemical and process engineering associate professor Aaron Marshall are leading a push afoot for German research and investment in New Zealand.
Divisions of established German companies, German investment in startup New Zealand companies, and collaboration in research, over the next five years could also play a major role in meeting New Zealand’s climate emissions goals, Prof Brooker said.
Many countries were going through the same process as New Zealand’s Climate Change Commission and were putting out plans for low-carbon economies.
Hydrogen fuel was a part of all of them, she said. It was as close to carbon zero as a fuel source could get. Hydrogen represented a part of the global low-carbon future and New Zealand could play a major role in that part.
"There are some areas where it is hard to get rid of carbon from, and hydrogen is the only answer," Prof Brooker said.
"The fact that when you burn hydrogen that you only get water back — there is no other contaminant — makes it for me, as a chemist, a pretty attractive molecule."
Associate Prof Marshall and Prof Brooker helped to form a science and industry group — now 40 members strong — to build the critical mass New Zealand needed to attract one of the world’s leaders in green hydrogen, Prof Brooker said.
With the support of the group, Team Green Hydrogen, in consultation with the New Zealand Hydrogen Association and iwi, Prof Brooker initially responded to a German Federal Ministry of Education and Research call to fund bilateral initiatives in the Asia-Pacific area. A second-round proposal was due before March 2 and Prof Brooker said there was strong interest from the German Government in the potential here.
Prof Brooker was among those who called for Tiwai Point to be used for the production of hydrogen if its owners, Rio Tinto, closed the aluminium smelter.
The Climate Change Commission said diversifying into "new fuels" such as biofuels and hydrogen would boost New Zealand’s energy security.
While the commission heavily promoted an uptake of electric vehicles for public transport or personal use, it said hydrogen could be a solution for ships, trains, aircraft and long-distance trucks.
Hydrogen could also heat homes.
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Some common sense at last. At the moment we are lagging behind in this area but it will be the best way forward. The bit missed by the commission was hydrogen powered cars. These are most definitely the future so we should be preparing for them and accepting that battery cars are a temporary fix with lots of environmental issues.
Been saying it for years--electric cars are not the way to go. Hydrogen is. Further, most of us like to use the heater in winter. Do the with an el-car and you lose over 40% of the mileage.
The man behind the launch of the Nissan Leaf claims as with Covid vaccines, governments should enable scientists to find the best solution, not dictate what it should be. Meaning it will be a mistake for the Government to set targets specifically for EVs. Battery technology is now moving along quickly, where having your heater on will not be a problem but also there is the very exciting possibility for hydrogen to be stored in a gel! Simply replace a canister when you run out with non of the flammable issues of gas. The Government should ban fossil fuel vehicles, back the R&D and let the manufacturers find the best solutions to the problems.
While the idea is theoretically feasible there's a number of practical questions that must be answered first:
What're the process energy requirements ?
What're the process water requirements ?
What're the infrastructure requirements, i.e. storage, transport, distribution, safety etc?
What're the maintenance requirements?
What is the overall efficiency of the conversion process?
Where does the required know-how and skilled personnel come from?
What is the overall cost compared to alternatives and how it is to be financed?
Don't forget the risks associated with hydrogen - as it is more flammable than hydrocarbons, you cannot easily convert a reciprocating engine to hydrogen, and there will still be carbon emissions from a reciprocating engine from worn rings, leaking valves, leaking gaskets.
No, existing internal combustion engines would not be converted to run on hydrogen. The hydrogen would be burnt in fuel cells which produce electricity. This then powers an electric drivetrain. This is the correct way forward. The lithium ion batteries in current electric vehicles have huge environmental issues associated with the mining of their materials through to end-of-life disposal. Hydrogen fuel cells essentially cut the batteries right out. The fuel cell is the vehicle's own little power station. Also, refuelling with hydrogen will take little more than the time it currently takes to refuel with petrol or diesel. No more plugging in for hours to get enough charge to get where you need to go. The current batch of EVs are just a stepping stone on the way to a genuinely environmentally-friendly alternative to fossil-fuelled vehicles - they are not the final answer. The electric drivetrains being developed in the current EVs are certainly relevant but the source of the power to run these drivetrains is where the exciting future lies.
Check out the work Toyota is doing, should answer a lot of your questions. I don't think you can convert most reciprocating engines to battery either.
Errr yes you can and its been done before.
I dont think that any emissions of a Hydrogen powered engine from worn rings, leaking valves, leaking gaskets etc would be Carbon if so would be unmeasurable. If anything leaks could only be Hydrogen (H), Oxygen (O) or the combination of the two being H20 (Water/Steam)
Process efficiency is lower than lithium ion batteries, but the advantage of a liquid/gaseous fuel is transportability, much higher energy density and rapid refuelling - especially for heavy vehicles that are fundamentally unsuitable for battery power.
Hydrogen is not burnt in an internal combustion engine, but converted to electricity in a fuel cell. It’s a means of storing electricity.
I imagine a world where heavy vehicles run on hydrogen and personal transport is based on electric cars. Infrastructure would need to change, but the only reason your current vehicle works for you is the fact that there’s a massive network of fuelling, refining and transportation systems in existence.
Lots of good stuff on YouTube regarding the necessary engineering.
Now we will see the arguement over who owns NZ water escalate