In this final progress report, we describe research results from Phase I of a technical/economic study of fossil hydrogen energy systems with CO2 sequestration. This work was performed under NETL Award No. DE-FC26-02NT41623, during the period September 2002 through August 2004.

The primary objective of the study is to better understand system design issues and economics for a large-scale fossil energy system co-producing H2 and electricity with CO2 sequestration. This is accomplished by developing analytic and simulation methods for studying the entire system in an integrated way. We examine the relationships among the different parts of a hydrogen energy system, and identify which variables are the most important in determining both the disposal cost of CO2 and the delivered cost of H2.

A second objective is to examine possible transition strategies from today's energy system toward one based on fossil-derived H2 and electricity with CO2 sequestration. We carried out a geographically specific case study of development of a fossil H2 system with CO2 sequestration, for the Midwestern United States, where there is presently substantial coal conversion capacity in place, coal resources are plentiful and potential sequestration sites in deep saline aquifers are widespread.

As part of the H2A effort, we are developing models of hydrogen delivery systems, for use of hydrogen as a vehicle fuel. The delivery system is defined as all the equipment between the hydrogen production plant and the hydrogen refueling station. This includes hydrogen compression or liquefaction, hydrogen storage, and hydrogen distribution in trucks or pipelines. The goals of the H2A delivery group are to: 1) develop a database on delivery system component cost and performance; 2) develop delivery scenarios for set of well defined "base cases" that span major markets and demand levels ,and 3) estimate delivery costs for these base cases. In this report for NREL contract No. SCM-2-32067- 01, we describe work related to goal 2). In particular, we have developed an EXCEL spreadsheet model of various hydrogen delivery scenarios. The spreadsheet is included as a separate file.

Presented to the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Caucus, Washington, DC, January 11, 2005

Of all alternatives to gasoline fuels, hydrogen offers the greatest long-term potential to radically reduce many problems inherent in transportation fuel use. For example, hydrogen could enhance energy security and reduce dependence on imported oil, since it can be made from various primary energy sources, including natural gas, coal, biomass, and wastes, and from solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, and nuclear energy. Also, hydrogen vehicles have zero tailpipe emissions and are very efficient. If it is made from renewable sources, nuclear power, or fossil sources with carbon emissions captured and sequestered, hydrogen use on a global scale could produce nearly zero greenhouse gas emissions and greatly reduce emissions of air pollutants.

Proceedings of "The 10-50 Solution: Techonologies and Policies for a Low-Carbon-Future" Workshop, The Pew Center on Global Climate Change, and the National Commission on Energy Policy

Hydrogen is potentially very important for our nation's energy future. Hydrogen is one of the few widely available, long-term fuel options for simultaneously addressing energy security and environmental quality (including both deep reductions of greenhouse gases and pollutants). Use of hydrogen could transform the ways we produce and use energy. But is future large-scale use of hydrogen a foregone conclusion? Although the potential is tremendous, in the author's view, it is still too early to tell exactly how large hydrogen's role will become over the next 50 years. While a large scale hydrogen economy by 2050 cannot be considered inevitable at this point, a vigorous program of RD&D on hydrogen can be considered a prudent insurance policy against the need to begin radical decarbonization of the fuel sector within a few decades, while simultaneously addressing energy security and pollution problems. Given the promise of hydrogen, the long lead time in accomplishing transitions in the energy system, and the challenges posed by hydrogen, it is important to provide significant support now, so that hydrogen technologies and strategies will be ready when needed.

Prepared for the National Hydrogen Association Annual Hydrogen Conference (NHA 2005), Washington, DC, March 29 - April 1, 2005

Although reliability has not been evaluated for hydrogen energy systems, it is often assessed in other energy sectors. We investigated methods used to assess reliability in existing energy systems (specifically the electricity, natural gas, and petroleum sectors), and tailored these to form a suitable assessment methodology for hydrogen systems. Here we provide a brief background about some of these methods. Energy system reliability measures are broadly categorized according two general concepts: adequacy and security.

Prepared for the National Hydrogen Association Annual Hydrogen Conference (NHA 2005), Washington, DC, March 29 - April 1, 2005

Although reliability has not been evaluated for hydrogen energy systems, it is often assessed in other energy sectors. We investigated methods used to assess reliability in existing energy systems (specifically the electricity, natural gas, and petroleum sectors), and tailored these to form a suitable assessment methodology for hydrogen systems. Here we provide a brief background about some of these methods. Energy system reliability measures are broadly categorized according two general concepts: adequacy and security.

Proceedings of the 15th Annual NHA Hydrogen Conference (April 26-29, 2004)

Many past studies of the 'Hydrogen Economy' have presented a steady-state portrait of a mature pathway from hydrogen production and distribution through utilization. One of the key problems surrounding the hydrogen economy is the large cost of building the infrastructure. The desire to reduce these costs associated with hydrogen infrastructure development leads to models and analysis of the dynamics of how a hydrogen supply infrastructure might grow over time, as demand for hydrogen increases in the transportation sector. To fully model hydrogen transitions is immensely complex, involving not only matching hydrogen supply and demand, but also how hydrogen interacts with the rest of the energy system, the economy, the environment and policy.

As a first approach to understanding transitions, we are developing a simplified model of the hydrogen economy – including alternative feedstocks, production technologies, distribution modes and demand scenarios. This model will be used to estimate infrastructure transition costs as a function of relatively small number of parameters for various demand scenarios. We plan to study how transition costs depend on factors such as the size and geographic density of demand, the market penetration rate, resource availability and technological progress. The goal is provide insights into low cost paths for moving our transportation fuel infrastructure from its current state to one based on large-scale use of hydrogen fuel. In this paper, we describe our overall approach and present initial results.

Proceedings of the National Hydrogen Association Annual Hydrogen Conference (NHA 2005), Washington, DC, March 29 - April 1, 2005

Hydrogen offers a wide range of future environmental and social benefits, when used as a fuel for applications such as light duty vehicles and stationary power. These potential benefits include significant or complete reductions in point-of-use criteria emissions, lower life-cycle CO2 emissions, higher end-use and life-cycle efficiency, and a shift (with respect to transportation fuels) to a range of widely available feedstocks. Despite the potential benefits of a hydrogen economy, there are many challenges as well. One of the most critical is the tremendous cost and investment associated with developing and transitioning to an extensive transportation network based upon hydrogen. The widely-discussed "chicken and egg" problem focuses on the difficulty in building vehicles and hydrogen supply to meet a small and growing demand. While many current studies of the 'Hydrogen Economy' present a steady-state portrait of a mature energy system including H2 production, distribution and utilization, the transitional issues that are embodied in the chicken and egg problem are not addressed. Modeling the transition to a hydrogen economy is more complex than these static analyses because of dynamic nature of the problem. The transition costs will be determined by the size of the production, distribution and other infrastructure components and the economies of scale associated with these components and with the major shift in the transportation sector. Some analysts believe that in the near-term, infrastructure will be built up by means of distributed production of hydrogen at refueling stations by fuel processors or electrolyzers, which will lessen the initial infrastructure investment. These systems take advantage of existing energy distribution infrastructure (natural gas and electricity) reducing the capital expenditure requirements for hydrogen infrastructure. Only after significant maturation and market penetration of vehicles will the hydrogen demand be large enough to take advantage of the economies of scale associated with a dedicated infrastructure with large centralized hydrogen energy production plants and hydrogen pipeline distribution. In general, there is a trade-off between production costs and distribution costs that impacts a decision when to move from distributed to centralized hydrogen production. One key question that this analysis will explore is when and under what circumstances this transition could occur.