Hydrogen breakthrough could be a game-changer for the future of car fuels
23 Jun 2014 04:23 PM
UK researchers announced
what they believe to be a game changer in the use of hydrogen as
a “green” fuel.
A new discovery by scientists at
the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), offers a
viable solution to the challenges of storage and cost by using ammonia as a
clean and secure hydrogen-containing energy source to produce hydrogen
on-demand in situ.
Hydrogen is considered by many
to be the best alternative fuel for automotive purposes but there are
complications with its safe and efficient storage and very significant concerns
surrounding the costs of a hydrogen infrastructure for transportation. This new
discovery may well have found the answers to both these
challenges.
When the components of ammonia
are separated (a technique known as cracking) they form one part nitrogen and
three parts hydrogen. Many catalysts can effectively crack ammonia to release
the hydrogen, but the best ones are very expensive precious metals. This new
method is different and involves two simultaneous chemical processes rather
than using a catalyst, and can achieve the same result at a fraction of the
cost.
Ammonia can be stored on-board
in vehicles at low pressures in conformable plastic tanks. Meanwhile on the
forecourts, the infrastructure technology for ammonia is as straightforward as
that for liquid petroleum gas (LPG).
Professor Bill David, who led
the STFC research team at the ISIS Neutron Source, said “Our
approach is as effective as the best current catalysts but the active material,
sodium amide, costs pennies to produce. We can produce hydrogen from ammonia
‘on demand’ effectively and affordably.
Few people think of ammonia
as a fuel but we believe that it is the natural alternative to fossil fuels.
For cars, we don’t even need to go to the complications of a fuel-cell
vehicle. A small amount of hydrogen mixed with ammonia is sufficient to provide
combustion in a conventional car engine. While our process is not yet
optimised, we estimate that an ammonia decomposition reactor no bigger than a
2-litre bottle will provide enough hydrogen to run a mid-range family
car.”
“We’ve even
thought about how we can make ammonia as safe as possible and stop the release
of NOx gases,” added Professor David.“This
fundamental science therefore has immense potential to change the use of
hydrogen as a fuel."
Dr. Martin Jones, also from STFC
and who with Professor David invented this new process,
said “Having developed this new approach to decompose ammonia,
we are now in the process of creating a first low-power static demonstrator
system. Our technology will no doubt evolve, but our research invites
scientists and technologists to address a different set of
questions.”
David Willetts, the UK Minister
for Universities and Science, said “This is exactly the sort of
innovation we need UK researchers and engineers to develop to secure our role
as a global leader in this field, putting Britain at the forefront of solving
modern day transportation problems. This breakthrough could also hugely
contribute to our efforts to reduce our greenhouse gases by 80% by
2050.”
Ammonia is already one of the
most transported bulk chemicals worldwide. It is ammonia that is the feedstock
for the fertilisers that enable the production of almost half the world’s
food. Increasing ammonia production is technologically straightforward and
there is no obvious reason why this existing infrastructure cannot be extended
so that ammonia not only feeds but powers the planet.
2015 will be a significant year
in the development of the car. While there is currently substantial interest
and excitement in all-electric vehicles such as the Nissan Leaf and the Tesla
Model S, next year car manufacturers will begin to roll out a new generation of
fuel-cell electric vehicles. Batteries play a significant role in these cars
but the vehicle range, which will be equivalent to conventional cars, will be
provided by a fuel cell powered by hydrogen.
These hybrid vehicles are touted
to be the way ahead but while all-battery cars have issues with driving range,
hydrogen provision is a major headache both on-board for the fuel cells and on
the forecourt for refuelling. The hydrogen in these 2015 cars will be stored
on-board in very high pressure tanks, and at even higher pressures at the
forecourts. The safety issues of storing hydrogen on-board at these pressures
are substantial while the cost issues of installing a new high-pressure
infrastructure at the forecourts across the nation are currently massively
prohibitive.
Speaking about this new
development from the team at STFC, Professor David MacKay FRS, Chief Scientific
Advisor at the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC)
said “We believe that there is no single solution to the
challenges we face in decarbonising the fuel chain, but this research suggests
that ammonia based technologies are worth further consideration and may well
play an important part in the future energy
landscape."
Five years ago, Professor Steven
Chu, Nobel Prize winner and, at that time, the US Secretary of State for Energy
in the Obama administration, sounded a death knell for the hydrogen economy
with his statement that, while it takes only three miracles to be declared a
saint, it would take four miracles to achieve a hydrogen-based energy economy.
This work from STFC researchers could well be a turning point.
Kate Ronayne, Head of Innovation
at STFC said: “This exciting research has the potential to dramatically
influence the static and mobile energy solutions of the future. While still at
an early stage, this innovative work offers a very elegant solution to some of
the major challenges in harnessing the power of hydrogen as a fuel
source.”
END
More
information:
Marion O'Sullivan
STFC Press Office
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Tel: 01235 445627
Mobile: 07824 888990
Notes to
Editors
- 1. Professor Bill David is
available for interview. Contact the STFC press office on 01235
445627
- 2. The research paper
‘Hydrogen Production from Ammonia using Sodium Amide’ is published
in the Journal of the American Chemical Society and will be available
to download from 23 June 2014
- The STFC ISIS
facility offers a supportive research environment where the focus
is on providing solutions to major sociological and technological problems of
the 21st Century. ISIS plays a vital role in the portfolio of analysis
techniques used by researchers for areas as varied as energy, nanotechnology,
materials processing, drug design and pharmaceuticals, bio-technology and green
technology for a clean environment. Examples include studies of:
- hydrogen absorption in new
materials designed for hydrogen storage and clean energy
- the structure of chemical
polymorphs in pharmaceutical compounds
- the breakdown of environmental
contamination by natural enzymes
- disordered materials, glasses
and liquids - central to optical communication
- bio-compatible materials for
healthcare
- waste storage and
management
- The Science and Technology
Facilities Council (STFC) is keeping the UK at the forefront of international
science and tackling some of the most significant challenges facing society
such as meeting our future energy needs, monitoring and understanding climate
change, and global security. The Council has a broad science portfolio and
works with the academic and industrial communities to share its expertise in
materials science, space and ground-based astronomy technologies, laser
science, microelectronics, wafer scale manufacturing, particle and nuclear
physics, alternative energy production, radio communications and
radar.
STFC operates or hosts world
class experimental facilities including in the UK the ISIS pulsed neutron
source, the Central Laser Facility, and LOFAR, and is also the majority
shareholder in Diamond Light Source Ltd.
It enables UK researchers to
access leading international science facilities by funding membership of
international bodies including European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN),
the Institut Laue Langevin (ILL), European Synchrotron Radiation Facility
(ESRF) and the European Southern Observatory (ESO). STFC is one of seven
publicly-funded research councils.
It is an independent,
non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Innovation and
Skills (BIS).
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