The application of composite tanks for storing compressed hydrogen is everywhere, but there are challenges in terms of cost, size, efficiency, and limited carbon fiber capacity. #氢#Function
Adjusting its proven solution for new markets Hexagon Purus Maritime will adjust its fully-proven H2 storage solution for markets such as distribution and heavy trucks to meet the needs of various ship sizes and architectures. Image source: Hexagonal Plus
For many years, carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite materials have provided lightweight compressed hydrogen (H2) storage for zero-emission fuel cell vehicles through Type IV storage tanks composed of a plastic lining wrapped with carbon fiber and epoxy resin. Although H2 has long promised to provide sustainable clean energy, until recently, progress has been slow. Even in CW's October 2020 topic "Carbon Fibers in Hydrogen Pressure Vessels", people still have serious doubts about whether the long-awaited hydrogen economy can really be realized.
A year later, this suspicion is quickly fading. For example, Universal Hydrogen (Los Angeles, California, USA), which was highlighted in the 2020 article, has signed letters of intent with three regional airlines to retrofit existing turboprop aircraft with H2 power propulsion systems. It is also emphasized that Cimmaron Composites (Huntsville, Alabama, U.S.) has been acquired by Hanwha Solutions (Seoul, South Korea) and announced a new $130 million production facility in Opelika, Alabama. Another composite tank manufacturer, NPROXX (Heerlen, Netherlands), is now a 50/50 joint venture with Cummins (Columbus, Indiana, USA). Cummins is a company with an annual output of 130 million internal combustion engines and has now invested in the production of hydrogen Electrolyzer, H2 engine, fuel cell and storage tank.
The growth forecast for Type IV tanks is huge. For example, Hexagon Composites (Alesund, Norway), a leader in the production of Type IV storage tanks, spun off Hexagon Purus in January to focus on zero-emission H2 and battery power systems and storage. It is estimated that from 2025 to 2030, tank revenue will increase by 630%.
However, Type IV tanks also face serious problems. Most notably, the cost of carbon fiber makes these tanks very expensive. Another key issue is storage density. Although compressed hydrogen provides three times the energy per mass of gasoline, its energy per volume is very low, requiring large cylinders to hold the high pressure required to store enough fuel. For mobile applications, the lightweight provided by CFRP IV storage tanks promotes their use compared to metal alternatives. But in stationary applications, including hydrogen refueling stations, weight is not the main driving factor.
Hydrogen as a cryogenic liquid actually has a higher density, stored at -253°C, when stored at -230°C and 300 bar. Cryogenic tanks are usually metal, and the version using a large number of composite materials has not been proven. Its performance and fatigue life have been proven in type IV compressed gas tanks, which have more than 25 years of performance data. Cryomotive (Grassbrunn, Germany) was founded by Dr. Tobias Brunner in 2020 and is developing a metal CCH2 tank based on his previous work at BMW (Munich, Germany).
Part 1 of this two-part series will explore the development of type IV fuel tanks for heavy trucks and automobiles, including Asia as the main regional market, and the possibility that insufficient carbon fiber production may actually hinder the growth of CFRP fuel tanks. Discuss the fast-growing tank market in railway and maritime applications.
Cummins is working with long-term customer and truck manufacturer Navistar (Lyle, Illinois, USA) to develop a fuel cell-powered Class 8 truck. The truck will be integrated into the 7,700 vehicle fleet of Werner Enterprises (Omaha, Nebraska, USA) for a one-year local and regional service test in Fontana, California. Cummins has also begun testing hydrogen-powered internal combustion engines (ie, H2 direct combustion), which will be evaluated in various on- and off-highway applications. In an interview in June 2021, Jonathan Wood, vice president of Cummins New Power Engineering, said that by the end of the decade, such products will be close to the total cost of ownership (TCO) of diesel engines. As countries seek to achieve zero emissions goals, he pointed out that future heavy transportation will be powered by hydrogen, fuel cells or batteries instead of diesel.
"In Europe, our legislation requires truck OEMs to reduce the CO2 emissions of their fleets by an average of 30% by 2030, compared to 2019 levels," said the managing director and salesperson of tank manufacturer NPROXX Director Michael Himmen said. “As a result, part of the European truck production will be driven by hydrogen, which may be as high as 5%, and may be as high as 15,000-20,000 trucks per year. It will be 2,000 vehicles per year in 2026-27. The speed of trucks has begun and has grown steadily.” Each vehicle has 5 to 7 Type IV tanks. Within ten years, heavy trucks may need 100,000 tanks per year and 6,000 metric tons of carbon fiber. This will be 25% of Toray (Tokyo, Japan)’s current total carbon fiber production in Japan, South Korea, France, and the United States, and 25% of Hyosung’s (Seoul, South Korea) planned capacity for 10 production lines in 2028 (see the sidebar “FCV and Carbon fiber demand").
Jørn Helge Dahl, Sales and Marketing Director of Hexagon Purus, said: “The heavy-duty transportation industry is particularly accelerating. He explained that for large vehicles, H2 is more practical than batteries because the increase in battery size, weight and charging time is sufficient. Payload and range requirements have become uneconomical. Hexagon Purus estimates that the revenue of Type IV hydrogen storage tanks in 2025 and 2030 will be 1.1 billion US dollars and 7 billion US dollars, respectively, and heavy vehicles are expected to account for the largest portion (≈30%).
In a speech in 2019, Axel Seifert, Director of Composite Pressure Vessels at Plastic Omnium (Lavallois, France), asserted that a 700-bar Type IV tank requires 10 kg of carbon fiber for every kg of H2 stored. Noting that fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) carry at least 5-6 kilograms of hydrogen, he pointed out that the 5 million FCVs expected to operate by 2030 will require approximately 250,000 metric tons of carbon fiber to produce hydrogen storage tanks. At the same time, he pointed out that the total demand for carbon fiber in 2019 is only 80,000 metric tons, of which more than 60% are used in wind turbine blades and aerospace applications.
Has this estimate of 250,000 metric tons been exaggerated? The total number of vehicles reported in the Hydrogen Energy Commission's 2021 "Hydrogen Insight" report is estimated that there will be 4.5 million FCVs by 2030. However, 5-6 kg of H2 is used for passenger cars (PV). For example, Hyundai Xcient heavy-duty trucks can carry 35 kg of hydrogen. Heavy trucks are expected to account for 25% of FCV's annual production.
Figure 1. Carbon fiber in an FCV storage tank. This graph shows the projected carbon fiber usage (metric tons) in the IV 700 bar compressed H2 storage tank for the highest production fuel cell vehicle (FCV). The table shows that these 2030 forecasts are conservative. For example, by 2030, FCV will account for less than 1% of current automobile production. Photo credit: Mike Favaloro, Ginger Gardiner
Mike Favaloro, a veteran in the composites industry, and I reiterated the warning about increased demand in our speeches during the 2020 Carbon Fiber NOW online conference. According to the US Department of Energy (DOE) cost breakdown for 2019, we estimate that by 2030 the demand for carbon fiber in Type IV hydrogen tanks will be 145,330 metric tons. It is estimated that 62-72 kilograms of carbon fiber-60% kilograms of fiber content are required for every 700 bar/5.6 Hydrogen tank. According to the new car announcement, we will increase the estimated demand in 2030 to 166,650 metric tons of carbon fiber (Figure 1), which will be proposed during the two-day CW Technology Day: Composites in the Hydrogen Economy in May 2021. It should be pointed out that this forecast is very conservative.
“Getting enough carbon fiber is one of our main concerns,” said Michael Himmen, managing director and head of sales for the IV tank manufacturer NPROXX. From 2020 to 2021, his company's business doubled and will double again next year. "And we are not the only one; I think Hexagon is growing at the same rate." He pointed out that due to COVID-19, the demand for carbon fiber in commercial aircraft has declined, so growth has slowed in the past two years.
However, Airbus is now not only aiming at higher construction speeds, but wind turbines that use large amounts of carbon fiber will also grow substantially to promote green hydrogen production. Can the carbon fiber industry keep up with this growth? "We need carbon fiber in a specific price range with specific quality and performance," Himmen points out. Most Type IV tank analysis uses Toray T700 fiber [tensile strength 4,900 MPa, modulus 230 MPa] or equivalent materials. "Fibers with lower strength require more entanglement and the fuel tank becomes thicker, which is unacceptable. If you don't know where the fiber for next year will come from now, you may actually have to stop production."
Toray (Tokyo, Japan), one of the leading carbon fiber manufacturers, specifically mentioned the growth of FCV and compressed hydrogen (CHG) storage tanks in a speech in June 2020, and stated that it plans to “make large-scale capital for CHG storage tanks in time "Expenditure"," is expected to increase in demand after 2023. It also stated that the company will "take CHG tanks as the highest priority strategic application and prioritize resource development," and pointed out that "increase carbon fiber performance and reduce costs."
At the same time, Hyosung (Seoul, South Korea) announced that by 2028, its carbon fiber production will increase from a single production line of 2,000 metric tons/year to 10 production lines, reaching 24,000 metric tons/year, to support South Korea’s hydrogen energy roadmap.
French automotive first-tier suppliers, Nanterre and Plastic Omnium (Lavallois) are new entrants in the IV tank market, and both aim to gain a 25-30% market share. They predict that 2 million hydrogen-powered vehicles will be produced each year by 2030, of which 1.5 million are light and passenger vehicles (LDV and PV). Plastic Omnium stated that sales of H2 cars will start to pick up in 2027-2028, but Faurecia claims that its activities with five LDV/PV OEMs in Europe and North America have already generated sales in 2022 and initially produced 80,000 per year. A hydrogen car system. Faurecia, Hexagon Purus, NPROXX and Plastic Omnium all provide complete hydrogen/fuel cell systems, including fuel cell stacks, storage tanks and auxiliary equipment. Faurecia claims that 40% of the value of the fuel cell system is in the H2 storage tank, and 70% of that value is the hydrogen storage tank and valves and other components (called plant balance, BOP).
Plastic Omnium pointed out that Asia is expected to take the lead in hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (FCV) sales, accounting for 75% of the market share, followed by Europe at 20% and North America at 5%. In fact, China and Japan have announced the goal of achieving 1 million and 800,000 FCVs respectively by 2030, while South Korea has stated that all commercial vehicles will be converted to hydrogen by 2025, with the goal of producing 6.2 million FCVs by 2040 FCV. It is worth noting that these are significant national carbon fiber production.
Therefore, when Plastic Omnium established its Δ-Deltatech (Brussels, Belgium) fuel cell and H2 storage R&D center in 2019, it also established the ω-Omegatech (Wuhan, China) R&D center, which was equipped with a pilot CFRP filament winding line and fuel System testing laboratory. Wuhan is designated as China's first "Hydrogen City", with 30-100 hydrogen refueling stations, 3-5 world-leading hydrogen energy companies, and a hydrogen energy industry with more than 100 fuel cell vehicle manufacturers and related companies garden.
At the same time, Hexcompulus announced in March 2021 the establishment of a joint venture with CIMC Enric (Shenzhen, China), which will initially expand the production of existing Type III pressure vessels and install the production of Type IV cylinders at the same time. . Type III production and construction of the new Type IV facility will begin in 2021, and the production capacity will reach 100,000 tanks per year by 2025.
Figure 3. Types of pressure vessels The types and structures of pressure vessels classified by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Image source: CW
Iljin Composites-changed its name to Iljin Hysolus (Bongdong-eup, South Korea), and was put on sale on September 3, 2021 on the KOSPI index of the Korea Stock Exchange-described as the only composite tank manufacturer in Korea and the only supplier of Hyundai Nexo cars . According to reports, Iljin also supplies tanks for South Korean police, districts and bus systems, and has two production bases, one in Jeonbuk Province and one in Wanju.
Among other notable activities, Toyota Gosei (Inabi, Japan) produced a third tank for the Toyota Mirai in 2021, with a production capacity of 30,000 vehicles per year (Toyota produces the first two tanks internally for Mirai). In France in 2021, Faurecia completed the acquisition of China's leading tank manufacturer CLD (Shenyang), with an annual output of 30,000 tanks at two plants in Liaoning.
According to the "Overview of China's Hydrogen Storage Technology" released by the analysis company Integral Co. in December 2020, China prefers Type I and Type III storage tanks, and few companies manufacture Type III. However, the demand is increasing. The author of the report, Stephanie Ao (Stephanie Ao) pointed out that only recently did China actually ban Type IV tanks. It is understandable that Type III storage tanks still dominate the Chinese H2 vehicle market, especially for applications that require 35 MPa/350 bar. However, she pointed out that the 70 MPa/700 bar Type III tank is in the final stage of testing and verification. The top suppliers of Type III storage tanks include CLD (now owned by Faurecia) as well as Beijin Chinatank Industry, Furuiise and Tianhai Industry.
Figure 2. Hydrail speed increase from top to bottom: Alstom has sold 41 Coradia iLint H2 trains to Germany and is testing other trains in Austria and the Netherlands; French railway SNCF has ordered 12 Alstom Coradia Polyvalent dual-mode elevated trains Electric and H2 regional trains; Alstom is working with Eversholt Rail in the UK to convert electric trains into H2 Breeze trains; Siemens is developing Mireo Plus H trains for testing in 2023-24. Image source: Alstom and Siemens.
Before Cummins established a 50/50 joint venture with NPROXX in 2020, it acquired fuel cell developer Hydrogenics (Mississauga, Ontario, Canada) in 2019, which is reportedly a pioneer in locomotive-grade fuel cells. Cummins subsequently announced in 2020 that it will build a new plant in Herten, Germany, to manufacture fuel cell systems for Alstom (Paris, France) H2-powered Coradia iLint trains, which are already in service in Germany (14 trains destined for Lower Saxony this year Start of operation) By 2022, 27 units will be put into use in the Rhine-Main region). iLint is also testing in Austria and the Netherlands.
iLint has a cruising range of 1,000 kilometers and a top speed of 140 kilometers per hour, which matches the current regional train performance. Its two car units use 24 Type IV fuel tanks, installed in the roof compartment on top of each car, which also contains fuel cells. Hexagon Composites provided a hydrogen tank for its prototype train, which has a diameter of 416 mm and a length of 3,128 mm. The heavy tank can hold 300 liters/9 kg of hydrogen at 350 bar. Now iLint is equipped with a 350 bar, 500 mm diameter, and 2,200 mm long fuel tank from NPROXX.
Cummins is also cooperating with Siemens (Munich, Germany), which will test its two-carriage and three-carriage Mireo Plus H trains on several regional routes in Germany from 2023 to 2024. At the same time, Hexagon Purus is supplying Type IV H2 tanks for the Talgo (Madrid, Spain) Vittal-One train, which is scheduled to start testing in 2023. Hexagon Purus will also supply tanks for the first FLIRT train on Stadler Rail (Busnań, Switzerland). Built and tested in Switzerland, then transferred to San Bernardino, California, where it will enter service in 2024.
In Japan, Toyota cooperated with Hitachi (Tokyo) and East Japan Railway Company (Tokyo) to develop a two-carriage train with a cruising range of 140 kilometers, a top speed of 100 kilometers per hour, and a H2 storage capacity of 5 cars at 700 bar. For a 51L/2kg storage tank, the four storage compartments in each storage tank can store a total of 40kg of H2. It will be tested in Tokyo suburban service in 2022. China is also testing fuel cell-powered trams for short-distance urban services. This demonstration line in Foshan, Guangdong Province, was developed by China Southern Railway subsidiary Sifang (Qingdao, Shandong) in cooperation with fuel cell supplier Ballard Power Systems (Burnaby, Canada). It uses five trams, each consisting of three trams. The 125 km long-distance coach has a range and a top speed of 70 km/h. Each tram uses six 350 bar storage tanks to store 104 liters/4 kg of compressed hydrogen.
In the freight train market, Sierra Northern Railway (Sacramento, California, U.S.) will replace diesel locomotives with hydrogen fuel cell locomotives at West Sacramento Port, equipped with Ballard power system fuel cells and 225 kg H2 storage tanks. The locomotive will start service in 2023 and will be refueled at a new hydrogen refueling station built by Royal Dutch Shell (The Hague, Netherlands).
As the first step of its hydraulic project, Ballard is also revamping the existing diesel-electric line freight locomotive for Canada Pacific (Calgary, Alberta), which will be put into operation in 2022. The modified locomotive has a life cycle of more than 50 years and is considered a viable and cost-effective alternative to special hydraulic trains.
A significant advantage of hydrogen-powered railways—passenger or freight—is that it does not require modification of existing tracks. In contrast, the electrification costs of traditional British electric train tracks (such as catenary and third track) range from US$965,000 to US$1.3 million per kilometer. A 2017 report by Caltrain (Can Carlos, California, U.S.) stated that the electrification of the San Francisco-San Jose commuter line using 22 fuel cell trains and including the construction of hydrogen refueling stations (HRS) would cost US$1.3 billion compared to US$3.1 billion Used on 22 traditional trains with Overhead Contact System (OCS)-saving 1.8 billion USD.
NPROXX’s Himmen said: “Railway is a market that has moved forward, which may be surprising, but like buses, I think one of the key factors is infrastructure. For both cases, you can easily solve the infrastructure The problem is that they go back to the same warehouses every day, and there are gas stations in these warehouses. For example, Cologne’s regional transportation system RVK has the world’s largest fleet of fuel cell buses-operating 37 buses every day, and will be there by the end of this year. Add 15 vehicles-only two hydrogen refueling stations. They started to achieve zero emissions in 2009 and are still adding to the fleet. Therefore, the relatively easy infrastructure will help drive the market forward."
In June 2021, Hexagon Purus announced that it will establish a new subsidiary Hexagon Purus Maritime. Jørn Helge Dahl, Sales and Marketing Director of Hexagon Purus, explained that although Hexagon has been involved in offshore hydrogen projects for many years, “we are now seeing a rapid increase in the demand and activities for hydrogen at sea.” “Hexagon Purus Maritime will develop on-board storage systems. , From the fuel pipeline on the ship’s side to storage, from storage to fuel cell. Due to the harsh environment including corrosion, we believe that composite materials are an ideal storage solution for offshore applications."
But how can a large metal tank provide a longer range? "As companies started to pay attention to hydrogen, we saw that they wanted the largest storage tanks and as few storage tanks as possible," Dahl admitted, "but there is a large range in terms of construction and container types. There is no "one size fits all" ". If you have a smaller, faster ferry, the larger tank may be too big. That's why we will work with the company to adjust our proven tank and ship architecture to provide the right size Solution. Then we will complete the approval process together with DNV.” Det Norske Veritas (DNV, Oslo, Norway) is one of the leading marine classification societies and has a long history in the field of composite materials.
What about liquid hydrogen? "In the past, people were very concerned about liquid hydrogen as the only way to serve the maritime industry," Dahl said. "But in the past three to four years, we have seen companies deeply research the trend of using liquid hydrogen and returning to compressed gas. This is not only related to how to manage the hydrogen of the ship itself, but also related to infrastructure, fuel and refueling. Now we also see that companies have different views on ship structure in order to store more hydrogen on board."
Dahl believes that the maritime industry will undergo rapid changes in the middle of 20 years. As 2030 approaches, more and more projects will be put into use. He explained that this is driven by the goal set by the International Maritime Organization (IMO, London, UK), that is, compared with the 2008 baseline, all new and existing ships must reduce carbon dioxide emissions in 2030 and 2050. 40% and 70%. "In addition, we are seeing more and more actions from local jurisdictions," Dahl said. "For example, some world heritage fjords in Norway require zero emissions by 2026. This will not include large cruise ships; therefore, they will have to develop smaller ships to bring people into the fjords. We will be densely in Europe River transportation areas see more of these restrictions. Especially with the UN climate report (recently) released, I think we are just getting started and more regulations will be introduced."
Part 2 of this series will explore the use of Type IV tanks for distribution in H2 filling stations and pipeline trailers, as well as tank costs, storage efficiency, and sensors for tank monitoring and recertification.
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