GreenerPolitics

Written and researched by Jan Triska - correspondent

I have always wanted to see hydrogen fueling stations, up close, in action so to speak. It so happens that there is now one open right across the street from where I work. The new station is part of a growing experimental network of hygrogen fuel insfrastructures, partially funded by Natural Resources Canada. 

The new station, at the Natural Resources Canada Booth Street campus in Ottawa, is the fifth permanent hydrogen fuelling station in Ontario and the tenth currently operating in Canada. Natural Resources Canada, through the Canadian Transportation Fuel Cell Alliance, and Air Liquide Canada each contributed $800,000 toward the $1.6-million station.

“As we work toward the transition to a renewable hydrogen economy, Air Liquide Canada is delighted to see the next step in this project become a reality,” said Luc Doyon, President and COO of Air Liquide Canada. “Our partnership with government and industry to educate the public about hydrogen as an alternative energy source to fossil fuels is an example of our joint commitment to sustainable development.”

So, how does this station actually work?

The business end of the station, so to speak, resembles a conventional fuel station, i.e. it is a box-like structure, with a hose to deliver the fuel.

This is where the similarity stops. The inescapable fact of operating with hydrogen is that the gas has to be super-cooled to minus 253 degrees or so in order to liquify. This is the only safe way to transport hydrogen. The hydrogen and the tanks are manufactured by Air Liquide.

Once the liquifed hydrogen, stored in huge cylinders, gets to the site, it is transferred into a very large holding tank. The liquid hydrogen then gets turned into gas as needed to refuel the hydrogen cars. The liquified hydrogen is shipped to the Ottawa site bi-weekly, by a truck from Montreal - a potential grounds for criticism, when one considers the overall environmental impact of keeping the station open.

The station features a very elborate network of above ground pipes, the “behind the scenes” section of the installation. Nozzles at the station dispense hydrogen gas at different pressures.

Compressed hydrogen storage tanks are the most popular now since they don’t require the super-cooling and super-insulation that liquid hydrogen does. Compressing hydrogen into storage tanks does represent its own unique challenges though. Unlike pressurizing natural gas, hydrogen is less dense and requires better seals. In addition, hydrogen storage tanks need to be made from lighter materials such as aluminum or carbon / graphite compounds.

Storing liquid hydrogen in automobile tanks takes special handling and materials to contain and keep the fuel cool. Hydrogen does not liquefy until -253°C (20 degrees above absolute zero) and therefore much energy must be employed to achieve such temperatures. Approximately 30 to 40-percent of the energy content of hydrogen can be lost due to the storage methods, according to industry specialists. Safety becomes an issue with the handling of liquid hydrogen as does the car’s tank integrity, when storing, pressurizing and cooling the element to such extreme temperatures. The development of alloys for hydrogen storage tanks is a big business in its own way, represented in Canada by Dynetek Inc. among other developers.

This particular station at Booth Street is designed to serve three buses, converted to hydrogen fuel. But in terms of a broader market, it is not yet clear how many different models of hydrogen-powered vehicles there might be. Hydrogen engines come in two varieties: electric engines powered directly by hydrogen fuel cells ; and those engines that have been converted from traditional gasoline powered combustion engines and powered by compressed hydrogen. The natural transitional vehicle, on a consumer level, most likely will be to have a car that has a hydrogen engine that has been converted from a gasoline powered engine and is fueled by pressurized hydrogen Hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engines (H2ICEs) as they are called will most likely hit the consumer market first.  

Hydrogen on the Hill is part of a nation-wide project led by Industry Canada and Ford of Canada. The entire project is managed by ATFCAN and is assessing the environmental benefits and commercial feasibility of using hydrogen as a transportation fuel.

It looks to me as though the pilot program is very popular but many challenges remain in achieveing market-scale commercialization of hydrogen as a viable fuel.