Abstract
The present work provides an overview of the landscape for hydrogen transport, focusing on liquid hydrogen.
The work outlines the current regulatory framework in Europe and North America. A summary of the frameworks relevant to accelerating the hydrogen economy is presented, based on the EU Hydrogen strategy, the EU taxonomy, the European Trading System, RePowerEU, and the Departmen of Energy (DOE) National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap.
The work summarises various forecasts that try to predict how the economy will evolve, contrasting the European-centred perspective vs global predictions. Recent forecast studies agree that the transport sector will require around 55 Mt of hydrogen by 2050. Of this, the liquid hydrogen use is expected to be about 15 Mt. The demand for liquid hydrogen stems mainly from the need to transport hydrogen long distances from energy-rich sources to demanding economies. Another use for liquid hydrogen is storing large quantities of hydrogen in mobility applications. Such storage needs encompass the refuelling of fuel-cell electric vehicles, barges, or ferries. Within the aviation industry, hybrid-hydrogen aircraft powered by liquid hydrogen will also require hydrogen storage on land and on the aircraft. However, most of the scenarios for a hydrogen economy are very optimistic and rely on ambitious assumptions such as fast readiness, deployment, and acceptability of hydrogen. Yet, current hydrogen market trends lean towards a 'Business as Usual Scenario'.
The realisation of a hydrogen economy presents various challenges that need to be overcome in the immediate future. Advancing hydrogen metrology TRL can help overcome some of such challenges. The most pressing challenges for hydrogen in transport applications and inherent metrology operations are identified.
Although a very limited public bibliography is available, an effort is made to provide a critical overview of the current state of the art and various measurement technologies relevant to the transport of liquid hydrogen, encompassing flow metering and level metering. Finally, a summary of existing and upcoming experimental capabilities with liquid hydrogen or nitrogen to accelerate research and development within Europe is provided.
The work outlines the current regulatory framework in Europe and North America. A summary of the frameworks relevant to accelerating the hydrogen economy is presented, based on the EU Hydrogen strategy, the EU taxonomy, the European Trading System, RePowerEU, and the Departmen of Energy (DOE) National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap.
The work summarises various forecasts that try to predict how the economy will evolve, contrasting the European-centred perspective vs global predictions. Recent forecast studies agree that the transport sector will require around 55 Mt of hydrogen by 2050. Of this, the liquid hydrogen use is expected to be about 15 Mt. The demand for liquid hydrogen stems mainly from the need to transport hydrogen long distances from energy-rich sources to demanding economies. Another use for liquid hydrogen is storing large quantities of hydrogen in mobility applications. Such storage needs encompass the refuelling of fuel-cell electric vehicles, barges, or ferries. Within the aviation industry, hybrid-hydrogen aircraft powered by liquid hydrogen will also require hydrogen storage on land and on the aircraft. However, most of the scenarios for a hydrogen economy are very optimistic and rely on ambitious assumptions such as fast readiness, deployment, and acceptability of hydrogen. Yet, current hydrogen market trends lean towards a 'Business as Usual Scenario'.
The realisation of a hydrogen economy presents various challenges that need to be overcome in the immediate future. Advancing hydrogen metrology TRL can help overcome some of such challenges. The most pressing challenges for hydrogen in transport applications and inherent metrology operations are identified.
Although a very limited public bibliography is available, an effort is made to provide a critical overview of the current state of the art and various measurement technologies relevant to the transport of liquid hydrogen, encompassing flow metering and level metering. Finally, a summary of existing and upcoming experimental capabilities with liquid hydrogen or nitrogen to accelerate research and development within Europe is provided.
