What is the Hydrogen Economy?

Hydrogen economy (English name Hydrogen economic) is a future economic structure idea of energy using hydrogen as a medium (storage, transportation and conversion), and was proposed in the 1970s. Hydrogen is a clean energy source that burns to produce water without producing any pollutants. Converting renewable energy sources such as solar energy, wind energy, and water potential energy into electrical energy, using electrolytic cells and electrolyzed water to produce hydrogen, storing at room temperature through high-efficiency hydrogen storage materials, or transporting via pipelines, the danger is no greater than natural gas. Use hydrogen fuel cells to generate electricity, replacing the currently polluting environment with non-renewable fossil fuels. Strengthening the development of hydrogen storage materials, hydrogen electrolytic production and fuel cells, and greatly reducing their costs, the realization of a reasonable hydrogen economic structure may not be far away. The goal is to replace the existing petroleum economic system and achieve the goal of environmental protection, renewable and sustainable development. ^[1]

Hydrogen economy (English name Hydrogen economic) is a future economic structure idea of energy using hydrogen as a medium (storage, transportation and conversion), and was proposed in the 1970s. Hydrogen is a clean energy source that burns to produce water without producing any pollutants. Converting renewable energy sources such as solar energy, wind energy, and water potential energy into electrical energy, using electrolytic cells and electrolyzed water to produce hydrogen, storing at room temperature through high-efficiency hydrogen storage materials, or transporting via pipelines, the danger is no greater than natural gas. Use hydrogen fuel cells to generate electricity, replacing the currently polluting environment with non-renewable fossil fuels. Strengthening the development of hydrogen storage materials, hydrogen electrolytic production and fuel cells, and greatly reducing their costs, the realization of a reasonable hydrogen economic structure may not be far away. The goal is to replace the existing petroleum economic system and achieve the goal of environmental protection, renewable and sustainable development. ^[1]

Background of the hydrogen economy

Today's energy can be divided into "process energy" and "energetic energy". Electric energy is the most widely used "process energy"; diesel and gasoline are the most widely used "energetic energy". Due to the fact that "process energy" cannot be directly stored in large quantities, modern vehicles and other transportation vehicles with high mobility, such as automobiles, ships, and airplanes, cannot directly use the power output from power plants, and can only use diesel and gasoline. Class "Energetic Energy". Electric energy as secondary energy can be produced from various primary energy sources, such as coal, oil, natural gas, solar energy, wind energy, hydropower, tidal energy, geothermal energy, nuclear fuel, etc., which can directly produce electrical energy. This is not the case with gasoline and diesel, which are secondary energy sources, and they are produced almost entirely from fossil fuels. With the increasing consumption of fossil fuels and the decrease in their reserves, these resources will one day be exhausted, and it is urgent to find a new energy-rich energy source that is rich in reserves and does not rely on fossil fuels. Hydrogen energy is just a new secondary energy source that people expect while the conventional energy crisis is emerging, while developing new secondary energy sources.

The hydrogen economy is a future, and even an ideal, economic structure. Its proposal is based on the current large-scale use of fossil energy, which has led to changes in the global environment, air and environmental pollution, climate warming, excessive dependence on fossil energy, and concerns about the depletion of fossil energy. And human beings' continuous pursuit of sustainable development, circular economy, green energy, and environmental protection. Hydrogen is the most widely distributed substance in the universe, and it makes up 75% of the universe's mass. Hydrogen reserves on the earth are very abundant. Water is a large "depot" of hydrogen. If all the hydrogen in the seawater is extracted, it will be 9,000 times the heat of all fossil fuels on the earth. Therefore, hydrogen energy is called the ultimate energy source of mankind.

Principles and advantages of hydrogen economy

The hydrogen economy is hydrogen as the energy source. Hydrogen is produced by electrolyzing water. Its energy source is various cheap clean energy sources, such as solar energy, nuclear energy, wind energy, seawater tidal energy, and so on. As a secondary energy source, hydrogen can be directly burned through pipelines, or it can be converted into electricity through fuel cells.

Hydrogen is an energy source with a very high energy density to mass ratio. It is a very superior new energy source, and its main advantages are:

(1) The calorific value of combustion is high. The heat after kilogram of hydrogen combustion is about 3 times that of gasoline, 3.9 times that of alcohol, and 4.5 times that of coke.

(2) The product of hydrogen combustion is water, which is the cleanest energy source in the world.

(3) Abundant resources. Hydrogen can be produced from water, and water is the most abundant resource on earth. From the production to combustion, it deduces the classic process of natural material recycling and sustainable development.

(4) The benefits of hydrogen fuel cells are higher than many internal combustion engines. Internal combustion engines are at most 2030% efficient, while the worst fuel cells are also 3545% efficient (usually much higher) plus related electric motors and controllers In the end, the worst pure output energy is 24%, and the internal combustion engine is much lower.

Prospects for the hydrogen economy

The implementation of the hydrogen economy can achieve the following significant improvements:

(1) Eliminate pollution caused by fossil fuels-If hydrogen is used in fuel cells to generate power, this will be a completely clean technology. The only by-product is water. Hydrogen does not pose an environmental hazard similar to oil spills.

(2) Elimination of greenhouse gases-If hydrogen comes from the electrolytic reaction of water, it will not emit greenhouse gases to the environment. This will be a perfect cycle-water undergoes an electrolysis reaction to produce hydrogen, which is recombined with oxygen in the fuel cell to produce water, while generating power.

(4) Easy to use-As long as electricity and water are available, hydrogen can be produced anywhere. Using simpler technologies, people can even make hydrogen at home.

Technical difficulties in hydrogen economy

The prospect of the hydrogen economy is attractive, and the key technologies to achieve the hydrogen economy need to be further breakthrough, which mainly involve:

(1) Preparation of a large amount of hydrogen:

Water electrolysisUsing electrical current, water molecules can be easily broken down into pure hydrogen and oxygen. An important advantage of this method is that there are no site restrictions.

Reformed fossil fuels-Hydrocarbons are found in both oil and natural gas, and their molecules are composed of hydrogen and carbon. Using a device called a fuel processor or reformer, it is relatively easy to separate hydrogen from carbon in a hydrocarbon, thereby using the hydrogen in it. The remaining carbon is emitted into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide, which may be a good temporary measure during the transition to a hydrogen economy. This is the easiest way to get hydrogen to power a car's fuel cell.

(2) The cost of producing hydrogen power is huge: its demand is huge, and it needs multiple forms of energy to meet it. Take only the United States as an example. If all American cars use hydrogen as energy, hydrogen is produced by electrolyzed water, and nuclear power is used to provide hydrogen. The source of hydrogen power for electrolyzed water is required. 240,000 tons of uranium ore is requiredproviding 2,000 600 MW Power plants, equal to $ 840 billion, equal to $ 2.50 per GGE unit.

(3) To solve hydrogen storage materials and transportation: Under normal conditions, hydrogen is a huge gas, so it is not as easy to use as gasoline. Compressing hydrogen requires energy, and compressed hydrogen can provide much less energy than gasoline of the same volume. For example, the key problem of putting hydrogen fuel vehicles into use is the storage and transportation of hydrogen, and solutions to the problem of hydrogen storage have emerged. For example, hydrogen can be stored in solid form in a chemical called sodium borohydride, which is made from borax, one of the common ingredients in many cleaning agents. When the sodium borohydride releases the hydrogen contained in it, it is converted back into borax, thereby realizing recycling. Once the storage problem is resolved and standardized, a network of hydrogen stations and the infrastructure for transporting hydrogen must be built around it. Only by developing a storage technology that is generally accepted by the market can hydrogen stations develop rapidly.

Hydrogen transportation pipelines are very demanding. They are higher than any electrical pipeline and are nearly three times more expensive than natural gas pipelines. Because hydrogen will accelerate the cracking (hydrogen embrittlement) of general steel pipes, increasing maintenance costs, leakage risks, and material costs. So entering the hydrogen economy era requires a lot of investment in pipeline infrastructure to store and distribute hydrogen to the end users of hydrogen vehicles.

(4) Hydrogen energy conversion equipment: After hundreds of years of development, the fossil economy or carbon economy has formed a complete economic system, and various energy conversion equipment is complete, such as boilers, internal combustion engines, generators, and electric motors --- -, Reasonable supporting, mature technology and experience. How to convert hydrogen energy into other forms of energy and power. Regardless of technology, equipment and experience, research, design, manufacturing and rational use are required.

The development of hydrogen economy is promising

The history of human energy use shows that major changes in the main forms of energy use (for example, from biomass fuel to coal, and coal to oil and gas) have strongly promoted human economic and social development. Great development. Fossil energy is finally depleted. Taking the most important petroleum resource as an example, the latest forecast result is a reserve-production ratio of 40 years. The heavy use of fossil energy has caused concerns about global environmental changes and resource depletion, and the pursuit of sustainable development and environmental protection. As an efficient, clean and sustainable "carbon-free" energy source, it has received widespread attention from countries around the world.
Since the 1990s, major developed countries and relevant international organizations have paid great attention to hydrogen energy research and development and the transition to a hydrogen economy. They have carried out a lot of macro strategic research, formulated long-term research and development plans, and invested heavily in Research and development of hydrogen related technologies.
The United States passed the Hydrogen Research and Development, Demonstration Act in 1990, and the United States Department of Energy (DOE) initiated a series of hydrogen research projects. Since 2001, the U.S. government has taken the development of hydrogen energy as an important aspect of its energy policy, and has formulated a number of hydrogen energy research plans to achieve the transition to the hydrogen economy. 2000-2015), early market penetration (2010-2025), infrastructure construction and investment (2015-2035), hydrogen economy realization (2025-2040), four overlapping and related stages, identified in the development The specific content and goals of technical research, development and demonstration in the initial stage of the hydrogen economy, and related follow-up actions. The plan clearly states that the United States will achieve a transition to a hydrogen economy by 2040.
The EU regards hydrogen energy as its priority research and development area, and has formulated the short-term (2000-2010), medium-term (2010-2020), and long-term (2020-2050) three stages of Europe's transition to a hydrogen economy and its main Roadmap for research and development and demonstration action plans, and proposed related countermeasures.
Japan In June 2003, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan announced "The Approach to Commercializing Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Technology in Japan", proposing that the development of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies in Japan is a need to reduce the impact of energy use on the environment and strengthen energy security, and It is planned to have 5 million fuel cell vehicles and 10,000 MW of fixed fuel cell systems by 2020; 15 million fuel cell vehicles and 12,500 MW of fixed fuel cell systems by 2030.
In addition, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, South Korea, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and other countries also have hydrogen energy research and development programs.
China has become a large energy consumer, but it is also a country with energy shortage. The problem of energy shortage will become more serious with economic development. The development of new energy should become a major national energy strategy choice.
China has not interrupted the research and development of hydrogen energy since the Seventh Five-Year Plan, established a number of hydrogen energy research and development projects, and established the development of hydrogen energy as a national priority energy strategic position.

Hydrogen economy

Hydrogen economy