Hydrogen energy train put into operation and Engineering (reprinted)

Hydrogen energy is an important carrier to build a comprehensive energy supply system based on clean energy. At present, hydrogen energy vehicles, trucks and buses have gradually entered the commercial stage, and hydrogen energy trains have gradually been put into operation, filling the gap of train airborne, zero emission and electrification. The fourth issue of Engineering, a journal of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, published an article entitled "Hydrogen Energy Trains Put into Operation" in 2022, which reported the development of hydrogen energy trains and introduced the research progress and future application prospects of hydrogen energy trains in major countries. The article also introduces the method and operation strategy of transforming the existing train into a hydrogen energy train. In March 2022, iLint, a Coradia of 14 hydrogen trains built by the world's largest train manufacturer, Alstom (St. Contam), will begin long-term operation in Germany (Figure 1). The new 18-month service, running on a district-level line between Buxtehud (Buxtehude) near Hamburg and the coastal town of Cuxhaven (Cuxhaven), is a commercial demonstration trial. In this test, two Coradia iLints carried passengers for more than 200,000 kilometers, but only water vapor was emitted into the air. After 18 months of successful trial operation in Germany, iLint, a Coradia of 14 hydrogen trains, was officially launched in Germany in March 2022, with more to be launched across Europe in the coming years. Source: Alstom (public domain). Gordon Lovegrove, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, said: "It is amazing that Alstom trains can operate in rural areas with low population density, low passenger traffic and insufficient power supply. Coradia iLint perfectly fills the gap of airborne, zero-emission and electrification." The success of Coradia iLints has attracted the attention of countries such as Germany, France, Italy, Austria, the United Kingdom and Hungary. They have ordered such trains from Alstom and plan to put them into use in their own countries. Several other large manufacturers have embarked on building their own hydrogen trains. Hydrogen cars, trucks and buses have been in use for decades, and while the commercial success has been limited, it has undoubtedly left the trains behind when it comes to hydrogen fuel use. The trains are powered by diesel (currently about 1/5 of the trains in Europe and most rail trains in the United States rely on diesel) as well as electricity (mainly fossil fuel-generated electricity in the United States and mainly renewable energy in Europe). The main reason for this is the contradiction between supply and demand for hydrogen energy technology: suppliers are reluctant to build the large production equipment needed to reduce costs until the demand is clear, and consumers want to use low-emission fuels after the price of low-emission fuels drops. Recently, however, governments have begun issuing mandatory policies on net-zero emissions to mitigate climate change. For example, in 2021, the EU proposes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 compared with 1990, and achieve net zero emissions by 2050. National train network systems in France, Scotland and parts of the Netherlands have committed to replacing diesel engines for passenger and/or freight transport with clean energy systems by 2035. Germany has committed to banning diesel trains by 2038, and the UK to do so by 2040. By expanding the demand for green power, including hydrogen power generation, hydrogen trains will develop by leaps and bounds under mandatory measures. Today, most hydrogen fuels are produced by steam reforming of methane (methane reformation, SMR) and electrolysis of water: in the SMR process, methane reacts with pressurized water vapor over a catalyst to produce "gray hydrogen" (gray hydrogen); in the water electrolysis process, hydrogen and oxygen are decomposed by electrolysis of water. For all hydrogen production processes in the world, the use of SMR accounts for 95%. Although the cost of SMR is not high, the energy it produces is high. "When producing 'green hydrogen, 'you definitely want to use renewable energy, including off-peak hydropower, solar or wind," Lovegrove said." However, the production cost of "green hydrogen" is 2 to 5 times that of "gray hydrogen" produced by SMR. To make green hydrogen affordable, the cost of producing it needs to be cut in half, Lovegrove said. At least a few experts hope that this goal can be achieved by 2030. Despite its high overall cost, the business case for hydrogen trains operating on railway lines dominated by diesel trains is becoming increasingly compelling; battery-powered engines cannot meet the requirements because of the technical difficulty and cost of building elevated electrified lines, and because such lines are too long or too steep. In 2016, Alstom adjusted the design of a diesel engine to build the first Coradia iLints' train. The electric engine of this train is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell (hydrogen stored on the top of the train is combined with oxygen in the air). The on-board battery may also be powered by capturing the electricity generated during braking. The train has a range of 1000km and a top speed of 140km while carrying 150 seated and 150 standing passengers. Electric engines make almost no noise. Lovegrove said, "I sat on it once and it was so quiet that you could even hear your own thoughts." To build hydrogen refueling facilities for hydrogen trains, Alstom has partnered with oil and gas companies including Linde (Dublin, Ireland) in Germany and PKN Orlen in Poland. Under normal circumstances, the Coradia iLints can travel for 18 h per hydrogen addition. Alstom is also working with Hynamics (Paris, France) and Deutsche Bahn (Berlin, Germany) to build mobile hydrogen stations. The hydrogen refueling station can add hydrogen to the train within 15 min, which is similar to the time required to add diesel oil, while it takes 3~4 h to charge the battery. While Alstom is a pioneer in the field, other companies have announced plans to develop competitive hydrogen trains. Spanish rolling stock manufacturer CAF (San Sebastian), Germany's Siemens (Munich) and the UK's HydroFLEX project [a partnership between the University of Birmingham's Rail Research and Education Centre and Porterbrook (Derby)] are all working to develop new technologies for hydrogen trains. For the only hydrogen train project currently underway in the United States, Swiss Stadler is designing a hydrogen train for a line in San Bernardino, California. New breakthroughs have also been made in the research and development of hydrogen energy trains in China, Japan and Australia. Passenger hydrogen trains may not be seen in Toronto, Canada any time soon. Due to uncertainties over the production, transportation and storage of hydrogen fuel, Toronto recently suspended what could be the world's largest hydrogen train project to date, which plans to replace diesel power with hydrogen fuel. But other hydrogen train projects in Canada continue. Ballard Power Systems (Benabi, Columbia, Canada) and CRRC (CRRC) Qingdao Sifang Locomotive and Rolling Stock Co., Ltd. are cooperating to develop rail hydrogen energy trains. The trains they developed are currently operating in Tangshan and Foshan cities in China (Figure 2). Ballard Power Systems has also provided 14 fuel cell modules, each with an output of 200 kW, to Canadian Pacific Railway's hydrogen-fueled freight locomotive project, which will power three diesel trains with hydrogen fuel cells. The three trains will start trial operation as early as 2022. In addition, the company's cooperation with Siemens aims to develop a new generation of hydrogen energy trains, called Mireo Plus H (Figure 3), which will start trial operation in Bavaria in 2023. Ballard Power Systems will also provide fuel cells for trains that Germany's Madrid supplier Patentes Talgo plans to run in Spain. Figure 2. The rail hydrogen train developed by Ballard Power Systems Canada in cooperation with CRRC Qingdao Sifang Locomotive and Rolling Stock Co., Ltd. is currently in operation in Tangshan and Foshan, China. Source: Wikimedia Commons(CC BY-SA 4.0). Figure 3. Siemens' Mireo Plus H hydrogen train will start trial operation in Bavaria by the end of 2023. Source: Siemens (public domain). Like Ballard Power Systems projects in China, Canada and Europe, most of the hydrogen train projects under development involve both redesigning equipment and converting trains powered by diesel and electricity to be powered by hydrogen. Cara Startek, technical director of Ballard Power Systems, said: "at present, our focus is on the original equipment and modified equipment. The time required for customized trains to obtain certification is very long. Therefore, the most ideal method is to develop targeted solutions for existing trains." Lovegrove also believes: "It is an exciting thing to be able to transform trains that are 30 to 50 years old. Any locomotive platform is very heavy, about 150 t of metal, and the position of the platform will not be changed during the transformation process. You can retrofit the existing engine housing, and it only takes a few months and $1 million to get a train that can run for another 50 years." Although new projects continue to emerge, the basic technology used in hydrogen trains is roughly the same as that used in trains decades ago. "There has been limited success in fuel cell technology, but a lot has been achieved in fuel cell engineering," Startek said. "We are committed to understanding the rail's unique safety system and shock and vibration requirements and integrating them into the fuel cell system design and operation strategy." However, some recent innovations have helped boost the appeal of hydrogen trains. For example, British engineers have designed a lightweight fuel cell converter. The converter works by extracting energy from the fuel cell in a controlled manner through semiconductors and then delivering it to the train engine. This process requires the upgrading and integration of two separate converters into a lightweight converter that can increase the mileage of the train. There is also room for innovation in the production and transmission of hydrogen energy that can bring broader commercial prospects to all hydrogen vehicles. Some recent interesting developments include Japan's 100-fold increase in efficiency by converting solar energy into hydrogen, and the construction of small, inexpensive hydrogen refueling stations in the United States that can be placed next to existing natural gas distribution systems, using hydrogen produced from natural gas. Manufacturers are also looking at other ways to further reduce the environmental impact of hydrogen trains. "We are refurbishing the fuel cell, recycling 95 percent of the platinum and reusing the panels," said Startek. "We hope to increase the sustainability of the product by expanding the application of this strategy." Note: The content of this article is slightly adjusted, if you need to view the original text. This article extracts the Chinese Academy of Engineering Journal if there is infringement contact website delete Adapted original: Chris Palmer.Hydrogen-Powered Trains Start to Roll[J]. Engineering,2022,11(4):9-11. Hunan enrui manufactures hydrogen fuel cell furnaces. Welcome to visit the factory