Hydrogen & Fuel Cells–

Opportunities to Scale?

2nd Global Hydrogen Industrial Virtual Summit 2021

Session 5 ‘Hydrogen Advancements in Heavy

Duty Commercial Vehicles & Transport Fleets’

January 27, 2021

Keith D. Patch
Independent Consultant
Boston, MA
My Education/Corporate Highlights
(Consulting Interspersed with Corporate Positions)
• MIT: B.S. & M.S. in Chemical Engineering
• Energy Resources Company (ERCO)
– Startup; I managed their biofuels/hydrocarbon Pilot Plant
– Fluidized bed gasification/combustion systems
• Thermo Electron Corp. R&D Center (TMO)
– Fortune 500 company; I was promoted to Program Manager
– Projects throughout hydrocarbon/electricity value chain
• Giner, Inc. (Now Giner ELX)
– Small business; I was a Program Manager
– Hydrogen, fuel cells, electrolyzers, other electrochemistry & modeling
• Concepts NREC
– Small business; I was Product Manager for their ORC products
– Turbomachinery, including Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) Products
• Joule Unlimited Technologies Inc.
– Startup; my team of 10 designed / procured a NM 1 acre demo plant
– Photosynthetically-derived, 4th-Generation hydrocarbon biofuels
• MIT Sloan Executive Education
– Executive Certificate in Management and Leadership

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 Other Highlights
• Was member of Water Electrolysis Working Group, U.S.
Department of Energy, Fuel Cell Technologies Office
• Provided input for the initial release of ISO Standard
22734-2, “Hydrogen Generators Using Water Electrolysis
Process, Part 2: Residential Applications”
• Expert Merit Reviewer: U.S. DOE, EU,
Emissions Reduction Alberta
• ​Vice Chair, Standards and Regulations Workgroup, ASME
ORC Power Systems Committee
• Member: CertifHy Work Group 1, EU-wide Guarantees of
Origin (GO) for green hydrogen
• Member: Business Implementation Group (BIG) of EU
H2020 COZMOS project (catalysts and processes for one-
reactor conversion: CO₂ + green H2 → C3 [propane and
propene])
• Consulting: Carbon Engineering’s monetizing
Direct Air Capture (DAC) of Atmospheric CO2
• 4 U.S. Patents, 2 U.S. Patent Applications &
60+ publications and presentations

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 GIVEN: Worldwide Push to
Expand Hydrogen Use
• As a major part of COVID-19 economic recovery
efforts
– Billions pledged through 2030 in EU, China, Japan, Korea, etc.
• Representative areas ripe for widespread hydrogen
(H2) deployment include
– Electricity storage and generation
– Decarbonizing the natural gas grid
– Petrochemicals (CO2 valorization using H2 + green electricity)
– Fertilizer (ammonia)
– Metals refining (direct reduced iron, etc.)
– Feedstock (green methanol, e-fuels, etc.)
– Industrial process heating; building heating and power
– Most importantly: mobility (especially heavy duty transport)
• Emerging mobility uses include water transport & air travel
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 H2 Fuel Cells vs Battery EVs
for Heavy Duty Road Transport
• H2 has significantly higher specific energy
– Enables larger loads and longer haulage
• H2 enables diesel-like recharging
– Rapid nozzle-based fueling
• H2 minimizes electric grid stresses
– 1,000 km range (100 kg H2) FCET recharging in ≈10 min.
only requires a 300 kW grid connection
– 1,000 km range (1,000 kWh) BET recharging in ≈10 min.
requires an 8,000 kW grid connection (+27x)
• Heavy-duty, long haulage transport aligns with
hydrogen fuel cells, not BEVs
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 The First H2-Fueled
Road Vehicle? GM’s Electrovan
• 3 shifts of workers converted a General Motors
Handivan
– January – October 1966
• After conversion: 7,000 pounds, 6 seats → 2 seats
– Union Carbide NASA stacks (32 modules of 68 cells ea.)
– 32 kW fuel cell continuous power rating (160 kW max.)
– Liquid alkaline electrolyte (KOH)
– Cryogenic H2 & O2
• After demonstration, was
stored in a warehouse for
31 years; now at GM
Heritage Center museum
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The First H2-Fueled Class 8 Road Vehicle?
Vision Motor Company’s Tyrano
• Class 8 plug-in electric/hydrogen hybrid
– 80,000 lb. GVWR drayage truck
– Retrofit of 2009 Freightliner chassis and cab
– Listed by DOE AFDC in 2010
– 65 kW hydrogen fuel cell / 130 kWh Li-ion battery
• Level 2 charging port
– 200 mi. range
• 20 kg 350 bar H2

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 Bottoms-Up Look at Heavy-Duty
Mobility Hydrogen Power Needs
First FC Largest
Class 8 HD UHD
Metric Road Commercial
Truck Mining Truck
Vehicle FC Stack
Vendor GM
Hyzon Motors Nikola Two Anglo American
(Typical) Electrovan
FC Power 370 240 800
32
[kWe] (2021 Release) (2 x PowerCell) (8 x Ballard)
Alkaline
Prime Mover PEM Fuel Cell
Fuel Cell
Liquid
Fuel Cell
alkaline Solid proton exchange membrane (PEM)
Type
electrolyte
Fuel Liquid H2 Compressed H2 Gas

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 Details on Medium-Duty &
Heavy Duty Fuel Cell Vehicles

https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2018/08/f54/fcto-truck-workshop-2018-10-james.pdf
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 Fuel Cell Stack Economics
• Two classic ways to reduce capital costs
– Scale-out (make multiple identical units)
– Scale-up (make larger units)
• US DOE report (above) suggests using
scale-out to reduce HD mobility capital costs
– 80 kW stack building blocks: use 2, 3 or 4 stacks as required
– A good plan for the short term
• However, significantly larger FC stacks will be necessary
– Ultra heavy-duty mining trucks (≈800 kW)
– Ultra-large crude oil carriers (≈40,000 kW)
– Commercial aviation (≈80,000 kW)
– Stationary central power plants (100,000+ kW)
• Without larger FC stacks, H2-fueled (or methanol or ammonia) recip
engines & gas turbines will have to be used
– Drawback: recip engines & gas turbines are lower efficiency than fuel cells
– Drawback: methanol & ammonia have emissions & health issues
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 Next: Choice of H2 Color?
• Grey H2: derived from carbonaceous material
• Blue H2: grey H2 with CCS
• Green H2: derived from renewable energy
• July 2020 EU Green Deal document calls for a
"clear priority on green hydrogen asap", and
"blue hydrogen will play a role in the transition,
no grey hydrogen". There are similar policies in
Korea, Japan...
• Can green (or blue) H2 meet EU’s 2030 goals?
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 Can Green H2 Meet
Planned EU Goals?
• 2030: 10 Mt/y of low-carbon H2 in EU
– Equivalent to 40 GW of electrolyzers
– Equivalent to 12% of today’s H2 production
• 2019 worldwide H2 production ≈ 80 Mt/y
• Multiple Gigafactories have been announced
– Nel, ITM Power, Plug Power, thyssenkrupp Uhde,
McPhy
• 21Jan2021 Nel announced a plan to reach US$1.50/kg by
2025, to “outcompete fossil alternatives.”
– Electrolyzers can be operational in 2 years
• So yes, green H2 looks very feasible
• Can blue H2 meet this deadline (& pricing)?
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 Blue H2 Production
• Two major subsystems
– Steam methane reforming (SMR) plant
– Carbon capture & sequestration (CCS) infrastructure
• SMR plant
– Well-established, stand-alone plants
– Can be built in 3 years
• CCS infrastructure
– Very site-specific
– Requires 5+ years to engineer & permit before
construction can begin
• Let’s examine some recent CCS projects
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 CCS Example #1
• Chevron Gorgon CCS
project in Western Australia
– Natgas production with CCS
(sour gas with 14% CO2)
– Minimal on-site CO2 pipeline
– 5 years for delivery of 1st
compressor train
– 18 years & counting
– AU$3.1B / US$2.4B spent
(55% over budget)
– Sand plugged water reinjection
wells, so CO2 injection halted
by AU regulator in 2021
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 CCS Example #2
• Alberta (CAN) Carbon
Trunk Line (ACTL)
– CCUS project (EOR)
– 150 mi./240 km pipeline
– 11-year project (2009-2020)

• Cautionary tales for blue

hydrogen proponents
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 Blue Hydrogen Cautions
• Blue hydrogen plants are significantly more
complex than green H2 plants
– 10+ years to implement CCS portion
• So why have no new SMR/CCS blue H2 projects
been announced?
– Need blue H2 announcements today for production in 2030
• Example: Alberta’s Provincial Government
– Is predicting blue H2 production for export by 2040 using
their plentiful natgas supply
– But by 2040 green H2 will likely supplant blue worldwide
– Alberta will then be left with significant stranded blue H2
assets

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 Summary
• Billions pledged thru 2030 for hydrogen efforts in
EU, China, Japan, Korea, etc. as part of COVID-19
relief
• Heavy-duty, long haulage transport aligns with
hydrogen fuel cells, not BEVs
• Larger fuel cell stacks need to be developed
• Only green H2 projects should be planned
– Green H2 projects can meet projected capacity, schedule
& cost needs
– Blue H2 projects cannot meet near-term/mid-term
timetables (long timelines for carbon storage projects)
– Blue H2 projects will likely lead to stranded asset
problems (customers will demand 100% green H2)
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