• Zachary Tigert, Courtney
Flowers, Emily Casey,
Moriah Balingit, Jessica
Bryan, Rob Wyman
• The American petroleum industry began with the
discovery of oil in 1859 in Pennsylvania.
– While it was known that oil existed off of the eastern
seaboard in 1775, the first oil drill operation began in
1859. Oil was struck 69 feet below the surface.
– Today, the U.S. investment in the oil industry stands
at half a trillion dollars in wells, refineries and
distribution systems. The industry employs 1.5 million
people directly and 6 million indirectly.
–
–
Sources: “The Petroleum Industry Today.” http://www.midwestnpioneer.org/central/conoco.html and
http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/rcah/html/rc_066100_oilindustry.htm. Houghton Mifflin, college division.
Oil Pipelines
• Currently, there exists
roughly 95,000 miles
of crude oil pipelines
that connect the
major U.S. markets.
– However, these existing lines
cannot be used to transport
hydrogen because of diffusion
losses, brittleness of materials
and compressor incompatibilities.
Also, hydrogen lines must be
larger than the current 8-24 inch
diameter lines.
– Major lines cost roughly 5 million a
mile.
• As of 1998, there were 187,097 retail stations selling
motor fuel in the U.S.
– The U.S. population in 1998 was roughly 270 million which
averages to one gas station per 1,443 people.
– A medium sized filling station sells roughly 26 metric tons of
gasoline a day. Currently, this fuel can be supplied by one truck.
However, it would take 22 tube-trailer hydrogen trucks or 3 liquid
hydrogen trucks to deliver the same amount of energy.
– The transfer of the hydrogen from these trucks to underground
storage tanks would also take much longer than draining gas
from one truck.
– Likely, storage tanks will need to be unearthed and retrofitted to
store hydrogen, not gas.
• Myth: Hydrogen is an abundantly
available fuel.
• Fact: Sure, hydrogen is the most
common element in the universe. But
hydrogen molecules are bound up in
other molecules and we have to
expend energy to get them out of
other stuff.
• Now
– Hydrogen is a feedstock
for chemical production
– Steam reforming from
natural gas (48%) and Oil
(30%)
– Electrolysis (4%)
– Coal Gasification (18%)
• Possibilities for the future
– “Clean” Coal and Natural
Gas
– Renewable Electrolysis
– Thermo-chemical
• Currently the cheapest
and most efficient way to
produce hydrogen
• Steam and methane are
mixed in a reactor at high
temperatures (700 C –
1100 C) in the presence
of a metal catalyst to
create hydrogen gas and
carbon monoxide
• The United States
produces about 9
megatons of hydrogen a
year this way
Problems with Natural Gas
• Problems:
– Doesn’t eliminate
reliance on natural gas
– Doesn’t reduce
hydrocarbon emissions
– Requires energy to heat
water and methane
– Price dependent on cost
of natural gas
• How it works
– Gaseous coal is mixed with
oxygen and steam under really
really really high pressures and
temperatures to produce
carbon monoxide, carbon
dioxide and hydrogen gas
• Problems
– It produces harmful emissions:
carbon dioxide, carbon
monoxide and sulfur
– Coal mining bad for landscape
– It costs twice as much as
natural gas
• How it works
– An electric current is
run through water
and it separates into
its negatively
charged (hydrogen)
molecules and its
positively charged
(oxygen) molecules
– Efficiency=38.4
kwh/kg of hydrogen
Problems with Electrolysis
• If the electricity going into the
process is produced by a coal-fired
plant it would take 140.8 kwh of
energy to produce one kilogram of
hydrogen
• Considering a fuel cell produces
about 23.3 kwh/kg hydrogen, it’s
not a lot of bang for your buck…and
it’s a heck of a lot more expensive
than steam reforming
• It requires pure water
• Conclusion: Put the electricity back
into the grid or right into the car
•
•
Advocates say renewable energy
sources could be used to produce the
electricity necessary for electrolysis
Problems
– It would take 3.75 trillion kwh of
electricity to perform electrolysis to
deliver hydrogen to a hydrogenfueled U.S. car fleet
– Examining current renewable
energy capabilities…
(https://blackboard.uoregon.edu/webapps/p
ortal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin
/common/course.pl?course_id=_203859
_1)
-…it’s just not realistic
-plus, you could just put that energy
back into the grid
“Clean” Coal and Natural Gas
Reforming
•
•
•
Same technology for
gasification
Eliminates emissions through
carbon sequestration
Problems
– Only economical for large
scale plants
– Would add about $0.30 $0.50 per kg hydrogen to
sequester hydrogen
– Technology still far from
being developed
– Technology hasn’t
addressed other emissions
Thermo-chemical
•
•
•
Water is heated to extremely
high temperature (800-1000 C)
and combined with other
elements to create dissociation
Greater efficiency than
electrolysis
Problems
– Requires a high energy
input to heat the water to
that temperature
– Requires nuclear energy
if its to be cost effective
Myth: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
is pumping hydrogen into his new “hydrogen
Hummer.”
Fact: There’s nothing in that hose. And the car
doesn’t even belong to him.
• Past 50 years- cost of pressurized
hydrogen (a cylinder of about .6kg H2)
is ~$100/kg H2 plus a cylinder rental fee
• For Hydrogen economy, we must
achieve a cost that of only a few $/kg
• This is not feasible at all in terms of
cost for energy production because of
the efficiency issues of producing
hydrogen, and it is not feasible for
transportation usage because of
infrastructure costs
• The intro.rate of H2 based vehicles is
nearly 1/100th of what was expected
• The price of natural gas has
increased by a factor of 10 in the last
30 yrs. and 3 in the last 6 (2004) and
is likely to increase by more than
another factor of 2 in the next 15 yrs.
• Small H2 dispensing stations cost
about $600,000- 10x more than
originally expected
• H2 storage costs in amounts less
than tens of thousands of kgs. are
100x greater than for fossil fuels and
biofuels
NG-H2 Prices
Fueling the H2 car
• H2 is not an economically feasible
alternative to gasoline with
projections of several dollars per
kilogram
• Diesel and biodiesel are more
promising as transportation
alternatives- they could be as low as
$.5/kg and $.6/kg respectively
• Best Case Scenario:
– Starts Production 2010
• The problem:
– 500,000,000 gas powered
vehicles in the US
• Energy-intensive
–3.8 times more energy than NG
• Hydrogen loss over distance
–.77% per 100km
(that’s ~62 miles for those of you who
can’t think in the metric system)
•
•
•
•
Expense of Producing Hydrogen
The Finite Resource of Water
Alternatives
Political Factors
• Rare Platinum as a Catalyst in
the Fuel Cells
• Storage of Hydrogen
–As a gas: the inefficiencies
• Fresh Water Needed
• Earth’s water supply
– We need to save some clean water for
us!
– 96% of Earth’s water is in oceans and
saline
– 99.7% of all the water on Earth is not
available for human and animal
consumption
• Biofuels: ethanol, waste,
biodiesel
• Electricity (it has worked thus
far…why not in the future?)
• ElectricityHydrogen
Electricity
–That seems inefficient
Hydrogen Timeline
• Presidents Hydrogen Initiative warns that
Hydrogen is not panacea
• “Over-sold” to the public
• Unrealistic expectations about timeframe
• Transition periods of “several decades”
• Careful coordination of dev takes time
• Early commitment to hydrogen fuel unwise
risks technological lock-in
Alternatives:
• Major report recommends develop
diverse portfolio
• Electric Vehicles / Plug-in Hybrids
• Biofuels (Cellulosic ethanol)
• Biodiesel / Synthetic diesel
• Direct application of electricity derived
from renewable energy sources
The Politics of Hydrogen
• Too much Lip service, not enough money $$$
• 1.2 billion to hydrogen, also 1.5 billion to
“healthy marriages”
• Monthly tab Iraq 3.9 billion
• 2004 Department of energy spent more
nuclear and fossil fuel
• FreedomCAR program required to create
hydrogen powered car, not sell one
Investment Willingness:
Catch 22
• Financial risks involved in dev of H2
technology are significant.
• Oil companies not will to invest if only handful
hydrogen cars.
• Automakers not willing to make hydrogen
cars if nowhere fill them.
• Retrofitting just 25% refueling stations more
than $13 billion.
• The Bush Factor
• Unfeasibility of transforming the
world, or even the United States in
just thirty years
• We are dependant on foreign oil
(duh!) from countries who do not “like”
us. Hydrogen will not be the solution