Hydrogen City Project
Team 3
Submitted To: Professor Chiu, Ming-Chuan
Date: April 27, 2011
Group Members (left to right):
Hao Sun
hvs5123@psu.edu http://www.personal.psu.edu/hvs5123
Kelvin Nguyen kyn5050@psu.edu http://www.personal.psu.edu/kyn5050
Kapil Inamdar kri5009@psu.edu http://www.personal.psu.edu/kri5009
Manan Gill
mvg5179@psu.edu http://www.personal.psu.edu/mvg5179
Abstract:
In today’s world of constantly increasing gas prices and issues of running out of oil altogether, the need
to find alternate sources of energy is greater than ever. Some of the alternate energy sources that exist
today are wind, solar, geothermal, and nuclear. However to fuel our cars, many of these sources are
irrelevant. That is why the topic of hydrogen is so important these days. It can theoretically cover all of
our transportation needs.
To see if something like this is implementable, we were told by Air Products to pick a city anywhere in
the world and convert it to a H2 city. As you will see further in our report, this is what we came up with.
Below are pictures of our physical model and SolidWorks model:
Mission Statement:
Objective:
The objective of this project was to provide Air Products with an implementable idea which
would help convert a regular city relying on fossil fuels into one that relies completely on
hydrogen. The focus was placed on coming up with a method that would supply a city with
enough hydrogen to fulfill its transportation needs.
Figure 1: Gantt Chart
W1(Mar)
28 2
4
% Accomplished M W F
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Tasks
1. Analysis of Customer Needs
• 1.a AirProduct Requirement
• 1.b Selecting City/Location
• 1.c Background Information on City/Area
• 1.d Renewable Energy Source Survey
• 1.e H2 /HCNG Survey
• 1.f Research of Fuel Station
• 1.g Needs Statements
• 1.i Product Spec Metrics
Owner(s)
Manan
Kapil
Kapil
Kapil
Kelvin
Kelvin
Manan
Everyone
Everyone
2. Patents and Literature Search
• 2.a Literature Review
• 2.b Patent Search
Hao
Kelvin
Hao
100
100
100
3. Benchmarking
• 3.a Existing H2/HCNG Fuel Sources
• 3.b Existing Fuel Station
• 3.c Existing Fuel Transportation Source
Kapil
Manan
Everyone
Kapil
100
100
100
0
4. Internal Work for Concept Generation
• 4.a Brainstorming
• 4.b Concept Selection
• 4.c Examination of materials
• 4.e
4.d Examination
Maintenanceof
Reqiurements
•
Manufacturing
Kelvin
Everyone
Kelvin
Manan
Kapil
100
100
100
100
100
Hao
Everyone
Kelvin
100
100
100
Kapil, Manan
Manan
Manan
Hao
Kelvin
Kelvin, Kapil
Kelvin, Manan
Kapil
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Processes
4.f Detail
Design
• 4.g
Prototype
Construction (Solidworks/
physical)
5. Report Reparation
• 5.a Slides
• 5.b Report (Design Statement)
• 5.c Report (External Search)
• 5.d Report (Concept Generation)
• 5.e Report (Concept Selection)
• 5.f Report (Final Design and Conclusion)
• 5.g Report (Website)
W2(Mar) W3(Mar)
W4(March)
7 9 11 14 16 18 21 23 25
M W F M W F
M W
F
W5 (Apr)
28 30
1
M
W
F
W6 (Apr)
4
6
8
M
W
F
W7 (Apr)
11
13
15
M
W
F
W8 (Apr)
18
20
22
M
W
F
W9 (Apr)
25
27
29
M
W
F
Customer Needs Assessment:
Most of the customer needs for this project were supplied by Air Products. They demanded
that we manufacture our hydrogen from completely renewable resources. They also demanded
that we come up with a new gas-station design which will supply hydrogen to the public at both
350 and 700 BAR. In addition to this, we were also required to provide a H2/HCNG mix at 250
BAR. Below are some assessments of customer needs that our group did.
Table 1: Initial Customer Needs Obtained from Background Search
User Friendliness
Intuitive Pump Design
Touch screen/automatic car link up
Easy payment methods
Prominent traffic lanes/directions
Quality
Durable pumps
Ergonomic handle design
Low-maintenance pumping/compressing/production methods
Lightweight pumps
Aesthetics
Small size
Non-intrusiveness
Green/Branding
Below are the initial customer needs sorted in a hierarchically. According to the customer
needs, user-friendliness came in as most important. Intuitive pump design and east payment
methods came tied for first in user-friendliness. Durable pumps came in first for quality, and
non-intrusiveness came in first for aesthetics.
Table 2: Hierarchical Customer Needs List
1. User Friendliness
1.1 Prominent traffic lanes/directions
1.2 Intuitive Pump Design
1.3 Easy payment methods
1.4 Touch screen/automatic car link up
2. Quality
2.1 Low-maintenance pumping/compressing/production methods
2.2 Durable pumps
2.3 Lightweight pumps
2.4 Ergonomic handle design
3. Aesthetics
3.1 Non-intrusiveness
3.2 Green/Branding
3.3 Small size
Table 3: AHP: Sub-categories weighing table
User Friendly
Quality
Aesthetics
Total
Weight
User Friendly
1
5
10
16
0.769
Quality
0.2
1
2
3.2
0.154
Aesthetics
0.1
0.5
1
1.6
0.077
Total
20.8
Table 4: AHP: User Friendliness attributes weighing table
Prominent
Traffic Lanes
Intuitive
Pump
Design
Easy
Payment
Methods
Touch
Screen
Total
Weight
Prominent
Traffic Lanes
1
0.5
0.5
1.25
3.25
0.17426
Intuitive
2
1
1
2
6
0.32171
Pump Design
East Payment
Methods
2
1
1
2
6
0.32171
Touch Screen
0.8
0.8
0.8
1
3.4
0.18230
Total
18.6
Table 5: AHP: Quality attributes weighing table
Low
Maintenance
Durable
Pumps
Lightweight
Pumps
Ergonomic
Handle
Total
Weight
Low
Maintenance
1.00
0.66
0.83
1.25
3.74
0.22
Durable
Pumps
1.50
1.00
1.25
2.00
5.75
0.34
Lightweight
Pumps
1.20
0.80
1.00
1.43
4.43
0.26
Ergonomic
Handle
0.80
0.50
0.70
1.00
3.00
0.18
Total
16.92
Table 6: AHP: Aesthetics attributes weighing table
Non - intrusiveness Green Small Size Total
Weight
Non-intrusiveness 1.00
2.00
1.43
4.43
0.44
Green
0.50
1.00
2.00
3.50
0.35
Small Size
0.70
0.50
1.00
2.20
0.22
Total
10.13
In addition to these customer needs, we also had to focus on our product specs, many of which
were specified by Air Products. Below is a table describing them.
Table 7: Product (system) specs:
Capacity of vehicles refueling: 4-7 Kg
# of max vehicles refueling: 8
Capacity of fuel per station: 120 kg
Capacity HCNG: 40 kg
Number of H stations : 3
Power for electrolysis - 65.87 KWh / 1.040911 Kg
Hydrogen produced/hr - 10 kg
Power needed for production - ~660 KW
Power needed for stations - 200 KW
Overall power needed - 860 KW
Number of wave buoys - 4
Power output/buoy - 150 KW
Number of underwater turbines - 4 (clean current 1.0)
Power output/turbine - 100 KW
External Search:
Literature Search:
When it comes to the topic of hydrogen transportation, there are 2 main options to choose from. The
hydrogen can either be piped to the site or it can be delivered using tanker trucks. If the trucking option
is chosen, it has to be decided whether the hydrogen will be transported in liquid or gas form. Lastly, the
hydrogen can be produced on site, in which case the topic of transportation is essentially nonexistent.
However, there are pros and cons to each of these choices.
Let us begin with the piping option. Hydrogen pipelines have been demonstrated to work as a form of
transportation, and many already exist in the world. For example, the Rhine-Ruhr pipeline is used to
transport compressed hydrogen at a pressure of 10-20 bar. The pipeline spans a length of 240km, and
this shows that pipelines can truly be used to transport hydrogen for long distances. However,
downsides do exist to this method of transportation. First of all, hydrogen is an active element, which
means that it has a free electron. Thus, the pipes have to be built so that they will not react with the
hydrogen. This means they have to withstand hydrogen embodiment and corrosion, so expensive
materials such as stainless steel have to be used in the pipe construction. In addition to all this, there
exists a danger to hydrogen transportation. Because hydrogen pipelines transport usually massive
amounts of hydrogen, the threat of explosion is always present. Special precautions have to be taken to
ensure that the area surrounding the pipeline is inert and does not contain flammable material. In
another words, these pipelines have to be in relatively remote areas 1.
Next, let us look at hydrogen transportation using tanker trucks. As previously stated, the hydrogen can
be transported in trucks in liquid or gas forms. If transporting is to be done in gas form, a 40 ton truck
will be able to deliver 400 kilograms of hydrogen. Usually, the same 40 ton truck is capable of
transporting 26 tons of gasoline, so the amount when transporting hydrogen is far less. This is due to the
fact that the hydrogen has to be highly pressurized, which adds a lot of weight to the tank. Ultimately,
an empty tank of hydrogen ends up weighing almost as much as a full one. Due to these factors and the
additional fact that around 15 deliveries will have to be made daily, transporting hydrogen in this form is
very inefficient 2.
If the hydrogen is liquefied and then transported using tanker trucks to the fueling facilities, the process
of transporting would be far more efficient. This is due to the fact that the liquid hydrogen will be a lot
denser, and thus the same tanker would be able to carry ten times the hydrogen amount. Additionally,
liquefying the hydrogen does mean that the hydrogen itself becomes more pure. But still, there are
downsides to liquid hydrogen transportation. The costs involved to cool down the hydrogen to a liquid
are significant. Also once the hydrogen is delivered to the fueling stations, it has to be converted to 350
bar and 700 bar. While this may not be a costly process, it would still be an inconvenience (especially
during certain times of the day such as rush-hour) 3.
Thus, we are essentially left with the case of production on site. Currently, a majority of the hydrogen
that is used for industrial purposes is produced using some type of fossil fuels 4. However, hydrogen can
be produced using water, something that is readily available in our coastal town of Peniche. This method
has a name, and it is called electrolysis. The process of electrolysis consists of passing a current through
the water. This parts the hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen can then be collected and used as fuel.
Currently electrolysis is an expensive process only because it needs a lot of electricity 5. In our case
however, we will be getting all of our electricity from renewable sources such as underwater turbines.
Thus, our costs will be a lot lower than the industry predicted. Also with production on site, the problem
of transporting the hydrogen to the fueling station will be virtually nonexistent.
Patent Search:
Function
Hydrogen tanks, liquid
storage
Hydrogen Storage
2007/0179325
6991770
2007/0175903
Hydrogen
Production
Hydrogen
Dispensing
Hydrogen Separation from compound,
electrolysis
Gas Pumps
2011/0044861
3340011
2009/0000956
2008/0185068
2011/0041949
7287558
Hydrogen Storage
1. 2007/0179325: Patents for the methods for storing hydrogen in a clathrate hydrate
2. 6991770: patents for the model hydrogen storage tanks introducing how a certain tank
works to storage hydrogen.
3. 2007/0175903: patents for liquid hydrogen storage system. Unlike the previous patent,
this one also introduce the strategy for reducing tanking losses
Hydrogen Production
1. 2011/0044861: patents for a system producing and separating hydrogen and carbon
dioxide from a hydrocarbon and steam.
2. 3340011: patents for the production of hydrogen by decomposition of hydrocarbons in
contact with a Group VIII metal catalyst.
3. 2009/0000956: patents for producing hydrogen through an electrochemical cell.
Hydrogen Dispensing
1. 2008/0185068: patents for a hydrogen dispensing station and method of operating a
hydrogen dispensing station for dispensing to multiple receiving vessels
2. 2011/0041949: patent for an invention provides a hydrogen dispensing system.
3. 7287558 : patent for systems for handling and/or dispensing hydrogen or a mixture of
fuels containing hydrogen gas including refueling stations for hydrogen-powered
vehicles
Current Generator Specs:
Patent: (European) EP 1 430 220 B1
diameter: 17 m
operating speeds: up to 4.7 m/s
Storage tank capacity:
60 kg H
20 kg HCNG
Background of Location:
Peniche, Portugal is a small fishing harbor and municipality in the middle of the Portuguese coast:
The population is approximately 28,164 inhabitants in the municipality and about 15,600 in the city of
Peniche, which is the location chosen for our hydrogen city project. Peniche is home to some of the
best waves in Europe, often called the European pipeline, and the Berlingas nature reserve is located on
an archipelago west of the coast. The ocean and atmospheric environment is crucial to keeping the
tourism and fishing industries, the heart of the city, alive.
Peniche’s waves provide a great opportunity for harvesting energy, and its proximity to the ocean
means water will always be available for hydrogen production. Additionally, the continental shelf juts
inwards a couple miles north of the town, which is an opportune place to harvest current energy; the
undersea valley provides many locations away from the coast to place current generators. Finally, the
comparatively small population of the city is ideal for Air Product’s first foray into making a hydrogen
city, as the materials and power for supplying hydrogen to the population will almost assuredly be up to
par with or greater than the demand.
Renewable Energy Source:
To run our hydrogen production plant, we chose to look at the sea for renewable sources of energy.
There are a few different sources of renewable energy available when it comes to the ocean, and the
main ones are tidal, wave, and current. Tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon and in a
lesser extent, by the gravitational pull of the sun. Oceanic waves are caused by the above water winds,
and these winds are exactly what cause the crests and troughs in the ocean waves1. Lastly, oceanic
currents refer to the continuous movement of ocean water. There are many such currents present
around the world, and together they combine to form what is called the “global conveyor belt”. Below is
a global map of this conveyor belt.
These ocean waves are caused by a few different factors, one of them being above water winds. The
winds contribute to causing currents in both coastal and deep ocean areas. Another factor that affects
ocean waves is something called thermohaline circulation. This term refers to the interaction of waters
of different temperatures. Since water’s density changes due to temperature, this temperature
difference helps to cause water current. Lastly, ocean currents are also affected by tides, although tides
affect currents in a very predictable pattern2.
All of these energies, tidal, wave, and current, can be harvested, and that is why for this project we
believe the energy from the ocean should be used to power the hydrogen-plant.
Because our location is Peniche, Portugal, a town known for its waves and long, windy beaches, the
initial thought was the energy source should be waves, or even wind. However, extracting energy from
waves requires the use of wave energy converters (WECs) 3. These include off shore buoys such as point
absorbers. Because Peniche is a major surf spot, placing off shore buoys everywhere to harness the
energy of the waves would have a negative impact on the surfing industry. Thus, it would have a
negative impact on Peniche’s economy. Still, the buoys could be placed further off the coast where they
would not interfere with surfing and other recreation.
As per tides, harnessing the energy of ocean tides requires construction of a dam. The only problem
with this is that building a dam would have a big impact on not only Peniche’s ecosystems, but also on
its beautiful shoreline. Also, building a dam to produce enough power to meet demands is expensive4.
The last option is ocean current power. This seems as the best solution because putting underwater
turbines off the coast would not negatively impact the surfing industry. It would also not affect any land
ecosystems and wildlife. However, it could affect underwater ecosystems. But the main problem with
ocean current power is that this type of technology is still in its development stage. Commercial grid
connected underwater systems do not exist yet, but lots of research is being done in this field. Thus,
such technology can be available relatively soon.
That is why at this point, the best way to power a hydrogen-producing plant would be to have a
combination of ocean current power and wave power. The buoys for the WECs will be placed sufficiently
off shore to avoid surfers, and the turbines will be placed in the way of underwater currents. Together,
these two systems should produce enough energy to power the hydrogen production plants.
Different Ways to Produce Hydrogen:
Steam Reformation:
95% of hydrogen in the U.S. is produced by taking natural gas (CH4) and reforming it, by taking high
temperature steam and using it to produce hydrogen. It is an endothermic reaction, heat and energy
must be put into the system for hydrogen to be produced.
CH4 + H2O → CO + 3 H2; + 191.7 kJ/mol
According to this reaction, it takes an input of 191.7 kJ of energy to produce 3 mols of H2 gas.
The carbon monoxide (CO) in the above reaction can be burned with water in presence of a catalyst to
obtain an additional mol of H2, and in an exothermic reaction, that releases energy.
CO + H2O → CO2 + H2; - 40.4 kJ/mol
In the end, using both of these reactions, it would take 41.25 kJs of energy per mol of H2.
Electrolysis:
Electrolysis is a method of using a high voltage to separate the elements of hydrogen and oxygen in
materials, including water.
2 H2O(l) → 2 H2(g) + O2(g); E0 = +1.229 V
According to this chemical equation it would take 1.229 Volts to separate every part of liquid water into
one part of gaseous hydrogen. The efficiency of this process is estimated to range between 50% and
75%.
It would take 40 kWh to produce one kg of hydrogen, it would take 2.4 kilograms of water to produce
that 1kg of hydrogen, based on the atomic properties of water.
A plus side to electrolysis is that only water and energy, both of which are more available at any location
compared to a biogas source or natural gas source. It is also possible to use salt-water but the process is
50% less efficient compared to the use of pure water. An alkaline electrolyzer would be the preferred
version as it does not require a precious metal (platinum) as a catalyst in the process.
Photo-biological Water Splitting
Photobiological water splitting is the use of plants such as green algae or cyanobacteria that
decompose water into H2 gas. It is a green process as the mechanism behind this is natural and organic.
Currently the drawback to this method is that it is very inefficient, at only 1-2% efficiency.
High-Temperature Water Splitting
Use of reactions that occur at a high temperature, from 500 – 200 degrees Celsius, to produce
Hydrogen. Chemicals other than water in the process are reused with each cycle, so it is an
‘environmentally’ clean process.
2ZnO + heat → 2Zn + O2
2Zn + 2H2O → 2ZnO + 2H2
In this example reaction, heat is used to dissociate zinc oxide into zinc and oxygen. When water is
introduced, another reaction undergoes to remove the oxygen from water and have H2 as a product. As
one can see, ZnO is regained during the process.
A possible method of supplying the heat into the system is through the use of solar concentrators.
After considering all of these options, we chose to go with electrolysis since our location gives us open
access to the sea. Thus, we will have a readily avaliable source of water. Also, our underwater turbines
and buoys will supply us with enough power, and thus using seawater in electrolysis will not be an issue.
Concept Generation:
Black Box Model
Following is a black box for our entire project. Given energy from the generators in the form of
electricity, we will electrolyze ocean water to produce hydrogen, compress it, and -- upon the
input from the user -- dispense it from the pump. The outputs will be some excess hydrogen in
our storage tanks.
Concepts Generated:
The following are the concepts we generated for pump designs and station layouts
Pump Design
Station Layouts
Concept Classification Trees:
Below are the concept classification trees that we came up with. This first one is of the different
ways to produce hydrogen. We considered all of these method but in the end went with
hydrolysis due to us have an abundant supply of water due to our location. This next tree focuses
on the different energy sources for production. Because of ocen currents near our location, we
chose to go with buoys and underwater turbines.
The third tree is about the different ways to produce hydrogen. In the end, we chose pipelines
because in our case, the distance from production site to dispensing site is very small. The fourth
tree is about hydrogen storage, and we had to go with of the options here because that is what Air
Products specified. Same is the case with the last tree.
Concept Combination Table:
Benchmarking:
Below is a benchmarking table, which gives a value of 5 being the most and 1 being the least. The table
clearly demonstrated that production on site is the best choice.
Table 8: Transportation Benchmarking Table
Cost
Saftey
Maintainance Required
Practicality
Efficiency
Electricity Required
Piping to Site Trucking in Gas Form Trucking in Liquid Form Production on Site
5
4
4
2
2
3
4
4
5
2
2
2
3
2
2
4
5
2
4
4
2
2
3
5
According to the table, production on site and piping to site are least costly and most practical. Thus, we
went with the two of these options.
This table shows using numbers, 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest, of how the different ways
to produce hydrogen rank in different categories.
Table 9: Ways to Produce Hydrogen Benchmarking
Green
Energy Costs
Efficiency
Research Required
Steam Reformation Electrolysis Photo-biological Water Splitting High-Temperature Water Splitting
1
4
4
4
4
2
2
3
3
3
1
4
5
5
2
1
By looking at this and the Renewable Energy Source Report seen in the rest of our report, we went with
hydrogen production via electrolysis.
Concept Selection:
Revision/ Combination of Concepts
After coming up with a variety of concepts, we trimmed some of the concepts down and
combined the rest of them into a fuel pump-station design combination. Here are the main four
designs that were combined.
A: This pump design and station design are very familiar to consumers and intuitive to use,
and additionally have the aesthetics of a European gas station pump design. The layout
here does not make efficient use of space however; the area between the “pump area” and
the store is good for traffic, but is not compact enough for a small area like Peniche.
Additionally, the gas tanks would have to be underground which is a hazard since hydrogen
explodes upwards.
B: This pump design was chosen over the circular pump design for this layout because it is,
again, easier to use. However, using a rectangular pump design with multiple circular
overhangs necessitates large circles. Also, while this is a novel layout, the layout is not
intuitive for drivers and would cause many potential traffic jams and hazards. We also again
run into the hazard of subterranean gas tanks.
C: This layout is one of the least aesthetically pleasing, but it is the most practical. Traffic
lanes are clearly defined, the gas tanks -- though not pleasing to the eye -- are above
ground and thus not a hazard, and the layout could be made on a smaller plot of land since
it more efficiently uses space. The only real fault here is that the pump design has to be a
smaller rectangular design, so the more European design and circular design cannot be
incorporated here. In this case, the pump design is the more American pump, and is quite
intuitive. It is also conducive to having recycling bins in the filling area.
D: Again, the layout chosen here was the most practical of any design. The difference
between C and D is the pump design; the pumps here are of a more retro design, but have
two flaws. First, the nozzles on the sides mean that the pump cannot be made to be
mirrored on the other side, so station capacity is essentially halved from eight cars to four.
Secondly, the nozzles on the side mean that bins cannot be placed in the filling area
between the pumps, as this would block the nozzles.
Concept Screening/Selection Tables
After the grouping of concepts, we were left with 4 main choices. To decide which one was the
best of the 4, a concept screening matrix was made. Here is the matrix.
The Concepts A, B, C, and D correspond to the ones shown previously in the Revision/
Combination of Concepts section.
As you can clearly see, Concept C scored the highest. It was the most practical, easy to use, and
the most cost efficient. Thus we decided to go with this particular design.
Layout Diagram:
After considering the positives and negatives of each of our layouts, we decided to go with the
station layout below. It was our simplest design, and each of the other three final concepts had
flaws that this one does not posess. Concept A is extremely space inefficient; it works with large
gas stations in large plots of land, but Peniche is a small peninsula. Concept B is unique but not
an intuitive design, and also fails to provide clear traffic lanes. Finally, concept D shares this
station layout but has a different pump design. That pump design, due to the nozzels being on the
sides, would make the pumps one sided, and thus halve our station’s capacity – something we
cannot afford with our space constraints.
Criteria of Company/Social Impacts
The following table shows the criteria of company. Included are the specifications that we were
required to have according to Air Products.
Table 10: Criteria of Comany
Criteria of Company:
Environmentally Friendly
Renewable Energy Source
Green Transportation Method
Non-polluting Production
Method
3 Different Pressures
Convenience Store
Window Wash
Air Pump
Intuitive Pump Design
The company criteria were satisfied by every design, so we did not have to worry about out final
design meeting the criteria of the company.However, social impacts had to be considered.
The following is a table of social impacts of our design on Peniche.
Table 11: Social Impacts
Social Impacts
Job opportunities
Increased tourism (green resort
town)
Negative Impact on Gasoline
Industry
Having hydrogen fueling stations in Peniche is bound to increase job opportunities as people will
be needed to operate the fueling stations, stores, and the production facilities. People will also be
needed for regular maintainence of all of those things. Thus, this will contribute positively to
Peniche’s economy.
Another positive impact will be increased tourism. Because of our hydrogen fueling stations,
Peniche will be qualified as a green city. Thus, it will be marketed as one when it comes to the
tourism industry. And since the trend these days is towards eco-friendly products such as
hydrogen cars and renewable energy, an eco friendly tourism destination will attract a lot of
vacationers. This will add to Peniche’s tourism even more.
There will be however, a negative impact on Peniche’s gasoline fueling stations and the gasoline
industry in general. But this is only a minor downside. This will not affect the economy overall
as the economical and social benefits of our stations will make up for this small negative aspect.
Embodiment of Design/Feasibility Analysis:
After agreeing that electrolysis would be the choice of production method, we came up with
the following specs for our fueling station. These numbers were based on the max input of
hydrogen the electrolysis plant could supply us with and the demand of hydrogen in Peniche
(the demand was based on the population and the number of cars that would be present at our
gas station at any given time period)
Component Sizes and Operating Speeds
Name
350 compressor
350 storage
350 dispensing
700 compressor
700 cooling
700 dispensing
CNG compressor
CNG storage
CNG blending
CNG dispensing
Other costs of plant
Land
Buildings
Production
Value
Units
0.055556 kg/min
120 kg
50000
20 kg/min
20 kg/min
60000
0.055556 kg/min
40 kg
0.055556 kg/min
50000
210000
351.1735 meter^2
66.89019 meter^2
240 kg/day
The 350 and CNG compressors will take from the input supply and will feed into their respective
storage tanks; as a result, the operating speeds are based on the total production of hydrogen
per day over the three stations. If no unit is listed for a component, the value is in US dollars.
Optimization
As discussed above, the 350 and CNG compressors are using operating speeds that allow them
to fully compress all of the hydrogen being pumped to the station for the lowest cost and
speed. From the storage tanks, the hydrogen goes to the 700 BAR compressor if needed. Using
the facts that there are eight stations, each car has approximately 5 kg of fuel to refuel, and
each car should take no more than 2 minutes to fuel, we determined that our 700 BAR
compressor should output 20 kg/min to again maximize cost efficiency while providing speedy
service. These are the methods we used to ensure that all of our pumps and compressors will
make full use of all of the hydrogen at their disposal for optimal cost.
NPV Model
To figure out how much this entire project will cost to implement, we made a cash flow model.
By figuring out how much each component would cost, including land, buildings, and hydrogen
production, we came with an overall estimate.
Name
350 compressor
350 storage
350 dispensing
700 compressor
700 cooling
700 dispensing
CNG compressor
CNG storage
CNG blending
CNG dispensing
Other costs of plant
Land
Buildings
Production
Units
Value
0.055556 kg/min
120 kg
50000
20 kg/min
20 kg/min
60000
0.055556 kg/min
40 kg
0.055556 kg/min
50000
210000
351.1735 meter^2
66.89019 meter^2
240 kg/day
Total:
Cost
31776.72
671881
50000
1568886
543075.9
60000
14122.98
256090.8
5296.119
50000
210000
17558.67
200670.6
254595.3
3933954
Each station would cost $4 million. With this in mind, the following graphs were made using the NPV
excel spreadsheet given to us in class. Period 4 is where most of the money will be spent since this is
when the land will be bought, production plant built, and completion of the fueling stations. After
operations begin, the hydrogen will be produced at $7/kg and will be sold to the public at $9/kg.
According to these prices, we will start making a profit starting period 19.
Cumulative Discounted Cash Flow
500000
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Cumulative $
-500000
-1000000
-1500000
-2000000
-2500000
Period
Period Cash Flow
1000000
500000
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
-500000
$ in Period
-1000000
-1500000
-2000000
-2500000
-3000000
-3500000
-4000000
Periods
Period Cash Flow
H2 City
We believe that by implementing our design, the city of Peniche will be converted into an H2
City. All of the transportation will run on the hydrogen coming out of our fueling stations.
Additionally, because this hydrogen will be produced offshore using renewable energy sources
such as the underwater turbine and the buoys mentioned earlier, everything about the project
will be green. We believe that by implementing our design, the city of Peniche will be converted
into an H2 City. All of the transportation will run on the hydrogen coming out of our fueling
stations. Additionally, because this hydrogen will be produced offshore using renewable energy
sources such as the underwater turbine and the buoys mentioned earlier, everything about the
project will be green.
We plan on having 3 fueling stations in this town. They will be spread out evenly, and
underground pipes will be supplying the hydrogen to these plants. Thus, Peniche will be
sufficiently supplied with enough hydrogen to cover all of its transportation needs.
In addition to this, we will have recycling bins present in all of our gas stations, and these will be
designed to reward people who recycle. How this works is that by recycling, customers will get
discounts on their fueling bill. The more a customer recycles, the higher the amount of the
discount will be. This will encourage customers to bring all their recyclables to the gas station,
ultimately making the city greener.
Thus, Peniche will truly be converted into an H2 city, which was the ultimate goal of this
project.
Prototype
Solidworks Model
Physical Model
References:
http://www.oceanpowertechnologies.com/power.htm
http://www.zero-pointrecovery.com/hydrogen-from-water/how-much-electricity-is-required-tocreate-the-electrolysis-necessary-to-extract-hydrogen-from-water
http://www.cleancurrent.com/powerroducers/index.htm
http://planetforlife.com/h2/h2swiss.html
http://www.ika.rwth-aachen.de/r2h/index.php/Liquid_Hydrogen_Transport_by_Truck
http://www.ika.rwth-aachen.de/r2h/index.php/Liquid_Hydrogen_Transport_by_Truck#cite_note0
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Na8jRpkPffkC&oi=fnd&pg=PA15&dq=hydroge
n+production+methods&ots=g-Ml_0DIl&sig=zJU6p0rq3EtuTTwkXEi7qzspfxQ#v=onepage&q=hydrogen%20production%20methods
&f=false
http://www.need.org/needpdf/infobook_activities/SecInfo/HydrogenS.pdf
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-tech/energy-production/oceanpower.htm
http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/tutorial_currents/
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/oceanography/wave-energy2.htm
http://www.oceanenergycouncil.com/index.php/Tidal-Energy/Tidal-Energy.html
http://ocsenergy.anl.gov/guide/current/index.cfm
http://entropyproduction.blogspot.com/2005/09/hydrogenation-through-steam-reforming.html
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells/production/photobiological.html
http://www.qsinano.com/apps_hgen.php
http://www.physorg.com/news111926048.html