HYDROGEN AS FUTURE FUEL

Hydrogen is seen as one of the important energy vectors of this century. Hydrogen as an
energy carrier, provides the potential for a sustainable development particularly in the
transportation sector. A hydrogen fueled engine has the potential for substantially cleaner
emissions than other internal combustion engines. Other benefits arise from the wide
flammability limits and the high flame propagation speed, both allowing better efficiency.

Hydrogen is the most plentiful and ubiquitous substance in the universe, representing
about half of all matter, and it is everywhere—in the rocks and soil, in the air and
especially in the water that covers three quarters of the globe.

Hydrogen is a gas at normal temperatures. It is highly reactive, combining

readily with a number of elements and compounds, the most familiar
example being oxygen to form water (H20). The 2H + O = H20 (hydrogen
plus oxygen equals water) combustion reaction is highly charged, explosive,
producing a great deal of heat as a by product, thus making hydrogen a true
competitor with fossil fuels as a source of power.

The same reactive quality that makes hydrogen a good fuel source, however,
also makes free hydrogen rare in nature—it is almost always found bound to
other chemicals. One of the challenges, then, of moving to a hydrogen
energy regime is to develop economical ways of freeing hydrogen from the
chemicals to which it is bonded so it can be used as a fuel, then returned to
nature.

While there are many compounds containing hydrogen and, thus, many
methods for its extraction—too many to go into here—the ideal, and certainly
most universally available source is water itself. Extracting hydrogen from
water is simple enough, in principle, through a technique known as
electrolysis in which an electrical current is passed through water breaking
down its molecules into their component hydrogen and oxygen ions, both of
which can be put to various uses.

The only problem with the water-to-water scenario is that electrolysis, at

present, is expensive—hydrogen currently costs about three times as much
as it’s fossil fuel competitors. This is mostly a problem of scale, however. As
more and more hydrogen fuel applications come on line and the demand
increases, mass produced hydrogen costs will drop. Another aspect of the
problem, though, is that the cost of electricity for electrolysis is increasing,
and most electricity, as discussed above, is produced by environmentally
degrading technologies such as coal fired and nuclear power plants or
hydroelectric dams.

The hydrogen revolution is, at the moment, at a chicken-and-egg impasse.

Other than a few well-developed, operating prototypes, there are practically
no hydrogen powered vehicles, machinery or buildings. There is therefore
little demand for hydrogen other than for industrial purposes, and it is not
available to the average consumer. On the other hand, hydrogen powered
equipment is not likely to appear until hydrogen for refueling is readily
available. If someone gave you a hydrogen car, where would you fill it up?

The big breakthrough in hydrogen fuel research and development over the
past two decades has been the development of an electric hydrogen fuel cell
engine. Internal combustion engines are still noisy, full of working parts that
can break down and limited in their scope of application—they can only get
so big or so little. Most importantly, they are of limited efficiency, converting,
at best, about 40 per cent of the fuel’s potential energy into work.

Electric HFCs have none of those limitations. Using hydrogen to generate

electricity within a box that resembles a battery, the HFC is quiet, has no
working parts and converts a whopping 60 to 80 percent of its fuel’s energy
into work. The HFC’s potential scope of application is vast, ranging from tiny
flashlight batteries to units capable of powering ships.

India’s Energy Security is Threatened by Our Dependence on Foreign Oil:

o India imports a large percent of the oil it consumes; that is expected to grow in
near future.
o Nearly all of our cars and trucks run on gasoline, and they are the main reason
India imports so much oil.

• Hydrogen fuel Will Help Ensure India’s Energy Independence:

o Through the hydrogen fuel initiative the automakers and energy companies will
work together to overcome the technological and financial barriers to the
successful development of commercially viable, emissions-free vehicles that
require no foreign oilfederal government,.
o Hydrogen is domestically available in abundant quantities as a component of
natural gas, coal, biomass, and even water.

• Fuel Cells Will Improve Air Quality and Dramatically Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions:

o Vehicles are a significant source of air pollution in India’s cities and urban areas.
Hydrogen fuel cells create electricity to power cars without any pollution and cars
using hydrogen as fuel reduce the content of harmful pollutants by large amount.
 o The hydrogen fuel initiatives may reduce India’s greenhouse gas emissions from
transportation.Other emissions reductions could be achieved by using fuel cells
in applications such as generating electricity for residential or commercial uses.

• Hydrogen is the Key to a Clean Energy Future:

o It has the highest energy content per unit of weight of any known fuel.
o When burned in an engine, hydrogen produces effectively zero emissions; when
powering a fuel cell, its only waste is water.
o Hydrogen can be produced from abundant domestic resources including natural
gas, coal, biomass, and even water.
o Combined with other technologies such as carbon capture and storage,
renewable energy and fusion energy, fuel cells could make an emissions-free
energy future possible.