LTS: It is no coincidence that Australian Prime Minister John Howard, host of this year’s APEC summit, has made climate change (from emissions) the main topic. It is also not for show that since 2003, U.S. President George W. Bush decided to invest in a new energy source: hydrogen, prompting major automobile manufacturers worldwide to dive into this field. A new vision not only in the energy sector…
A new energy source is hydrogen (H2). Hydrogen is a gas with the highest combustion temperature of all natural fuels and has been used as fuel for spacecraft. An important characteristic of hydrogen is that its molecules do not contain any other chemical elements, such as carbon (C), sulfur (S), or nitrogen (N), so its combustion products are only water (H2O), making it an ideal clean fuel.
What is Hydrogen Fuel?
Hydrogen fuel is a non-emitting fuel produced by burning pure hydrogen gas in the air.
Hydrogen – An Endless and Environmentally Friendly Energy Source
Hydrogen is a safe fuel source that does not pose any environmental hazards to humans, unlike nuclear energy, which has caused numerous radiation leaks in recent years.
The Honda FCX (2006) hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. (Photo: Automobilemag)
Incidents such as the radiation leak on March 28, 1979, at the Three Mile Island plant (Pennsylvania, USA); the nuclear reactor explosion on April 26, 1986, at the Chernobyl plant (Ukraine, former USSR); and the incident on September 30, 1999, that infected 119 people with radiation at the Tokaimura nuclear fuel recycling plant (Ibaraki, Japan) highlight these risks. Additionally, the water and steam pipe burst on August 9, 2004, at the Mihama nuclear power plant (Fukui, Japan) resulted in the deaths of five workers.
Another fire occurred at this plant in 2006. Most recently, after the 6.8 magnitude Chuetsu earthquake on July 16, 2007, a serious leak was reported at the Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power plant (Niigata, Japan), the largest in the world.
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Hydrogen fuel cell (Photo: TTO) |
Around 400 barrels of nuclear waste were compromised, with some radioactive liquids leaking into the ocean, forcing the plant to close for at least a year for inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Additionally, there are many other serious issues related to nuclear waste, the risk of nuclear materials falling into the hands of terrorists, and conflicts over the monopoly of nuclear technology held by a few countries against the push to break this monopoly.
Hydrogen – An Endless Energy Source
Hydrogen is produced from water and solar energy, which is why it is also called solar hydrogen. Water and sunlight are abundant and available everywhere on the planet. The solar energy provided by nature is generous and eternal, approximately 3×1024 J/day, or about 104 times the total energy consumed globally each year. Therefore, solar hydrogen is an endless fuel source, ensuring energy security for humanity without the fear of depletion, preventing energy crises, and guaranteeing energy independence for every country, with no nation monopolizing or competing for hydrogen resources as has occurred with fossil fuels.
To obtain hydrogen from solar energy, there are two production methods: water electrolysis using solar energy through solar cells and photoelectrochemical water splitting with solar radiation in the presence of a photocatalyst. In both methods, the reaction occurs as follows:
H2O -> H2 + 1/2O2
Since 1960, General Electric has produced hydrogen fuel cell power systems for NASA’s Apollo spacecraft, later used for Apollo-Soyuz, Skylab, and Space Shuttle missions. Today, the electrical power in NASA’s space shuttles and research stations is supplied by fuel cells because hydrogen and oxygen are carried onboard. Interestingly, fuel cells not only provide electricity but also ultra-pure drinking water for astronauts, as water is the waste product of hydrogen fuel cells.
Hydrogen Replacing Gasoline in Transportation
Many hydrogen-powered vehicles and hybrid cars, which combine hydrogen internal combustion engines with electric motors, are now available, collectively known as Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEV) from renowned car manufacturers like Honda, Ford, and Mercedes Benz, showcased at international auto exhibitions.
Japan announced that in 2008, generations of ZEVs would emerge, including the Toyota Prius, Toyota Camry Hybrid, Ford Escape Hybrid, and Honda Insight. As of April 2007, there were 200 hydrogen-powered cars and buses operating in the U.S. Recently, a test journey across Australia covering about 4,000 km with a hydrogen fuel vehicle showed that it could safely travel anywhere without gasoline and without emitting harmful pollutants.
Hydrogen Replacing Fossil Fuels for Electricity Generation
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Hydrogen fuel cell block installed on a car (Photo: TTO) |
Hydrogen is used to generate electricity instead of fossil fuels, achieved through fuel cells. Fuel cells operate inversely to the hydrogen production process; that is, if water is used as a raw material and energy is supplied, hydrogen and oxygen are produced. Conversely, if hydrogen and oxygen are combined under certain conditions, water and corresponding energy, which is electricity, are generated.
Fuel cells are open systems; when hydrogen and oxygen are continuously supplied, water and electricity are produced continuously at a steady rate, lasting as long as hydrogen and oxygen are available. Thus, fuel cells act as true electricity generators with hydrogen and atmospheric oxygen as raw materials, with the only waste being water.
There will be no need for generators, massive turbines, moving parts, noise, or emissions. Electricity from hydrogen fuel cells can be produced anywhere, at any capacity, from a few watts to hundreds of kilowatts or hundreds of megawatts for various needs, from remote areas to power stations, skyscrapers, and cities, without requiring large power plants and centralized electricity grids. Consumers can produce their own electricity. Generating electricity with hydrogen fuel cells will break the monopoly in electricity production and distribution.
The hydrogen economy will replace the fossil fuel economy: a revolution in energy is being realized.
Hydrogen and fuel cells are key to addressing atmospheric pollution and global climate change – a concern for the entire world today due to fossil fuel usage.
A hydrogen economy will emerge similar to the oil and gas economy, necessitating fundamental changes to the infrastructure of the fossil fuel economy and human activities. The way we produce this new energy source will no longer be about exploration, extraction; instead, the methods of storing, transporting, and supplying hydrogen for consumption needs will require restructuring and building new infrastructure. Engines will be designed based on new principles suitable for hydrogen energy, certainly different from gasoline and diesel engines.
Technical standards, safety regulations, and legal rules for using new energy sources will need to be rebuilt. Educational and training efforts, as well as scientific research serving the hydrogen economy, will require new content and infrastructure that are completely different from the current fossil fuel economy. Environmental issues caused by the use of hydrogen energy will no longer be a wasteful topic for research and labor for scientists, nor will they be the focus of endless international conferences on global climate change as seen with fossil fuel usage.
All these changes indicate that this is indeed a profound revolution in the development process of human society, and it has been assessed to be as significant as the previous industrial revolution, which was marked by the invention of the steam engine utilizing coal as fuel.
Oil and Gas Are Not Infinite Today, few people think about the possibility of being “stuck in one place” due to a lack of gasoline! However, according to the latest assessments, the total reserves of fossil energy sources, including oil, natural gas, and coal worldwide, are currently equivalent to approximately 1,279 Gtce (Gigatonnes Coal Equivalent, equivalent to 1 billion tons of coal). In this total, oil accounts for about 329 Gtce, natural gas approximately 198 Gtce, and coal around 697 Gtce. Thus, if we continue to extract and use these resources at the current rates of 5.5 Gtce/year for oil, 3.0 Gtce/year for natural gas, and 4.1 Gtce/year for coal, the remaining fossil resources would only suffice for 42 years for oil, 65 years for natural gas, and 170 years for coal; this does not account for the ever-increasing energy demands year on year, meaning the actual remaining time will be even shorter than predicted. Oil and Gas Are Not Harmless The characteristic of fossil resources is that their chemical composition contains elements such as carbon (C), hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), nitrogen (N), and sulfur (S). Notably, coal may also contain radioactive elements such as uranium (U) and thorium (Th). When burned, coal releases a significant amount of radioactive substances into the atmosphere. In the year 2000 alone, approximately 12,000 tons of thorium and 5,000 tons of uranium were released worldwide. Utilizing these fossil resources in the form of fuel has left humanity and our planet with enormous consequences. |
Dr. TRAN MANH TRUNG
