Featured EU, Japan, US agree to cooperate on Hydrogen

Also: Hydrogen Gas Explosion and Fire at Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. in Santa Clara - The Silicon Valley Voice

Early interviews with Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. employees indicated that “a hydrogen tanker truck was being fueled and a leak occurred,” according to Drew Miller, Battalion Chief for Santa Clara Fire Department, in a press conference Saturday evening.

“When the shutdown of the tanker truck that was being fueled occurred, an explosion resulted,” said Miller.

According to Miller, the explosion damaged the emergency shutoff panel and valve near the tanker. Workers were able to shut off two valves but couldn’t shut off the valve near the original tanker truck. The tanker caught on fire, which spread to other tankers nearby. Only some tankers in the fueling area were affected and the fire didn’t spread beyond that area.​

The effects: Hydrogen supply pinch affects San Francisco fuel-cell drivers

As of Wednesday night, 9 out of the 11 passenger-vehicle hydrogen stations in the Bay Area were down due to a hydrogen shortage—a status that remained the same going back to Monday. An explosion on Saturday, June 1, at a facility owned and operated by the chief hydrogen supplier for the region, Air Products and Chemicals Inc., is related to that shortage.

This is a critical issue for drivers of fuel-cell vehicles as they rely on the (very limited) hydrogen infrastructure. If that infrastructure goes down, drivers are simply out of luck.

Those with battery electric vehicles, on the other hand, have options. If they can’t charge up at home, they can fast-charge along the way, or connect to a Level 2 AC charge point at work or while shopping—or as a backup, at pretty much any AC socket along the way if they’re willing to wait all day or overnight.​

Bob Wilson

 

I picked up a copy of "The Future of Hydrogen - Seizing today's opportunities" Report prepared by the IEA for the G20, Japan.

1. Make industrial ports the nerve centers for scaling up the use of clean hydrogen.
2. Build on existing infrastructure, such as millions of kilometers of natural gas pipelines.
3. Expand hydrogen in transport through fleets, freight and corridors.
4. Launch the hydrogen trade's first international shipping routes.

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That will make the car makers of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles very happy. Other great comments in the report:

Demand for hydrogen in its pure form is around 70 million tonnes per year (MtH2/yr). This hydrogen is almost entirely supplied from fossil fuels, with 6% of global natural gas and 2% of global coal going to hydrogen production.1 As a consequence, production of hydrogen is responsible for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of around 830 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year (MtCO2/yr), equivalent to the CO2 emissions of Indonesia and the United Kingdom combined. In energy terms, total annual hydrogen demand worldwide is around 330 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe), larger than the primary energy supply of Germany.​

Bob Wilson

 

they should cooperate by telling automakers no, and pushing large vehicle research