(FCH-01-8-2020) - SCALE-UP AND DEMONSTRATION OF INNOVATIVE HYDROGEN COMPRESSOR TECHNOLOGY FOR FULL-SCALE HYDROGEN REFUELLING STATION
Call: FCH2 JU call for proposals 2020 EU
Topic description
Specific Challenge:
Hydrogen compression remains a major bottleneck in the development of the refuelling infrastructure for H2 mobility. The need for reliable and low-cost compression solutions are considered therefore strategically important as the economy prepares for large scale deployment of hydrogen technologies, including heavy-duty applications. Currently used piston or membrane compressors are noisy, require high maintenance, have substantial downtime and have a large footprint.
In the frame of already supported FCH 2 JU projects [46] (PHAEDRUS, Don Quichote, H2Ref, COSMHYC XL), innovative compression solutions have been identified and technologies were advanced to TRL 5. These include electrochemical and metal hydride compressors, as well as a combination of conventional and innovative compression technologies into integrated solutions. There is a need now to test these concepts on reliability in a full-size scale HRS. Scale up to economically viable level as measured in total cost of ownership, hydrogen quality in compliance with fuel cell grade hydrogen purity and convincing demonstration of these technologies are the challenges to meet in order for them to become ready for market entry.
Alternative hydrogen compressor technologies could remove the typical disadvantages of current mechanical compressors like high maintenance/down time, therefore high operational cost and high noise levels. Innovative H2 compressor technology development could reduce the HRS cost and footprint while increasing its reliability.
[46] https://www.fch.europa.eu/page/fch-ju-projects
Scope:This topic calls for a scale up through standardization of design, allowing easy maintenance, demonstration and proof of sufficient availability and lifetime of an innovative, low noise compressor system applied in a hydrogen refuelling station with a renewable hydrogen source that can be built close to residential areas, ready for market entry towards the end of the project.
The project should develop an end-user specification of the innovative compressor system designed for HRS followed by construction, commissioning, qualification and certification - therefore resulting in a demonstration of a more than 200 kg H2/day standardized, containerized hydrogen compressor system in a hydrogen refuelling station;. This could be based on one single innovative hydrogen compression technology or on a combination of innovative compression technology with a conventional compression technology, for the purpose of reliability and reduced investment and operating cost.
It is expected at least 1 year of testing under real operating conditions, serving a fleet of passenger vehicles, refuelling at 700bar at a designed compressor system scale of minimum 200 kg H2/day.
The project should explicitly identify and motivate the selected site in EU where the H2 compressor technology will be applied for refueling.
The project may have limited focus (and related limited funding) on activities regarding the construction of a new HRS or the adaptation of an existing HRS.
Techno-economic analysis throughout and at the end of the project should assess market readiness and show the feasibility of future scale up of the new developed compressor technology to a level of 2,000 kg H2/day, including ambitious KPI targets for CAPEX, maintenance and efficiency. Lifetime assessment through accelerated stress testing and theoretical model extrapolation is expected to allow for lifetime indication of the compressor technology.
The project should include an assessment of the output hydrogen purity, proving that the innovative compressor technology does not introduce impurities harmful to any fuel cell, maintaining 99.999% hydrogen purity, or perform a risk assessment on hydrogen purity, aiming for SAE J2719/ISO 14687-2/3 (5N) standard for fuel cell grade hydrogen.
TRL at start of the project: 5 and TRL at the end of the project: 7.
Any safety-related event that may occur during execution of the project shall be reported to the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) dedicated mailbox JRC-PTT-H2SAFETY@ec.europa.eu , which manages the European hydrogen safety reference database, HIAD and the Hydrogen Event and Lessons LEarNed database, HELLEN. A draft safety plan at project level should be provided in the proposal and further updated during project implementation (deliverable to be reviewed by the European Hydrogen Safety Panel (EHSP)).
“CertifHy Green H2“ guarantees of origin should be used through the CertifHy platform [47] to ensure that the hydrogen produced and dispensed at the HRS is of renewable nature.
The maximum FCH 2 JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 3 million. This is an eligibility criterion – proposals requesting FCH 2 JU contribution above this amount will not be evaluated.
Expected duration: 3 years
Expected Impact:Innovative H2 compressor technology development should demonstrate how will reduce the HRS cost and footprint while increasing its reliability for a cost-effective compression towards the 2024 targets.
The improvements of the innovative hydrogen compressor technology as demonstrated in a full-scale HRS, should have the following expected impacts:
- System scale: >200 kg H2/day with proof of feasibility of scale-up to 2,000 kg H2/day;
- Pressure range from <6 bar to 950 bar output pressure;
- Energy demand: <6 kWh/kg H2 (from very low pressure to 950 bar) and <4 kWh/kg H2 (typical storage pressure 50-100 to 950 bar);
- Availability compressor system >98%;
- Extrapolated lifetime: >20,000 hrs at a refuelling frequency of 30 person-vehicles per day;
- Degradation of the compressor flow rate at constant energy demand of less than 1% per year;
- Demonstration of future compressor CAPEX <1000 EUR/(kg H2/day) for small series compressor production at a projected scale of 2,000 kg H2/day;
- 30% reduction of Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) compared to conventional mechanical compression technology;
- Compliance with SAE-J2601 standard [48] on refuelling (time) and with refuelling profiles as defined in the H2 Mobility program/projects [49] and any protocols that will be defined in due time, included those to be developed for heavy-duty trucks by the future project under ongoing H2020-JTI-FCH-2019-1 call.
The conditions related to this topic are provided in the chapter 3.3 of the FCH2 JU 2020 Annual Work Plan and in the General Annexes to the Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2018– 2020 which apply mutatis mutandis.
[48] https://www.sae.org/standards/content/j2601_201003/
[49] https://www.fch.europa.eu/page/transport#H2ME // https://www.fch.europa.eu/page/transport#H2ME%202