Frequently Asked Questions
What would you like to know about Hydrogen? Ask you question in the comment box below!
+ How is hydrogen made?
As of 2020, the majority of hydrogen (∼95%) is produced from fossil fuels by steam reforming of natural gas, partial oxidation of methane, and coal gasification. Other methods of hydrogen production include biomass gasification and electrolysis of water.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_production
+ What is blue or green hydrogen? What do the colors mean?
The 'color' of hydrogen is used to designate carbon intensity during the production process. There are many "colors" of hydrogen that differentiate the sources and production methods. The most commonly used terminology is grey, blue and green hydrogen, though other colors have also been used. Below is a list of commonly used colors
Grey hydrogen is the most common form and is generated from natural gas, or methane, through steam reforming.
Black or brown hydrogen uses black (bituminous) or brown (lignite) coal in the hydrogen-making process and is the most environmentally damaging as the CO2 and carbon monoxide generated during the process are not captured.
Blue hydrogen uses natural gas and involves capturing and storing the carbon generated from the steam reforming through industrial carbon capture and storage.
Green hydrogen is produced by using energy from renewable energy sources, such as solar or wind power, to split water into two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom through a process called electrolysis.
+ How much does hydrogen cost?
Our experience and sources claim hydrogen fuel costs between 5 to 20 euros per kilogram. This is excluding storage, fuel cells or generators. Check out our section on costs for more (click here).
+ Under what pressure is hydrogen stored?
Dependent on your application, hydrogen can be stored ranging from low pressure (100-200 bar) and room temperature, to high pressure (up to 750 bar for cars and 1400 bar for special cases) or even in cryogenic state (around -200 degrees Celsius and up to 1000 bar). For most applications, you can assume hydrogen is provided in 'packs' and stored under a pressure of 350 bars.
+ How does the pvT diagram look?
The full pvT diagram is shown below.
+ Where can I buy hydrogen or related products and services?
We are working on a database of hydrogen suppliers, fabricators, knowledge centers and more. For now, we have the following list of stakeholders active in hydrogen industry, mostly active in engineering and design but also fabrication and/or supply of hydrogen:
- Holthausen
- Proton Ventures
- FutureProofShipping
- Everfuel
- HSP Worldwide
- Siemens Hydrogen
- Hyzon
- Nedstack
- CMB
- 2-G Green Hydrogen Systems
- ENVIU
- Air Liquide
- Linde Gas
+ What is a fuel cell?
A fuel cell is defined as an electro-chemical cell that converts the chemical energy from a fuel type into electricity through an electro-chemical reaction with oxygen or another oxidizing agent. Usually a fuel cell uses the oxygen in the air for this reaction. A Fuel cell system is, much like a battery system, fixed to a relatively low maximum power output. In order to increase this output, the fuel cells need to be stacked in serie to increase the voltage. As shown below, fuel cells show a high conversion efficiency compared to the internal combustion engine, particularly at medium-low load. They are highly modular, making them effective almost regardless of the installed size and redundant for operational failure which is preferred for dynamic positioning. Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) and Solid Oxide fuel cells (SOFC) are identified as the most promising technologies by multiple market studies as well as DNV-GL with their fuel cell application study.
+ Can you provide more information on fuel cells?
We are working on a fuel cell overview, but below is an excerpt from one of our blogs on hydrogen crane vessels that provides an overview of a 500kWe fuel cell. Click here for the blog.
