Advancements in hydrogen production, storage, distribution and refuelling for a sustainable transport sector: Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles

Abstract

Hydrogen is considered as a promising fuel in the 21st century due to zero tailpipe CO2 emissions from hydrogen-powered vehicles. The use of hydrogen as fuel in vehicles can play an important role in decarbonising the transport sector and achieving net-zero emissions targets. However, there exist several issues related to hydrogen production, efficient hydrogen storage system and transport and refuelling infrastructure, where the current research is focussing on. This study critically reviews and analyses the recent technological advancements of hydrogen production, storage and distribution technologies along with their cost and associated greenhouse gas emissions. This paper also comprehensively discusses the hydrogen refuelling methods, identifies issues associated with fast refuelling and explores the control strategies. Additionally, it explains various standard protocols in relation to safe and efficient refuelling, analyses economic aspects and presents the recent technological advancements related to refuelling infrastructure. This study suggests that the production cost of hydrogen significantly varies from one technology to others. The current hydrogen production cost from fossil sources using the most established technologies were estimated at about $0.8–$3.5/kg H2, depending on the country of production. The underground storage technology exhibited the lowest storage cost, followed by compressed hydrogen and liquid hydrogen storage. The levelised cost of the refuelling station was reported to be about $1.5–$8/kg H2, depending on the station's capacity and country. Using portable refuelling stations were identified as a promising option in many countries for small fleet size low-to-medium duty vehicles. Following the current research progresses, this paper in the end identifies knowledge gaps and thereby presents future research directions.