Abstract
This is a communication from a case study of twelve Brazilian freight transportation railroads showing the feasibility of hydrogen-powered locomotives over diesel-powered locomotives. Load increase models are made up to 2035 to project the performance of locomotives and their impacts on these railroads. Eight types of diesel locomotives were chosen for comparison. Interesting finding is that higher specific consumption has lower capacity to haul a heavier load per unit of locomotive power. Trend lines found indicate a reduction of 48% in energy demand if hydrogen is adopted. Results suggest environmental gains, with a reduction in total emissions of 132 kt CO2/year by 2035. A variable was created (“Hydrogen Specific Consumption 4k – HSC4k”), which shows the consumption of hydrogen as a function of the distance of the section traveled and the power of the locomotive employed. The methodology proposed is replicable to any rail environment if the indicated data is available.
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