Fueling Infrastructure Research Articles

Collaborative governance platforms and outcomes: An analysis of Clean Cities coalitions

AbstractCollaborative efforts across sectors, scales, and government levels have been effective in addressing the goals to reduce petroleum use and mitigate environmental issues in the U.S. While community contexts shape local collaborative governance, diverse local interests do not necessarily translate into collaborations without proper facilitating efforts. This study expands the theoretical discussion on the concept of collaborative platforms, which is understudied despite their wide use as a governance instrument to catalyze local collaboration. Specifically, the way platforms mediate to create local collaborations among diverse local‐level interests and improve outcomes has not been studied much to date. Using data on the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Cities program to promote local collaborative governance related to alternative fuels, this paper examines the way collaborative platforms create, scale, and affect the outcome of supplying alternative fueling infrastructure. The results of multi‐level mixed‐effects models indicate that the collaborative platform integrates local interests to create and scale local collaboration, and achieves better outcomes leveraging local interests.

Private Sector Engagement in the Self-Governance of Urban Sustainable Infrastructure: A Study on Alternative Fueling Infrastructure in the United States

Greenhouse gas emission reduction and decarbonization goals drive citizens’ interests in alternative fuel vehicles and have created fast-growing demands on alternative fuels. While governments are promoting the transition to alternative fuel vehicles, the lack of refueling and recharging infrastructure for the vehicles is a key barrier to the adoption. At the same time, the public sector cannot solely provide needed alternative fueling infrastructure due to limited financial resources. Consequently, governments in the U.S. have been working on facilitating the private sector’s investment in alternative fueling infrastructure. The most common approach was financial incentive programs and policies, but the U.S. also promotes self-organized collaborative governance of alternative fuels across sectors at the local level. This paper asks whether these two approaches stimulate the private sector’s engagement in providing alternative fueling infrastructure. This study uses the case of the Clean Cities program that targets the reduction in petroleum usage, adoption of alternative fuels and creation of self-governance at the local level. Local private businesses, local government agencies and non-profit organizations voluntarily participate in the local transition to alternative fuels. Therefore, this governance aims at facilitating more sustainable actions and business choices in the private sector. This paper tests the hypotheses of whether the local self-governance of Clean Cities increases privately-owned alternative fueling infrastructure using panel fixed-effects Poisson regression models. Based on the data of counties in 12 states from 2004 to 2015, the results of empirical analysis suggest that both self-governance and financial incentive programs are effective in increasing the engagement of private actors in providing alternative fueling infrastructure.

A Study on the Priority of Advancing Hydrogen Fueling Infrastructure Using AHP

In this study, the solution to the problems raised in the hydrogen industry infrastructure construction was considered using the AHP analysis. This research model divided the major decision-making issues of hydrogen infrastructure construction into seven and evaluated the importance and priority of detailed items for each decision-making issue. The result of the analysis indicated that locations near existing gas stations were suitable for installing hydrogen refueling stations. To expand the supply of hydrogen refueling stations, safety concerns and acceptability of the refueling stations were evaluated as the biggest problems to be solved. It was evaluated that the location near the new mass demand was the most suitable location of the hydrogen production facility. Expanding public service advertisements related to hydrogen safety was found to be an appropriate technique for raising public awareness for the expansion of hydrogen infrastructure construction. Insufficient hydrogen infrastructure was evaluated as the most important factor for expanding the hydrogen industry ecosystem in Korea. Therefore, to expand the construction of hydrogen infrastructure, in addition to the subsidies for hydrogen vehicles, support policies from the government that guarantee a certain rate of return on the operation of hydrogen infrastructure facilities are necessary.

Electrochemically-Rechargeable Liquids in Highly Flexible Energy Storage Systems

Hydrogen and electricity are expected to be the two major energy carriers of the future. Unfortunately, neither can be stored as an ambient-temperature liquid, which is the ideal energy-carrier medium. H2 can be used in a wide variety of both stationary and transportation applications, as envisioned by DOE’s H2@Scale program[1]. Although DOE has not yet established targets for stationary H2 storage, the key metrics for an “ideal hydrogen carrier” are[2]: liquid at all operating temperatures, high energy density, efficient conversions at relatively benign conditions, long cycle life, compatible with existing infrastructure for fuels, low cost, and safety (toxicological and eco-toxicological). Electrochemically-rechargeable liquids (ERLs) that can be charged using either electrical and/or hydrogen energy, which can also produce H2 or electricity on demand, can enable highly flexible energy-storage systems that may potentially be used for both stationary and transportation applications. In short, an ERL can provide essential “energy-banker services” by simultaneously converting and storing these two major “energy currencies” of the future in a single aqueous liquid. These systems can also be readily scaled up or scaled down.This talk will present an overview of potentially attractive ERL options, which can include conventional liquid-organic hydrogen carriers (i.e., LOHCs, such as organics that are liquids at room temperature, like methylcyclohexane), as well as aqueous solutions (e.g., diluted alcohols) or dissolved solids (e.g., redox-flow-battery electrolytes)[3]. A variety of ERL conversion system options shall also be presented, which includes combinations of the configurations shown in Fig. 1. The current status of this technology shall be briefly reviewed, including a summary of the key technical barriers, as well as some enabling concepts to potentially address each of these challenges. A perspective on potentially attractive end uses for ERLs shall be included, along with some recommendations on key performance indicators (KPIs) for ERLs in these applications. [1] B. Pivovar, N. Rustagi, and S. Satyapal, ECS Interface, 27 (2018) 47. [2] T. Autry and M. Bowden, “HyMARC; H2 Carriers for Bulk H2 Storage & Transport,” HFTO Annual Merit Review slides, ST204 (2020). [3] M. L. Perry & Z. Yang, J. Electrochem. Soc., 166 (2019) A3045. Figure 1

Impact of catalyst loading, ionomer content, and carbon support on the performance of direct isopropanol fuel cells

Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers (LOHC) offer a promising solution for hydrogen storage in the existing infrastructure for conventional fuels. Within this framework, the isopropanol/acetone couple as a light-LOHC system is used to generate electricity in a direct isopropanol fuel cell (DIFC). This work focuses on the impact of catalyst loading, ionomer content and catalyst support on the performance of DIFCs. We achieve a performance rise from 95 mW cm -2 to 219 mW cm -2 under air operation by increasing the anode catalyst loading from 0.5 mg cm -2 to 4 mg cm -2 , which can be attributed to the increased abundance of active catalyst sites with higher loadings. In contrast, we find that the cathode loading for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) plays a minor role in the performance of DIFCs. Therefore, the cathode loading can be minimized to decrease the total amount of platinum-group metals and, consequently, to save cost. It was also found that an ionomer content of 30% on the anode side is optimal. Additionally, different carbon supports were investigated, where advanced high surface area carbon support showed superior performance to Vulcan with an increase of 20% in power density, motivating the development of new carbon supports for DIFCs. • PtRu catalyst loading on the anode is critical for the performance of direct isopropanol fuel cells. • Cathode Pt loading plays a minor role and can be reduced or even exchanged with PGM-free ORR catalysts. • An ionomer content of 30 wt% (I/C 1.07) is optimal for the anode catalyst layer. • Advanced high surface area carbon support leads to record-high power densities with 259 mW cm −2 at 0.55 V and air operation. • Dynamic operation reveals the potential of isopropanol oxidation without catalyst poisoning.

Environmental Issues of European Cargo Ports

Sea ports and the shipping industry are crucial elements of the international supply chain. Over the last years there has been a growing awareness on the environmental impact of port operations and development. The development of port industry can have a substantial environmental impact. Sustainability is expressed in economic, environmental, and social dimension. The major impacts are on air pollution and especially greenhouse gas emission, the water pollution and the health effects. International policy instruments and governments are crucial factors defining the actions of ports, which are expected to enhance environmental management and reduce the harm of shipping activities. This paper focuses on the environmental dimension and the attempts to reduce the GHG emissions in line with the Paris Agreement and the 2030 UN SDGs. The attention of European Union regulatory environmental framework is laid in the reduction in the sulphur content of certain liquid fuels, the framework for port reception facilities for the delivery of waste from ships, and the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure. The European Green Deal aims to a 90% reduction in the transport emissions by 2050.

Discourses about EU Transport Decarbonisation: Towards a Paradigm Shift?

ABSTRACT The development and introduction of new technologies are central to achieving sustainable transitions. Policymakers are important in enabling a successful transition. However, discourses about EU transport decarbonisation reveal multiple policy approaches to technology innovation, both in terms of decarbonising the car and building new alternative fuels infrastructure for transport. A discursive institutionalist analysis of these two separate but interdependent communicative discourses on road transport decarbonisation shows the complexities of facilitating transformative change. This shift requires coordination at all levels involving different actors and sector coupling to successfully decarbonise road transport.

An edge scanning method for the continuous deviation‐flow refueling station location problem on a general network

AbstractThis study addresses the continuous deviation‐flow refueling station location problem on a general network. Instead of having a finite number of candidate locations, we consider any point in the network as a candidate location. In addition, vehicles are allowed to deviate from their prescribed (shortest) paths to refuel. At the beginning, we focus on the location of a single refueling facility, which is a relevant problem in the initial stages of development of a refueling infrastructure for alternative fuels in a transportation network. The objective is to maximize the traffic flow covered (in roundtrips per time unit). We propose an exact algorithm that determines the endpoints of all refueling segments on each edge of the network that cover the corresponding origin–destination flows. Then, the set with the best endpoints is shown to be optimal and can be used to determine the entire set of optimal locations. Network reduction rules and a network decomposition procedure are also discussed to reduce the size of the problem and improve the computational efficiency. Later, the entire set of endpoints is used in a set covering model to locate multiple refueling stations under the assumption that every vehicle only needs to refuel once on each way of the round trip. Moreover, we limit the allowed refueling deviation distance from the shortest path. Finally, a numerical example is provided to illustrate the proposed methodology.

A System to Enable Mixing Controlled Combustion With High Octane Fuels Using a Prechamber and High-Pressure Direct Injector

The demand for transportation energy is growing and thus improving the efficiency and reducing the pollutant emissions from this energy sector is critical. Transportation has historically been powered by the internal combustion engine (ICE). Many alternative technologies are being evaluated to replace the ICE, such as hydrogen fuel cells and battery electrics. These technologies appear attractive at the vehicle-level but have many challenges regarding life cycle emissions and lack of infrastructure. A more pragmatic approach would be to use the current liquid fuels infrastructure with cleaner burning, renewable fuels that have the potential to be carbon neutral, such as low carbon alcohols (e.g., methanol, ethanol, propanol, and butanol). These alternative fuels tend to have a high-octane number, making them great candidates for conventional spark ignition (SI) engines. However, SI engines are plagued by several challenges when it comes to high load operation, such as pre-ignition, knock-limited peak torque, poor snap torque response, high levels of cyclic variability, and sensitivity to varying fuel properties. The objective of this research is to develop a technology that will allow high octane fuels to be utilized in engines and utilize robust mixing controlled combustion. The proposed technology is a system which utilizes an active prechamber in the shape of an annulus and a high-pressure direct fuel injector. The active prechamber and the high-pressure direct injector use the same liquid fuel, which could be any fuel that has relatively high volatility and high resistance to autoignition (i.e., high-octane number). The active prechamber is fired late in the compression stroke and hot jet flames are ejected from the prechamber. These jets ignite the direct injected fuel sprays near top dead center, establishing a mixing controlled combustion event. This will allow for robust operation across the full engine operating space with clean burning renewable fuels, without the shortcomings of SI engines regarding knock-limited operation and part load efficiency.

Life cycle assessment of fuel cell systems for light duty vehicles, current state-of-the-art and future impacts

Electric vehicles are a key technology for achieving a significant reduction of greenhouse gas directly emitted by the fleet of light duty vehicles. In the past, the production impacts of alternative vehicle technologies have been widely assessed within the life cycle assessment framework, with large uncertainties regarding fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). FCEVs allow an almost double driving range with a single charge or refill of the tank and more than ten times the fueling/charging rate compared to batteries. However, FCEVs currently suffer from two major issues, lack of widespread fueling infrastructure coverage and high production costs, compared to the well-established Li-ion batteries. Furthermore, the data used for life cycle assessments of the technology should be constantly updated, as their technological development is rapidly moving forward. In this regard, an early detection of the likely environmental impacts from this fast development is fundamental to guide the progress of the technology.In this study we perform a life cycle assessment of a fuel cell system for FCEV currently on the market. We found that the production of the tanks, the catalyst and the fuel cell auxiliaries are the components with lower environmental performance of the system, across all the investigated impact categories. Currently, the production of a fuel cell system with a net power output of 80 kW, and two storage tanks with a total capacity of 5 kg of H2, generates approximately 5 ton CO2-eq. In addition, in line with the targets set by the US Department of Energy, we performed an assessment of the prospective technological developments to identify its future impact. In the assessed prospective scenarios, we analyzed the effects of the technical improvements, and we subsequently combined them with the use of a higher share of renewable energy sources and secondary platinum. In essence, the technology shows potential reduction of the environmental footprints ranging from 25% to 70%, depending on the impact category. However, to achieve these results, the combination of renewable energy sources and a high learning rate must take place.

High performance direct organic fuel cell using the acetone/isopropanol liquid organic hydrogen carrier system

Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier (LOHC) systems offer a very interesting option for hydrogen storage in the existing infrastructure for common fuels. Technically most attractive is the direct use of LOHC-bound hydrogen in a low-temperature PEM fuel cell. Here, the isopropanol/acetone LOHC system is suggested to produce electricity from a condensable liquid without CO2 emissions. A high-performance direct isopropanol fuel cell using a vaporizer and a commercial fuel cell test system is demonstrated. For the first time backpressure is used to enhance the performance. The self-fabricated GDEs combined with a Nafion composite membrane achieved a power density of 203 mW cm−2 for Isopropanol/Air operation at 300 kPa absolute and 85 °C. By increasing the operation temperature to 100 °C a peak power density of 254 mW cm−2 is achieved, exceeding the highest reported values for isopropanol fuel cells operated with air by over 80%. The observed increase in performance can be attributed to the higher reaction rate of the electrooxidation of isopropanol at the anode side during pressurized conditions and to the reduced acetone-poisoning of the Pt-Ru catalyst at elevated temperatures.

CO2-to-Fuels Renewable Gasoline and Jet Fuel Can Soon Be Price Competitive with Fossil Fuels

Download : Download high-res image (69KB) Download : Download full-size image Rob McGinnis, PhD, is an inventor and entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of Prometheus, a company that is developing technology to remove carbon dioxide from the air and turn it into fuels. He previously founded Mattershift, where he developed large-scale carbon nanotube membranes. Rob was previously founder of Oasys Water, a company focused on developing forward osmosis technologies for water purification. Rob received his PhD in Engineering from Yale University.

Comparing the Levelized Cost of Returned Energy (LCORE) Values for Hydrogen-Based Conversion Pathways and Batteries

A method for analyzing the levelized cost of conversion, storage, and return of input energy as an end product net of losses with a zero cost of input energy, termed the levelized cost of returned energy (LCORE), is introduced and applied uniformly to compare the net conversion and storage costs of various renewable electrolysis technologies and hydrogen end-uses with battery and flow-battery energy storage technologies. The LCORE methodology accounts for capital costs, financing costs, operation and maintenance costs, energy efficiency of each step, technology lifetime, and replacement costs. Results show that the most valuable use of the renewable hydrogen is as fuel for fuel cell electric vehicles, although the costs of the hydrogen fueling infrastructure are estimated to be high using the existing paradigm of trucking, compression, and dispensing (adding more than $7/kilogram to the price of hydrogen). Importantly, the analyses show that the range of costs for pathways that produce hydrogen by electrolysis from renewable generation and return it to the electric grid using the natural gas system to transport the hydrogen to an existing combined cycle plant to produce the electricity have costs of $76–$210/MWh. These costs are directly competitive with battery energy storage pathways at $51–$150/MWh while also providing energy storage over durations as long as months, durations that are that are not technically feasible for many battery technologies due to charge leakage.

Insights for Industry 4.0 Applications into a Hydrogen Advanced Mobility

The present paper aims to investigate the integration of a hydrogen fueling infrastructure and a hydrogen advanced mobility system, such as a fuel cell hybrid tram for a new tramway route. A mathematical model has been formalized and implemented in order to analyze the key elements of such integrated energy system. The model is used to carry out a sensitive analysis to investigate the system response to different passengers numbers and journey speed, monitoring the hydrogen daily consumption, the station energy consumption and the overall system efficiency. Results have been used as a support to provide insights on potential interconnections with Industry 4.0 applications.

Optimal allocation of electric vehicle charging stations in a highway network: Part 1. Methodology and test application

Abstract Gradual electrification is widely considered as a feasible strategy for reducing the oil dependency and CO2 emissions of road transportation. In chase of these aims increasing importance has been attributed to Electric Vehicles (EVs). Although the European Commission has strongly supported sustainable mobility initiatives in recent years, with the purpose of decarbonizing road transport and mitigating urban air pollution, results are below expectations. Among the initiatives that can be implemented the most important is certainly the use of electric vehicles on a large scale but it will be necessary, in parallel, to plan an appropriate system of infrastructures that will be able to support the expansion. In this paper a methodology to provide optimal locations of electric vehicle infrastructures in a highway network is proposed. The procedure can also be used to support the implementation of the DAFI (Directive on the Deployment of Alternative Fuels Infrastructure). The goal is to estimate the basic number of charging stations and determine their correct allocation on the road network by analyzing the supply and demand and considering the psychological component of the driver. In Part 1, the subject of this research article, a model is presented to detect how many charging infrastructures are required within the service areas and to identify their location. After the description of the solution algorithm, a test application is performed in order to assess model and technique. With the aim of analysing a high-level system, the model will be used, in Part 2 of the work, to calculate and distribute the charging point on the Italian case study.

A comparison of alternative vehicle fueling infrastructure scenarios

The evolution of alternative vehicles is leading to an evolution in fuel, from electricity to hydrogen, and the associated fueling infrastructure. Using California as an example and a variety of tools (e.g., vehicle and electric grid simulation, travel surveys, census data, and GIS analyses), fueling supply chain and dispensing scenarios are evaluated and compared for conventional internal combustion vehicles (ICVs), vehicles bridging from conventional to alternative vehicles such as hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), and alternative vehicles including battery electric vehicles (BEVs), fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), and plug-in fuel cell electric vehicles (PFCEVs). When assessed for a 2050 timeframe, PFCEVs require less electric infrastructure compared to BEVs, and less hydrogen infrastructure compared to FCEVs. In addition, until 100% zero-emission fuel supply chains are achieved, PFCEVs reduce GHG and CAP emissions to a greater extent than BEVs and FCEVs.

Optimal allocation of electric vehicle charging stations in a highway network: Part 2. The Italian case study

Abstract After introducing the methodology in the first part of the article, in this Part 2 the algorithm is applied to calculate and identify the optimal positions of the charging stations for electric vehicles in the Italian highway network. The main objective is to map the infrastructural needs of the country using the information acquired from the most recent data base. The results can also be used to facilitate the application of the Directive on the Deployment of Alternative Fuels Infrastructure. In the paper the market for electric vehicles circulating in Italy is initially analyzed and, after applying an appropriate filtering, the algorithm input variables relating to the vehicle system (vehicle autonomy and energy of the battery pack) are identified. For this purpose, both the registration data and the technical characteristics provided by the manufacturers have been used. Subsequently the road system (the flow of vehicles with related indicators), the infrastructures (the number of sockets and the charging station power), and driver behavior (range anxiety) are considered. The results show a map of candidate points to allocate the charging stations divided by region. After having sized and placed the charging infrastructures with different planning scenario, some future projections are also introduced.

Optimal control of natural gas compression engine hybrid electric mining trucks for balanced fuel efficiency and overall emission improvement

Hybrid electric propulsion has served as an advantageous powertrain solution for improving the performance, fuel efficiency and emissions of passenger vehicles using well-established fueling infrastructure of gasoline and diesel, and with low conversion cost. Natural gas (NG) presents as a promising alternative fuel to replace diesel for heavy-duty vehicles with prominent potentials of fuel cost and emissions reduction, but its wide adoption still faces a number of technical challenges, including weaker engine performance, and sharply increased hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions at certain engine operation states. This work introduces a new approach to integrate the NG-diesel dual-fuel compression ignited (CI) engine, hybrid electric powertrain system, and optimal powertrain control and energy management to consider vehicle performance, fuel efficiency and CO2/HC/CO/NOx emissions simultaneously to address these issues. The mining truck’s hybrid powertrain system and component models, including NG engine fuel efficiency and emission models, have been introduced to support the work. An advanced surrogate model based global optimization method is extended to solve the computational intensive, black-box optimization problem for optimal power control and energy management. Implementation of the optimization results into control rules for real-time operation, and HIL simulation results to demonstrate the benefits of the newly introduced method are presented using a case study on a representative mining truck and its operations. The study formed the foundation for further research in this area.

(Invited) Fuel Cells Fueled By Sustainable Liquid Fuels

The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E) funds high risk, high reward transformational research to reduce energy related emissions, reduce imports of energy from foreign sources, improve energy efficiency across all economic sectors, and ensure US technological lead in advanced energy technologies, including electrochemical technologies for energy transformation and storage for distributed, grid scale and automotive applications. Recently hydrogen PEM fuel cells (FC) made great progress in performance, durability and cost that reflected in the emerging of multiple commercial vehicles powered by FCs. However their market penetration is hampered mostly by the absence of hydrogen infrastructure including transportation and storage, and high cost of its implementation. On the other side, carbon-neutral liquid fuels (CNLFs) have energy density higher than of liquid hydrogen, better safety, low footprint and cost of transportation and storage. Easily liquefied ammonia and dimethyl ether as well as more traditional lower alcohols are the most promising CNLFs. They can be used with or without internal reforming in direct liquid fuel cells (DLFCs) or as a hydrogen carrier for PEM fuel cells thus allowing the use of existing liquid fuels infrastructure. History of DLFCs started in 1960s from first GE attempts to use diesel fuel in a FC and continued with development of direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). In spite intensive research, the latter found very limited application because of low efficiency and power density. As conventional low temperature PEMs and AEMs content a lot of water to support high H+ or OH- conductivity, high crossover rate of most CNLFs is inevitable and leads to low cell voltage and energy efficiency. In addition, traditional platinum group metal catalysts are easily poisoned by CNLFs or by intermediate oxidation products. Therefore, to realize high energy density of CNLFs and provide high FC power density, it is necessary to increase operation temperature of DLFCs, develop more active and less expensive electrocatalysts, develop selective ion conducting membranes and design electrodes and cells for using liquid fuels. Recent advances in the development of novel DLFCs that is being funded by ARPA-E via REFUEL and OPEN 2018 programs will be presented. Possible future ARPA-E program targeting the use of such fuel cells for transportation (in hybrids, range extenders, APUs for aviation and ground transportation) will be also discussed.

Reforming Spending Policy and Its Impact on Indonesia’s Economy: The Case of Fuel Subsidy and Infrastructure

The quality of Indonesia’s infrastructure up until 2014 was considered uncompetitive, and one of the reasons was that there was not enough money spent on infrastructure, and too much on fuel subsidy. In November 2014, the government of Indonesia decided to cut the expenditure for fuel subsidy and reallocate the money to invest on public services. This study was conducted with the intention to quantify the impact of the program on economic growth and income distribution in Indonesia using Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) model. Simulation results indicated that the impact from social and human capital infrastructure was bigger than that of economic infrastructure, although the simulation for both categories resulted in an increase of sectoral output and domestic income. Therefore, improving infrastructure, especially social, is vital to stimulate economic activity in the long run.