Estimating high-pressure hydrogen storage required to refuel heavy-duty vehicles

Abstract

One of the major challenges of the current generation, in Canada, is meeting the ambitious net-zero emission targets by 2050 to fend off the worst impacts of climate change. Heavy-duty (HD) hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) present an opportunity to drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions produced in the transportation sector. A major hurdle in HD FCEV deployment is the design, development and implementation of hydrogen refueling stations (HRS), specifically estimating the high-pressure hydrogen storage required to refuel HD FCEVs. In this research, a numerical model was developed to estimate the high-pressure hydrogen storage required to refuel HD FCEVs with an on-board storage of 80 kg at a nominal working pressure (NWP) of 70 MPa achieving 100% state of charge (SOC). Equations of State (EoS) and Generalized Reduced Gradient (GRG) nonlinear programming are used throughout the numerical model to estimate the hydrogen storage pressure and the change of internal energy of various cascading strategies. The numerical model is validated against experimental testing performed at a specialized hydrogen test lab in Surrey, British Columbia. A parametric study focusing on the effect of storage and vehicle temperature on the numerical model is conducted. The numerical model is used to investigate the effects of increasing the storage pressure, storage volume and the number of cascades, based on energy consumption and volume ratio. Finally, a case study for refueling a 1,500L FCEV is performed, considering the available hydrogen storage at a hydrogen test facility located in Surrey, BC. A cascading strategy for HD fueling is suggested based on overall energy consumption.