Blue Group!

1. Blue Group! • Zachary Tigert, Courtney Flowers, Emily Casey, Moriah Balingit, Jessica Bryan, Rob Wyman

2. Our Oil Production & Distribution Systems

3. History • The American petroleum industry began with the discovery of oil in 1859 in Pennsylvania. • While it was known that oil existed off of the eastern seaboard in 1775, the first oil drill operation began in 1859. Oil was struck 69 feet below the surface. • Today, the U.S. investment in the oil industry stands at half a trillion dollars in wells, refineries and distribution systems. The industry employs 1.5 million people directly and 6 million indirectly. • Sources: “The Petroleum Industry Today.” http://www.midwestnpioneer.org/central/conoco.html and • http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/rcah/html/rc_066100_oilindustry.htm. Houghton Mifflin, college division.

4. Currently, there exists roughly 95,000 miles of crude oil pipelines that connect the major U.S. markets. However, these existing lines cannot be used to transport hydrogen because of diffusion losses, brittleness of materials and compressor incompatibilities. Also, hydrogen lines must be larger than the current 8-24 inch diameter lines. Major lines cost roughly 5 million a mile. Oil Pipelines

5. Gas Stations • As of 1998, there were 187,097 retail stations selling motor fuel in the U.S. • The U.S. population in 1998 was roughly 270 million which averages to one gas station per 1,443 people. • A medium sized filling station sells roughly 26 metric tons of gasoline a day. Currently, this fuel can be supplied by one truck. However, it would take 22 tube-trailer hydrogen trucks or 3 liquid hydrogen trucks to deliver the same amount of energy. • The transfer of the hydrogen from these trucks to underground storage tanks would also take much longer than draining gas from one truck. • Likely, storage tanks will need to be unearthed and retrofitted to store hydrogen, not gas.

6. Problems with Production

7. Problems with Production • Myth: Hydrogen is an abundantly available fuel. • Fact: Sure, hydrogen is the most common element in the universe. But hydrogen molecules are bound up in other molecules and we have to expend energy to get them out of other stuff.

8. How it’s done • Now • Hydrogen is a feedstock for chemical production • Steam reforming from natural gas (48%) and Oil (30%) • Electrolysis (4%) • Coal Gasification (18%) • Possibilities for the future • “Clean” Coal and Natural Gas • Renewable Electrolysis • Thermo-chemical

9. Natural Gas • Currently the cheapest and most efficient way to produce hydrogen • Steam and methane are mixed in a reactor at high temperatures (700 C – 1100 C) in the presence of a metal catalyst to create hydrogen gas and carbon monoxide • The United States produces about 9 megatons of hydrogen a year this way

10. Problems with Natural Gas • Problems: • Doesn’t eliminate reliance on natural gas • Doesn’t reduce hydrocarbon emissions • Requires energy to heat water and methane • Price dependent on cost of natural gas

11. Coal • How it works • Gaseous coal is mixed with oxygen and steam under really really really high pressures and temperatures to produce carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen gas • Problems • It produces harmful emissions: carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and sulfur • Coal mining bad for landscape • It costs twice as much as natural gas

12. Electrolysis • How it works • An electric current is run through water and it separates into its negatively charged (hydrogen) molecules and its positively charged (oxygen) molecules • Efficiency=38.4 kwh/kg of hydrogen

13. Problems with Electrolysis • If the electricity going into the process is produced by a coal-fired plant it would take 140.8 kwh of energy to produce one kilogram of hydrogen • Considering a fuel cell produces about 23.3 kwh/kg hydrogen, it’s not a lot of bang for your buck…and it’s a heck of a lot more expensive than steam reforming • It requires pure water • Conclusion: Put the electricity back into the grid or right into the car

14. Renewable Electrolysis • Advocates say renewable energy sources could be used to produce the electricity necessary for electrolysis • Problems • It would take 3.75 trillion kwh of electricity to perform electrolysis to deliver hydrogen to a hydrogen-fueled U.S. car fleet • Examining current renewable energy capabilities… (https://blackboard.uoregon.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_203859_1) -…it’s just not realistic -plus, you could just put that energy back into the grid

15. “Clean” Coal and Natural Gas Reforming • Same technology for gasification • Eliminates emissions through carbon sequestration • Problems • Only economical for large scale plants • Would add about $0.30 - $0.50 per kg hydrogen to sequester hydrogen • Technology still far from being developed • Technology hasn’t addressed other emissions

16. Thermo-chemical • Water is heated to extremely high temperature (800-1000 C) and combined with other elements to create dissociation • Greater efficiency than electrolysis • Problems • Requires a high energy input to heat the water to that temperature • Requires nuclear energy if its to be cost effective

17. Myth: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is pumping hydrogen into his new “hydrogen Hummer.”Fact: There’s nothing in that hose. And the car doesn’t even belong to him.

18. Cost of Hydrogen

19. Costs- The Challenge • Past 50 years- cost of pressurized hydrogen (a cylinder of about .6kg H2) is ~$100/kg H2 plus a cylinder rental fee • For Hydrogen economy, we must achieve a cost that of only a few $/kg • This is not feasible at all in terms of cost for energy production because of the efficiency issues of producing hydrogen, and it is not feasible for transportation usage because of infrastructure costs

20. Problems with H2 cost projections • The intro.rate of H2 based vehicles is nearly 1/100th of what was expected • The price of natural gas has increased by a factor of 10 in the last 30 yrs. and 3 in the last 6 (2004) and is likely to increase by more than another factor of 2 in the next 15 yrs.

21. More Problems • Small H2 dispensing stations cost about $600,000- 10x more than originally expected • H2 storage costs in amounts less than tens of thousands of kgs. are 100x greater than for fossil fuels and biofuels

22. NG-H2 Prices

23. Fueling the H2 car

24. Costs- Conclusion and Alternative • H2 is not an economically feasible alternative to gasoline with projections of several dollars per kilogram • Diesel and biodiesel are more promising as transportation alternatives- they could be as low as $.5/kg and $.6/kg respectively

25. Infrastructure & Trasportation

26. Hydrogen Car • Best Case Scenario: • Starts Production 2010 • The problem: • 500,000,000 gas powered vehicles in the US

27. Pipeline • Energy-intensive • 3.8 times more energy than NG • Hydrogen loss over distance • .77% per 100km (that’s ~62 miles for those of you who can’t think in the metric system)

28. Hydrogen goes 3000 Km

29. Heating and Electricity: The Inefficiencies of Hydrogen

30. Outline • Expense of Producing Hydrogen • The Finite Resource of Water • Alternatives • Political Factors

31. Expense of Producing Hydrogen • Rare Platinum as a Catalyst in the Fuel Cells • Storage of Hydrogen • As a gas: the inefficiencies

32. The Water Factor • Fresh Water Needed • Earth’s water supply • We need to save some clean water for us! • 96% of Earth’s water is in oceans and saline • 99.7% of all the water on Earth is not available for human and animal consumption

33. Alternatives? Maybe Hydrogen is not the cure all!

34. Biofuels: ethanol, waste, biodiesel • Electricity (it has worked thus far…why not in the future?) • ElectricityHydrogen Electricity • That seems inefficient

35. Hydrogen Timeline • Presidents Hydrogen Initiative warns that Hydrogen is not panacea • “Over-sold” to the public • Unrealistic expectations about timeframe • Transition periods of “several decades” • Careful coordination of dev takes time • Early commitment to hydrogen fuel unwise risks technological lock-in

36. Alternatives: • Major report recommends develop diverse portfolio • Electric Vehicles / Plug-in Hybrids • Biofuels (Cellulosic ethanol) • Biodiesel / Synthetic diesel • Direct application of electricity derived from renewable energy sources

37. The Politics of Hydrogen • Too much Lip service, not enough money $$$ • 1.2 billion to hydrogen, also 1.5 billion to “healthy marriages” • Monthly tab Iraq 3.9 billion • 2004 Department of energy spent more nuclear and fossil fuel • FreedomCAR program required to create hydrogen powered car, not sell one

38. Investment Willingness: Catch 22 • Financial risks involved in dev of H2 technology are significant. • Oil companies not will to invest if only handful hydrogen cars. • Automakers not willing to make hydrogen cars if nowhere fill them. • Retrofitting just 25% refueling stations more than $13 billion.

39. Politics!! • The Bush Factor • Unfeasibility of transforming the world, or even the United States in just thirty years • We are dependant on foreign oil (duh!) from countries who do not “like” us. Hydrogen will not be the solution

40. The End!