Renewable Energy to Fuels through Utilization of Energy-dense Liquids (REFUEL)

Program Vision

Grigorii Soloveichik, Program Director

REFUEL kickoff meetingDenver, August 17-18, 2017

Imperative: to reduce green house gases emission while preserving energy and economy security

• Fossil fuels used for power generation emit CO2 and other GHG causing dramatic climate change

• Burning fossil fuels in internal combustion engines for transportation is responsible for about 1/3 of GHG emission that hard to capture

• Wider penetration of renewables requires large scale, long term energy storage

Program motivation

1

Pathways to reduce GHGs from fuels

‣ Partial solution: replace carbon intense fuels with natural gas or electricity

– Replacement of liquid transportation fuels with NG is not viable – Current electricity mix does not provide much advantage using batteries in

BEVs, low customer acceptance

‣ Ultimate solution: replace fossil fuels with zero-emission regenerable fuels derived from renewables

– Biomass could provide liquid fuels with lower carbon emissions, but issues with scalability, water, energy intensity

– Clean electricity from renewable sources can be used directly in BEVs or indirectly to generate H2 for FCEVs

– Intermittent nature of solar and wind energy requires bulk storage– Remote location of renewables requires energy transportation to

users in the form of electricity, hydrogen, or liquid fuels

2

Why increasing renewable energy is hard?

Intermittent renewable energy

1. Energy transport• Capital cost

• Efficiency (losses)

• Long distance/terrain

• Safety, other risks

Cost

1. Renewable power generation (remote) separated from local energyconsumption (transportation and industrial sectors)

2. Energy storage for intermittent sources• Capital cost/duration

• Efficiency (losses)

• Lifetime (LCOE)

• Safety, other risks

2. Wide spread of intermittent renewables requires bulk energy storage

3. Infrastructure

• Capital cost • Geography

(terrain, local codes, stranded sources)

• Capacity

• High entry cost

3. Infrastructure for renewable power transmission and distribution needs to be built and will be expensive

3

How to increase penetration of renewable energy?

4

REFUEL solutionCombine energy transportation and storage and use the existing infrastructure via:i) conversion of renewable power, water and air into

hydrogen-rich carbon neutral liquid fuels, ii) transportation of liquids, and iii) energy generation at the end point using direct

(electrochemical) or indirect (via intermediate hydrogen extraction) fuel cells

Carbon-neutral liquid fuels

LOHC couple B.p., deg C Wt. % H

Energy density, kWh/L

E0, V η, %

Synthetic gasoline 69-200 16.0 9.7 - -Biodiesel 340-375 14.0 9.2 - -Methanol 64.7 12.6 4.67 1.18 96.6Dimethyl ether (DME) -24 13.1 5.36 1.21Ethanol 78.4 12.0 6.30 1.15 97.0Formic acid (88%) 100 3.4 2.10 1.45 105.6Ammonia -33.3 17.8 4.32 1.17 88.7Hydrazine hydrate 114 8.1 5.40 1.61 100.2Liquid hydrogen -252.9 100 2.54 1.23 83.0Compressed hydrogen (700 bar) gas 100 1.55 1.23 83.0

G.Soloveichik, Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1399

5

Liquid fuels are promising media for energy storage and delivery

What are current options to convert renewable power to transportable liquid fuels?

‣ Gas-to-liquid processes (including via power-to-gas, P2G) - capital, water and energy intensive, GHG emissions

– Not economical‣ Biofuels (from corn, sugar cane, switchgrass, algae)

- water competitive for food supply – Not enough resources to cover US demand

Analysis of Natural Gas-to Liquid Transportation Fuels via Fischer-Tropsch, NETL report, 2013J. Hill et al., Environmental, economic, and energetic costs and benefits of biodiesel and ethanol biofuels, PNAS, 103 (2006)11206http://yosemite.epa.gov/EE%5Cepa%5Ceed.nsf/webpages/Biofuels.html

• Hard to compete with conventional fossil fuels (gasoline, diesel, jet fuel) • Novel, economical methods based on available feedstock needed

Energy transportation capacity and losses

5.5

3.5

1.5

0.7 0.1

OHVAC HVDC Truck Train Pipeline

Electricity Liquid ammonia

Energy transmission losses (% per 1000 km)

Energy transmission capacity (at the same capital cost)

Power line

CH2 (350 bar)

Liquid NH3

Capacity 1.2 GW 6.5GW 41GWProtective zone

50-70 m

10 m 10 m

D. Stolten (Institute of Electrochemical Process Engineering), BASF Science Symposium, 2015

7

Liquid pipelines have highest capacity and efficiency

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Tota

l Cos

t ($/

kWh)

ProductionProductionT&D

Storage

Trans(Pipeline)

Compression

Production

Trans(Truck)

Liquification

Production

Electricity

Compression

Pyrolysis TransUpgrade

Feedstock

Production

Trans

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Energy transportation (2,000 km) & storage cost

Energy transportation efficiency (2,000 km)

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Electricity Ammonia

55.3% 55.4%

38.1%

Electricity transportation is more efficient…if we can use it directly

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80

100

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100

Energy storage comparison

30,000 gallon underground tankcontains 200 MWh (plus 600 MMBTU CHP heat

5 MWh A123 battery in Chile

1,000kg H2 Linde storage in Germany=40 x

or

Capital cost ~$100K

Capital cost $50,000 - 100,000K

10Liquid fuels provide smallest footprint and CAPEX

6 x

Cost of energy storage and transportation

Case studySolar PV array 500 MW8 hrs active, storage capacity 50%4 GWh electricity or 120,000 kg H2or 860 ton NH3Delivery from Utah to East Coast (2000 miles)Power line capital cost $16.2M/mile

DuraTrack™ PV array

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200000

250000

300000

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18000

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Del

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/day

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rage

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m3

Storage volume and energy delivery cost(including storage)

Storage volume Daily delivery cost

Electricity CH2 Ammonia

Liquid fuels – examples of use

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2013 Marangoni Toyota GT86 Eco Explorer, 111 mile zero emission per tank (7.9 gal NH3)

HEC-TINA 75 kVA NH3 Generator Set NH3-fueled ICE operating an irrigation pump

in Central Valley, CA; ~ 50% total efficiency

Ammonia powered X-15 rocket plane- 199 missions (2 space) - held speed (6.7 Mach) and altitude (108 km) records for airplanes

5kW ethanol fueled SOFC range extender (375+miles) by Nissan www.greencarcongress.com

Viking Lady 250 kW methanol fueled Convion SOFC APU www.lngworldshipping.com

Hydrogen fueling station cost breakdown

Hydrogen Station Compression, Storage, and Dispensing Technical Status and Costs. NREL report BK-6A10-58564, 2014Possibilities for cost reduction + reduced footprint

Liquid fuels for H2 refueling• Smaller storage CAPEX

and footprint• Compressor downsizing• Modular design for

increased reliability

Liquid fuels to enable H2 refueling stations

Renewable energy storage and delivery via liquid fuels –application space

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Direct use (blending) in ICE vehicles (drop-in fuel)

Direct use in stationary gensets

Medium to long term energy storage

Seasonal energy storage

Air

Water

Hydrogen generation for fueling stations

Synthesis of liquid fuels Fuels transportation Application space

• Energy delivery from remote locations• Energy delivery from stranded sources• Energy storage and delivery combined

Category 1Category 2

REFUELRenewable Energy to Fuels through Utilization of Energy-dense Liquids

Investment areas and impacts1. Area: Small- to medium-scale synthesis of energy-

dense carbon-neutral liquid fuels using water, air, and renewable energy source.Impact: Develop technologies to produce fuels at cost <$0.13/kWh to enable long term energy storage.

2. Area: Electrochemical processes for generation of hydrogen (2a) or electricity (2b) from energy-dense carbon-neutral liquid fuels.Impact:a) Develop catalytic or electrochemical fuel cracking to deliver hydrogen at 30 bar at the cost < $4.5/kg enabling hydrogen fueling stations;b) Develop fuel cell technologies for conversion of fuels to electricity with source-to-use cost <$0.30/kWh .

Mission

Reduce transportation and storage costs of energy from remote renewable intermittent sources to consumers and enable the use of existing infrastructure to deliver electricity or hydrogen at the end point.

ProgramDirector

Dr. Grigorii Soloveichik

Year 2017

Projects 16

Total Investment $33 Million

Portfolio – technology matrix for Category 1

Thermal (catalytic) processes (1a)Equilibrium shift Reactor design

Hydrogenationcatalyst (e.g. Haber-Bosch)

Physical effects (e.g. plasma)

Electrochemical processes (1b) PEM AEM

Low temperature(<120 C)High temperature(>250 C)

ROH

REFUEL16 Project Teams • 3 Technology Areas

Seedling

Ammonia

Hydrogen generation (2a)Cracking reactor Electrochemical cell

Mechanical compression

Electrochemical compression

Conversion to electricity in fuel cell (2b)PEM AEM SOFC

Low temperature(<120 C)High temperature(>250 C)

Portfolio – technology matrix for Category 2

REFUEL16 Project Teams • 3 Technology Areas

ROH

Seedling

Ammonia

Hydrogen generation (2a)Cracking reactor Electrochemical cell

Mechanical compression

Electrochemical compression

Conversion to electricity in fuel cell (2b)PEM AEM SOFC

Low temperature(<120 C)High temperature(>250 C)

Portfolio – technology matrix for Category 2

REFUEL16 Project Teams • 3 Technology Areas

Chemtronergy

ROH

Seedling

Ammonia

Potential markets for REFUEL technologies

Local NH3 fertilizer production

Direct use in mobile applications (FCEV)

Stranded or isolated renewables Utility scale renewables

NH3 powered FC/CHP plants

Grid scale energy storage

Partial replacement of gasoline/diesel in ICEVs

Use in APUs for mobile applications

Distributed energy storage using fuel cells and gensets

Hydrogen generation for HFCEV fueling stations

Transformational change in bringing more renewable energy to market

Summary‣ Liquid fuels are ideal candidates for long term energy storage

and long distance energy delivery from renewable intermittent sources- high energy density- feedstock widely available- production successfully scaled up (150MT annually for NH3)- no carbon emissions- infrastructure for storage and delivery technologies in place- can be used in fuel cells and thermal engines

‣ Hydrogen rich liquid fuels may enable hydrogen fueling infrastructure- high hydrogen content- inexpensive, compact and safe storage- dehydrogenation methods known

‣ Technical (reaction rate, conversion efficiency, production down scaling), economical (electricity and capital costs) and societal(policies and public acceptance) challenges ahead

20Let’s make it a reality!