I recently co-chaired a task force for the UK government’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) that examined these opportunities. The findings are interesting.
It is estimated by the APC that the non-road mobile machinery (NRMM) sector was worth over £17.6 billion to the UK in 2022, with over 83% of revenue from exports and employing around 100,000 people (~31,000 direct and 68,000 indirect). Consequently, it represents a significant pillar of the UK economy. This significant revenue comes from key global manufacturers with 9 equipment manufacturers including JCB, Volvo Construction Equipment, Caterpillar, and Case New Holland together with a range of Tier 1 suppliers (engines, parts, and accessories) such as Cummins, Perkins (Caterpillar), Johnson Matthey, BorgWarner and JCB engines.
Primarily due to the harsh and remote environments in which these machines operate, and the wide variety of application and duty cycles, electrification alone cannot be expected to shoulder the burden of decarbonising the entire sector. Instead, a range of solutions will be required that includes electrification, but also hydrogen technology in the form of fuel cells and internal combustion engines.
The Task Force
The Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine Subgroup was an industry-led task and finish group convened by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) reporting to the Off-taker Working Group of the Hydrogen Delivery Council (HDC).
Our objective was to consider evidence on the application and use of hydrogen internal combustion engines (H2ICE) as a decarbonisation option for diesel engines, primarily for NRMM, and present a report and recommendations to the HDC. It should be noted that the production, transportation, storage, skills, and regulation of hydrogen were outside our remit and under the auspices of other working groups within the HDC.
The group was wholly industry-led with senior representation from across the H2ICE sector including original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), key component suppliers, end users, trade bodies, independent experts, and academia. It was co-chaired by myself and Amanda Lyne, CEO of ULEMCo.
The group quickly identified four 4 key areas that needed to be addressed: Performance and efficiency, Emissions (both greenhouse gas emissions and air quality), Practicalities and Impact.
Performance and Efficiency
Data supplied by the main OEMs illustrated quite clearly that H2ICE have efficiencies and performance that are similar or better than equivalent diesel-fuelled engines with brake thermal efficiencies in excess of 40% and with a clear path through to ~50% based on well-established ICE development routes. Not only that, the response of H2ICE to rapid changes in load in the real world is at least as good as their conventional diesel equivalents.
Emissions - Air quality
The adoption of H2 ICE as a net zero technology in the appropriate applications would offer significant and immediate air quality improvements (up to 95% reduction in NOx and 99.8% reduction in Pm) whilst achieving the same or better performance than a conventional diesel equivalent. Evidence provided in the report shows this is primarily enabled by running the engines very lean where the engines operate at peak efficiency, but the relatively low temperature of combustion means that the production of NOx is minimised.
Emissions - GHG
The use of H2ICE in NRMM can reduce emissions of the main greenhouse gas, CO2, by 99.95%, and the aggregate Global Warming Potential (GWP) of all greenhouse gases by up to 99.9%. Whilst you might expect this to be a 100% reduction (since there is no carbon in the fuel), there is a tiny amount of lubrication oil that can be burned as a result of the combustion process.
Practicalities
The group found that the use of hydrogen as a fuel for ICE poses no additional challenges compared to using hydrogen as a fuel for fuel cell electric vehicles. The main challenges are associated with storage and distribution of the hydrogen on-site and remain the same irrespective of the energy conversion process. However, H2ICE offers a number of advantages compared to other net-zero solutions:
Production, installation, service, and maintenance utilises well-established skills and processes with no need to learn new technology other than the fuel system
H2ICE is likely to be the least inflationary approach to decarbonising this sector since the cost of the propulsion system will be a little different from the current engines with no requirement for traction batteries. Any increase in machine cost will be due to the on-board hydrogen storage system.
Repowering and upcycling are easier and cheaper
Impact
In a sector worth at least £17.6 billion to the UK economy in 2022 and employing almost 100,000 people, H2ICE represents the best opportunity to mitigate the risk of job losses and retention of skills in the energy transition. In fact, by leading and embracing the UK’s already globally leading industry with 80% of its revenue today from exports, there is an overwhelming likelihood that first mover advantage will help to fill current skills gaps, develop new skills and opportunities, and generate disproportionate benefit to UK economic growth.
Not only that, H2ICE in NRMM offers a hugely significant opportunity for delivering machines at scale, reducing the time to deliver cost-effective zero-carbon solutions with additional benefits to the wider hydrogen component supply chain and, indeed, the hydrogen economy as a whole.
The report strongly recommends that H2ICE is not only accepted but also actively promoted as an appropriate net-zero emissions technology for rapid decarbonisation of the NRMM sector with the co-benefits of significantly improved air quality.
Given the level of reduction in both GHG and regulated emissions available, the report also recommends that H2ICE should be considered a net-zero emissions technology for other sectors including on-road applications.
Additionally, H2ICE is considered to be the least inflationary approach to delivering decarbonisation at scale in the NRMM sector and within the timescales of net-zero and will also offer a great opportunity to kick-start demand for hydrogen, both within the sector and the hydrogen economy as a whole, in support of the immediate ambition for clean growth in the UK-wide economy.
If you are interested in finding out more, you can find a copy of the full report on the APC website here.
* APC estimated it using ONS and other data.
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