Life cycle analysis of HCNG light-duty vehicle demonstration project

Abstract

The demonstration is an effective initiative to bridge the gap between a premature technology and its largescale commercialization. A systematic method of LCA was used to perform the well-to-wheel analysis of a CNG light-duty truck operated with 0%, 15%, and 30% blends of hydrogen with compressed natural gas fuel under the system boundary of "per vehicle km". The GREET simulation was performed on GREET_1 (Excel Series_2017) to evaluate hydrogen production pathways with numerous parametric assumptions adopted to base the study in the context of China. Resource use, fossil energy use, GHG emission, and major air pollutants namely and PM were studied. The idea was to demonstrate the effects of hydrogen addition throughout the entire fuel cycle of end-use of HCNG in an LDV. The hydrogen blend of 30% with conventional CNG decreased the well-to-wheel GHG emission compared with 0%HCNG by 32.982%, 29.275%, and 9.694% with hydrogen pathways such as solar, biomass, and coke oven gas, respectively. Moreover, for 30%HCNG (Conv.NG), the well-to-wheel total energy consumption was increased by 15.176%, and 15.719% for solar and biomass-based pathways, respectively. However, although the energy consumption was increased for solar and biomass-based 15%HCNG and 30%HCNG pathways compared with 0%HCNG, the feedstock used was renewable and qualitatively cleaner. The worst scenario was found in the form of 30%HCNG (Conv.NG) with grid electrolysis pathway which showed 60.648% increment in WTW GHG and 75.479% increment in WTW total energy compared with baseline 0%HCNG (Conv.NG). The booming renewable electricity generation and availability of a tremendous amount of coke oven gas as by-products from coking industries in China can establish a prospective platform for sustainable hydrogen economy in China and is supposed to promote the commercialization of HCNG vehicles in future.

A Review of Low-CO2 Emission Fuels for a Dual-Fuel RCCI Engine

“…When an engine with constant RPM was supplied with HCNG gas of various concentrations, an increase in NOx emissions was seen as the concentration of hydrogen in the fuel mixture increased [53]. The research in [70] also showed an increase in NOx emissions with an increase in hydrogen concentration in the gas mixture. Such results are obvious from the point of view of the physiochemistry of combustion, because it is very difficult to create a fuel that could reduce both the emissions of chemical compounds containing carbon and those containing nitrogen, because the mechanisms of their formation require opposite physical conditions.…”