MOSCOW (MRC) -- TUV SUD National Engineering Laboratory has secured Government funding to build the UK’s first mobile primary standard facility for testing hydrogen refueling stations (HRS) to ensure they deliver the correct amount of fuel, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.
Funded by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), through the National Measurement System mechanism, the mobile facility will ensure accurate and consistent measurement of the dispensed quantity of fuel at HRS. This will assure drivers of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) that financial transactions are correct and ensure accurate fiscal measurements for future taxation purposes.
Dr Martin Hanton, technical director at TUV SUD National Engineering Laboratory, said: "The design of petrol and diesel refueling stations is highly standardized and if hydrogen FCEVs are to become a viable transport choice, then establishing a standardized refueling infrastructure is crucial. Ensuring the consumer gets what they pay for at the refueling station necessitates accuracy at the nozzle, not the meter. We must therefore bring the calibration facility to the refueling station and that is precisely what we will do with our new mobile primary standard," concluded Hanton.
The international accuracy requirements for HRS fuel dispensers are mandated as ±2% for new installations. However, current ranges can be anywhere between ±1 – 10%. Furthermore, if a consumer disputes the dispensed volume, Trading Standards cannot investigate at present as the UK currently has no traceability chain that is linked to a physical primary standard for hydrogen, or the equipment and skills to test fuel dispensers. TUV SUD National Engineering Laboratory’s new mobile facility will provide this measurement traceability for the UK and the only practical, traceable capability to test hydrogen refueling stations for dispensed quantity at the nozzle in the country.
Marc MacDonald, head of Clean Fuels at TUV SUD National Engineering Laboratory, said: “From our involvement in EU projects such as MetroHyVe, it is clear that the dispensed quantity performance of HRS can be variable, in part due to inconsistency in design. We have seen that compliance with the prevailing regulation (OIML R-139) is possible, but not always achieved, especially if less than a full tank fill is delivered. We will use our new mobile facility to work with industry and test HRS for compliance with the regulations, which is essential to ensure public support for FCEVs use."
TUV SUD National Engineering Laboratory has selected Edinburgh-based hydrogen technology specialist Logan Energy to construct the mobile test facility. Chosen for their proven track-record in delivering integrated hydrogen technologies, the company has successfully supported the development and deployment of zero emission technologies throughout the UK and Europe.
Bill Ireland, CEO of Logan Energy, said: “This is an exciting collaboration between two Scotland-based teams and is fantastic recognition of our expertise and experience in delivering hydrogen systems and refueling stations. This project is all about accuracy in a process that has proved difficult to control. We will be setting industry standards to ensure accuracy when it comes to refueling vehicles."
Once completed, the new mobile primary standard facility will also be used to conduct a research campaign, which will be used to update industry guidance for the design, construction, modification and maintenance of HRS. This latest project supports TUV SUD National Engineering Laboratory’s ongoing work as part of the European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR) Metrology for Hydrogen Vehicles program, which is part of the world’s first large-scale research project to tackle hydrogen fuel measurement inaccuracy challenges.
As MRC informed previously, global oil demand may have already peaked, according to BP's latest long-term energy outlook, as the COVID-19 pandemic kicks the world economy onto a weaker growth trajectory and accelerates the shift to cleaner fuels.
Earlier this year, BP said the deadly coronavirus outbreak could cut global oil demand growth by 40 per cent in 2020, putting pressure on Opec producers and Russia to curb supplies to keep prices in check.
And in September 2019, six world's major petrochemical companies in Flanders, Belgium, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and the Netherlands (Trilateral Region) announced the creation of a consortium to jointly investigate how naphtha or gas steam crackers could be operated using renewable electricity instead of fossil fuels. The Cracker of the Future consortium, which includes BASF, Borealis, BP, LyondellBasell, SABIC and Total, aims to produce base chemicals while also significantly reducing carbon emissions. The companies agreed to invest in R&D and knowledge sharing as they assess the possibility of transitioning their base chemical production to renewable electricity.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,594,510 tonnes in the first nine months of 2020, up by 1% year on year. Only high denstiy polyethylene (HDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 880,130 tonnes in the nine months of 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports, excluding producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer.
MRC