Fuel-Cycle Assessment Of Energy Consumption And Environmental Benefits Of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles

Hydrogen fuel cell vehicle?FCV?has the advantage of high energy efficiency and zero tailpipe emissions,which is regarded as an important technological path to tackle with the energy and environmental problems resulted from the increasing number of vehicles.However,energy consumption and emissions of upstream hydrogen production should not be ignored.Besides,energy and environmental impacts of different hydrogen production pathways vary significantly.In order to fully evaluate the energy and environmental impacts of FCV,it is important to employ the life cycle analysis?LCA?method to analyze the energy saving and pollutant emission reduction effects of FCV under different hydrogen pathways.This study established the method for evaluating fuel-cycle energy consumption and pollutant emissions of FCV.A Chinese-specific database of fuel cycle for FCV was investigated and developed.The study selected multiple typical hydrogen production pathways,analyzed the energy conservation and emission reduction benefits of light-duty FCV and FCV bus compared with light-duty gasoline vehicle and diesel bus.Besides,the study analyzed the hydrogen energy reserves in China and fuel cost of FCV,and provided policy suggest ions for FCV development path with an overall consideration of factors in terms of environment,resource and cost.In 2015,for light-duty FCV,pathways based on renewable energy have significant benefits of energy conservation and pollutant emission redu ction compared with gasoline vehicle?GV?,especially the pathway of water electrolysis using renewable electricity,which could help FCV to reduce fossil energy consumption,CO₂ emissions,VOC emissions,NO_X emissions and PM_2.5emissions by over 90%,and SO₂ emissions by 50%approximately than those of GV,which has better energy and environmental benefits than HEV and BEV.Coal gasification with CCS?carbon capture and storage?technology has the second best overall energy and environmental benefits only to renewable energy-based pathways.It could help FCV to reduce CO₂ emissions,PM_2.5.5 emissions and NOx emissions by 77%,53%and 79%,respectively.COG?coke oven gas?-based pathway could help reduce fossil energy and CO₂ emissions by 60%,PM_2.5emissions and NO_X emissions by 45%and 32%,respectively.FCV bus can reduce fossil energy consumption and CO₂ emissions,VOC emissions,NO_X emissions and PM_2.5 emissions when hydrogen is produced through renewable energy based-pathway and COG-based pathway.In 2030,PM_2.5 emission of light-duty FCV under water electrolysis using grid electricity is 7%higher than that of GV.When the share of coal-fired electricity decreases to 49%,PM_2.5 emission reduction could be achieved.PM_2.5 emission of FCV bus under NG-based pathway is 20%higher than that of DV.When the hydrogen comsumption decreases to 4.8 kg/100 km,PM_2.5 emission reduction could be achieved.In 2030,if hydrogen for FCV are all produced by water electrolysis with renewable electricity,FCV fleet?2 million FCVs,0.13 million are FCV buses,1.87 million are light-duty FCVs?could save fossil energy of 5.11 million tce,reduce CO₂ emissions of 10.60 million ton,VOC emissions of 3050 ton,NO _x emissions of 43455 ton,PM_2.5 emissions of 874 ton and SO₂ emissions of 940ton.With overall consideration of environmental benefits,resource reserve and fuel cost of FCV under different hydrogen pathways in China,hydrogen production from COG and other industrial byproducts is recommended for hydrogen energy and FCV development in the near term.In the mid-term,coal gasification with CCS technology could be promoted.In the long term,utilizing renewable energy to produce hydrogen is preferred.