Hydrogen Transmission

Pipeline Transport and Distribution

More than 1,200 miles of steel hydrogen pipeline are in use in the United
States today. These pipelines operate at constant line pressures between
30 and 80 bar. In a high-volume market scenario, such as todays natural
gas market, pipelines become a cost-effective way to move large
quantities of gas. Costly centrifugal compressors, chosen for their high
throughput at relatively low output pressures, are used to maintain the
line pressure.
Over-Road Transport and Distribution
Over-road transport and distribution of hydrogen via gaseous tube trailer
or liquid tanker is the most commonly used method. Hydrogen tube
trailers are currently limited by the U.S. Department of Transportation to
pressures of 250 bar except by special permit. The pressure limitation
results in payloads between 250 and 550 kilograms (kg). Cryogenic liquid
tankers can carry payloads of up to 4,000 kg at nearly atmospheric
pressure; however, boil-off can occur during transport.
TRANSMISSION/STORAGE WITH
METAL HYDRIDE-ORGANIC SLURRY
Technical Concept
The concept behind the use of chemical hydrides is that when the
chemical hydrides are mixed with water they will produce hydrogen.
The process envisioned is that lithium hydride will be prepared as a slurry
at centralized plants. The slurry will be pumped into tanker trucks or
pumped through pipes to distribution centers where it will be loaded into
vehicles or carried to storage vessels in homes, business, or industry.
When hydrogen is required, the chemical hydride slurry will be mixed with
water to produce a high quality hydrogen that can be used in fuel cells

SUPERCONDUCTOR TRANSMISSION LINES

Superconductivity
Superconductivity is a phenomenon of exactly zero electrical resistance
and expulsion of magnetic fields occurring in certain materials when
cooled below a characteristic critical temperature. It was discovered by
Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes on April 8, 1911 in Leiden. Like
ferromagnetism and atomic spectral lines, superconductivity is a quantum
mechanical phenomenon. It is characterized by the Meissner effect, the
complete ejection of magnetic field lines from the interior of the
superconductor as it transitions into the superconducting state. The
occurrence of the Meissner effect indicates that superconductivity cannot
be understood simply as the idealization of perfect conductivity in
classical physics. The electrical resistivity of a metallic conductor
decreases gradually as temperature is lowered. In ordinary conductors,
such as copper or silver, this decrease is limited by impurities and other
defects. Even near absolute zero, a real sample of a normal conductor
shows some resistance.
In a superconductor, the resistance drops abruptly to zero when the
material is cooled below its critical temperature. An electric current
flowing through a loop of superconducting wire can persist indefinitely
with no power source.
Elementary properties of superconductors
Most of the physical properties of superconductors vary from material to
material, such as the heat capacity and the critical temperature, critical
field, and critical current density at which superconductivity is destroyed.
On the other hand, there is a class of properties that are independent of
the underlying material. For instance, all superconductors have exactly
zero resistivity to low applied currents when there is no magnetic field
present or if the applied field does not exceed a critical value.
Zero electrical DC Resistance
The simplest method to measure the electrical resistance of a sample of
some material is to place it in an electrical circuit in series with a current
source I and measure the resulting voltage V across the sample. The
resistance of the sample is given by Ohm's law as R = V / I. If the voltage
is zero, this means that the resistance is zero.
Superconductors are also able to maintain a current with no applied
voltage whatsoever, a property exploited in superconducting

electromagnets such as those found in MRI machines. Experiments have

demonstrated that currents in superconducting coils can persist for years
without any measurable degradation. Experimental evidence points to a
current lifetime of at least 100,000 years. Theoretical estimates for the
lifetime of a persistent current can exceed the estimated lifetime of the
universe, depending on the wire geometry and the temperature.
Type 1 Superconductors
The Type 1 category of superconductors is mainly comprised of metals
and metalloids that show some conductivity at room temperature. They
require incredible cold to slow down molecular vibrations sufficiently to
facilitate unimpeded electron flow.
Type 1 superconductors - characterized as the "soft" superconductors were discovered first and require the coldest temperatures to become
superconductive. They exhibit a very sharp transition to a
superconducting state and "perfect" diamagnetism - the ability to repel a
magnetic field completely.
Type 2 Superconductors
Type 2 category of superconductors is comprised of metallic compounds
and alloys. The recently-discovered superconducting "perovskites" (metaloxide ceramics that normally have a ratio of 2 metal atoms to every 3
oxygen atoms) belong to this Type 2 group. They achieve higher Tc's than
Type 1 superconductors by a mechanism that is still not completely
understood. Type 2 superconductors - also known as the "hard"
superconductors will allow some penetration by an external magnetic field
into its surface.
The first superconducting Type 2 compound, an alloy of lead and bismuth,
was fabricated in 1930 by W. de Haas and J. Voogd.

Superconducting Transmission Cables

The obvious advantage of superconducting transmission lines is they have
no resistive losses in the bulk. Of course, real superconducting cables
have other sources of loss which must also be factored in. There are a
number of major sources of losses in superconducting transmission lines,
many of them fundamentally different from those in conventional
transmission lines. There are a number of relatively small losses due to
need to cool the line.

No cooling system is perfectly efficient, so there is some loss of liquid

nitrogen needed to cool the line. Typical values for cooling efficiency are
estimated to be on the order of 10%. Furthermore, there are losses due to
the imperfect efficiency of the liquid nitrogen pumping system itself, as
well as hydraulic losses due to the flow friction in the circulating liquid
nitrogen.
Similar to conventional transmission lines, superconducting transmission
lines also have shield and dielectric losses, which can be calculated using
the same physical models. Unlike conventional lines, superconducting
transmission lines have conductor AC losses. There is no generally
accepted physical model to describe these losses, so much of the data is
empirical.

There are also losses due to imperfect thermal insulation of the

superconducting cable. The result is a thermal leak between the cold
liquid nitrogen and the warm surroundings. The losses can be reduced but
not eliminated by creating a vacuum between the superconducting cable
and the thermal insulator. Finally, there are small losses due to joints and
terminations of cables.
Superconducting lines could only possibly be a sensible alternative to
conventional lines if they are placed in a high load setting. Large cities
offer the perfect setting for superconducting lines, as they often demand
large amounts of electrical power. American Superconductor and
Consolidated Edison have agreed to build and test prototype
superconducting transmission cables in the New York City infrastructure.
Worlds First Superconducting Power Line
The city of Essen, Germany has just switched on the worlds longest
superconducting cable, more than a kilometer from end to end, and hopes
to be a model for similar projects the world over. The cable connects two
large transformer stations in the heart of the city and though it is larger
than any one traditional copper cable, it can also carry five times as much
power.
This project, called the AmpaCity Project, is focused mostly on possible
advantages for city infrastructure notably, that a cable with almost-zero
transmission losses can transfer power over long distances at residential
voltages. Rather than using the amped up transmission voltages required
by regular cables, superconductors could reduce the need for large,
expensive transformers by eliminating the need for certain voltage

conversions throughout the city. The total capacity of the AmpaCity

project is whopping 40 megawatts.
This superconducting cable, from the company Nexans, falls a fair ways
short of that goal. It is cooled by liquid nitrogen not ideal, but a
meaningful step forward from the LHCs much more expensive tanks of
liquid helium. With a working temperature of 67 Kelvin (-206C), its
certainly not room temperature superconductivity, but it is much easier
to maintain than the sub-10 Kelvin solutions of the past. The three-stage
cable maintains a constant flow of coolant both inside and outside of the
conductive material.

Questions:
1. It is the complete ejection of magnetic field lines from the interior of
the superconductor.
2. A phenomenon of exactly zero electrical resistance.
3. How to attain superconductivity of copper?
4. It has perfect diamagnetism.
5. The biggest factor that affects superconductivity
6. It is used to cool the transmission line
7. What the advantage of superconducting transmission lines?
8. What makes the transmission line bigger compared to ordinary
transmission line?
9-10. Two forms of hydrogen currently available in the market.
Answers:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Meissner effect
Superconductivity
No way.
Type 1 Superconductor
Temperature
Liquid Nitrogen
No Resistive Losses
Cooling System

9-10. Gas, Liquid