JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – South Africa-linked Anglo American is delivering new platinum-catalysed hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEVs) mobility options across Europe.

The London- and Johannesburg-listed mining major is doing so in partnership with FCEV taxi operator Hype, under the H2 Moves Europe banner.

Since the initial rollout in Berlin in 2022, deployment has spread to Paris and Brussels, with Hamburg reportedly next on the list.

H2 Moves Europe has driven more than eight million zero-emission FCEV kilometres in close to 650 000 passenger journeys.

Key in Berlin has been Toyota Deutschland and SafeDriver-ennoo. In Paris, in addition to Toyota Mirai and Hyundai Nexo, the 250 hydrogen-powered FCEV taxi fleet includes Peugeot e-Expert and Citroën ë-Jumpy fuel cell vans adapted for wheelchair users, with a similar mix making up Brussels’ 50 FCEVs.

In each instance, South Africa’s PGMs are working hand-in-glove with emission-free green hydrogen, which has three times higher energy content than gasoline and is a critical feedstock for the entire chemicals industry, including for liquid fuels, technical academic Hasan Akbulut points out on LinkedIn.

Interestingly, Monday’s New York Times confirms that the Biden administration has finalised rules that “offer billions of dollars in tax credits to companies that make hydrogen”, the world’s most common element, which is very effectively produced by platinum group metal (PGM)-catalysed proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers and turned back into green electricity by PGM-based PEM fuel cells.

Zero-emission PEM fuel cells are increasingly edging their way towards enabling the electrification of buses, commercial trucks, trains, ships, and power stations, thus providing mobile and stationary clean energy solutions.

Last month, Nasdaq- and Toronto-listed Ballard Power Systems signed a multi-year supply agreement with Stadler US to supply 8 MW of PEM-linked fuel cell engines to power zero-emission passenger trains for the California Department of Transportation, which is decarbonising commuter rail transport.  

Also received last month were orders from two European and UK city bus manufacturers for 90-plus fuel cell engines, which Ballard chief commercial officer David Mucciacciaro describes as further validation of the benefits of fuel cells as zero-emission bus-powering alternatives.

Moreover, Bosch Hydrogen Energy reports that several industries are transitioning their hydrogen production to large PEM electrolysis systems with capacities in the hundreds of megawatts, laying the foundation for scaled-up industrial use of hydrogen generated through the electrolysis process. “We know our way around hydrogen, and we're growing with hydrogen,” Bosch chairperson Dr Stefan Hartung enthused.

Importantly, in the form of liquid organic hydrogen carrier, hydrogen has the potential to be transported through modified existing pipeline infrastructure and tankers, and can be stored for very long periods in adapted tank facilities now used to store hydrocarbons.

These are among the many reasons why major cities that include Beijing are offering significant incentives to the developers of hydrogen projects, Green Power VP Yong Ye reports on LinkedIn.

In addition, a unit of CHN Energy Investment has connected China’s first integrated offshore facility to the Asian giant’s national electricity grid as part of an initiative that combines photovoltaic (PV) power with hydrogen production and refuelling, plus storage, Renewables Now reports.

In yet another project, Hubei Electric, with a bid of 159-million yuan, last month won the engineering procurement and construction contract for a 4 000 Nm³/h hydrogen electrolyser in China’s Zaoyang City, where surplus PV electricity will be used for round-the-clock hydrogen production for use by businesses within the industrial park.

Also last month, Aramco Ventures announced its first investment in China’s green hydrogen industry through HydoTech Hydrogen.

In France, green hydrogen supplier Lyfe has completed the delivery of 2.6 t of renewable hydrogen to Storengy, an underground natural gas storage leader, at its Etrez-Bresse Vallons site, in the Ain region. This hydrogen is being used to validate the role of hydrogen storage in the hydrogen value chain, with a view to supporting larger-scale hydrogen industrty development in Europe.

In India, National Hydro Power Company has unveiled a plan to invest $646-million in 1 000 MW of solar and green hydrogen pilot projects in Bihar, and Greenstat Hydrogen India and H2Carrier of Norway are acceleratong the deployment of green hydrogen and green ammonia projects in not only India and but also Sri Lanka, Hydrogen HV reports.

In Germany, the first 525 km of a new nationwide hydrogen network will be completed this year, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports and Mining Weekly can add that a considerable number of other hydrogen projects are under way in many other parts of the world.

On the green steel front, a test furnace using heated hydrogen has come close to halving carbon dioxide emissions at Nippon Steel in Japan, Hydrogen News Klaus Steven reports, and Turkish steelmaker Erdemir last year tested hydrogen injection into a blast furnace following India’s Tata doing the same at its steel plant in Jamshedpur the year before.

In Singapore, the right has been granted to local power generator and electricity retailer PacificLight to build a hydrogen-ready combined cycle gas turbine plant on Jurong Island that will have the capacity to provide electricity to 864 000 four-room flats.

In Norway, the government last month awarded $108-million to fund 14 green hydrogen, green ammonia and electric ship projects, while in Scotland, the Whitelee project aims to convert excess wind energy into hydrogen and the Cromarty Firth project is eyeing the powering of whisky distilleries, H2 Energy News reports.

The list of projects could go on considerably further, with even the likes of London-listed oil and gas major BP last month arriving at a final investment decision for the 100 MW Lingen Green Hydrogen project that is being developed next to its refinery in Lower Saxony, Germany – a project that is expected to produce 11 000 t of green hydrogen a year, with the help of offshore wind power for the electrolysis process. The project is said to be part of five to ten hydrogen investments that BP intends to make in this decade.

Clearly, hydrogen fuel cell technology has far-reaching potential as a provider of greenness across virtually every aspect of modern life and living.