In order to reduce emitted
greenhouse gases slowly we should move on to the Electric vehicles (EV) and the Hydrogen Fuel Cell cars. That’s why many privet vehicle
manufacturers are manufacturing different types of EV’s and Hydrogen fuel Cell cars. There is no doubt that the Hydrogen fuel is the future fuel. But the other most trending question in front of us is ,
Are Hydrogen Fuel Cell cars Eco-Friendly today in India?
No, Hydrogen Fuel Cell cars are not so Eco-Friendly today In our Country. Because most of the electricity is produced by fossil
fuels simply from coal. And the coal mining is also not environment friendly.
For better Understanding we should compare the CO2 Emission of both Hydrogen and Gasoline fuels in different phases. Before comparison we should knowing about the grid power production in India. The maximum energy of grid is produced in India from burning of coal and few from natural gas is around 57%. Now if the power
station with an efficiency of 34% burns coal, it could emits 1.0 kg CO2 for generating of one kwh of electricity .( That means 1kwh
electricity = 1 kg of CO2.)
And approx 57%of electricity is
generated by burning of fossil fuels. This data is very vital for farther
calculating the CO2 emission.
Now compare both Fuels in different phases:
1)Fuel Production Phase:
Gasoline Fuel :
Through mining and purification 4 kwh power is required to produce of 1 gallon of gasoline. For 1 kg gasoline production we need 1.06 kwh electricity.
Hydrogen Fuel:
There are different way's of producing Hydrogen Gas ,but most effective way of Hydrogen production is Electrolysis in today .Near about 48 kwh Electricity is required to produce 1 kg Hydrogen by Electrolysis process.
2) Power Generation in both Fuels:
If we talking about the Power generation it means the calorific value of that fuel.
Gasoline Fuel:
Through any type of burning process 1 kg gasoline could produce up to 12 kwh Heat energy.
Hydrogen Fuel:
In compare to Gasoline Hydrogen can produce 3 times more power then gasoline. 1 kg of Hydrogen contains 33.33 kwh Heat energy.
3) Efficiency of Both Cases:
Internal Combustion Engine:
If we consider a IC engine, then it's efficiency around 29% to 37% in between of them. But if we consider a car, in this case 15% of energy is losses due the Power train and Transmission system. Each and every IC engine vehicles efficiency more or less same, consider it as 25%.
So, for burning 1 kg of gasoline we can get (12x0.25=3 kwh) 3 kwh power.
Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars:
A fuel cell ia an Electrochemical cell that converts chemical energy or molicular Energy to the Electrical Energy.The Fuel Cells are basically conducted the reaction between Hydrogen gas and Oxigen gas, through this process water,Electricity and Heat is produced. In most of the cases Hydrogen car manufacturers are basically use Alkaline Fuel Cells. Alkaline full Cells cars are more or less 60% efficient .
So,for 1 kg of Hydrogen gas we can get (33.33 x 0.60=19.9 kwh)= 19.9 kwh power.
Calculating The CO2
Emission
For Internal Combursion Engine Cars :
Burning of 1 litre Gasoline it can emits 3.153 kg of CO
2
The Total CO2 Emission = [By fuel Production]+[Through Run The Car]
=[1.06 x 6.67 x 0.57 x 2.38]+[3.153 x 6.67] [for equibalancing the energy we should multiply 6.67 to gasoline (6.67 x 3=19.9)]
=30.62 kg of CO
2
For Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars:
The Total CO2 Emission = [By fuel Production] + [Through Run The Car]
=[48 x 0.57 x 1] [ CO
2 emission is Zero
=27.36 kg CO
2 during runing the car]
That calculation simply indicates that the CO2 emission of both the cases are near about same, not so much difference between them.Obviously the source of power generation played the main role.That manes If we move on to
the renewable energy sources the CO2 emission is reduces.
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