hydrogen boat with UK fuel cell completes testing

[nairb123]

Sorry if it's already been posted...

Form an orderly queue for installation. 

https://bridgeclassiccars.co.uk/worlds-first-hydrogen-boat/?fbclid=IwAR1qtvZ6abw2bXFV2fcU2ALudNIh4s1uGU4PkpM9LN_WOAdjyCNmamI9Dco

 

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[ditchcrawler]

22 minutes ago, nairb123 said:

Sorry if it's already been posted...

Form an orderly queue for installation. 

https://bridgeclassiccars.co.uk/worlds-first-hydrogen-boat/?fbclid=IwAR1qtvZ6abw2bXFV2fcU2ALudNIh4s1uGU4PkpM9LN_WOAdjyCNmamI9Dco

 

.......

Interesting it comes from a Classic Car web site 

[IanD]

 

[ditchcrawler]

26 minutes ago, IanD said:

 

Not surprising as there is only one boat and that is not likely to go far 

[IanD]

7 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Not surprising as there is only one boat and that is not likely to go far 

 

The issue is not just that there's only one boat, it's that there's more chance of Nigel Farage suddenly proclaiming that Brexit was a terrible idea than there is of there ever being any hydrogen refuelling network on the canals -- or indeed on the roads. It's an utterly pointless government-funded "Britain is great" technology demonstrator that will now be junked and converted back to a series hybrid, all paid for by £1M of *our* money... 😞

[David Mack]

14kg of hydrogen (in conjunction with solar) will give a 600 mile range? I suspect only on very sunny days!

[IanD]

11 minutes ago, David Mack said:

14kg of hydrogen (in conjunction with solar) will give a 600 mile range? I suspect only on very sunny days!

Hydrogen is 120MJ/kg so 14kg is about 1000MJ fuel-cell output at 60% efficiency, about 280kWh. Realistic electric boat power was estimated at 1kWh/mile in another thread, so <300 miles not 600. Unless you go really slowly (slower than a normal diesel boat) to save power, as some electric boat suppliers assume in their optimistic solar-power assumptions. Or you assume that half the power comes from solar, which at 7kWh/day in summer means about 40 days, which is 15 miles per day -- not unreasonable for CCers who actually go places.

 

Still, the claims say "600 miles range", without adding "assuming you go really slowly, or that the fuel cells and solar each provide half the energy"... 😉

Edited January 11 by IanD

[Tracy D'arth]

Hydrogen is a pig to contain.  It will need very special pipes and tanks, any thought of feeding it into the existing gas distribution ststem is a total non starter.

[Cheshire cat]

Wasn't that a hydrogen boat that sat outside the Edgbaston campus for many years? Surely that was the first.

[nairb123]

5 minutes ago, Tracy D&#x27;arth said:

Hydrogen is a pig to contain.  It will need very special pipes and tanks, any thought of feeding it into the existing gas distribution ststem is a total non starter.

Makes storing a generator on the boat look a bit lame.  Wonder what the BSS examiner thought.

[MtB]

24 minutes ago, Tracy D&#x27;arth said:

Hydrogen is a pig to contain.  It will need very special pipes and tanks, any thought of feeding it into the existing gas distribution ststem is a total non starter.

 

Exactly what my chemist mate says whenever the subject crops up. He says the molecule is so small it will migrate straight through some of the materials we currently use for gas pipes. Put ten cubic metres into a mains gas pipe and expect to get 5 cubic metres out of the the other end, he says! 

[IanD]

1 minute ago, MtB said:

 

Exactly what my chemist mate says whenever the subject crops up. He says the molecule is so small it will migrate straight through some of the materials we currently use for gas pipes. Put ten cubic metres into a mains gas pipe and expect to get 5 cubic metres out of the the other end, he says! 

You'd hope that in a system designed for hydrogen they'd have uses pipes suitable for this that didn't leak... 😉

[MtB]

2 minutes ago, IanD said:

You'd hope that in a system designed for hydrogen they'd have uses pipes suitable for this that didn't leak... 😉

 

Exactly. The system is designed for methane.

 

 

[enigmatic]

I wondered what the catch was, and £2k to fill does seem like quite a big one...

[RAB]

We sometimes used Hydrogen as a fuel on Industrial gas Turbines. Like Tracy said "a pig to contain". We were working at 30 bar pressure so it can be done (all St.St pipework and fittings with seals having improved surface finishes etc. One positive, if (when) it does leak, is that's it's lighter than air, so wouldn't collect in bilges etc. Although needs venting obviously.

 

Quote

 

 

[David Mack]

1 minute ago, IanD said:

You'd hope that in a system designed for hydrogen they'd have uses pipes suitable for this that didn't leak... 😉

In the now ditched trial that was going to happen near Ellesmere Port I think they were just going to put hydrogen into the existing pipe network, and modify or replace appliances.

Puts me in mind of the change from town gas to natural gas back in the 70s, when after a while it was found that the much drier natural gas had led to shrinking of the natural fibre pipe jointing materials used on older pipework resulting in numerous leaks. I remember one road near where I then lived that was opened up every 20 feet or so, so that each joint could be resealed, and then the holes weren't properly filled in, so one of my regular cycling routes was particularly uneven.

[Ronaldo47]

The  coal gas that we had before the switch to natural gas in the 1970's, contained about 50% Hydrogen, but coal gas was distributed at a much lower pressure than natural gas, and generally in iron pipes, rather than the yellow plastic gas mains and relatively  thin-walled copper piping used in houses today. 

[IanD]

16 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

Exactly. The system is designed for methane.

 

I meant on the boat...

[David Mack]

2 hours ago, Ronaldo47 said:

The  coal gas that we had before the switch to natural gas in the 1970's, contained about 50% Hydrogen, but coal gas was distributed at a much lower pressure than natural gas, and generally in iron pipes, rather than the yellow plastic gas mains and relatively  thin-walled copper piping used in houses today. 

The pipes I was describing were cast iron (or maybe steel) with spigot and socket joints.

[matty40s]

Pig ugly boat that would lose its headlight in Harecastle....if it got that far...

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

5 hours ago, David Mack said:

14kg of hydrogen (in conjunction with solar) will give a 600 mile range? I suspect only on very sunny days!

600miles on a very sunny day’ll do me!
..just as 600miles over several year might too.

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

18 hours ago, nairb123 said:

Sorry if it's already been posted...

Form an orderly queue for installation. 

https://bridgeclassiccars.co.uk/worlds-first-hydrogen-boat/?fbclid=IwAR1qtvZ6abw2bXFV2fcU2ALudNIh4s1uGU4PkpM9LN_WOAdjyCNmamI9Dco

 

.......

Biggest load of bollox, the boat has never moved from that mooring since it came to get the hydrogen system fitted, has never been along the canal anywhere. Hydrogen refuelling pod gone, boat a big waste of time and money, all paid for by GOVT funding, boat now just sat there. Will show some photo’s in the morning.

 One million pound£££ 😂 someone’s had a few bob in their pocket that could of funded a few repairs or some dredging on the canal system.
 

Edited January 12 by BoatinglifeupNorth

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

On this day today, £million Govt funded Hydrogen boat still sat where it was when it arrived Oct/Nov, has never left the mooring for any water trials on the canal. Aptly named container now in place for those that think the boat will save the planet.

 

Edited January 12 by BoatinglifeupNorth

[Paul C]

It's not really a failed project. Its a complete success - the conclusion is, hydrogen-powered canal boats are completely unviable.

[IanD]

13 hours ago, BoatinglifeupNorth said:

Biggest load of bollox, the boat has never moved from that mooring since it came to get the hydrogen system fitted, has never been along the canal anywhere. Hydrogen refuelling pod gone, boat a big waste of time and money, all paid for by GOVT funding, boat now just sat there. Will show some photo’s in the morning.

 One million pound£££ 😂 someone’s had a few bob in their pocket that could of funded a few repairs or some dredging on the canal system.
 

Except of course that isn't true in reality, because CART funding (via DEFRA) and funding for techno-junk projects like this come out of 2 completely separate government funding buckets... 😞

 

If you're worried about the government spaffing our money up the wall on white elephants, there are many *far* bigger culprits than the hydrogen-narrowboat minnow, for example the HS2 whale...

 

1 hour ago, Paul C said:

It's not really a failed project. Its a complete success - the conclusion is, hydrogen-powered canal boats are completely unviable.

I could have told you that without wasting a million pounds on it, it's bleeding obvious... 😉

Edited January 12 by IanD