Hydrogen Production, Conversion and Use

Dear Colleagues,

It is our pleasure to invite you to participate in the Special Issue “Hydrogen Production, Conversion and Use”.

In the context of the decarbonisation of the modern industrial society to reach a sustainable future, hydrogen is able to play a key role in the energy and climate transition thanks to its favourable characteristics as an energy vector, a chemical carrier and feedstock, and an energy storage medium. In fact, hydrogen—as remarked by recent policy—can be a strong enabler of such a transition if seen in a broader context in which the energy system is redesigned following the availability of new technologies in order to provide clean and secure energy in all end uses.

The hydrogen value chain is complex and interconnected; it spans from hydrogen production, through hydrogen conversion (compression, storage, distribution and transport), up to its final uses and applications in different target sectors. The variety of technologies and pathways denote how hydrogen can be integrated in energy systems in a variety of different ways and schemes, exploiting its complementarity and synergy with other technologies and solutions, such as direct electrification and energy efficiency.

That said, the main goal of this Special Issue is to collect contributions regarding hydrogen technologies and system applications with both a vertical and transversal approach, welcoming contributions of both specific technological and/or process aspects at all levels of the value chain as well as overarching studies which encompass the hydrogen value chain as a whole in order to fully untap the benefits across the energy and industrial sectors in terms of energy efficiency, economic competitiveness and environmental impact.

Specifically, novel articles are welcome regarding the following topics:

• At the technology level: hydrogen production technologies (via different pathways such as electrolysis, thermochemistry and biology; as a byproduct of chemical processes; other methods, etc.); hydrogen compression (thermofluid analyses of piston/membrane compression, etc.) and storage (physical storage, conversion in other chemical carriers, material storage, Power-to-X, etc.); hydrogen distribution and transport technologies (logistic analyses, comparison of hydrogen carrier methods and modes, blending in natural gas networks, e-fuels, etc.); and hydrogen end uses (fuel cells, conventional energy conversion systems operated with pure hydrogen and/or blends and/or hydrogen based e-fuels, hydrogen combustion systems, chemical reactors, etc.) in different applications (power-only for backup or baseload generation, combined heat and power for residential and industrial users, thermal uses for low- and high-temperature heat, hydrogen as feedstock in hard-to-abate sectors, hydrogen mobility infrastructure and vehicles, bulk energy storage applications, grid flexibility and ancillary services, X-to-Power, etc.);
• At the system level: new coupling schemes of hydrogen technologies with other technologies/systems (techno-economic analyses, thermo-economic and exergoeconomic analyses, system integration and optimisation studies, etc.); integrated hydrogen system analyses (hydrogen storage solutions, hydrogen microgrids, hydrogen hubs/valleys/ecosystems, Power-to-Power, etc.); the integration of hydrogen technologies/systems with energy networks/infrastructure (support for renewable energy grid integration, grid flexibility and ancillary services, interconnection with the gas grid, sector coupling); real-life demonstrations (operational data of existing plants, new pilot plants, project demos, etc.); supply chain analyses (production vs. demand analysis, supply chain optimisation, etc.); and sustainability analyses (LCA, LCC, LCSA, ecodesign).

We hope that the above topics may spark your interest and we look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Andrea Monforti Ferrario
Dr. Viviana Cigolotti
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• hydrogen energy
• hydrogen processes and technologies
• integrated hydrogen systems
• value chain analysis
• hydrogen production
• hydrogen conversion
• hydrogen use