3D印刷行业的采访系列重点是低碳发电3D printing and renewable energycontinues with an in-depth look at the potential of additive manufacturing within the green hydrogen energy sector.
根据阿尔伯特·塔兰肯（Albert Tarancon）的说法加泰罗尼亚能源研究所将“把,使氢有利可图point for a massive deployment of the hydrogen economy,” aided by the “huge” potential of 3D printing functional materials within the hydrogen energy sector.
Taking a deeper dive into this emerging energy sector, Tarancun shared with me his thoughts on how 3D printing can help transition the notion of a hydrogen economy from concept to reality.
根据国际可再生能源局(IRENA), hydrogen is estimated to make up12 percent of global energy useby 2050. The agency also believes green hydrogen could significantly破坏全球贸易和双边能源关系and even lead to the emergence of new centers of geopolitical influence in the future.
利用氢以清洁能源
Hydrogen is a clean fuel that, when consumed in a fuel cell, produces only water. Hydrogen can be produced from a variety of domestic resources such as natural gas, nuclear power, biomass and renewable power, making it an attractive fuel option for electricity generation. Today, though, hydrogen fuel is most commonly produced through natural gas reforming and electrolysis techniques.
While hydrogen fuel from renewable sources offers great promise for future clean energy generation in terms of its eco-credentials, it is expensive and is not the safest source of energy around due to its high flammability. Also, it’s worth noting that not all methods of producing hydrogen are “clean” – hydrogen produced by renewable sources is termed “green hydrogen” and is still in its infancy.
Despite these drawbacks, Tarancon believes hydrogen is “for sure” one of the key technologies for a sustainable future.
“Hydrogen represents a robust energy vector for storing intermittent renewable power sources as a chemical energy carrier easy to transport and handle,” he says. “The main advantage of hydrogen is that it can be stored and presents a high specific energy, which allows its use in non-electrifiable sectors such as heavy-duty transport or intensive-energy industries like chemicals, refining, iron, and steel.
但是，他确实指出：“其中一个缺点之一是开发纯氢管道网络所需的大量投资。”因此，天然气网格中的现场生成或氢注射目前被视为替代溶液。
在2020年，3D打印和绿色氢均命名Lux Research的前12个新兴技术要观看. The annual report indicates the top technology innovations that will have the biggest impact over the next decade, based on data from patents, academic papers, and funding combined with expert input from Lux’s analyst team.
The two technologies have previously been combined to produce aninnovative hydrogen production catalyst声称比目前存在的其他人高20倍。由Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology（kaist）和Korea Institute of Science and Technology(KIST), the catalyst could form the basis of a more cost-effective method of producing hydrogen in the future.
Additive manufacturing leaders have also acknowledged the3D打印的未来机会to establish itself as a frontrunner in the growing race to find sustainable technologies capable of producing clean hydrogen on a large enough scale to meet the current and future demands of industry.
Advancing hydrogen generation with AM
Within the hydrogen energy space, electroceramic-based energy devices like solid oxide fuel and electrolysis cells are promising candidates to benefit from 3D printing, as the technology could enable complex goemetries and novel functionalities that overcome the limitations of existing manufacturing techniques.
固体氧化物燃料电池（SOFC）是零发射发电机，能够以极大的效率将氢转化为电力，并且还可以在反向模式下运行，因为能够从电力和水中生产可存储的氢气。
塔兰肯（Tarancon）和他的同事们在论文中专注于这一领域，“ 3D打印下一代增强的固体氧化物燃料和电解细胞，”该研究于2020年发表在《皇家化学学会》杂志上。
该团队成功地使用SLA打印了一个新的高性能电源支持的SOFC家族，该家族在燃料电池和共晶模式期间的性能增长了57％。
The 3D printed SOFCs were fabricated with a corrugated architecture which intrinsically increased their active area by around 60 percent compared to a 3D printed conventional planar (2D) counterpart. This architecture was a first example of the wide range of printable geometries able to be fabricated via the ceramic 3D printing approach, and proved the technology’s advantage in improving the overall performance of SOFCs.
For Tarancon, the potential of 3D printing functional materials is “huge” not only in the hydrogen sector, but in many others too.
“In particular, most of the application in energy will benefit from special features only reachable by 3D printing, such as increases in active areas, architectures with high specific energy and power, and embedded functionalities like fluidics and current collection,” he says. “Definitely, all these represent unfair advantages for a performance enhancement but they should go together with a competitive cost.
他补充说：“在这方面，3D打印节省了多个步骤，需要在当前现有的制造设施中进行手动输入，并特别减少了在工厂推出制造所需的资本投资。”
塔兰肯（Tarancon）和他的团队能够使用陶瓷3D打印技术生产具有平面和增强区域架构的电源支持的SOFC，从而提高了最大功率密度，高电流密度和低降解。这项工作被认为是制造具有增强性能和复杂性的根本新一代SOFC的第一步。
“Moreover, 3D printing of functional materials helps in saving typically expensive raw materials by using an additive manufacturing approach,” Tarancon says. Further analysis of the impact 3D printing could have on the energy sector can be found in his recently released book, edited with Professor Vincenzo Esposito of the丹麦技术大学（DTU），标题为：“用于能源应用的3D打印。”
Since publishing the 2020 paper, Tarancon and his team have continued to work on advancing their 3D printed SOFCs.
他解释说：“我们正在朝多个方向发展。”“最有趣的是，可能面临着将细胞的活性区域从我们的精液中的2x2cm扩展到超过100厘米平方的值的挑战。毫无疑问，这些大面积细胞是基于3D印刷细胞开发商业电解器的。此外，我们正在设计整个制造过程，以进行大规模制造和大规模定制细胞和堆栈。”
我n fact, Tarancon says ceramics 3D printing has opened up “a new world” of architectures and configurations that have never been explored before. “Therefore, we are continuously progressing in disruptive approached like monolithic stacks, thermal-shock resistance structures, and high-aspect ratio complex geometries,” he adds.
使氢经济更加接近
被称为潜力与气候安全的能量未来的“缺失链接”by Francesco La Camera, the Director-General of IRENA, hydrogen is clearly riding on the current renewable energy revolution. However it is worth noting that hydrogen itself is not “new oil”, and that it is green hydrogen, generated from renewable sources, that will bring about the most significant environmental benefits.
塔兰肯（Tarancon）的意见相同，并认为氢行部门的未来看起来很有希望，只要可以证明这对行业和政府参与者都可以盈利。
“The hydrogen sector has grown very fast over the past few years, mainly due to the significant decrease in the cost of renewable electricity – half of the final price of produced hydrogen – and the scaling of electrolysis technologies,” he says. “The deployment of hydrogen technologies in the next decade is expected to grow exponentially, especially fostered by promoting policies and public funding.
“After its initial impulse, hydrogen is expected to reach a cost reduction of less than €3 per kg, which will make hydrogen profitable. This will certainly be the turning point for a massive deployment of the hydrogen economy.”
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特色图片显示Dawn Aerospace’s Mk II Aurora hydrogen peroxide-fuelled spaceplane. Image via Dawn Aerospace.
