Metrology to support standardisation of hydrogen fuel sampling for heavy duty hydrogen transport

Road transport accounts for a fifth of carbon dioxide emissions within the EU. Non-fossil fuels like hydrogen need to be applied to sectors such as heavy-duty transport in order to reach the EU’s goal to be climate neutral by 2050.

The EMPIR projects MetroHyVe and MetroHyVe 2 worked on providing the metrological framework needed to establish hydrogen fuel cells for road transport. However, most approaches focused on applying this novel technology to light-duty vehicles. By 2030, 60,000 hydrogen powered trucks will be in service, creating a need for sufficient heavy-duty hydrogen refuelling stations in Europe. Sampling systems need to be developed and standardised that are functional for heavy-duty applications.

This project will work on developing the needed metrological framework for heavy-duty hydrogen fuel applications.

Three reference methods for interfacing nozzle geometries will be developed to have sampling systems for different physical conditions including gaseous and particulate phase. These will be compared to already established applications for light-duty hydrogen fuelling systems.

Standardised procedures for validating sampling systems will be established as well as guidelines for sampling representativeness. These include deciding on minimum sampling size and developing methods to determine the uncertainty of sampling, with a target uncertainty of 10 % or lower. Methodologies for the validation of sampling systems will be prepared and the protocol will be shared to ensure it is accessible for European industries.

These advances will help in reducing emissions due to transport, and aid the goals of the European green deal.