Aims and Objectives

The main objective of the project is to create an integrated and multifunctional infrastructure aiming to demonstrate the feasibility, functionality, sustainability, resilience and safety of a hydrogen ecosystem, as well as to offer to the industry the possibility to research, test and validate, in a dedicated ecosystem, the technological solutions related to the overall hydrogen supply and use chain on a significant scale and with different degrees of technological maturity (Technology Readiness Level).

It is expected to build and operate high-tech infrastructures that allow, with a technology-neutral approach, the demonstration and integration of different hydrogen technologies to contribute to the achievement of the objectives of energy transition in the short and long term, with the ultimate aim to identify enabling technologies, components, systems and advanced solutions, develop business models and contribute to the training of new professionals.

Specifically, the different links of the hydrogen value chain will be studied, analyzed and tested, as described below:

Hydrogen production

• production from electrolysis through mature technologies, coupling the use of renewable energy produced on site with certified renewable electricity from the grid.
• Hydrogen production from various energy sources using emerging and pre-commercial technologies according to industrial needs and requirements.

Storage

• gaseous state storage in centralized high capacity systems;- dedicated high pressure/performance storage for HRS applications;
• storage for mobile applications.

Transport

• transport of hydrogen in blending with natural gas through a dedicated pipeline for the experimentation of CH4/H2 mixtures in different percentages, injecting hydrogen in the gas network, in order to evaluate the response of the network and the performance of the connected consumers, as well as the retrofit of conventional gas transportation networks for similar applications.- transport and distribution of pure hydrogen through a dedicated hydrogen pipeline;
• studies aimed at evaluating the performance of materials and components for the introduction of hydrogen and natural gas mixtures into the methane distribution network of the ENEA Casaccia Research Center, through non-destructive testing and verification and the implementation of a “materials testing platform” in a dedicated online section of the pipeline.

Utilities

• separation of hydrogen from the CH4/H2 mixture upstream of the end user, in order to exploit a single gas network for CH4/H2 mixtures, pure hydrogen and pure methane; – realization of a direct refueling station for hydrogen powered vehicles dedicated to the movement of people and goods (buses, cars, forklifts)
• production of electricity from pure hydrogen and CH4/H2 blends, with fuel cells (high efficiency stationary applications) and with micro gas turbine systems fuelled with CH4/H2 blends;
• production of 100% renewable synthetic methane from green hydrogen and CO2 of biological origin, with a view to facilitating the transport and distribution of renewable gases in the network (with a view to seasonal geological storage) and to users;
• use of hydrogen and mixtures in thermal utilities.

Integration aspects

• validation of innovative components (valves, sensors, flow meters, etc.), systems for data acquisition, remote management and supervision of components and subsystems; safety and testing.

Table 1 – Description of the main lines of development within HV@ENEA Casaccia

The expected results for the first months of 2024, will be mainly systemic in nature, but will also focus on performance analysis and optimized management of components and subsystems, also in relation to the overall performance of the infrastructure. Another objective will concern the acquisition and processing of data for monitoring the operational status of the Hydrogen Demo Valley and for diagnostics, including predictive diagnostics, of the entire infrastructure and the individual components and subsystems that compose it.