Delek US : Soaring in the Sky with New Energy?

Hydrogenis the most abundant element in the universe. Combined with oxygen, hydrogen can create electricity, heat, and water.We have been using hydrogen along with oxygen to reach for the stars in NASA's journey to orbit the earth and travel to the moon.

Hydrogen energydensity is three times higher than current jet fuels, and powering planes via hydrogenis our next technical challenge and opportunity to mitigate the impact of flying on the climate.

"Next to sun and wind, hydrogen is one of the most abundant clean energy sources. Developing technologies that will allow us to reduce the impact on the climate,and provide cheap energy, will be a win winfor everyone."-Jimmy Crosby SVP, Strategic Planning andOperations

"With more and more companies looking to reduce their carbon footprint, the benefit of hydrogen fuel cells is becoming more prevalent. Even when operating withhydrogen produced using natural gas, total emissions from production to end user can be reduced by over 30%. The technology for fuel cell electric vehicles has existed for years, why stop there?" - Nicole Pellegrin, Process Engineer II

"Hydrogen is one of the key areas DK Innovation is focusing on. We are mapping hydrogen innovation and partnering with companies like Utility Global to inform DelekUSon future development options." - Sarit Soccary Ben YochananEVP, Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer andStrategic Development

Hydrogen offers an alternative jet fuel that can power planes.

Fossil fuel is transported in a liquid state through pipelines and specialized trucks. However, hydrogen is most often in a gaseous state and currently much more challenging to transport.Tomake use of this powerful resource, aninfrastructure must first be created for producing and transporting hydrogen.The current lack of specialized infrastructure is the main reason hydrogen-based jet fuels have not taken off in the past. There's also the issue of where to store hydrogen once onboard the aircraft. Today's planes store fuel in the wings; however, this location would not provide adequate storage for Hydrogen.Additional pressure regulated storage would be required for the hydrogen filled containers, likely in the body of the plane.That means there would be a reduction in the number of available passenger seats. However, another benefit of using hydrogen fuel cells is that the mechanisms used for operating require significantly less maintenancethan traditional airplane engines. Just the reduced cost of maintenance alone should make up for the loss of passenger seats.

Hydrogen Is Lean.

Hydrogen has a leaner combustion that's better for reducing (NOx) Nitrogen Oxides.Nitrogen Oxides are formed when fuel is burned at high temps and oftentimes appears as a brownish gas. Hydrogen is an effective solution to reduce NOx and increase efficiency.

What's The First Goal?

As always, safety is the top priority. Tomaintain personnel and mechanical safety, adequate storage for the hydrogen must be developed. Not only does there need to be intrinsically safe storage for the hydrogen on board, but there must be a way to safely utilize the stored energy.

What's Next?

According to the nonprofit Our World in Data, airlines are responsible for 2.5 to 3.5 % of global greenhouse gas emissions. The need to run planes on a sustainable fuel is ever increasing. Renewable hydrogen fuel cells could provide an alternative notonly for jet fuel, but alsoa supplement for some conventional diesel and gasoline as well. We will have to keep in mind the adaptability issuesfor all outlets.

The production benefits will impact multiple industries, even with the use ofvariousfeedstocks and technologies. These benefits will carry all the way down to the end user. Research and technological improvementswill continue as we strive towards a more sustainable future.

https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2014/10/How-Clean-Are-Hydrogen-Fuel-Cells-Fact-Sheet.pdf

https://afdc.energy.gov/vehicles/fuel_cell.html#:~:text=Fuel%20cell%20electric%20vehicles%20(FCEVs,the%20early%20stages%20of%20implementation.