East Tennessee Hydrogen Initiative

This report documents the results of the research project completed by the Center for Energy, Transportation and the Environment at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga under Federal Transit Administration Cooperative Agreement TN-26-7032. This research has led to the design and implementation of a system for generating, compressing, storing and dispensing hydrogen in sufficient quantities to support testing of hydrogen fueled transit vehicles. This report provides background information on alternative fuels and compares various methods for producing hydrogen including nuclear energy, coal gasification, electrolysis and natural gas reformation. A simulation model was completed during the research project to relate energy consumption to power and energy storage requirements for transit vehicle operations. It includes economic analysis for comparison of alternatives and a description of a rigorous decision making process that was used to select the various technologies used in the final configuration of a hydrogen fueling system that was optimized to support research on the use of hydrogen for transit operations.