France: Dunkirk’s urban transport may run on a mixture of hydrogen and methane

As reported by Smartplanet.fr, Althytude (Alternative Hydrogen in urban transport in Dunkirk) project took five years to take off and has already tested two buses on a mixture of 80 per cent natural gas and 20 per cent hydrogen. Trials were performed in the streets of Dunkirk, France’s first city to install a hydrogen station for its public transport.

For obtaining Hythane, hydrogen is produced by electrolysis of water using electricity from wind and then injected into a natural gas station. According to Thierry Alleau, honorary president of the French Association of Hydrogen (AFH2), transforming an engine to operate on this mixture involves minor modifications as the fuel is compatible with NGV engines. “It is fast enough to change a whole fleet of buses,” he said.

As deployment of technologies related to hydrogen is costly, hythane mixture seems to ensure a step towards cleaner fuels because it is cheaper and quicker to implement and does not need fuel cell use. Moreover, it strengthens the environmental benefits of CNG and introduces hydrogen into the fuel grid with proven technologies and into the transport sector without significantly altering the current techniques.