Red Bull collaborates in the creation of hydrogen prototype for Le Mans

 The Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) announced a brand new partnership between Red Bull Advanced Technologies (RBAT) and ORECA to collaborate on the chassis concept that will underpin all the prototypes in the future hydrogen class at the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Both firms have a keen interest in the ACO’s hydrogen program which includes the creation of a distinct hydrogen class in 2024, and so teamed up for the first time in their history in a joint bid. ORECA will draw on its expertise of its Design Office and its production skills as well as its endurance racing knowledge and experience, while RBAT will bring its expertise in racing car design, very much focused on aerodynamics, vehicle dynamics, simulation and energy recovery optimization.

The initial task for the partners will be to undertake and provide a detailed feasibility study for the vehicle concept. RBAT and ORECA thus join Plastic Omnium, the exclusive supplier of the hydrogen prototype fuel tanks ultimately for the cars set to make their Endurance debut in 2024.

“This exciting announcement confirms the appeal of Mission H24 and offers a promising future for zero-carbon motor racing and hydrogen prototypes. Thanks to ORECA, a mainstay of the 24 Hours of Le Mans for many years, and Red Bull Advanced Technologies, a successful motorsport business, the ACO will benefit from extensive endurance racing experience combined with cutting-edge technology to guarantee outstanding performance in its hydrogen class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2024. This partnership confirms that the ACO has made the right decisions for the future of motorsport and underscores our ambition for zero-carbon racing for future generations. We’re delighted to welcome ORECA and Red Bull Advanced Technologies alongside Plastic Omnium. Having these top-flight automotive firms on board is likely to draw even more interest from car manufacturers, especially those who regularly contribute to our hydrogen working group. We are living in difficult times but the ACO is resolutely pursuing its route towards zero-carbon racing and mobility,” said Pierre Fillon, president of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest.

Red Bull Advanced Technologies CEO Christian Horner commented: “I am delighted that we have been chosen by the ACO along with our partners ORECA to develop the concept of a hydrogen powered endurance racing car for Le Mans.  Red Bull Advanced Technologies are well qualified to take on the challenge set by the ACO having access to many of the tools used to design and develop the Red Bull Racing F1 car, along with significant experience on other cutting edge vehicle programs. The Hydrogen Class at Le Mans offers an exciting glimpse into the future of sustainable motorsport and promises both to advance the use of hydrogen in transportation, and will also deliver exciting racing.”

Hugues de Chaunac, président du Groupe ORECA added: “We are proud that the Automobile Club de l’Ouest has chosen us to work alongside Red Bull Advanced Technologies on this ambitious, forward-looking project. And we are excited to be working with the other project partners, among them Plastic Omnium and Green GT. Collaboration is vital if we are to succeed in introducing a hydrogen class at the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans.”

Source: 24H Le Mans

HYSLAND: Calvera collaborates in green hydrogen project in Mallorca

 The entry of the Grupo Industrial Calvera into the HYSLAND project, promoted by a consortium made up of 30 partners from 11 countries, will reinforce what is undoubtedly one of the largest green hydrogen initiatives in Spain and Europe. With a global budget of more than 50 million euros and a European Commission’s contribution of 10 million euros through the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU), HYSLAND aims to create a true green hydrogen ecosystem in the Balearic Islands during the next five years, involving numerous economic sectors to become the reference project in this field in southern Europe.

HYSLAND, which is coordinated by Enagás and also includes other prominent players such as Acciona, comprises a broad set of actions and infrastructures that will revolve around the production, distribution and use of more than 300 tons of renewable hydrogen per year, generated from photovoltaic solar technology. This will be used for the supply of bus fleets, rental vehicles or ferries, the generation of heat and electricity for public buildings, commercial and port services, the injection of hydrogen into existing infrastructures to decarbonize the supply of gas or the construction of a hydrogen station, with an estimated global reduction of more than 20,000 tons in Mallorca’s annual CO2 emissions.

Calvera’s participation in this project is part of its commitment to green hydrogen and is strategic, since the Aragon-based company will launch the first mobile renewable hydrogen pipeline in Spain, which will allow it to optimize this fuel in a short period of time, as well as the future possibility of scaling its flow of distribution.

It is a large-scale distribution project, using two mobile high pressure (HP) gas pipelines and fixed solutions in each of the consumption points specifically designed for this purpose by Calvera to optimize distributed use to the different consumption points. A virtual gas pipeline will transfer the hydrogen from the production site to the hydrogen station of the municipal transport company where it will be supplied. The second pipeline, with smaller modules, will bring green hydrogen closer to consumers with lower consumption rates, such as the port of Mallorca, the Lloseta City Council or a hotel on the island.

This project will give a lot to talk about in the coming years, by making an economic system based on green hydrogen a reality with direct applications that will benefit people, companies, public entities and the natural environment of Mallorca.

Source: Gasnam / Calvera

Efficient Way to Develop Biodegradable PHB Using Leftover Sewage Sludge

 In a new study, Texas A&M University researchers have uncovered an efficient way to use leftover sludge to make biodegradable plastics. The researchers report that the bacterium Zobellella denitrificans ZD1, found in mangroves, can consume sludge and wastewater to produce polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), a type of biopolymer that can be used in lieu of petroleum-based plastics.

New Way to Cut Down Upstream Costs for Bioplastics

In addition to reducing the burden on landfills and the environment, the researchers said Zobellella denitrificans ZD1 offers a way to cut down upstream costs for bioplastics manufacturing, a step toward making them more competitively priced against regular plastics.

“The price of raw materials to cultivate biopolymer-producing bacteria accounts for 25-45% of the total production cost of manufacturing bioplastics. Certainly, this cost can be greatly reduced if we can tap into an alternate resource that is cheaper and readily obtainable,” said Kung-Hui (Bella) Chu, professor in the Zachry department of civil and environmental engineering. “We have demonstrated a potential way to use municipal wastewater-activated sludge and agri- and aqua-culture industrial wastewater to make biodegradable plastics. Furthermore, the bacterial strain does not require elaborate sterilization processes to prevent contamination from other microbes, further cutting down operating and production costs of bioplastics.”

Rummaging Through Bacterial Strains to Produce Quality Bioplastics

Polyhydroxybutyrate, an emerging class of bioplastics, is produced by several bacterial species when they experience an imbalance of nutrients in their environment. This polymer acts as the bacteria’s supplemental energy reserves, like fat deposits in animals. An abundance of carbon sources and a depletion of either nitrogen, phosphorous or oxygen, cause bacteria to erratically consume their carbon sources and produce polyhydroxybutyrate as a stress response.

One such medium that can force bacteria to make polyhydroxybutyrate is crude glycerol, a byproduct of biodiesel manufacturing. Crude glycerol is rich in carbon and has no nitrogen, making it a suitable raw material for making bioplastics. However, crude glycerol contains impurities such as fatty acids, salts and methanol, which can prohibit bacterial growth. Like crude glycerol, sludge from wastewater also has many of the same fatty acids and salts. Chu said that the effects of these fatty acids on bacterial growth and, consequently, polyhydroxybutyrate production had not yet been examined.

“There is a multitude of bacterial species that make polyhydroxybutyrate, but only a few that can survive in high-salt environments and even fewer among those strains can produce polyhydroxybutyrate from pure glycerol,” Chu said. “We looked at the possibility of whether these salt-tolerating strains can also grow on crude glycerol and wastewater.”

Testing Polyhydroxybutyrate Production in High Salt Concentration

For their study, Chu and her team chose the Zobellella denitrificans ZD1, whose natural habitat is the salt waters of mangroves. They then tested the growth and the ability of this bacteria to produce polyhydroxybutyrate in pure glycerol. The researchers also repeated the same experiments with other bacterial strains that are known producers of polyhydroxybutyrate. They found that Zobellella denitrificans DZ1 was able to thrive in pure glycerol and produced the maximum amount of polyhydroxybutyrate in proportion to its weight without water.

Next, the team tested the growth and ability of Zobellella denitrificans ZD1 to produce polyhydroxybutyrate in glycerol containing salt and fatty acids. They found that even in these conditions, it produced polyhydroxybutyrate efficiently, even under balanced nutrient conditions. When they repeated the experiments in samples of high-strength synthetic wastewater and wastewater-activated sludge, they found the bacteria was still able to make polyhydroxybutyrate, although at quantities lower than if they were in crude glycerol.

Chu noted that by leveraging Zobellella denitrificans ZD1 tolerance for salty environments, expensive sterilization processes that are normally needed when working with other strains of bacteria could be avoided.

“Zobellella denitrificans ZD1 natural preference for salinity is fantastic because we can, if needed, tweak the chemical composition of the waste by just adding common salts. This environment would be toxic for other strains of bacteria,” Chu said. “So, we are offering a low cost, a sustainable method to make bioplastics and another way to repurpose biowastes that are costly to dispose of.”

Source: Texas A&M University