Will graduated from the University of Reading in 2022 in BSc Construction Management and Building Surveying participating in research and consultancy projects alongside such as bringing new technology into hydroponics and how to improve teaching at the university. His dissertation focused on the progress of decarbonising heat with heat pumps and culminated in a feature with the Centre for Climate Justice; the data featured showed some of the technical and socioeconomic factors which prevent households from installing systems as well as the impact of government grants and schemes across the country.
Will is planning to develop his technical knowledge and academic skills during his MRes year while learning more about transport infrastructure and the automotive industry. Continuing the theme of decarbonisation of energy, Will is focusing on developing new modular Hydrogen storage systems for vehicles and assessing the feasibility as well as impact of such options in comparison to other fuelling methods as a PhD project. After finishing at Bath he hopes to either continue conducting research or use the expertise gained during the programme and his wide range of skills to provide useful input into industry as a consultant.
Carbon emissions from fossil fuelled road vehicles are a major contributor to climate change, internal combustion also has negative effects on local air quality. Green hydrogen is a renewable, zero-emissions fuel which could replace fossil-fuelled combustion engines thereby reducing carbon emissions. A major challenge is storage, refilling a hydrogen car’s fuel tank is difficult due to the high pressures and temperatures requiring specialist equipment to store, compress and dispense fuel in a conventional manner. This equipment represents a barrier due to the high costs of construction and operation refuelling station. One way to solve this challenge is to swap out a fuel tank meaning it can be refilled remotely away from the vehicle in bulk instead of the conventional ‘petrol-pump’ style approach.
William's project will look at developing a concept system and analysing what kind of benefits can be expected from this new approach as well as how well such a system would work when brought into practice. It is expected that a swappable fuel approach could improve well-to-wheel energy efficiency, lower the cost of fuel, remove barriers to station construction and improve customer safety while helping bring the environmental benefits from hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to market.
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