Events Calendar

AME Seminar

Speaker: Jacob Leachman, Washington St. University

Talk Title: Cool Fuel: Engineering Liquid Hydrogen for the Future of Zero-Carbon Transportation

Abstract: The new HydrogenShot initiative launched by the US Department of Energy has the ambitious goal of reducing hydrogen fuel production costs to $1 for 1 kg in 1 decade. Behind the scenes of this goal is an incredible logistics challenge to store and distribute the massive amounts of hydrogen needed. Currently over 90% of small merchant hydrogen is distributed via cryogenic liquid tanker truck. However, modern hydrogen liquefiers have specific energy consumptions only 30% of what is theoretically achievable for ~30 tonne/day systems approaching $100M in cost. Clearly, hydrogen liquefaction cycles must fundamentally change to massively scale with clean energy resources. Once liquefied, the next challenge is minimizing parasitic heat transfer that results in boil-off losses typically between 7-40%. New paradigms for liquid hydrogen storage are needed to minimize these losses. Although many challenges remain to be solved, the purpose of this talk is to emphasize the new tools and opportunities making this cool fuel an exciting research area for several decades to come.

Biography: Jacob Leachman is an Associate Professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Washington State University (WSU). He initiated the Hydrogen Properties for Energy Research (HYPER) laboratory at WSU in 2010 to advance cryogenic and/or hydrogen systems. To this day the HYPER laboratory remains the only US academic laboratory focusing on cryogenic hydrogen. He earned a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2005 and a M.S. degree in 2007 from the University of Idaho. His masters thesis has been adopted as the foundation for hydrogen fueling standards and custody exchange, in addition to winning the Western Association of Graduate Schools Distinguished Thesis Award for 2008. He completed his Ph.D. in the Cryogenic Engineering Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2010 under the advice of John Pfotenhauer and Greg Nellis. He is the lead author of the reference text Thermodynamic Properties of Cryogenic Fluids: 2nd Edition and Cool Fuel: The Science and Engineering of Liquid Hydrogen which is in development. In 2018 he received the Roger W. Boom Award from the Cryogenic Society of America.



Host: AME Department

More Info: https://usc.zoom.us/j/93987337017?pwd=MWd2dXBSL1FaR1RPaHNscjJ1NW80UT09

Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/93987337017?pwd=MWd2dXBSL1FaR1RPaHNscjJ1NW80UT09

Location: James H. Zumberge Hall Of Science (ZHS) - 252

WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/93987337017?pwd=MWd2dXBSL1FaR1RPaHNscjJ1NW80UT09

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Tessa Yao

Event Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/93987337017?pwd=MWd2dXBSL1FaR1RPaHNscjJ1NW80UT09