Political and legal barriers
Political and legal barriers are very diverse: lack of relevant standards, complex legal and administrative procedures among involved authorities, lack of local governments initiatives, lack of regulations and guidelines for the installation of hydrogen systems, absence of qualified specialists to manage hydrogen projects.
To overcome the political and legal barriers, MITHRIL Consortium will focus their attention to establish a dialogue with government committees, supra-state organisations, and regulatory agencies, to promote a positive attitude of the political levels and also to guide the definition of new standards related to hydrogen.
Economic barriers
The main economic factors affecting the introduction of the MITHRIL solutions in the market are the costs of:
(a) coating formulation/consumables;
(b) investment costs to set up the necessary equipment for coating application on full-scale pipelines.
To overcome the economic barriers, an assessment of the cost and life cycle of the technological solutions of MITHRIL project will be carried out during the activities, as well as a market analysis, with the goal of verifying the competitive positioning and the return on investment.
Social barriers
The main possible social barrier is not directly linked to coatings but to the use of hydrogen and pipelines. It may be represented by NIMBY (not in my backyard) attitude supported by a widespread perception of hazards. Indeed, the safety credentials of hydrogen have been debated for several decades and still remains a contested topic. Negative safety perceptions, low social acceptance. Lack of public knowledge and awareness of hydrogen technologies, public fears and insecurities concerning technological innovations and potential social/behavioural changes. There is the perception of hydrogen high sensitivity to detonation, but there is the absence of perception that, despite its risk profile, hydrogen has been used safely across a range of applications including aerospace, petrochemicals, electronics, presenting no significant additional risks compared to other liquid or gaseous fuels. It is of no small importance the fact that, application of hydrogen economy in sectors accessible to the general public (e.g., residential applications, automotive, fuelling stations) will require awareness and adherence to safety measures, which is known to be extremely significantly harder to enforce and monitor, compared to industrial applications. To overcome social barriers, MITHRIL has set up communication and dissemination actions to also address the general public to increase awareness of the reality (ignorance is the first social barrier).
Technological barriers
The main technological barriers in MITHRIL are represented by the upscaling of the coating technologies. Notably,
(1) scaling from small samples to full-scale components can introduce variability in coating thickness and uniformity;
(2) on a larger scale, factors such as differential thermal expansion, surface roughness, and mechanical stresses can affect adhesion;
3) use of real operational conditions (e.g. hydrogen pressure, cycling).
To overcome technological barriers, MITHRIL methodology has set up Development activities and characterisation tasks: process parameters (e.g. temperature, pressure) will be fine-tuned to ensure consistent application over large areas; compatibility of the coating material will be optimized to enhance coating adhesion, limiting and controlling the internal stresses in the coating or at the coating/substrate interface, which may arise during the construction of the mock-up; prior testing on small scale via SSR in H2 environment will ensure the application of operative conditions of hydrogen pressure on mock-up.