But what is green hydrogen? And for that matter, what are all the other colours of hydrogen?

Black hydrogen. Gray hydrogen. Blue hydrogen. Green hydrogen…

All hydrogen is colourless and odourless — the hydrogen rainbow simply defines how the hydrogen was produced. While the structure and properties of the hydrogen molecule do not change between the colours, the production method does play a significant role in how carbon-intensive the hydrogen lifecycle is.

Black & Brown Hydrogen — The Dirtiest

Black and brown hydrogen are both produced from the fossil fuel coal-black hydrogen is from bituminous coal and brown from lignite. These are the dirtiest methods of hydrogen production because it is created through the gasification of coal, which releases CO2 and other greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. 

Gray Hydrogen — The Most Common

Gray hydrogen is produced from natural gas, and it is the most common type of hydrogen produced and used worldwide. The primary process used in gray hydrogen production is steam-methane reforming, a reaction involving natural gas, steam, and heat that works to isolate hydrogen. In addition to hydrogen gas, the process also creates CO and CO2 which are released into the atmosphere.

Although using natural gas is not as carbon-intensive as gasification of coal, it is still a fossil fuel. As such, its use in hydrogen production is non-renewable and emits GHG emissions that contribute to climate change. 

Blue Hydrogen — Low-Carbon Intensity

Blue hydrogen is also produced from natural gas, but the process involves carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology that prevents the majority of carbon emissions created by the steam reforming process from being released into the atmosphere.

Due to the involvement of CCS technology, blue hydrogen has a reduced carbon intensity and may even be referred to as carbon neutral (although that may be a bit misleading as the CCS technology will not capture 100% of the GHG emissions).

Blue hydrogen production is less carbon-intensive than black, brown or gray hydrogen, but its dependence on fossil fuels does not make it as environmentally sound as green hydrogen.

Green Hydrogen — The Cleanest

Green hydrogen is often referred to as ‘clean hydrogen’ because it is produced using electricity from clean energy sources — such as solar or wind power — to split water into hydrogen and oxygen atoms through a process called electrolysis.

Because solar and wind power do not emit greenhouse gases when delivering electricity, this green hydrogen method offers a clean alternative to hydrogen production. Although it is not yet economically competitive at a commercial scale, green hydrogen could be a major contributor to decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors such as steel manufacturing and the chemicals industry, which rely on fossil fuel feedstocks in the production process.

In addition to replacing portions of gray hydrogen, green hydrogen also poses potential as a clean hydrogen source for the transportation, building, and power sectors. Green hydrogen can serve as a key precursor ingredient in producing synthetic jet fuel and derivatives. Adopting this clean fuel would allow the shipping and aviation industries, which have been historically difficult to decarbonise given the infeasibility of direct electrification, to transfer to low-carbon intensive fuels and effectively reduce their GHG emissions.  

There are several barriers to the widespread adoption of green hydrogen, such as constructing refuelling infrastructure, lowering costs, and developing storage strategies. The buzz around green hydrogen is growing, and as it becomes a more popular option, analysts assert that it will become more economic than gray hydrogen.   

Future Outlook For Hydrogen

Talk on hydrogen is trending, yet it’s important to note that hydrogen production is a mature market that has served the international industry for decades. Hydrogen is used as an industrial feedstock in prominent processes such as oil refining and ammonia production. Hydrogen production has increased over the past decade, a trend that is anticipated to continue for the foreseeable future.

Advancements and scaling of green hydrogen technology could play a significant role in replacing gray (black & brown) hydrogen, and it could also provide clean fuel for transportation or stored energy to complement intermittent renewable energy sources. Considering how economic solar and wind power have become, it is now critical that we develop innovative techniques and strategies to drive down capital costs of electrolytic equipment and to effectively interconnect hydrogen solutions into our energy framework. Doing so will open up incredible potential for hydrogen to complement the larger global transition to a clean energy economy.  

Australia is actively embracing opportunities around hydrogen. Green hydrogen energy hubs are part of the NSW Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) buildout plan, and The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has secured $105 million to fund three commercial green hydrogen facilities slated for Victoria and Western Australia.

With national and international commitments to reduce carbon emissions and reach net-zero status by 2050, green hydrogen can play a critical role in decarbonising industry and establishing a reliable clean energy grid. So as the world transitions to a clean energy economy, green hydrogen may not only be a way for Australia to decarbonise… it could also be the nation’s next big export opportunity.

The post The Hydrogen Colour Spectrum — Where We Are & Where We’re Going appeared first on Northmore Gordon.

The Australian government has recently declared that it will reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

This commitment sounds nice… but what does it actually entail? Considering the Australian government has made a lot of statements supporting hydrogen technology while also maintaining plans to develop new gas-fired power stations, what could the energy mix of Australia’s future look like?

If Australia is serious about its commitment to reach net-zero emissions and maintain energy security, there should be a commitment to:

– Incentivise electrification

– Deliver more clean renewable energy

– Implement long-duration energy storage

– Develop hydrogen solutions for hard-to-abate sectors

Electrification of Society — Moving From Gas To Electricity

Electrification is transitioning a process from being powered by thermal energy, such as natural gas or oil, to being powered by electricity. While some heavy industry will be difficult to decarbonise through electricity, there are many household & commercial appliances as well as industrial processes that will need to modernize and transition to electric power. Beyond being good for the environment, this electrification also grants greater energy security as Australian oil refineries and reserves have taken a serious hit.

For residential homes and commercial buildings, solar systems with battery storage will become the norm. To optimise the use of solar power, homes and buildings will have to embrace electric cooking appliances and heat pumps for air conditioning and hot water needs.

For transport, greater adoption of electric vehicles will decarbonise the transportation sector. Both personal vehicles and the smaller commercial fleet will go electric, and a modern recharging station powered by a clean-energy grid will empower drivers with the freedom of travel without pollution. Long haul vehicles may end up using green hydrogen as their fuel source.

There are ways electrification can occur in heavy industry as well. For example, cement manufacturers will likely need to look at alternate fuel options and electric plasma arc burners as a way forward. Heavy industry, such as cement and steel manufacturing, are hard-to-abate sectors that will likely be supported by natural gas for a number of years still. For these heavy industries, decarbonization through energy efficiency is key. This could involve improving steam system efficiency or capturing waste heat from industrial processes for direct use or for electricity generation. Energy efficiency is a great way for businesses to decarbonize and should be the first step in the decarbonization process. It reduces the amount of energy that must be produced in the first place and frees up cash for other purposes. In our experience there is still much to be achieved through energy efficiency in Australian manufacturing.

Where electrification proves difficult, opportunity opens up down the road for combinations of green hydrogen and biogas from waste treatment as a natural gas substitute.

Electrification of society will naturally increase electricity demand — and renewable energy sources provide the clean energy solutions to bring the supply.

Renewable Energy — Solar & Wind Dominant Electric Grid

Renewable energy sources have to make up a larger share of Australia’s energy profile. Currently, renewables only make up 7% of Australia’s energy consumption, and only 24% of Australia’s electricity generation comes from renewables. Biomass, photovoltaic solar, wind, and hydropower make up the overwhelming majority of that activity.

Biomass is currently the most heavily sourced renewable energy in Australia, but biomass carbon neutrality depends on regrowing plants to sequester atmospheric carbon, which may not make sense on a timetable that is relevant for keeping pace with the Paris Climate Agreement. The development of biomass should be a secondary choice behind other renewables like solar and wind power and requires careful regulation to ensure sustainable use.

Solar and wind both present huge potential, and they will be heavy players in the energy mix if Australia is to effectively decarbonise according to schedule. The good news is that solar and wind energy are trending in the right direction. Solar energy generation experienced a 42% increase in Australia over the past year while wind generation grew by 15%. That trajectory is set to continue as the development of Renewable Energy Zones progresses towards construction of thousands of megawatt solar and wind farms over the coming decade. Solar and wind are not only clean energy sources — they are also the lowest cost. Introducing more solar and wind capacity presents an excellent way for Australia to decarbonize while driving down energy costs.

In addition to utility-scale power, solar still has immense potential at the residential and commercial level. Solar provides Australians with the lowest levelized cost of energy. Beyond serving as a cheap, reliable, and clean energy source, residential solar offers benefits of distributed energy. It alleviates pressure on the larger grid, reduces the need for centralized power stations and increased capacity of transmission lines.

In some states, electricity generation contributes a significant portion of carbon emissions. In Victoria, for instance, half of all carbon emissions come from generating electricity. By transitioning from fossil-fuel based electricity to clean, renewable power sources, Australia can make considerable progress towards a net-zero emissions economy.

Renewable energy sources provide extensive benefits, yet one thing that becomes necessary for the reliable operation of a clean energy grid is heavy-duty energy storage.

Energy Storage — Long-duration Storage & Hydrogen

Energy storage cannot be overlooked in the energy mix of the future. Long-duration storage is a novel concept in the realm of utility-scale energy supply, with pumped hydro the only form used at scale. Hydrogen is a very abundant element and can be used to store energy but generating it cleanly is currently expensive. One way or another, some form of heavy-duty energy storage is critical for an energy grid dominated by intermittent energy sources like wind and solar.

Even though solar power is fairly predictable, we cannot control the coming of night, just as we can’t control how hard the wind blows onto wind farms. These factors highlight the importance of heavy-duty electricity storage which will be needed to supply electricity when direct supply is not available, such as at night or on windless days. Storage will also be needed to receive excess electricity so as not to destabilise the electric grid. Therefore, energy storage is important for both reliable electricity delivery and the smooth operation of an electricity grid powered by solar and wind.

There have been impressive advancements with lithium-ion battery technology, but that technology is best suited for emergency backup or peak-demand shaving due to the fact that lithium-ion batteries cannot deploy maximum output for more than 4-8 hours. Recent research has shown pathways to more environmentally friendly and cheaper battery storage for electricity.

There are a number of companies looking to solve the long term storage problem, which has led to the development of some innovative technologies and processes. One company that is emerging with promising technology is Form Energy, which has stated that its essential process involves the rusting and un-rusting of iron. In October 2020, a coalition of community choice aggregators in California, US — a progressive state that has repeatedly pushed the envelope on US environmentalism — released a request for proposals for 500 megawatts of long-duration storage capacity. This is a hallmark move for the industry, for once this problem is solved, it will make possible the development of a 100% clean-energy electric grid.

Hydrogen presents another solution to long-duration storage. Green hydrogen results from using clean energy sources to power the electrolysis of water to separate its oxygen and hydrogen constituents. This green hydrogen can then be deployed later in a gas turbine or fuel cell to generate electricity.. Some of the drawbacks of hydrogen are its high burning temperature and its low volumetric-energy density, unique qualities that will have to be considered when integrating it into existing energy infrastructure.

Hydrogen is not currently cost-competitive as a general energy source and has a large cost gap to overcome. Innovation, time, and effective market mechanisms will be important to make hydrogen a more viable option. This is crucial, as hydrogen will undoubtedly have an important role in providing long-duration energy storage within a clean energy grid.

Green Hydrogen Economy — Hydrogen to Tackle Hard-To-Abate Sectors

For those hard-to-abate sectors — heavy industry and heavy-duty transport which contribute roughly 30% of global CO2 emissions — there is significant opportunity for hydrogen to step in where electrification seems unfeasible.

Chemical feedstock — Hydrogen is already widely used as a chemical feedstock for many industrial processes, such as oil refining and ammonia production. Although hydrogen is extremely abundant, it’s not found in nature as an isolated element. Hydrogen must be extracted from compounds in an energy-intensive process and unfortunately, most of the hydrogen in Australia (and the rest of the world) is extracted from fossil fuel sources, resulting in carbon emissions. Because it’s produced from fossil fuel sources, it is called grey hydrogen. By replacing grey hydrogen with green hydrogen, Australia can decarbonise processes that are already heavily hydrogen dependent.

Steel manufacturing — Steel is a primary material used in construction, manufacturing, and transport. Manufacturing steel typically involves using carbon as a reducing agent to remove oxygen from iron ore — a process that creates CO2 emissions. This emission heavy process could be significantly decarbonised by replacing carbon with green hydrogen as the reducing agent.

Apart from serving as the reducing agent, hydrogen can also be the fuel source to generate the high process heat needed for steel production.

A steel production process using green hydrogen as the fuel source and reducing agent is currently being developed in Sweden with the aim of developing a commercial scale process for fossil-free steel around 2026. The first batch has already been produced in the pilot plant.

Transportation fuel — Hydrogen can play a role in aviation and long-haul shipping. Given its drawbacks, it seems unlikely that pure hydrogen will be widely adopted for commercial aviation. Airports would need to build new airport infrastructure to accommodate hydrogen storage. The low energy density of hydrogen gas means that using it as a fuel source aboard planes would require heavy and complex storage and an increase in the size of aeroplanes. Considering these costs it seems much more likely that hydrogen will be used as a precursor ingredient to produce synthetic jet fuel.

Shipping, on the other hand, doesn’t encounter the same problems as aviation when facing hydrogen’s low energy density. By using green hydrogen to power gas turbines or fuel cells, the shipping industry can drastically reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

A 100% clean-energy economy requires a radical transformation of both demand-side and supply-side behaviour. While there is still a need for innovative development to fully realize this future energy mix, many technologies are already available today. Through energy efficiency improvements, electrification, and the adoption of renewable energy, businesses and organizations can make leaps toward reaching their own decarbonisation goals… achievements that will play into the broader narrative of Australia’s journey to net-zero emissions.

With low carbon technologies and solutions available today, it requires the will of people and businesses to create Australia’s energy future — a future that will establish economic prosperity, energy security, and a thriving legacy for our country.

The post What Does Australia’s Energy Future Look Like…? appeared first on Northmore Gordon.

One clean energy option that receives a lot of hype is hydrogen. On the positive side, Hydrogen is already used in fuels and chemicals and has the ability to act as a replacement for natural gas, liquid fuels and coal in existing applications. However, it has become a popular solution looking for a problem to solve.

Despite hydrogen’s benefits, renewable energy is bringing down electricity prices, energy storage is becoming cheaper, and the economy is electrifying. While it is a clean-burning fuel, hydrogen has some considerable disadvantages that still make it an uncompetitive solution in many applications:

• Hydrogen has poor volumetric energy density
• Clean hydrogen is energy and resource intensive
• Using hydrogen requries new infrastructure

Hydrogen takes up a lot of space

Although hydrogen is the most energy-rich fuel per unit of mass, hydrogen is not a dense element at ambient temperatures, giving it a low energy to volume ratio at room temperature. Therefore, storing sufficient amounts of hydrogen can be space intensive, or energy-intensive if stored as compressed gas or in liquid form.

Difficulty around hydrogen storage limit its potential to scale up at points of end-use. Complications around storage also make hydrogen fuel disadvantageous in all but the most challenging transportation applications.

Storing and re-using hydrogen could end up only being the domain of large utility or chemical companies. Potential uses might be to support electricity grids in periods of wind or solar droughts, providing security to hydrogen pipelines, or replacing LNG and coal when shipping large amounts of energy around the globe.

Clean hydrogen is energy and resource intensive

Hydrogen is very abundant, but it mainly exists in compound form with other elements. Isolating the hydrogen elements requires energy. Most of the hydrogen production is done through steam methane reforming (SMR) of methane (CH4), an energy-intensive process that produces CO2 and other pollutants.

A small percentage of hydrogen production is currently done through electricity driven electrolysis, which uses electrical current to split water into its oxygen and hydrogen atoms. This process produces clean hydrogen when the electricity generation comes from renewable energy sources such as solar or wind energy. With that said, the financial viability of this process depends on low capital and electricity costs, and high system efficiency.

In addition to electricity, hydrogen production through electrolysis requires freshwater. Estimates suggest that nine litres of freshwater are needed to produce a kilogram of H2. The energy and water intensity increase if the water needs desalination.

The process of generating electricity from renewable energy sources, converting it to hydrogen for storage and transport, and then reusing the hydrogen results in significant losses. With this supply chain energy loss, it will make sense to use electricity directly if technically possible for many end-use applications.

This is illustrated well in the passenger vehicle example. Starting with a clean electricity source, electric vehicles achieve a 70-90% ‘Wind-to-wheel’ efficiency compared with 25-35% for hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. All the other supposed benefits of a hydrogen system will have to out-compete the fundamental driving force of lower operating costs for electric vehicles.

Using hydrogen requires new infrastructure

Hydrogen can be transported using trucks and trains, but the majority of natural gas pipelines are not well-equipped to move hydrogen. As a small molecule, hydrogen can leak through pipes and embrittle metals. In addition to a network of piping, transporting hydrogen will also require investment into technologies that can compress, dispense, and purify the hydrogen.

There is talk of blending hydrogen with natural gas to transport it throughout natural gas pipelines, but due to the lower volumetric energy density of hydrogen and the increased amount of work needed to transport it throughout the pipeline network, this solution hardly makes sense.

The Role of Clean Hydrogen

Considering its downfalls, clean hydrogen will not be desirable for many applications as electrification brings massive improvement in energy efficiency. Nevertheless, there are processes that cannot be electrified, so clean hydrogen will likely have a role to play in the places that electricity cannot reach if we are to become a net-zero carbon society.

Steel manufacturing — The majority of global steel production is made using a blast furnace and basic oxygen furnace. Using carbon as a reducing agent to remove oxygen from iron ore, the blast furnace is the largest source of direct carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions within the steel production process. Therefore, replacing carbon with hydrogen as the iron ore reducing agent avoids the creation of CO2 as a byproduct.

In addition to being the reducing agent, hydrogen can be burned to generate the high process heat needed for steel production.

This steel production process using hydrogen as the fuel source and reducing agent — a process known as HYBRIT — is currently being developed in Sweden with aims of producing fossil free steel around 2026.

Chemical feedstocks — Hydrogen is already used as a significant feedstock for the chemical industry, namely for ammonia production and refinery processes. Hydrogen production has increased substantially over the decades and considering the majority of hydrogen is produced through the carbon intensive process of SMR, clean hydrogen could step in as significantly cleaner alternative.

Trends suggest a growing demand for hydrogen, so the best way to decarbonize these chemical manufacturing and refinery processes is through the implementation of clean hydrogen.

Long distance shipping — Hydrogen won’t make a great fuel source for aviation based on safety concerns and energy density. Hydrogen can, however, serve as a viable fuel source for long distance shipping. Such vessels are not constrained by the same size parameters, and long-distance shipping routes will be more effectively fueled by burning hydrogen or a hydrogen derivative fuel than by running off electricity and battery storage. Hydrogen may compete most in the new-build space, with biofuels or other e-fuels helping to transition the existing fleet in the shorter term.

Large scale energy carrier – in some chemical form or other, Hydrogen will be an energy carrier between nations. The global LNG trade has proven that inter-country trading of energy benefits energy security. Japan and Korea have significant hydrogen import strategies, whilst countries like Australia have Hydrogen export plans. This should be encouraged, as some countries with few natural resources have little choice but to import additional clean energy in order to meet net zero goals. Building new infrastructure for such large scale, concentrated point-to-point energy transfers makes more sense than trying to distribute hydrogen to households to make hot water, or using it in cars while losing 75% of the energy from the source to end use.

Conclusion

Clean Hydrogen will be used for many applications — for steel, as a chemical feedstock, in very long-distance transport, and as an international energy carrier. This versatility will mean it has a bright future.

For many of our industrial customers, clean hydrogen will never be cheaper or more convenient than energy efficiency improvements, other renewable energy sources, or energy storage (either electric or thermal).

In the end, clean hydrogen will have a major part to play, but it won’t be the one solution that saves us all.

At Northmore Gordon, we help businesses navigate the changing energy landscape so that they can make strategic investments that make sense now and over the long run. If you are interested to see how hydrogen fits into your strategic energy plan, make sure to reach out so that your business can be informed and stay competitive.

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