Hydrogen: A new energy source

Introduction

Hydrogen is the most abundant chemical element in the universe. It is found in almost all animals, plants, water, and us humans.

Now hydrogen has come on a new front to help humanity transition to a greener, sustainable, and brighter future.

But what is green hydrogen?  Green hydrogen is simply hydrogen produced renewable electricity, predominantly from wind and solar power. The predominant way that is being utilized to produce green hydrogen is via electrolysis, where electricity is utilized to hydrogen from the oxygen in water.

However, there are also other types of production for hydrogen:

Grey hydrogen – produced usually using coal or methane, where there is a significant emission of CO2; The majority of the 70 million tones that is consumed currently is being produced in this way. 6% is currently produced with natural gas, whilst the remaining one is produced by coal. The consequence of this is the high level of emissions of 830 million tons of CO2.

Blue hydrogen - produced using natural gas, but in the process 85%-95% of the CO2 emissions are captured and stored, thereby reducing overall negative consequences to the environment. There are two methods being utilized - steam methane reformation and autothermal reforming. With steam methane reformation a reformer is being utilized, which reacts with steam (under extreme heat and pressure) using methane and nickel as a catalyst to form hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Autothermal reforming is where oxygen and CO2 are utilized to create a reaction with methane to form hydrogen.

Turquoise hydrogen - produced using methane via pyrolysis, where 90-95% of the CO2 emissions are captured.

Pink hydrogen -  produces hydrogen again via electrolysis but this is done using the energy from a nuclear powerplant. No carbon emissions are produced in this process.

Is green hydrogen on focus?

Green hydrogen was a key concept in the last few COP26 meetings because it can serve as a vital source to provide a viable solution to transition to a net zero emissions global economy. It could also allow many economies to decarbonize and switch off their dependency on fossil fuels. Currently, only 0.1% is produced in the green way. The benefit of green hydrogen is that the only emissions from it are pure water. That is very important as the International Energy Agency (IEA) foresees that global energy needs will increase by 25-30% by 2040.However, so has the demand for hydrogen as fuel, which stands at 70 million tones (as of 2018). Expectations are the by 2050 demand would be 500-680 million tons.

It is a key focus for the European Commission, which has 20 key points to follow, which predominantly focus on supporting strategic initiatives, creating a viable framework for the certification of such initiatives, creating an infrastructure that would support the adoption of the fuel, financing key renewable hydrogen electrolysers (currently three in production across Germany, the Netherlands, and Portugal) and many others.

In the UK BP is working on creating H2Teeside, which generate blue hydrogen of 10GW by 2030. Another project by BP called HyGreen Teesside and using green hydrogen should deliver 500MW.

The idea is also popular across the globe. In India, the government is aiming to provide incentives to producers to reduce their cost. The Indian government hopes to support close to 3,000 megawatts annually over the next five years. In Africa Namibia is leading the way via a $9.4 billion project, which is due to complete in 2026 that would generate 2 GW of renewable energy. South Korea plans an investment of $38 billion to boost the country’s production capacity by 2030.

Another benefit is that with wider adoption prices are projected to decrease quite a lot. IEA projects that by 2030 prices would go down by 30% and by 2050 the estimates range from $0.7 to $1.6 per kg.[2]

Still, currently production of green hydrogen and its capacity is quite limited. Most of the new and planned plants have a capacity of 100 MW (for reference Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant in my home country of Bulgaria has a power capacity of close to 2000 MW).

Obstacles for the adoption and production of green hydrogen

However, there are currently some problems with the implementation of green hydrogen in the overall economy.

• High cost of production makes it very costly.
• High energy consumption is currently required to produce it.
• Hydrogen itself is an extremely volatile and highly flammable element[4]
• Creating the required infrastructure to support the energy shift is significant.
• More investments in R&D could create newer and cheaper ways of producing hydrogen.
• Requires a lot of international effort, and cooperation to make the strategic shift.

In conclusion, green hydrogen production offers very exciting opportunities for the present and the future of our planet. Still, it is up to us how these challenges will be tackled and solved.