The decreased cost of producing green hydrogen using renewable energies, together with a drive towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions , have given clean hydrogen an unprecedented boost. This element will play a key role in the decarbonisation of various sectors such as industry, mobility, energy storage… We certainly have reasons to expect great things from green hydrogen.
In a previous article on Sustainability we already explained what green hydrogen is , so here we will go on to explain some of its benefits and uses. In the age-old debate between fossil fuels and renewable energies, there are fewer and fewer arguments against the latter. Although there are several misconceptions surrounding renewable energies , one of their main drawbacks is their reliance on natural elements. Before, if there was no wind, there was no wind power.
If it was night-time, there was no solar power. In the absence of being able to compel the sun to shine at night or summon winds that propel the blades of windmills at our will, efforts are focused on finding a suitable tool that allows excess energy generated by good weather conditions to be stored so that it can be used for when conditions are less favourable.
Production technology includes electrolysis of water, steam reforming of natural gas, coal gasification, thermochemical production, and biological gasification. With so many sources for hydrogen generation, the U. Hydrogen fuel cells are cleaner and more efficient than traditional combustion-based engines and power plants. Hydrogen and fuel cells can also be used in mobile applications to power vehicles and mobile power packs.
Hydrogen is used to power hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Because of its energy efficiency, a hydrogen fuel cell is two to three times more efficient than an internal combustion engine fueled by gas. Because they can function independently from the grid, fuel cells can be used in the military field or in disaster zones and work as independent generators of electricity or heat. When fixed in place they can be connected to the grid to generate consistent reliable power.
Its flammability and its lightness mean that hydrogen, like other fuels, needs to be properly handled. Many fuels are flammable. Compared to gasoline, natural gas, and propane, hydrogen is more flammable in the air.
However, low concentrations of hydrogen have similar flammability potential as other fuels. Since hydrogen is so light—about 57 times lighter than gasoline fumes—it can quickly disperse into the atmosphere, which is a positive safety feature.
Storing liquid hydrogen. Photo: Jared. Because hydrogen is so much less dense than gasoline, it is difficult to transport. Currently, hydrogen is transported through dedicated pipelines, in low-temperature liquid tanker trucks, in tube trailers that carry gaseous hydrogen, or by rail or barge. Today 1, miles of hydrogen pipelines deliver gaseous hydrogen around the U.
Natural gas pipelines are sometimes used to transport only a limited amount of hydrogen because hydrogen can make steel pipes and welds brittle, causing cracks. When less than 5 to 10 percent of it is blended with the natural gas, hydrogen can be safely distributed via the natural gas infrastructure.
To distribute pure hydrogen, natural gas pipelines would require major alterations to avoid potential embrittlement of the metal pipes, or completely separate hydrogen pipelines would need to be constructed. Fuel cell technology has been constrained by the high cost of fuel cells because platinum, which is expensive, is used at the anode and cathode as a catalyst to split hydrogen.
Research is ongoing to improve the performance of fuel cells and to find more efficient and less costly materials. A challenge for fuel cell electric vehicles has been how to store enough hydrogen—five to 13 kilograms of compressed hydrogen gas—in the vehicle to achieve the conventional driving range of miles. Hydrogen gas pump. Photo: Bob n Renee. The fuel cell electric vehicle market has also been hampered by the scarcity of refueling stations.
As of August, there were only 46 hydrogen fueling stations in the U. The various obstacles green hydrogen faces can actually be reduced to just one: cost. The fact that 70 million tons of hydrogen are produced every year and that it is shipped in pipelines around the U. The problem is that green hydrogen currently costs three times as much as natural gas in the U. And producing green hydrogen is much more expensive than producing gray or blue hydrogen because electrolysis is expensive, although prices of electrolyzers are coming down as manufacturing scales up.
Friedmann detailed three strategies that are key to bringing down the price of green hydrogen so that more people will buy it:. The California National Guard designed hydrogen fuel cells that use solar energy for electrolysis to make green hydrogen. A McKinsey study estimated that by , the U.
Friedmann believes there will be substantial use of green hydrogen over the next five to ten years, especially in Europe and Japan. However, he thinks the limits of the existing infrastructure will be reached very quickly—both pipeline infrastructure as well as transmission lines, because making green hydrogen will require about percent more electricity capacity than we now have.
Many experts predict it will be 10 years before we see widespread green hydrogen adoption; Friedmann, however, maintains that this year projection is based on a number of assumptions. Researchers are working on hydrogen storage, hydrogen safety, catalyst development and fuel cells.
Photo: Canadian Nuclear Laboratories. There are a number of green energy projects in the U. Here are a few examples. This innovative plant will use waste gasification, combusting 42, tons of recycled paper waste annually to produce green hydrogen.
Because it does not use electrolysis and renewable energy, its hydrogen will be cost-competitive with gray hydrogen. A new Western States Hydrogen Alliance , made up of leaders in the heavy-duty hydrogen and fuel cell industry, are pushing to develop and deploy fuel cell technology and infrastructure in 13 western states.
Hydrogen Europe Industry, a leading association promoting hydrogen, is developing a process to produce pure hydrogen from the gasification of biomass from crop and forest residue. Because biomass absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as it grows, the association maintains that it produces relatively few net carbon emissions.
Breakthrough Energy , co-founded by Bill Gates, is investing in a new green hydrogen research and development venture called the European Green Hydrogen Acceleration Center. It aims to close the price gap between current fossil fuel technologies and green hydrogen.
Breakthrough Energy has also invested in ZeroAvia , a company developing hydrogen-fueled aviation. In December, the U. Ultimately, whether or not green hydrogen fulfills its promise and potential depends on how much carmakers, fueling station developers, energy companies, and governments are willing to invest in it over the next number of years.
But because doing nothing about global warming is not an option, green hydrogen has a great deal of potential, and Friedmann is optimistic about its future. We can even make negative carbon hydrogen with biohydrogen.
And now we do. All comment about the production of green hydrogen is predicated on low-carbon electricity supply from wind and solar plants WASPs. Learn more about photobiological processes , solar thermochemical processes , and photoelectrochemical processes.
Biological processes use microbes such as bacteria and microalgae and can produce hydrogen through biological reactions. In microbial biomass conversion, the microbes break down organic matter like biomass or wastewater to produce hydrogen, while in photobiological processes the microbes use sunlight as the energy source. Learn more about biological hydrogen production from microbial biomass conversion and photobiological processes.
Thermal Processes. Learn more about: Natural gas reforming Coal gasification Biomass gasification Reforming of renewable liquid fuels.