Infrastructure should be considered for green hydrogen economy -Lithium - Ion Battery Equipment
Addressing climate change requires not only a clean power grid, but also a clean fuel to reduce the emissions of industrial heat, long-distance heavy transport and long-term energy storage. A review article published in Joule magazine on August 11 pointed out that hydrogen and its derivatives may be such fuels, but America's clean hydrogen economy needs a comprehensive strategy and a 10-year plan. The review suggested that careful consideration of future hydrogen infrastructure, including production, transportation, storage, use and economic feasibility, would be the key to successful efforts to make clean hydrogen feasible on a social scale.
The Department of Energy of the United States launched the ambitious HydrogenEarthshot plan, which has a technology independent expansion goal, that is, to produce hydrogen without greenhouse gases at a price of $1 per kilogram by the end of this decade. The storage, use and transportation of hydrogen also need a similar research and development plan, with an extension goal of technology and economy. Hydrogen Earth Action is necessary to create a hydrogen economy, but it is not enough.(Lithium - Ion Battery Equipment)
The world produces about 70 million metric tons of H2 every year, and the United States contributes about one seventh of the global production. Most of the hydrogen is used to produce fertilizer and petrochemical products, and almost all H2 is considered as gray hydrogen. The production cost is only about $1 per kilogram, but each kilogram of hydrogen is about 10 kilograms of carbon dioxide.
Arun Majumdar, the main author of the article, said that hydrogen energy economy already exists, but it involves a large number of greenhouse gas emissions. Almost all hydrogen is based on methane. A clean hydrogen economy does not exist today.
Researchers have many colorful ideas about what a clean hydrogen economy might look like. For example, blue hydrogen involves capturing carbon dioxide and reducing emissions to produce hydrogen with less greenhouse gas output. However, at present, its cost is about 50% higher than that of gray hydrogen, not including the cost of developing pipelines and storage systems needed to transport and store unwanted carbon dioxide.
Majumdar and his colleagues wrote that in order to make blue hydrogen a viable option, research and development are needed to reduce the cost of carbon dioxide capture and further improve the integrity of capture.
Another form of clean hydrogen, called green hydrogen, has also attracted the attention of scientists. Green hydrogen involves the use of electricity and electrolyzers to split water, without any by-products of greenhouse gases. However, its cost is US $4 to US $6 per kg. Majumdar and his colleagues believe that with the reduction of the cost of carbon free power and electrolyzers, this price can be reduced to less than US $2 per kg.
Turquoise hydrogen generated by methane pyrolysis also caused a stir in the research community when methane was cracked to produce hydrogen without greenhouse gases. The solid carbon by-products generated in this process can be sold to help offset costs, although Majumdar and his colleagues pointed out that the amount of solid carbon produced at the necessary scale will exceed the current demand, leading to the need for research and development work to develop new markets for its use.
Whether it is blue, green or turquoise, the non greenhouse gas (actually colorless) hydrogen or its derivatives can be used for transportation, chemical reduction of captured carbon dioxide, long-term energy storage in the power grid highly dependent on renewable energy, chemical reducing agent for steel and metallurgy, and high-temperature industrial heat for glass and cement production. However, in order for these applications to become a reality, hydrogen production must meet a certain cost benchmark - $1 per kilogram for ammonia and petrochemical products or for transportation of fuel or fuel cells.
The researchers also emphasized that the United States will need to consider how to develop and deploy H2 pipelines for transportation and how to store H2 on a large scale in a cost-effective manner. The development and siting of new pipeline infrastructure is often expensive and involves social acceptance challenges. Therefore, it is important to explore alternative approaches to hydrogen economy that do not require new hydrogen pipeline infrastructure. On the contrary, it is worthwhile to use the existing infrastructure to transport the raw materials of hydrogen - the power grid is used to transport the power for water separation, and the natural gas pipeline is used to transport the pyrolysis methane.
The Department of Energy of the United States launched the ambitious HydrogenEarthshot plan, which has a technology independent expansion goal, that is, to produce hydrogen without greenhouse gases at a price of $1 per kilogram by the end of this decade. The storage, use and transportation of hydrogen also need a similar research and development plan, with an extension goal of technology and economy. Hydrogen Earth Action is necessary to create a hydrogen economy, but it is not enough.(Lithium - Ion Battery Equipment)
The world produces about 70 million metric tons of H2 every year, and the United States contributes about one seventh of the global production. Most of the hydrogen is used to produce fertilizer and petrochemical products, and almost all H2 is considered as gray hydrogen. The production cost is only about $1 per kilogram, but each kilogram of hydrogen is about 10 kilograms of carbon dioxide.
Arun Majumdar, the main author of the article, said that hydrogen energy economy already exists, but it involves a large number of greenhouse gas emissions. Almost all hydrogen is based on methane. A clean hydrogen economy does not exist today.
Researchers have many colorful ideas about what a clean hydrogen economy might look like. For example, blue hydrogen involves capturing carbon dioxide and reducing emissions to produce hydrogen with less greenhouse gas output. However, at present, its cost is about 50% higher than that of gray hydrogen, not including the cost of developing pipelines and storage systems needed to transport and store unwanted carbon dioxide.
Majumdar and his colleagues wrote that in order to make blue hydrogen a viable option, research and development are needed to reduce the cost of carbon dioxide capture and further improve the integrity of capture.
Another form of clean hydrogen, called green hydrogen, has also attracted the attention of scientists. Green hydrogen involves the use of electricity and electrolyzers to split water, without any by-products of greenhouse gases. However, its cost is US $4 to US $6 per kg. Majumdar and his colleagues believe that with the reduction of the cost of carbon free power and electrolyzers, this price can be reduced to less than US $2 per kg.
Turquoise hydrogen generated by methane pyrolysis also caused a stir in the research community when methane was cracked to produce hydrogen without greenhouse gases. The solid carbon by-products generated in this process can be sold to help offset costs, although Majumdar and his colleagues pointed out that the amount of solid carbon produced at the necessary scale will exceed the current demand, leading to the need for research and development work to develop new markets for its use.
Whether it is blue, green or turquoise, the non greenhouse gas (actually colorless) hydrogen or its derivatives can be used for transportation, chemical reduction of captured carbon dioxide, long-term energy storage in the power grid highly dependent on renewable energy, chemical reducing agent for steel and metallurgy, and high-temperature industrial heat for glass and cement production. However, in order for these applications to become a reality, hydrogen production must meet a certain cost benchmark - $1 per kilogram for ammonia and petrochemical products or for transportation of fuel or fuel cells.
The researchers also emphasized that the United States will need to consider how to develop and deploy H2 pipelines for transportation and how to store H2 on a large scale in a cost-effective manner. The development and siting of new pipeline infrastructure is often expensive and involves social acceptance challenges. Therefore, it is important to explore alternative approaches to hydrogen economy that do not require new hydrogen pipeline infrastructure. On the contrary, it is worthwhile to use the existing infrastructure to transport the raw materials of hydrogen - the power grid is used to transport the power for water separation, and the natural gas pipeline is used to transport the pyrolysis methane.
