Many thought that green hydrogen would be a miracle solution for decarbonization, especially in industries that are difficult to abuse. But the green revolution of hydrogen has not yet materialized because the production of fuel remains expensive and economically ineffective. But a new breakthrough in hydrogen harvest could put the sector on the right track for a major industry disruption.
Green hydrogen is greeted as a potential game changer for clean energy because it can be burned over high heat such as fossil fuels in food sectors such as steel, shipping and transport. But unlike fossil fuels, when hydrogen burns, it only leaves water vapor. Hydrogen is already widely used in industrial applications around the world, but it is produced using fossil fuels. This type is known as gray hydrogen. Green hydrogen is produced using purely clean energies. And some consider that the hydrogen used by natural gas is in its own category, calling it blue hydrogen, because it is cleaner than gray hydrogen but is always associated with greenhouse gas emissions.
And a new breakthrough can be ready to put blue hydrogen on the map in a major way, while reducing emissions from the sector. A group of Russian scientists has found a way to extract hydrogen from natural gas fieldswhich are extremely rich in hydrocarbons, while leaving carbon emissions trapped underground. The method, launched by Moscow Skoltech, can produce hydrogen directly in gas fields with a level of efficiency of 45%. To achieve this, the researchers injected steam and a catalyst in a gas well, followed by oxygen to create combustion. The result is “a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, from which hydrogen can be separated effectively”.
“Carbon dioxide formed from carbon monoxide remains in the tank and does not contribute to the greenhouse effect”, Scitechdaily reports. “At the final stage, hydrogen is extracted from the well through a membrane which blocks other combustion products, leaving carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide permanently trapped underground.”
If the method is indeed as “green” as the scientific team claims, it could be a major step for the hydrogen industry as well as the global decarbonization movement. It would solve a major problem in the development of the sector, because it does not require to divert renewable energies towards the production of hydrogen. A 2022 report From the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) has warned that in -depth use of hydrogen “may not be in accordance with the requirements of a decarbonized world” because green hydrogen “requires dedicated renewable energies which could be used for other final uses”. The production of low -emission hydrogen which does not require such energy resources could therefore change the situation.
For this and other key reasons, including high production costs and the lack of sufficiently favorable political measures, the ambitions of green hydrogen have more or less lowered in recent years. In 2023, less than a tenth of planned green hydrogen projects were carried out. Indeed, “only 7% of world capacity announcements ended on time”, according to a report, “The ambition and the implementation gap of green hydrogen“, Which followed 190 projects over 3 years.
Skoltech technology would not technically make what could be the terminal decline in the implementation of green hydrogen, but could introduce blue hydrogen with a revolutionary manner. Research is still at its beginnings, but scientists hope to extend their tests soon and are convinced that their breakthrough will give significant results for the energy sector.
“All stages of the process are based on well -established technologies that have not been previously adapted for the production of hydrogen from real gas tanks,” said Elena Mukhina, project manager and principal researcher at Skoltech Petroleum. “We have shown that our approach can help convert hydrocarbons into” green “fuel in the field environment with an efficiency of up to 45%. In the future, we plan to test our method in real gas fields. ”
By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com
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