Hydrogen – the most plentiful element on earth – is getting a lot of play as an energy panacea in recent weeks, the solution to global warming. It’s being touted as the ideal fuel for internal combustion engines, electric generation, a salvation for uneconomic nuclear plants, and a way to replace natural gas for home heating and industrial uses.
Hydrogen has some real advantages. It’s everywhere. It’s energetic, with a heating value of around 140 megajoules/kilogram. Burning it produces only water vapor (which is technically a greenhouse gas) as a byproduct. It is colorless, tasteless, and odorless. It can be burned in car and truck engines, as well as gas turbine electric generators (and presumably aircraft engines). It can power fuel cells.
And it’s now the big new thing in the energy world.
Some distinctions are important. Hydrogen gurus talks about “grey, blue, and green hydrogen,” which refers to how one gets the hydrogen atoms from the other atoms to which it is bonded, as free-standing hydrogen does not exist. “Grey” hydrogen, about 95% of today’s hydrogen production, comes from separating it from methane or coal. That produces a lot of carbon dioxide, which negates the greenhouse gas value of the hydrogen. Sequester the CO2 and the result is “blue” hydrogen. Get the hydrogen by breaking the strong bonds in water (H2O) with a renewable resources such as solar and hydro or nuclear, and the nomenclature is “green” H.
A June POWER magazine article by Siemens Energy, which is bullish on hydrogen, says, “Interest in hydrogen is growing, with demand increasing rapidly. It is clear that the next significant transformation in the energy transition will be based on the hydrogen economy, transforming green electrons to green molecules via water electrolysis to create green hydrogen.”
Siemens adds, “At the moment, 80 million tons of hydrogen is produced each year, and that is expected to increase by about 20 million tons by the end of the decade. Looking even further ahead, by 2050, many studies suggest production will have grown to about 500 million tons. Today, the majority of that fuel is consumed near where it is produced, most often at a chemical plant, but in the future that demand will be broader with blue hydrogen forming a bridge to what will be a green hydrogen future.”
POWER’s Sonal Patel reported that Siemens has “an ambitious roadmap to ramp up the hydrogen capability in its gas turbine models to at least 20% by 2020, and 100% by 2030.” She wrote that all major gas turbine makers hope that hydrogen “may give gas power generators worldwide more options in low-carbon energy markets and prevent stranded assets owing to regulations and emissions restrictions.”
Some see hydrogen as a nuclear power salvation, using the electricity from the nukes to split water and produce “green” hydrogen. E&E News reported late last month, “A radically new script is being written for the future of U.S. nuclear reactors that keep losing ground to wind, solar and natural gas competitors.
“Manufacture hydrogen.
“The Energy Department and the U.S. nuclear industry have seized on the vision of tapping energy from reactors to separate hydrogen from water, creating millions of tons of the gas a year to sell to oil refineries and fertilizer, steel and plastic manufacturers.”
It isn’t all that radical. Back in the 1990s, there was a boom in hydrogen interest, particularly to make automotive fuel, and for hydrogen fuel cells to use to generate electricity for a variety of purposes. The Bonneville Power Administration in the Pacific Northwest was particularly interested since, at the time, it had the least expensive electric power in the country in its extensive hydropower system. Splitting hydrogen from oxygen in water requires a lot of energy. BPA looked into using excess hydro to electrolyze water. But the economic numbers didn’t work, and BPA dropped the idea.
That’s the hope.
But there are those who call it hype. Among them is Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.), a former energy developer and scion of a family of energy entrepreneurs. In a recent, long Twitter thread, Casten said that “in the absence of an as-yet unidentified break through in storage tech, hydrogen is never going to be anything other than a niche player in energy mkts. Or more precisely, not unless someone finds a way to store hydrogen cheaply, at high mass & energy density and with super high round trip efficiencies. Which as of this moment Does. Not. Exist.”
For hydrogen to work, it has to be “easier to store and distribute than electricity,” says Casten. “But here’s the rub: it isn’t.” Hydrogen might work, says Casten, “if hydrogen has some unique advantages as an energy carrier. For example, if we had a hydrogen pipeline network and didn’t have an electric grid. Or if we had a really good way to cheaply store and transmit hydrogen.”
Casten’s conclusion: “Until we have a storage breakthrough, it simply isn’t going to be a major player in electricity or transportation markets. Period. Full stop.”
— Kennedy Maize