If you’re wondering how to combat the carbon dioxide problem, hydrogen can help. Hydrogen can be separated from methane and converted into a clean energy source, as well as a solid form of carbon called carbon black. Companies such as Monolith materials have already built a pilot plant and are now building a commercial one in Nebraska. It’s expected to be completed by 2020.
CCUS
Hydrogen is a promising new energy resource that can help combat carbon dioxide emissions. In fact, it could account for a quarter of the final world energy demand in 2050. Even if we are unable to reduce carbon dioxide emissions completely, we can still limit warming to 2C by substituting hydrogen for carbon.
While most hydrogen is produced from the steam reforming of methane in natural gas, this process produces high carbon dioxide emissions. This “blue hydrogen” is marketed as a clean alternative to natural gas, but it is not really emissions-free. Its emissions include fugitive methane and unburned carbon dioxide.
While gas turbines are capable of handling hydrogen at a low concentration, they have significant issues. First, they do not have the optimum combustion technology for a high hydrogen concentration. Second, they are not designed to handle high levels of hydrogen, so they would need to be upgraded with a different system.
Lastly, hydrogen has tremendous potential to help achieve net zero emissions, but this will require dramatic scaling up of production and use. Hydrogen can be produced using electricity, fossil fuels, biomass, and heat, a process known as pyrolysis. Hydrogen can even help in steelmaking. This fuel has the capacity to store for a long time, allowing it to be used on demand.
The cost of producing hydrogen is also a concern. Because it is much more expensive than natural gas, it creates incentives for pipeline owners to ensure that their infrastructure is not prone to leakage. This will help reduce the risk of contaminating hydrogen supply.
Methanol
Methanol, or wood alcohol, is an important raw chemical used to create fuel and chemicals. It is usually produced from natural gas or coal. By turning waste CO2 into methanol, greenhouse gas emissions can be significantly reduced. In fact, a methanol conversion facility can avoid more than 500,000 tonnes of CO2 per year!
Methanol can be used to make water bottles, wrinkle-resistant shirts, antifreeze, windshield washer fluid, and solvents. Researchers are currently actively developing new catalysts to produce methanol from carbon dioxide. The aim of the project is to make the conversion of CO2 to methanol easier and more efficient.
Renewable methanol is produced from biomass and other sources. Biogas can be used as a feedstock for methanol production. Other sources include solid biomass and the biogenic fraction of municipal solid waste. The methanol produced by these methods can reduce emissions from fossil fuels by sixty to ninety percent. The use of renewable methanol can also help reduce climate emissions.
This new method may be a viable solution to global warming. It would help us reduce our dependence on petroleum and create a carbon-neutral alternative fuel. In addition, using a chemical feedstock made from carbon dioxide may allow us to sequester this gas for decades. The process requires three different catalysts: the first converts carbon dioxide and hydrogen into formic acid, the second converts the formic acid into an ester, and the third converts the ester back into methanol.
Coal
Hydrogen is a promising energy source that can help keep carbon dioxide emissions in check, but we’re still a ways away from its full potential. According to the BNEF’s “new energy outlook” for 2020, hydrogen can provide as much as 15-60EJ of energy, which would cover 30 percent of the final global energy demand.
Coal is a great source of carbon, but it also contains sulfur, which has a limited contribution to heat generation. The sulfur content in coal is very low, ranging from about one to two percent of the sample’s mass. The hydrogen content in coal affects the heat-to-carbon ratio, which is one of the primary indicators of a coal’s carbon content.
Coal with a 78 percent carbon content emits approximately twenty-four pounds of carbon dioxide per million Btu of energy when burned. The emission factors for coal in the Western United States are higher, owing to the higher proportion of subbituminous coal. The West produces most of its coal in the U.S., so the rigors of the calculation depend on the rank of the coal.
The FutureGen Project aims to demonstrate the production of hydrogen and electricity from coal by co-capturing the CO2 in the process. This could be the world’s first carbon capture and storage project. It should integrate advanced hydrogen and CO2 capture technologies and encourage the development of hydrogen-based technologies. There are a number of challenges that need to be overcome in order for this project to succeed. A strong research and development component is an important element in a successful project.
Steel
The use of hydrogen in the steelmaking process can help reduce carbon dioxide emissions. However, the use of hydrogen is not yet widespread. Electric furnaces are used in 31% of current capacity, and only 28% of new steelmaking capacity is planned to use such a furnace. Clean hydrogen production requires billions of dollars of renewable energy investments.
The European Union launched a Green Deal in December with a goal to become carbon neutral by 2050. A recent report by Energy and Climate Intelligence found 23 projects around Europe that are pursuing the use of hydrogen against carbon dioxide emissions in steel production. While the European steel industry has set goals to reduce its carbon footprint by 30% by 2030, lobbyists for the industry say significant support is needed to make hydrogen steel a viable option.
Steel is a crucial component of modern life, but it is also a major source of carbon dioxide. While steel is made by using iron ore, a traditional process involves burning coking coal to create steel. This method involves huge amounts of energy, and it contradicts the goals of the Paris Accord. Additionally, the production of steel is essential for existing infrastructure, and the world’s manufacturing processes rely on steel.
A combination of hydrogen and biomass is a promising decarbonization option for steelmaking. These technologies are complementary and may require a policy preference for one over the other. However, each approach has limitations and requires further research and testing.
Biomass
Hydrogen can be produced in a variety of ways. Current processes include coal gasification and steam reforming of methane. These processes emit significant amounts of CO2, but these methods can be decarbonized using CCUS (combined heat and power). One low-carbon production method is electrolysis, which uses renewable or nuclear energy sources.
Biomass is a renewable resource that contains a variety of compounds that can be processed into solid, liquid, and gaseous forms. The potential of biomass as a substitute for fossil fuels is enormous. It can be used to power industry processes, including power generation and transportation. In the long run, biomass could potentially replace coal.
Biomass can be used as a feedstock for hydrogen production. Depending on the type of biomass, solid biomass can be gasified to produce liquid biofuels, ethanol, and hydrogen. Biomass-based methods generally have low net carbon dioxide emissions and are considered a low-carbon alternative to fossil fuels. However, this method is limited by the amount of available resource and cannot scale to the production of blue hydrogen.
In addition to fuel applications, hydrogen can also be used as feedstock for industrial processes. A significant amount of hydrogen is currently used in the production of ammonia, which is used in the chemical industry. Unfortunately, current hydrogen production practices are responsible for substantial CO2 emissions. Therefore, switching to low-carbon hydrogen production is a critical first step in decarbonizing feedstock applications. However, cost is a primary barrier to making this transition.
