It would be a challenge today to work in or adjacent to the energy industry without hearing about renewable hydrogen. In the ever-evolving goal to decarbonize fuel, one of the more notable trends is the move to hydrogen. Taking it a step further, if the means to develop hydrogen as a fuel source can be done through renewable energy, it is what the industry refers to as blue and green hydrogen. Part of the reason why we are seeing such an influx of discussion around this topic is because of how mature (or rather immature) the concept is.
It is clear that there is a natural push for renewable hydrogen, but it is important to remember that we are still in the very early stages of this concept being fully realized. The benefits have tremendous potential in terms of their effect on society and the environment, but we are not quite there just yet from an infrastructure standpoint in order to effectively develop and distribute it.
As someone in the industry that has had a role in providing valves and instrumentation, among other components earmarked for hydrogen, I can tell you that there is a fair amount to cover in terms of the “push for renewable hydrogen.” We are working with organizations building skids, and we have helped guide others aiming to hook up electrolyzers to a system. Essentially, anything that is going to be carrying hydrogen, we keep our finger on the pulse of what is happening.
One of the biggest challenges facing this initiative is distribution of the hydrogen. What is the most efficient, safe method for moving this energy source to users? With so many companies essentially racing to develop and figure out the most efficient path for distribution, some have classified the current scene as the “wild west.” For example, electrolyzer technologies are continually being produced, with users and developers working to see which are the most efficient. Electrolyzers are used to facilitate electrolysis on water in order to separate out the hydrogen. Electrolysis is a chemical reaction that occurs when an electric current passes through a media with the goal of breaking it down into its most basic components. Thus, utilizing electrolysis on water breaks it down to hydrogen and oxygen.
However, there is some nuance that comes with this approach. As most of our infrastructure is built to move around different liquids, it would stand to reason that getting hydrogen to a liquid state is a major objective of the renewable hydrogen push. That is still actively in development, alongside gaseous hydrogen distribution systems.
From a consumer’s perspective, this hydrogen push seems to have slowed for the time being. Currently, there is only one auto manufacturer that is making a hydrogen consumer vehicle. However, the initiative is moving forward faster for commercial vehicles, especially at the ports on the west coast with the goal of getting as many diesel trucks off diesel fuel as possible. For example, there is a facility in the port near Los Angeles that is buying waste biogas from the desert and reforming it into hydrogen for vehicle fueling. It is then using the other byproducts from this process (electricity) to power the facility and (water) to wash the vehicles that are coming out of the ports before they head to the dealerships. It seems that once there is a strong understanding on how to make the technology work for the mid-size and large commercial trucks, then they will be able to implement it more readily with consumer vehicles. In the ports themselves, even the machinery that moves around the ship container is being converted away from diesel and toward hydrogen fuel.
Then there are the strides being made in the industry whose goal is to keep hydrogen in gaseous state. Unlike the liquid fuel industry, most of the infrastructure of power plants are based on the use of natural gas pipelines. Currently, the approach is to blend a certain percentage of the carbonless hydrogen in with the natural gas stream. This essentially reduces the amount of carbon in the fuel source by that percentage. For a typical industrial facility that has boilers running on natural gas, the goal is to use a blend that does not require every customer to change out their equipment and in some cases personnel. Ideally, facilities would like to use legacy personnel already used to managing natural gas to continue maintaining the facility.
There are companies in this industry working on how to best pull the carbon out of the gas before it gets burned to further decarbonize the natural gas infrastructure. That black carbon can then be used on other applications, such as tires.
If you are looking for some further reading on this topic, the National Petroleum Council (NPC) recently did a study entitled “Harnessing Hydrogen: A Key Element of the U.S. Energy Future” and have released the report summary. According to the STUDY SCOPE AND PROCESS, “the objective of the NPC study on hydrogen energy was to define potential pathways leading to low carbon intensity hydrogen deployment at-scale.”
Furthermore, “the NPC addressed the entire hydrogen value chain from production through storage, conversion, transportation and end uses. The NPC understood that the success of hydrogen at-scale requires economic and operational integration across industries, harmonized local/state/federal regulations, a strong health and safety record, and broad public acceptance. The study addressed the technology advances and choices needed, infrastructure requirements, economics, cross‐sector integration, regulations, policy options, health and safety, and public acceptance necessary for at-scale deployment of low carbon intensity hydrogen.”
The main takeaway from my discussion here is that we are still in the very early stages of widespread adoption and deployment of renewable hydrogen technology in the United States. As future developments transpire, the engineers will be here providing guidance on the instrumentation and equipment required to safely operate using hydrogen gas.
