H2Tech - Q4 2022 - 17

FUTURE OF HYDROGEN ENERGY
The energy efficiency lever can play a
role in reducing emissions and enhancing
energy in the power sector, ensuring
that operating facilities supply power efficiently
to the grid. Renewables are another
way to supply clean power to support
the grid and achieve the goals of various
clean power initiatives. Establishing energy
efficiency as a basis will link this lever
with the hydrogen system.
Hydrocarbon facilities have a chance
to utilize and convert oil and gas sources
to H2
ture CO2 sources to achieve blue H2
duced H2
(as a clean product) but must cap.
Renewable
power and electrolysis technology
will allow the production of green
H2
from the demoralized water. The pro,
whether green or blue, requires
storage and transportation routes to supply
local demand and exporting purposes.
The captured CO2
sources from hydrocarbon
facilities or the air can be collected
in a hub to be directly used in the
cement and concrete industries (just one
potential opportunity to utilize captured
CO2
with specific geological requirements.
Additionally, combining a H2
(green) with CO2
source
can be considered under
the low-carbon fuel lever umbrella.
These sources have the opportunity to
produce e-fuel through several licensed
technologies. Within the e-fuel section,
H2
and CO2
can be converted to methane,
diesel, kerosene, gasoline, methanol,
DME, etc., as part of synthetic fuel for
further utilization. Conversely, H2
can be
directly used to produce power through
fuel cells technology or as an alternative
product for gasoline within the transportation
sector. Converting to or moving
with this transition requires a set strategy
and technology road map with certain
criteria. These options allow the oil and
gas industry to map its short- and longterm
investments.
Achieving the optimum transition in
oil and gas will require investment and
innovation to
reach decarbonization
goals and identify clean sources to reduce
Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.
Pathways to transition. H2
-which has
been playing (and will continue to play)
a major role in global strategies towards
decarbonization-can be produced in
several ways, depending on the feedstock
used. Presently, fossil-based H2
the dominant pathway for H2
(gray) is
production
using reforming gasification technologies.
Several technologies are available to
produce H2
from fossil fuels at industrial
scale: the three dominant technologies
are SMR, autothermal reforming (ATR)
and partial oxidation (POx).
The existing fossil fuel
industry is designed
to generate gray H2
through the reforming
process and requires the
installation of carbon
capture to convert it
to blue H2
to support
net-zero emissions.
) or stored directly underground
ane (CH4
SMR is the process of reacting meth)
or natural gas with high-temperature
steam as the oxidant in the presence
of a catalyst to produce H2
a relatively small volume of CO2
, CO and
. This
gaseous mixture is referred to as syngas.
The reaction is endothermic and requires
heat to the process for the reaction to
take place, usually by burning additional
natural gas into the reformer furnace.
With POx, CH4
or other hydrocarbons
react with a limited amount of oxygen
as the oxidant. The oxygen supplied
is insufficient to fully oxidize the hydrocarbons
to CO2
and water. Since the stoichiometric
quantities of oxygen are lower
than required, the products of the reaction
contain primarily hydrogen and CO
and a relatively small amount of CO2
from an ASU.
. If
air is used as the oxygen source, then nitrogen
will also be present in the reaction
products-for this reason, the majority
of processes use pure O2
ATR is also a common H2
production
technology that combines POx with
SMR in a single reaction chamber. The
partial oxidation process involves the reaction
of oxygen with CH4
CH4
tion, while the reforming of CH4
is a noncatalytic exothermic reacwith
steam
is a catalytic endothermic reaction.
The quantity of the oxidant can be adjusted
so that the POx reaction provides all
. The POx of
SPECIAL FOCUS
the required heat energy for the reforming
reaction, eliminating the need for an
external input of heat.
When the carbon emissions from the
aforementioned processes are captured using
CCS technology, then the H2
is termed
" blue " to indicate that it is generated by
nonrenewable means-the carbon emissions
are offset though the use of CCS.
CH4
pathway to produce H2
bon intensity where CH4
decomposed into H2
pyrolysis (turquoise) is another
with lower caris
thermally
and solid carbon.
Carbon black is a material produced by
the incomplete combustion of hydrocarbons
that can be used to form commercial
products. The technology has the
potential to be completely emissions free
(including offsite emissions) if the electrical
power is delivered to the process from
renewable energy sources.
Clean H2
production (green) can be
achieved through the use of electrolysis:
electrolyzers use electricity to split water
into H2
and oxygen. A typical electrolysis
unit consists of a cathode and anode
immersed in an electrolyte. When an
electrical current is applied, the water is
split and H2
while oxygen is evolved at the anode. The
technology is available commercially but
requires further development to reduce
the cost of H2
significantly.
CCUS. The authors' company supports
global decarbonization through its own
initiatives, including the Corporate Decarbonization
Initiative, which aims to
reduce the amount of carbon emissions
that must be managed to reach a carbon
balance or net-zero emissions. One of
the key methodologies to reduce carbon
emissions are carbon capture, utilization
and storage (CCUS) technologies, which
capture CO2
directly from the air. CO2
emissions at the source or
emissions are
then transported away and stored deep
underground or turned into useful products.
Capturing carbon has been used for
decades to help improve the quality of
natural gas. Moreover, new ways to add
value to waste CO2
are being explored by
turning the gas into marketable industrial
and commercial products.
Carbon capture technologies can be
categorized as:
* Pre‐combustion-Precombustion
carbon capture
involves the removal of CO2
from
H2Tech | Q4 2022 17
is produced at the cathode
H2Tech - Q4 2022

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