Hydrogen is often touted as the fuel of the future, and there are many good reasons for this situation, although some major challenges must be solved before its potential can be realized.
It is one of the core pillars of the Australian government's net-zero emissions model. It is the focus of state governments who are eager to get a share of the pie, and find themselves the evangelist of FMG founder Andrew Forrest (Andrew Forrest).
The EU plans to produce at least 40 GW of green hydrogen by 2030, and may import another 40 GW to meet its 2050 net zero deadline.
At the same time, Barclays Bank predicts that 696 million metric tons of hydrogen will be used by 2050, six times the current level.
So why is the lightest element considered the next best element since sliced bread?
First, hydrogen is a rich energy source that can be burned directly or combined with oxygen in a chemical reaction to generate electricity and heat (ie, fuel cells).
Either way, the only by-product of the process is old dihydrogen monoxide or water.
In other words, when used as an energy source, hydrogen has no harmful emissions from other energy sources.
Hydrogen is also a strong reducing agent, which means it can be used in a range of industrial processes, including the substitution of coking coal in steel production—a point that Forrest is keen to emphasize—and it is also used in the fertilizer and petroleum industries.
It is also very rich, with a variety of production methods, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.
This is where we delve into the first major decision point facing the industry, and in a sense, it is also the most basic decision point. How do we really get hydrogen?
Although others have broken down the different methods into a dizzying array of color-coded types, they can actually be divided into two categories. Hydrogen produced from fossil fuels, the resulting carbon emissions are captured and segregated or used ( Blue hydrogen), and hydrogen produced from fossil fuels uses water from an electrolytic cell powered by renewable energy (green hydrogen).
The use of steam methane reforming to produce hydrogen from natural gas, which requires the separation of hydrogen atoms from carbon atoms in methane, has existed for about 100 years. Nothing new.
However, it does produce greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide.
Pilot Energy chairman Brad Lingo told Stockhead that most of the hydrogen currently produced in the world is the result of steam methane reforming. Since the 1980s, certain plants have been associated with some form of carbon capture and storage.
Data from S&P Global Platts and the International Energy Agency show that its maturity indicates that the production price of gray hydrogen (without carbon capture) is $1 per kilogram, and the production of blue hydrogen The price ranges from US$1.42/kg to US$1.50/kg, and green hydrogen over US$4/kg.
"In the past 100 years, they have come up with all the ways to optimize it and make it more efficient in using natural gas as a feedstock, and the core of almost every fertilizer plant and refinery in the world is a hydrogen plant," Ringo Explained.
"This is a very mature and mature technology. Although it is a mature process for producing hydrogen from water and electricity, there is still a lot of work to be done to reduce the cost of electrolyzers and improve their efficiency."
This efficiency and low cost are the reasons why supporters of blue hydrogen say it is the right technology to build the hydrogen industry to a sustainable level and green hydrogen is mature enough to take over.
On the other hand, the technology that uses electrolyzers powered by renewable energy to split water into oxygen to produce green hydrogen is nothing new.
The new thing is to expand the technology to the level required to promote the hydrogen economy and to achieve the efficiency and price enjoyed by competitors.
Dr. Stewart Walsh, a senior lecturer in the Department of Civil Engineering at Monash University, told Stockhead that the price of electrolysis and renewable energy that power the process has fallen sharply, and much faster than anyone expected.
"This means that the transition to green hydrogen is much faster than we thought," he pointed out.
Dr. Walsh highlighted Chile’s goal of having the world’s cheapest green hydrogen by 2025 as an example.
The South American country stated that the cost of green hydrogen may only be 1.30 US dollars/kg by then, and made it clear that its ambition is to become one of the world's largest green hydrogen exporters by 2040.
"That is just around the corner. This kind of transformation, when it happens, they happen very quickly, and I don't know if it will be driven by policy or financial changes," said Dr. Walsh.
He added that changes in the energy industry may happen soon, indicating that the United States is rapidly shifting from coal to natural gas.
“The low natural gas prices in the United States in the past few years mean that they have not put any new coal-fired power plants into service since around 2014.
"If the economics are correct, the transition may be very fast. People will choose cheaper ways to produce energy.
"This will eventually become the driving force for the widespread adoption of many of these technologies."
Dr. Walsh also pointed out that although green hydrogen or its related products (such as green steel) may be a bit more expensive, people may also be willing to pay a premium to gain the honor of owning a green product.
Widespread adoption of hydrogen is certainly possible, but many challenges must be resolved before we reach this point.
Producing hydrogen at a price that competes with or is better than fossil fuels is just the beginning, but in many ways, it is just a matter of scaling up and figuring out how to improve efficiency.
The gas, its high flammability, high diffusivity and low density, and its potential to weaken metal or polyethylene pipes all require answers.
The volatility of hydrogen means that sensors need to be installed to detect leaks, while its low density and ultra-low temperature need to be kept liquid, which means that the efficiency of long-distance transportation is lower than that of LNG.
Hydrogen can also cause embrittlement-or loss of ductility of the material, making it brittle-which means that transportation under high pressure using existing metal or polyethylene pipes may cause leakage.
Dr. Walsh admitted that there must be some technical challenges.
"The long-distance transportation of hydrogen is where we are still considering some of the obstacles we need to overcome," he pointed out.
"However, having said that, many challenges are just scaling up at this stage.
"We know how to produce hydrogen, we know how to store hydrogen, we know how to transport hydrogen.
"It's about starting from where we are now and where we will be in the future."
Dr. Walsh pointed out that some options for long-distance transportation include the conversion of gas into easily liquefied ammonia, compressed hydrogen, and liquid hydrogen.
"I know that CSIRO has done a lot of great work in this field about transporting hydrogen as ammonia."
He added that mixing hydrogen with natural gas and transporting it to the domestic market through existing pipelines will bring great benefits in the short term.
"My understanding is that there are not too many headaches. We can convert 10% of natural gas to hydrogen today. People are already studying how to convert to 20%," he pointed out.
"This will not happen overnight, but it is definitely something serious people are paying attention to, and it seems possible."
Here are some ASX small-cap companies exposed to hydrogen.
ADX Energy (ASX:ADX) proposes to use its depleted natural gas reservoir in the Vienna Basin of Austria to store the green hydrogen produced from surplus renewable energy underground.
Each storage tank can store about 500 times the energy of the largest Tesla Mega Pack (approximately 200 MWh), or provide a year's electricity for 20,000 households at a much lower price.
Environmental Clean Technologies (ASX: ECT) is focusing on using Coldry technology to develop a net-zero emission hydrogen refinery in Latrobe Valley, Victoria.
This technology provides low-cost, zero-emission dehydration and drying for incoming lignite and biomass streams, which are then sent to a thermochemical decarbonization process to produce hydrogen-rich synthesis gas and coke containing most of the solid form of carbon product.
The hydrogen-rich syngas is then used by integrated downstream applications within the project to produce hydrogen, formic acid and power generation
Eden Innovations (ASX: EDE) is another technology company that is promoting its patented methane pyrolysis technology, which produces hydrogen from hydrocarbon feedstocks such as natural gas, and uses carbon nanotubes that may be more valuable than hydrogen. Squirting in the form of.
In addition to the current EdenCrete concrete additives and EdenPlast carbon nanotube-reinforced plastics and polymers, the company is currently reviewing several possible new applications and markets for its carbon nanotubes.
Global Energy Ventures (ASX: GEV) has developed a compressed hydrogen transportation solution that is said to provide safe, energy-efficient and cost-competitive hydrogen transportation.
It has been approved in principle by the US Bureau of Shipping to be used on a pilot-scale handy gas carrier, which is relatively small and can enter most ports.
The company is also developing its Tiwi Green Hydrogen Project in the Northern Territory, which, in combination with its proposed operator, will provide a fully integrated green hydrogen production and export supply chain.
Hazer Group (ASX: HZR)'s patented process was first discovered in 2010. The process combines methane and unprocessed iron oxide to produce hydrogen and solid graphitic carbon.
As of November 2021, the company is constructing a commercial demonstration project at the Woodman Point Water Recovery Facility of Western Australia Water.
This converts the biogas (methane) captured from the sewage waste received by the factory into green gas.
Hexagon Energy Materials (ASX: HXG) is advancing its Perdika Blue Hydrogen project, which will purchase coal as a raw material from its existing mining rights through a pre-feasibility study.
Coal will be gasified to produce hydrogen for export or domestic markets, while carbon dioxide emissions will be captured and sequestered underground or used in oil recovery projects.
Lion Energy (ASX: LIO) is evaluating the potential for a modular network of green hydrogen production and refueling stations in Australia.
This will focus on infrastructure related to the national energy market in the domestic heavy mobility market.
Montem Resources (ASX: MR1) started as a coal company and has now converted its Tent Mountain project into a renewable energy project that combines wind energy and pumped storage to produce green hydrogen.
It is proposed to combine a 100-megawatt wind farm with a 320-megawatt pumped accumulator and a 100-megawatt green hydrogen electrolyzer to provide grid stability for the phasing out of coal in Alberta, Canada.
Pilot Energy (ASX: PGY) recently formed a consortium-including APA Group (ASX: APA), a major natural gas infrastructure group-to jointly undertake and fund feasibility studies for blue hydrogen and carbon capture and storage projects in the Midwest.
The feasibility study will focus on blue hydrogen technology, regional CCS potential, hydrogen market, project infrastructure and commercialization.
It will also conduct an independent assessment of the CCS potential of the Cliff Head project.
Pure Hydrogen Corporation (ASX: PH2) has several challenges, including reaching an agreement with CAC-H2, building three wood waste hydrogen production plants on the east coast of Australia, and a strategic stake in fuel cell pioneer H2X Global.
The company also plans to use pyrolysis to convert methane from its Serowe CBM project in Botswana and the Venus CSG project in Queensland into blue hydrogen.
Provincial Resources Corporation (ASX: PRL) is developing the HyEnergy green hydrogen project in Gascoyne, Western Australia.
This will be supported by up to 8 GW of renewable energy.
It is also cooperating with Global Energy Ventures to conduct a feasibility study to study the use of compressed hydrogen as the preferred export carrier for HyEnergy gas.
Although QEM Limited (ASX: QEM) is primarily a vanadium-focused prospector, it is also studying the potential of "green hydrogen opportunities" in its Queensland Julia Creek vanadium and oil shale project.
This will be used directly for its vanadium and oil production, and the excess will be used for potential hydrogen centers in the Northwestern Minerals Province.
Sparc Technologies (ASX: SPN) is working with the University of Adelaide to advance an Australian-made "ultra-green hydrogen" technology that does not require electrolysis to extract gas from water.
Without the energy cost required to power the electrolyzer, project partners are aiming for commercial-scale technology to help achieve the goal of USD 2/kg, which is widely regarded as green hydrogen having a cost compared to fossil fuels Competitive point.
SRJ Technologies (ASX: SRJ) is advancing its hydrogen compatible pipeline technology, which aims to solve the problem of transporting natural gas through pipelines.
The company is currently conducting a detailed analysis of the future market, leakage seals, mechanical connectors, isolation, maintenance and integrity solutions that can cope with the complexity of handling hydrogen.
TNG Limited (ASX: TNG) has established a joint venture with Malaysia’s AGV Energy to promote Darwin’s green hydrogen project.
This can be extended to other sites in Australia.
At Stockhead, we tell the truth. Although ADX Energy and Pure Hydrogen are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.
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December 8, 2021
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