Tag: Hydrogen

Green Energy Park and Eletrobras sign renewable hydrogen agreement

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Green Energy Park (GEP) and Eletrobras have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the objective of achieving cost and technology leadership in the production of renewable hydrogen and hydrogen derivatives in Brazil.

The deal is groundbreaking, with Brazil offering some of the best natural conditions for producing renewable hydrogen in the world.

The collaboration between GEP and Eletrobras combines more than 10 gigawatts of hydropower electricity resources with a unique hydrogen and hydrogen derivatives production platform designed and implemented by Green Energy Park.

State-of-the-art electrolysers will power production

To achieve cost leadership in renewable hydrogen, base-load hydroelectric power will enable the deployment of state-of-the-art electrolyser technologies implemented on a standardised production infrastructure, including purpose-built export terminal facilities.

The integrated hydrogen production platform features some of the most advanced process engineering designs from the liquified natural gas and ammonia business.

GEP will distribute green fuels to off-takers in industry and transport, with a mission to help decarbonise the economy’s hard-to-abate sectors.

A significant milestone in the renewable hydrogen industry

Bart Biebuyck, CEO of Green Energy Park, explained: “Renewable electricity is the cornerstone of our green hydrogen production process, and we are delighted to have it secured from Eletrobras, a company that stands out as the dominant player in Brazil’s energy infrastructure.

“The availability of hydropower at the gigawatts scale from Eletrobras is a critical component in our mission to achieve cost leadership in renewable hydrogen.”

Ivan de Souza Monteiro, CEO of Eletrobras, added: “As leaders in the generation and transmission of electrical energy in Brazil, we must contribute not only to improving our country matrix but the world so that the sources are increasingly cleaner and renewable.

“With this important partnership, we are aligned with the strategy of contributing to the decarbonisation of the economy and energy security.”

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May 15, 2024
Developing large-scale fuel cells to decarbonise heavy transport

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A game-changing U.S. Department of Energy-funded hub is set to advance large-scale fuel cells, accelerate the shift to clean energy and revolutionise how goods move across land and sea.

With hydrogen emerging as a key strategy to decarbonise transportation and combat climate change, Argonne National Laboratory is building an R&D test facility to develop and independently test large-scale fuel cells for heavy-duty and off-road applications.

The Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO) of DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy is funding the effort with approximately $4m.

The goal is to improve the performance, durability, reliability and efficiency of heavy-duty fuel cell systems while lowering the cost.

How do large-scale fuel cells work?

A fuel cell uses the chemical energy of hydrogen or other fuels to cleanly and efficiently produce electricity.

When hydrogen is used, the only products are electricity, water and heat.

The Argonne facility will test large-scale fuel cell systems for heavy transport applications, including trucks, railroad locomotives, marine vessels, aircraft, and vehicles used in the agriculture, construction, and mining industries.

When the facility comes online in autumn 2025, the industry will have access to a dedicated location and support staff to test and validate polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell systems ranging from 150 to 600 kilowatts.

Accelerating change in the heavy transport industry

Argonne’s facility will emulate powertrains for all on- and off-road heavy-duty vehicles by operating in a hardware-in-the-loop environment leveraging the laboratory’s internationally recognised Autonomie software for application duty cycle commands.

“Providing the opportunity for independent, rigorous testing of first-of-a-kind, large-scale fuel cell systems will accelerate technology development and help identify challenges requiring further R&D,” said HFTO Director Sunita Satyapal.

Ted Krause, laboratory relationship manager for Argonne’s hydrogen and fuel cell programmes, added: “The testing infrastructure will help advance fuel cell performance and pave the way toward integrating the technology into all of these transportation applications.”

The project builds upon the laboratory’s extensive fuel cell research experience, including the operation of the Argonne Fuel Cell Test Facility from 1996 to 2012.

Argonne also coordinates a multitude of other transportation activities across the DOE’s Vehicle Technologies Office and other offices.

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May 15, 2024
A viable interim solution for low-carbon hydrogen production
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Nadim Chaudhry, CEO of World Hydrogen Leaders, examines the opportunities for CCUS-enabled low-carbon hydrogen and how US policy is accelerating the advancement of this vital fuel of the future.

While its relevance in helping to reach climate goals has long been recognised, deployment of carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) has been slow and consistently accounting for less than 0.5% of global investment in clean energy technologies.

Although CCUS is not a new technology, and there are currently around 41 operational facilities globally, it has typically been deployed at a small scale – mainly for R&D projects and for enhanced oil recovery.¹ In order for CCUS to meaningfully contribute to climate change goals, the amount of CO2 captured would need to grow four-fold from current levels by 2030.² However, stronger climate targets and investment incentives are now starting to drive increased momentum into CCUS – and one of the key strategies to provide a boost to the technology is the efficient production of hydrogen.

The role of CCUS in low-carbon hydrogen production

Hydrogen is a versatile energy carrier that can help support the decarbonisation of a range of hard-to-abate sectors where electrification from renewable sources cannot deliver the level of energy output required. These include iron, steel, chemicals and cement production, as well as hydrogen-based fuels for aviation, shipping, and long-distance haulage.

CCUS can facilitate the production of low-carbon hydrogen (sometimes referred to as ‘blue’ hydrogen) from natural gas and provide an opportunity to bring it into new markets in the near term – and at a reasonable cost.

It can help alleviate pressure on already constrained electricity grids, allowing renewable electricity generation and electrolytic hydrogen production to scale at a more manageable pace. This benefit of CCUS-enabled hydrogen over the next decade has been recognised in the Committee on Climate Change’s recently published 2023 Progress Report to Parliament.

Today, the cost of CCUS-enabled hydrogen production is likely to be around 50% of hydrogen production via electrolysis powered by renewables-based electricity. While the cost of electrolytic hydrogen is anticipated to reduce over time with the onset of increasingly cheaper electrolysers and renewable electricity, CCUS-equipped hydrogen will most likely remain a competitive option across regions typically associated with low-cost fossil fuels.

Recently there has been a significant increase in the appetite to develop CCUS projects, with a 50% increase in CO2 capture in the 12 months between 2022 to 2023.³ This has been driven by governments internationally coming under increasing pressure to meet global climate targets, implementing robust legislation and providing clear pricing signals in order to make CCUS commercially viable.

Despite this positive news, there remain three significant issues. Of the many announced CCUS projects, only around 5% have taken firm investment decisions due to the uncertainty of demand, a lack of clarity around certification and regulation – and, critically – the lack of infrastructure available to actually deliver the hydrogen to customer sites. And according to the IEA, to help deliver a majorly decarbonised heavy industry by 2030, a third of all hydrogen production will need to be dedicated to those hard-to-abate sectors. Currently, these applications only account for around 0.1% today, meaning there is considerably more work to do.

Challenges with deploying CCUS at scale

Because CCUS is far from a mature industry, a single stakeholder is typically unable to take on all the expertise, risk and capital expenditure needed across the whole value chain. As such, the most significant challenges with deploying CCUS at scale are the multiple different, distinct stakeholders that need to be co-ordinated, including the industrial plants that are the CO2 emitters themselves, the various CCUS technology suppliers which separate and capture the CO2, providers of processing, compression solutions, transportation solutions and, finally, experienced storage providers who can inject and store the CO2 underground.

© shutterstock/Keshi Studio

It is evident that urgent policy action is needed to create demand for low-carbon hydrogen and unlock the necessary investment to accelerate the scale-up of production and the building of delivery infrastructure.

The US leading the way

Currently, different policy approaches are being undertaken by governments to encourage the deployment of CCUS at scale. In particular, the United States has provided a much-needed shot in the arm for the infrastructure required to scale up technologies. Incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provide project developers with a $50 per metric tonne of CO2 tax reduction where CO2 is stored in dedicated storage sites. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed in November 2021 also provided a combined $15bn to support CCUS and low-carbon hydrogen production.

The IRA has had a considerable positive impact on hydrogen production, enabling the US to have the largest hydrogen project pipeline of any country. It currently accounts for 18% of the total announced capacity, putting Australia in second place at 14%. And while the percentage of hydrogen projects in the EU surpasses both of those (at 29%), it should be remembered that this figure accounts for the whole of the EU (consisting of 27 countries) and the UK, which ultimately results in relatively minor pipelines per country.

While Europe may be advancing the highest number of projects overall, the US is considerably closer to offering early scale-up. The generous IRA tax credits eventually help a strong flow of US projects towards final investment decision (FID).

The majority of announced projects are for green hydrogen, which is produced using renewable energy and electrolysis, and is the cleanest form of hydrogen production. However, it is also expensive, making access to cheaper clean power necessary to achieve the desired economics.

While most of the recently announced projects are for carbon-free hydrogen, the most advanced projects are dominated by blue hydrogen, especially in the US. Blue hydrogen is mainly produced from natural gas and creates carbon dioxide as a by-product, so it’s a low-carbon solution but not strictly a ‘clean’ one. However, it enjoys a significant cost advantage over green hydrogen, particularly where natural gas is cheap, as in the US and Canada.

Today, the cost of CCUS-enabled hydrogen production remains around half that of producing hydrogen through electrolysis powered by renewables-based electricity. And while the cost of electrolytic hydrogen will decline over time, with cheaper electrolysers and renewable electricity, CCUS-equipped hydrogen will most likely remain a competitive option in regions with low-cost fossil fuels and CO2 storage resources.

In discussions with Greg Bean, Director of the Gutierrez Energy Management Institute at the University of Houston, he said: “Recent federal government policies affecting low carbon intensity (LCI) hydrogen – specifically the funding of seven hydrogen hubs, along with IRA production tax credits for LCI hydrogen and enhanced CCUS tax credits – should accelerate the initial wave of CCS hydrogen given its current cost advantage over electrolytic hydrogen, especially in the US with low natural gas prices. However, the more favourable tax treatment for electrolytic hydrogen in the IRA and the likely reduction in electrolytic hydrogen cost suggests that it might ultimately have a larger market share in an aggressive decarbonisation scenario.”

Hydrogen trading is still relatively nascent but could see significant growth this decade. Even low-carbon hydrogen will be crucial for net importers to reach net-zero targets and for net exporters like the US to maximise benefits from clean energy deployment. CCUS-based hydrogen is likely to become an internationally traded commodity to help countries meet their hydrogen demand more economically.

However, Greg Bean goes on to note: “With main export markets likely to be in Europe and North Asia, there could be policy actions in these countries that penalise or limit CCS hydrogen imports. A relevant example is the “maximum methane intensity values” and associate penalty structure being discussed for LNG imports into Europe. Time will tell.”

Conclusion

We are in a decisive decade and need to scale solutions today if we wish to avoid the worst of climate impacts on our society and global ecosystem. Both CCUS and low-carbon hydrogen are well-tested and the US has shown that they can be rapidly scalable solutions that can deliver decarbonised industries at a lower cost.

The significant opportunities for low-carbon hydrogen can only be delivered through co-ordinated international collaboration. This requires cross-industry partnerships that must work together based on guiding principles of lower costs, speed, and uncompromising quality.

World Hydrogen Leaders will be hosting the world’s largest hydrogen event in Copenhagen, Denmark, from 30 September to 4 October 2024. For more information and to register please visit World Hydrogen Week.

References
Please note, this article will also appear in the 18th edition of our quarterly publication.
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May 14, 2024
Establishing a sustainable hydrogen economy

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Issues have persisted with hydrogen production and the economy needed to sustain it globally. Bart Biebuyck, CEO of Green Energy Park with over 20 years of experience in the hydrogen industry, discusses how his company will do things differently.

Hydrogen is a somewhat elusive molecule to be used as fuel. While it is an extremely efficient and emissionless fuel, the sticking point has been the lack of infrastructure to support it, i.e. industries using hydrogen fuel, amount being produced, etc., as well as the emissions created in its production.

The Innovation Platform’s Matt Brundrett sat down with Bart Biebuyck to talk about Green Energy Park, and what he thinks will be a future that will solve these issues in both hydrogen production, and supply and distribution. Bart, with his vast experience in the hydrogen industry, expands on his headship of a public private partnership with the European Commission, and explains how they will lead the way forward.

Could you provide an overview of Green Energy Park and what projects it’s working on or has worked on in the past?

Green Energy Park is a vertically integrated company that focuses on the production of hydrogen and ammonia in the upstream. Then, in the midstream, bringing that to different consumers in the distribution channel, and finally in the downstream, delivering to the gate of companies. We strongly believe that being vertically integrated is the best way to create a sustainable, viable, and economical hydrogen economy because the hydrogen economy is not yet mature, so there are too many variables. Being completely vertically integrated is, in our opinion, the way forward.

And this is precisely what we are doing with Green Energy Park. That’s why we are starting to build the world’s largest hydrogen and ammonia production facility in Brazil; then, we will bring its product to various ports worldwide. We are in talks with several ports in Europe. We have our own European import terminal on the Croatian island of Krk. This is where we have the Green Energy Park Krk, and the other ports we are working with are in the UK, north and northwest Europe, and the Middle East and the Far East.

From there, we are in discussion with various customers that we will bring hydrogen and ammonia to. They are located in northern Italy, south Germany, Austria, the Balkan countries, Croatia, Hungary, and Slovakia. This is where we believe we must gradually build a sustainable hydrogen economy. Of course, more energy parks will be built in the future, and we are already in discussion with other locations worldwide about setting up similar hydrogen production facilities.

Why is the Piauí location in Brazil so important for Green Energy Park?

In Brazil, we found all the elements required to make what I believe will be the world’s most affordable hydrogen and ammonia. We have a 100% green grid, a free trade zone, and a very close location to our brand-new port. We’re going to operate the export terminal in the state of Piauí. On top of that, we have excellent support from the local government, which believes in hydrogen and has a hydrogen strategy.

Furthermore, many Brazilian developers have concrete plans to produce renewable energy from solar and wind, but do not find off takers as the grid already 100% green. We will enable them and receive electricity and renewables at a very sharp price. We also have access to fresh water as we are very close to a river. All those elements together mean we can produce hydrogen and ammonia at a very affordable price.

We also have a lot of land there; around 800 hectares of free trade zone for ourselves, and we will use around 310 hectares. That leaves space open for off-takers of the ammonia and hydrogen locally. I’m sure there might be other locations of interest in the future. But for the moment, we feel that all the elements are there in Piauí to make a sustainable business case for hydrogen.

The development will be across four phases. The first phase will construct a 1.8-gigawatt electrolyser starting operation in 2028. Then phase 2 will add another 1.8 gigawatts in 2030, another 1.8 gigawatts in 2032, and finally, we will add 5.4 gigawatts in 2035. The entire project will be fully operational by then, and will be a demonstration of how to make hydrogen economical.

How much ammonia and hydrogen is planned for production, and to whom will it be sent?

We will produce around 2.4 million tonnes of hydrogen, leading to more than 10 million tonnes of ammonia, depending on the conversion rate and technology we use. We will deliver most of that to Europe because Europe is hungry for energy and needs to go green. Today, there are relatively few renewables available in Europe, so we need to bring these renewable electrons to Europe, which will be one of the biggest off-takers.

We are also looking to the UK, as they, too, are very energy-hungry. The Middle East may also be an exciting area to look at. It is generally believed that the Middle East will always export energy, and so far, they have done so, but I’m not sure that will always be the case. They will be competitive in their export of renewable energy versus other parts of the world. So, I could envision that the Middle East might import energy in the future and use it to create other added-value products. And then there is also the Far East. If you look at Japan, South Korea, Singapore, etc., they also need a lot of energy, especially renewable energy, so we are also looking at these markets.

How does this project fit in with the government’s climate goals? Has it received any incentives? And specifically, what about the Global Gateway initiative?

Globally, there is a race to address climate targets. We need new technologies and a lot of renewables. We cannot decarbonise our entire society by electricity alone; we will also need molecules. There aren’t many projects worldwide, at least at such a scale, that will produce a lot of green molecules, so to reach the government’s 2035, 2040, 2050, etc. targets, current income streams are not enough if we want to become net zero. We will need to build many facilities to create green molecules and truly implement them as a part of decarbonisation pathways.

There are a lot of industries that cannot use electricity very easily and will need to use molecules for energy. A lot of the time, those are also the industries that are putting out a lot of emissions. If you look only at the steel industry, 7% of global CO2 emissions come from steel. Our project fits wonderfully with all of the aforementioned targets and will help governments’ achieve their targets. Furthermore, our project is now part of the Global Gateway initiative. This is the European initiative undertaken by the EU Member States and the European Commission to build closer relationships with countries in Latin America and countries in Africa. Last year, the President of the European Commission went to Brazil and, in June, announced that they would invest in Brazil, including the hydrogen value chain. Thus, we are now one of the projects that are part of that hydrogen value chain in Brazil.

We are currently discussing the financial support we will receive under that framework. Other facilities are in operation in Brazil because of the innovation there. As such, we are also looking at funds that can help with the engineering activity we must undertake. Ultimately, we aim to deliver a hydrogen or ammonia price that is competitive with today’s fossil-fuel-based prices once the project is completed and operational.

I strongly believe that we need to go in that direction and show that it’s economical and viable. This is why, together with Green Energy Park’s top-down team, including an engineering company, an EPCM company, and a solid financial company with a lot of experience, we have developed a business model, new engineering, and a new way of financing. It’s quite an innovative business model, which is also part of our IP. When we explain that business model to various banks, be it private or institutional, they all love this new business model.

That’s why I feel there is traction in the financial world. We have received a great deal of enthusiasm when discussing and demonstrating our method to build a viable and economical hydrogen economy. I have even had several people tell me I’ve cracked the code. Today, one of the biggest issues is that many projects do not reach FID because they have various issues with their business model.

We worked hard here because we have an in-house engineering company with one of the brightest engineers in Process Engineering, tank engineering, etc. Combined with brilliant people in the financial world, they came up with that very interesting model that got a lot of traction when tested in the financial world. And so, yes, we’re likely to get a lot of development funding, but I think our new approach convinces many investors. I believe this is what was necessary. We cannot keep it business as usual and do things like we always have. You need to innovate, not only in engineering but also financially.

Have you encountered any logistical issues with exports or imports of ammonia and hydrogen?

There’s already a massive market for ammonia. Today, a lot of grey ammonia is being used worldwide; almost 200 million tonnes of ammonia consumption worldwide. However, this is from fossil-fuel-based ammonia. Of course, this needs to go green. I think there’s not such a big problem with import/export or handling because the world knows how to deal with ammonia. There are a lot of skilled people and companies who know what to do, and that is part of our joint venture. They have built several ammonia terminals, including the biggest ammonia tank in operation in the world. The challenge is, of course, what do you do with the hydrogen? Making ammonia from hydrogen is a known technology. However, converting back to hydrogen is still a challenge, and technology is still being developed.

We believe our technology is quite innovative for ammonia cracking. Our cracking technology can also solve issues with exporting to different customers. Bringing hydrogen to your import terminal and then to the customer is challenging.

We all know that building a hydrogen economy will take a decade, if not more, before everything is in place. Plus, not all the big companies, or even small and medium enterprises, are located next to the backbone. A lot of work is still needed to bring the hydrogen to each of those companies. But with our technology and solutions, we have created a way to get hydrogen to companies’ gates in a financially affordable way.

Could you go into more detail about green energy Park Krk, and how it aligns with your goals?

Green Energy Park Krk (GEPK) is a unique import facility. Krk is a Croatian island on the north side of the Adriatic Sea, the closest location to south Germany and northern Italy. GEPK is a 156-hectare brownfield plot that used to be an external chemical plant, which we can now use for the green energy future.

From GEPK, we can supply northern Italy, Austria, south Germany, the Balkan regions, and local markets like Croatia and Slovenia. At the moment, most European projects focus on Antwerp, Rotterdam, Hamburg, and those ports. But south-central Europe is not as well supplied. So with Krk, which is uniquely located, we can supply those regions; there’s a lot of interest.

Many companies are interested in supplying or sourcing green molecules from GEPK. What is beautiful is that our facility is also a port. We have 16m of natural depth; this is very important because ships carrying ammonia are heavier and need at least 14.5m of depth. We don’t need to dredge, as it’s a deep natural port. Furthermore, the port is in the Bay of Rijeka, meaning the waves are very moderate; there is no significant movement of sand or silt. This is also good for the shipments in terms of loading and unloading the shipping, as the ships do not rock much.

We also have a natural gas pipeline that is already hydrogen-ready. Once the Croatian government decides to stop natural gas and switch to hydrogen, we can immediately inject it from our side because the gas pipeline starts and runs on our side. Therefore, GEPK is already a part of the European hydrogen economy. In the future, there will also be a direct rail connection to the other side and the possibility of a pipeline going towards the refineries on the other side of the bay. So there are a lot of potential off-takers in the neighbourhood, as well as the potential to get hydrogen in large volumes off the island to major regions like northern Italy and south Germany.

What can you tell us about yourself and your work in the industry?

I’ve already worked in the hydrogen industry for more than 20 years. I started my career at Toyota Motor Europe on the design team for the first Toyota hydrogen car, the Mirai. I worked with my team on the Mirai for more than seven years, ensuring it was ready for the European market. I also built, the first hydrogen refuelling station in Belgium, over ten years ago. At that time, there was little talk about hydrogen power and little knowledge among hydrogen authorities. A lot of education was needed for all different stakeholders. But we built it, and it’s still operational today.

After we launched the Mirai and opened the hydrogen refuelling station, I had the opportunity to go to the European Commission to be the head of the world’s biggest hydrogen and fuel cell research programme. And so I was heading a €2.4bn research programme for seven years. I think we financed more than 1,100 companies in the field of hydrogen fuel cells; a total of around 360 projects in the meantime received funds. It was an exciting environment to work in because you saw all the latest technology, which technology works, which technology needs some development before it works, etc., so I learned a lot.

For me, it was essential to demonstrate how to make the hydrogen economy a reality. Every week, I saw companies coming up with projects and PowerPoints. But if you look at the latest IEA report, there are probably around 1,400 projects worldwide in hydrogen and fuel cells, and only 3.6% get FID; it made me a bit sad. However, I also embraced the challenge to show the world how we can realise a hydrogen economy. To achieve this, after leaving the European Commission in May last year, I started Green Energy Park Global with my team, who truly are the best of the best.

With a big, well-known engineering company, a well-known EPC company and somebody who saw everything in the financial world, together we set out to show the world how we can reach climate goals because to reach the 1.5 degrees climate target in 2050, we need to build about 6,000 gigawatts-worth of electrolysers to produce all the hydrogen and ammonia, or methanol that we need to decarbonise our economy. That’s a huge amount. Currently, the biggest electrolyser in operation in Europe is 20 megawatts, a fraction of what we need. And we have just 25 years to build 6,000 gigawatts of renewables and electrolysers, a massive challenge for humanity.

I want to contribute by showing a way forward and making hydrogen an economically viable case. And I’m thrilled that we succeeded. Of course, a lot still needs to be built, but as I said before, we are checking our model and designs because our engineers have already started designing a large part of our plot. When we show it to strategic partners, companies that have worked for years in this field, or investment banks, they say it’s fantastic. One CTO of a large company said: “Every day, I see presentations, and every week, some developers and companies show me their plans on hydrogen and ammonia. But this is my first time seeing something that might actually work.” I think it’s clear that we are on the right track to deliver a method that can accelerate the entire hydrogen industry and reach the 6,000 gigawatts required by 2050.

Please note, this article will also appear in the 18th edition of our quarterly publication.

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May 13, 2024
Green ammonia production innovations spearheaded by US university
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Powered by small modular reactors from NuScale Power, the US university and national lab team is set to revolutionise the carbon-intensive industry with green ammonia production.

Hydrogen, a promising energy carrier and an important feedstock for many industries, has been widely recognised as a game-changer in long-term energy and environmental sustainability.

However, most hydrogen is currently produced using natural gas via the steam reforming process, emitting about 9.4kg CO2 per kilogramme of H2 produced. This leads to a wells-to-gate greenhouse gas emission of more than 10kg CO2 per kilogramme of H2.

With 43% of hydrogen production used for ammonia production in 2018,¹ ammonia production alone accounts for 2% of overall fossil energy use and 1.2% of total GHG emissions.^{2, 3}

In order to help the transition to sustainable energy, green (carbon-free) hydrogen through electrolysis of water is critical. While wind and solar are desirable energy sources for electrolysers, their intermittent nature requires extensive and costly energy storage.

The potential of SMRs for green ammonia production

With the recent advancements in modularity, simplicity and factory assembly, small modular reactors (SMR) possess the unique advantage of providing steady and low-cost hydrogen onsite, reducing or even eliminating the costly energy storage and H2 transportation needed for various industrial applications.

Given that the electricity required for the electrolysis process dominates the hydrogen production cost,⁴ using an SMR as the primary energy source to supply electricity and steam to high-temperature electrolysers (HTE) can further reduce the production cost of carbon-free hydrogen.

Recent estimates indicate that a commercial scale H2 production rate of 250-300 metric tons/day can be achieved economically with a six NuScale Power Module (VOYGRTM-6 plant).

Thus, integrating onsite hydrogen generation powered by an SMR with industrial processes can eliminate the significant costs associated with hydrogen production and transportation, creating a potentially viable solution for low-cost carbon-free hydrogen production, as well as its downstream products.

Decarbonising ammonia

With 80% of the ammonia produced today being used in fertilisers such as urea and ammonium nitrate, a significant increase in ammonia production is expected with population growth, according to historical data.⁵ Thus, decarbonising the existing ammonia market represents a large opportunity for carbon-free ammonia to significantly reduce global GHG emissions.

Leveraging its simplicity and cost advantages, SMRs are in the position to help the energy-intensive ammonia production industry reduce carbon emissions.

Moreover, ammonia is increasingly considered an energy vector. In terms of the cost of storage and transportation, ammonia has significant advantages over hydrogen.⁶ Thus, we expect carbon-free ammonia will play a key role in enabling carbon-free hydrogen.

The solution: Collaboration and innovation

Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy under the Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP), this project will develop two reference designs of carbon-free (green) ammonia plants. One design uses freshwater as the source of hydrogen, while the other design uses seawater (or brackish water) as the source.

Innovative freeze desalination is expected to play an essential role in deploying the technology. In both designs, a high-temperature steam electrolyser currently under intense development and testing will be modelled, and the NuScale SMR will be used as the primary energy source, providing both electricity and steam for the plants. An overview of NuScale’s advanced SMR is shown here.

This project is led by Dr Hailei Wang from Utah State University. He and his group will lead process modelling, system integration, and reference design efforts. Most of the proposed work will be conducted in his Energy Technology Research and Innovation (eTRI) lab.

The lab has well-established integrated energy system modelling and optimisation capabilities, thermal-hydraulic modelling and experimental facilities. His group will work closely with scientists and engineers from Idaho National Lab (INL), Argonne National Lab (ANL) and NuScale Power.

INL is the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy’s lead laboratory. It has a strong research programme on small modular reactors (SMRs). INL will support the university team’s process modelling, design and techno-economic analysis (TEA) of the high-temperature electrolyser.

ANL is a U.S. Department of Energy multidisciplinary science and engineering research centre. It is a national leader in energy systems assessment, process modelling and technoeconomic analysis for the production of electro-fuels or electro-chemicals. ANL will support the university team on ammonia process modelling and its TEA.

In addition, the project will also benefit from NuScale Power’s active involvement and industry perspectives.

An opportunity for SMR-powered green ammonia production

In summary, this project provides an opportunity to demonstrate examples of SMR-powered integrated energy systems (IES) for carbon-free ammonia production.

Having all feedstocks, such as hydrogen and nitrogen, produced onsite (co-located) provides great opportunities for system integration and efficiency improvement, leading to potentially greater cost reduction.

If successful, the proposed reference designs of carbon-free (green) ammonia can be built essentially everywhere, opening up the opportunity to bring ammonia plants close to the point of their consumption, significantly reducing the costs and carbon emissions associated with transportation.

Given that ammonia is also being considered as a potential fuel candidate for marine-time ships,^7,8 the proposed Reference Design 2 can be located near seawater to serve marine customers. In return, producing carbon-free ammonia beyond carbon-free hydrogen will greatly diversify the applications for SMRs in a clean energy economy.

References
1. “Global demand for pure hydrogen, 1975-2018 – Charts – Data & Statistics,” IEA. Accessed: Sep. 17, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/global-demand-for-pure-hydrogen-1975-2018
2. S. Giddey, S. P. S. Badwal, C. Munnings, and M. Dolan, “Ammonia as a Renewable Energy Transportation Media,” ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng., vol. 5, no. 11, pp. 10231–10239, Nov. 2017, doi: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.7b02219.
3. X. Liu, A. Elgowainy, and M. Wang, “Life cycle energy use and greenhouse gas emissions of ammonia production from renewable resources and industrial by-products,” Green Chem., vol. 22, no. 17, pp. 5751–5761, Aug. 2020, doi: 10.1039/D0GC02301A.
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5. S. A. Nosherwani and R. C. Neto, “Techno-economic assessment of commercial ammonia synthesis methods in coastal areas of Germany,” Journal of Energy Storage, vol. 34, p. 102201, Feb. 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.est.2020.102201.
6. “20211122_WP_eAmmonia.pdf.”
7. “Ammonia as a shipping fuel.” Accessed: Oct. 04, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://www.globalmaritimeforum.org/news/ammonia-as-a-shipping-fuel
8. K. Machaj et al., “Ammonia as a potential marine fuel: A review,” Energy Strategy Reviews, vol. 44, p. 100926, Nov. 2022, doi: 10.1016/j.esr.2022.100926.
9. “Hydrogen Shot,” Energy.gov. Accessed: Oct. 04, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/hydrogen-shot
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May 13, 2024
Catalyst Slashes Iridium Use by 95% in Hydrogen Electrolyzers

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Researchers have developed a new method that reduces the iridium required to produce “green” hydrogen by 95%, maintaining production rates and promising to enhance the feasibility of a carbon-neutral hydrogen economy. Credit: SciTechDaily.com

A breakthrough in hydrogen production has been achieved by a Japanese research team, reducing the need for iridium by 95% without compromising efficiency, paving the way for sustainable, large-scale hydrogen energy solutions.

As the world is transitioning from a fossil fuel-based energy economy, many are betting on hydrogen to become the dominant energy currency. But producing “green” hydrogen without using fossil fuels is not yet possible on the scale we need because it requires iridium, a metal that is extremely rare.

In a study published today (May 9) in the journal Science, researchers led by Ryuhei Nakamura at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS) in Japan report a new method that reduces the amount of iridium needed for the reaction by 95%, without altering the rate of hydrogen production. This breakthrough could revolutionize our ability to produce ecologically friendly hydrogen and help usher in a carbon-neutral hydrogen economy.

Scanning electron microscope image of the synthesized iridium oxide (D) and scanning transmission electron microscope images of the iridium (bright spots) dispersed on manganese oxide electrodeposited on a corrosion-resistant platinum-coated titanium mesh (E,F,G). Credit: RIKEN

Hydrogen Production Challenges

With 70% of the world covered in water, hydrogen is truly a renewable source of energy. However, extracting hydrogen from water on a scale that can rival fossil fuel-based energy production is not yet possible. Current global energy production is almost 18 terawatts, meaning that at any given moment, about 18 trillion watts of power is being produced on average worldwide. For alternative green methods of energy production to replace fossil fuels, they must be able to reach the same rates of energy production.

The green way to extract hydrogen from water is an electrochemical reaction that requires a catalyst. The best catalysts for this reaction—the ones that yield the highest rate and the most stable hydrogen production—are rare metals, with iridium being the best of the best. But the scarcity of iridium is a big problem. “Iridium is so rare that that scaling up global hydrogen production to the terawatt scale is estimated to require 40 years’ worth of iridium,” says co-first author Shuang Kong.

Innovations in Catalyst Development

The Biofunctional Catalyst Research Team at RIKEN CSRS is trying to get around the iridium bottleneck and find other ways of producing hydrogen at high rates for long periods of time. In the long run, they hope to develop new catalysts based on common earth metals, which will be highly sustainable. In fact, the team recently succeeded in stabilizing green hydrogen production at a relatively high level using a form of manganese oxide as a catalyst. However, achieving industrial level production in this manner is still years away.

“We need a way to bridge the gap between rare metal- and common metal-based electrolyzers, so that we can make a gradual transition over many years to completely sustainable green hydrogen,” says Nakamura. The current study does just that by combining manganese with iridium. The researchers found that when they spread out individual iridium atoms on a piece of manganese oxide so that they didn’t touch or clump with each other, hydrogen production in a proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer was sustained at the same rate as when using iridium alone, but with 95% less iridium.

Potential and Future Directions

With the new catalyst, continuous hydrogen production was possible for over 3000 hours (about 4 months) at 82% efficiency without degradation. “The unexpected interaction between manganese oxide and iridium was key to our success,” says co-author Ailong Li. “This is because the iridium resulting from this interaction was in the rare and highly active +6 oxidation state.”

Nakamura believes that the level of hydrogen production achieved with the new catalyst has high potential for immediate usefulness. “We expect our catalyst to be easily transferred to real-world applications,” he says, “which will immediately increase the capacity of current PEM electrolyzers.”

The team has begun collaborating with partners in industry, who have already been able to improve on the initial iridium-manganese catalyst. Moving forward, the RIKEN CSRS researchers plan to continue investigating the specific chemical interaction between iridium and manganese oxide, with hopes of reducing the amount of necessary iridium even more. At the same time, they will continue collaborating with industrial partners, and plan on deploying and testing the new catalyst on an industrial scale in the near future.

Reference: “Atomically dispersed hexavalent iridium oxide from MnO2 reduction for oxygen evolution catalysis” 9 May 2024, Science.
DOI: 10.1126/science.adg5193

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May 9, 2024
EU awards €720m to 7 European renewable hydrogen projects

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The European Commission has announced around €720m in funding to support seven European renewable hydrogen projects.

The renewable hydrogen projects have been selected under the bidding system of the European Hydrogen Bank, with the funds generated through the revenues of the EU Emissions Trading System.

The projects will be essential in meeting the EU’s targets for producing renewable hydrogen in Europe, with the ambitious goal of producing ten million tonnes by 2030.

The Commission’s subsidy will enable these projects to bridge the gap between production costs and the market price for hydrogen.

The renewable hydrogen generated from the projects will be used to power various sectors, such as steel, chemicals, fertilisers, and maritime transport.

The news follows the recent announcement of the EU’s €424m investment to advance alternative fuel infrastructure.

Kadri Simson, EU Commissioner for Energy, commented: “The EU is becoming a hub for clean technologies.

“The results of the first auction of the European Hydrogen Bank prove the high interest from European industry in producing and using hydrogen on our continent.

“The selected projects will help us to deliver the EU’s 2030 energy and climate targets while creating new opportunities for green jobs and skills.

“The second hydrogen bank auction later this year is another exciting opportunity for European industry, and I hope to see similar interest then.”

Boosting renewable hydrogen production in Europe

The seven projects were successful among a total of 132 bids.

Each project submitted bids ranging between €0.37 and €0.48 per kilogram of renewable hydrogen produced and will receive funding between €8m to €245m.

Combined, the projects will produce 1.58 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen over ten years and cut over ten million tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Where will the projects be located?

The European renewable hydrogen projects will be located across four countries: Spain, Finland, Portugal, and Norway.

Projects include:

Maroš Šefčovič, Executive Vice-President for European Green Deal, Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight, added: “The high number of bids and the investments awarded today is a clear signal of confidence in the nascent renewable hydrogen market.

“There is a strong project pipeline in Europe and a competitive industry. These are encouraging signs for the future of this important net-zero technology.”

Additional investment from Germany

Germany has introduced a new ‘Auctions-as-a-service’ programme, allocating €350m in national funding to top-ranked projects that didn’t qualify for EU support but meet eligibility criteria.

German authorities will choose and announce the winning projects. This programme is open to all EU Member States, allowing them to utilise the EU-level auction platform and allocate national funding to more projects.

The Commission encourages other Member States to use this service for upcoming auctions.

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May 1, 2024
CSRS develop catalyst for green hydrogen production

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Scientists from Japan’s RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS) have advanced a catalyst for producing green hydrogen.

The custom-made catalyst enables the green and sustainable extraction of hydrogen from water.

By manipulating the catalyst’s 3D structure, the CSRS team has significantly improved its stability and lifetime by nearly 4,000%.

Realising the full potential of green hydrogen production could have profound implications for the energy transition.

Hydrogen will play an essential role in decarbonising heavy industry, long-haul transport and seasonal energy storage.

According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, hydrogen could contribute 10% of the mitigation needed to keep global temperature increase to within 1.5°C and 12% to final energy demand.

Currently, around 47% of hydrogen production globally comes from natural gas, 27% from coal, and 22% as a by-product of oil, meaning only 4% is produced through electrolysis.

Moreover, only 1% of hydrogen globally is produced using renewable energy. Now, CSRS look to have overcome some of the primary challenges that are slowing down green hydrogen progress.

Challenges of PEM electrolysis

Proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysis offers an eco-friendly method to split water into oxygen and hydrogen, which can be stored for future use.

This hydrogen, when integrated with PEM fuel cells, can power electric vehicles.

However, PEM electrolysis faces limitations due to its reliance on highly acidic conditions and rare earth metal catalysts like iridium, hindering widespread industrial application.

Recently, the team pioneered a breakthrough in acid water electrolysis, eliminating the need for rare earth metals by incorporating manganese into a cobalt oxide lattice.

Despite initial success, stability issues persisted in PEM electrolysers. Now, they’ve enhanced their method, producing a longer-lasting catalyst utilising abundant earth metals.

Catalysing green hydrogen production

The researchers developed a novel manganese oxide (MnO2) catalyst, enhancing reaction stability by over 40 times through lattice structure modifications.

By increasing planar oxygen in the 3D lattice, stronger bonds with manganese were formed, significantly boosting catalytic stability.

Proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolyser using manganese oxide. Credit: RIKEN

Testing four manganese oxide variants, the highest achieving 94% planar oxygen maintained critical oxygen evolution in acid for a month at 1000 mA/cm2, transferring 100 times more charge than previous studies.

In PEM electrolyser tests, they sustained water electrolysis for about six weeks at 200 mA/cm2, producing hydrogen at a rate ten times greater than prior non-rare metal catalysts.

Despite the need for longer-term stability at industrial scales, the researchers anticipate feasible real-world applications contributing to carbon neutrality.

They hope their findings can spark interest in sustainable hydrogen as a viable tool in the renewable energy arsenal against climate change.

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April 29, 2024
GEP secures $30m for renewable hydrogen production plant in Brazil

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Green Energy Park has announced it has signed an agreement for $30m funding to develop an industry-leading renewable hydrogen production plant in Piaui, Brazil.

The company secured Series-A funding to build one of the largest hydrogen and hydrogen derivatives production plants globally and obtained long-term rights to the hydrogen port terminal facilities in Luis Correia, Brazil.

The sizeable funding injection highlights Green Energy Park’s commitment to driving clean energy sources and showcases significant interest among strategic partners, global off-takers, and financial institutions in the Brazilian renewable hydrogen production plant.

Bart Biebuyck, CEO of Green Energy Park, explained: “The world is at risk of falling behind its climate goals. The urgency to act is now. Despite the many efforts and programmes to arrest climate change, emissions from fossil fuels, including coal, oil, and gas, have reached a new record in 2023.

“To achieve Net Zero carbon emissions by 2050, we need to install 6,000 gigawatts of electrolyser capacity around the world. This is a monumental task.

“The good news is that it can be done. It is not too late to act. But we must act now! Therefore, at Green Energy Park, we are on a singular mission: To produce the lowest-cost renewable hydrogen at the gigawatts scale.

“To achieve our ambitious goal, we combine cutting-edge hydrogen production technologies with innovative process engineering solutions at one of the most advantageous sites for renewable hydrogen production in the world, in the State of Piaui, Brazil.

“In short, Piaui is set to become our ground zero of the hydrogen revolution. Therefore, we are incredibly proud of our strong partnership with the State of Piaui on this critical mission.”

Developing the Piaui renewable hydrogen production plant

Founded in 2023, Green Energy Park’s ethos is to facilitate renewable hydrogen production in the most cost-competitive locations, initially focusing on North-East Brazil.

Green Energy Park Piaui represents the company’s first renewable hydrogen plant, and will boast an estimated 10.8 GW of electrolyser capacity once operational.

The state-of-the-art production facilities for hydrogen and its derivatives at Green Energy Park will showcase cutting-edge process engineering designs drawn from the liquefied natural gas and ammonia industries.

Leveraging extensive expertise in cryogenic gas handling and storage alongside specialised construction capabilities, Green Energy Park ensures seamless integration and implementation of these advanced technologies.

Moreover, to establish cost leadership in renewable hydrogen, Green Energy Park procures top-tier renewable electricity, powering electrolyser technologies deployed on purpose-built and standardised production infrastructure.

Victor Hugo Almeida, CEO of Investe Piaui, said: “The State of Piaui offers some of the best conditions in the world for producing green hydrogen. The State Government and the Governor, Rafael Fonteles, are fully committed to unlocking the great potential of our unique natural resource endowment to the benefit of our citizens, the climate, and, indeed, the world.

“Green Energy Park provides our State with a tremendous opportunity for a bright future. The world-scale hydrogen project will create thousands of high-quality jobs in our State and will accelerate the green industrialisation of our economy.

“We want to attract international businesses to build a world-scale hydrogen cluster by creating a favourable investment environment with strong support from the State of Piaui. Therefore, we are implementing an innovative approach to green industrialisation in our country for others to follow in Brazil and beyond.

“We are incredibly proud that Green Energy Park has chosen Piaui to implement the most advanced hydrogen production facility in the world. The government will fully support the undertaking and is well prepared to help this global flagship project to succeed.”

Offtake strategy

Green Energy Park aims to distribute its eco-friendly hydrogen fuel to industry and transportation partners, and it is dedicated to decarbonising challenging sectors of the economy.

By collaborating closely with partners worldwide, the company pioneers a unique strategy to develop, construct, and manage a vertically integrated hydrogen supply chain.

Through partnerships with diverse energy consumers, Green Energy Park offers cost-effective solutions to meet their decarbonisation goals.

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April 26, 2024
Trash To Treasure – Chemists Turn Metal Waste Into Hydrogen Catalyst

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Waste metal swarf used in experiment to transform it into a highly efficient catalyst to make hydrogen from water, a discovery that could make hydrogen production more sustainable. Credit: University of Nottingham

Researchers have developed a method to convert metal waste into an effective catalyst for producing hydrogen from water, a breakthrough that could enhance the sustainability of hydrogen production.

A team of researchers from the University of Nottingham’s School of Chemistry and Faculty of Engineering has found that the surface of swarf, a byproduct of the metal machining industry, is textured with tiny steps and grooves on a nanoscale level. These textures can anchor atoms of platinum or cobalt, leading to an efficient electrocatalyst that can split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The research has been published in the Journal of Material Chemistry A of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Hydrogen is a clean fuel that can be used to generate heat or power vehicles, and the only byproduct of its combustion is water vapor. However, most hydrogen production methods rely on fossil fuel feedstock. Electrolysis of water is one of the most promising green pathways for hydrogen production, as it only requires water and electricity.

The industry is facing a challenge with water electrolysis, as this process requires rare and expensive elements like platinum to catalyze the water splitting. With the limited global supply and increasing prices of precious metals, there is an urgent need for alternative electrocatalyst materials to produce hydrogen from water.

Innovative Solutions from Industrial Waste

Dr Jesum Alves Fernandes, School of Chemistry, University of Nottingham, who led the research team, said: “Industries in the UK alone generate millions of tons of metal waste annually. By using a scanning electron microscope, we were able to inspect the seemingly smooth surfaces of the stainless steel, titanium, or nickel alloy swarf. To our astonishment, we discovered that the surfaces had grooves and ridges that were only tens of nanometres wide. We realized that this nanotextured surface could present a unique opportunity for the fabrication of electrocatalysts.”

The researchers used magnetron sputtering to create a platinum atom “rain” on the swarf’s surface. These platinum atoms then come together into nanoparticles that fit snugly into the nanoscale grooves.

Hydrogen production from water catalyzed by platinum atoms on metal swarf. Credit: University of Nottingham

Dr. Madasamy Thangamuthu, a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Nottingham who was responsible for the analysis of the structure and electrocatalytic activity of the new materials, says: “It is remarkable that we are able to produce hydrogen from water using only a tenth of the amount of platinum loading compared to state-of-the-art commercial catalysts. By spreading just 28 micrograms of the precious metal over 1 cm² of the swarf, we were able to create a laboratory-scale electrolyzer that operates with 100% efficiency and produces 0.5 liters of hydrogen gas per minute just from a single piece of swarf.”

The group is partnering with AqSorption Ltd, a Nottingham-based company specializing in electrolyzer design and fabrication to scale up their technology. Professor Andrei Khlobystov, School of Chemistry, University of Nottingham, said: “The electrocatalysts made from swarf have the potential to greatly impact the economy. Our unique technology developed at Nottingham, which involves atom-by-atom growth of platinum particles on nanotextured surfaces, has solved two major challenges. Firstly, it enables the production of green hydrogen using the least amount of precious metal possible, and secondly, it upcycles metal waste from the aerospace industry, all in a single process.”

The Zero Carbon Cluster has been set in the East Midlands to accelerate the development and deployment of innovation in green industries and advanced manufacturing.

Professor Tom Rodden, PVC for Research & Knowledge Exchange at the University of Nottingham says: “Developing hydrogen propulsion systems can be a significant step towards addressing some of the world’s most pressing zero-carbon challenges, especially for the transport and manufacturing industries. However, this strategy’s success depends on producing green hydrogen sustainably, such as through water splitting via electrolysis, and this, in turn, requires advancements in materials design.”

Reference: “From scrap metal to highly efficient electrodes: harnessing the nanotextured surface of swarf for effective utilisation of Pt and Co for hydrogen production” by Madasamy Thangamuthu, Emerson C. Kohlrausch, Ming Li, Alistair Speidel, Adam T. Clare, Richard Plummer, Paul Geary, James W. Murray, Andrei N. Khlobystov and Jesum Alves Fernandes, 16 April 2024, Journal of Materials Chemistry A.
DOI: 10.1039/D4TA00711E

This work, funded by the EPSRC Programme Grant ‘Metal atoms on surfaces and interfaces (MASI) for sustainable future’, represents a significant step towards reducing reliance on expensive metals for hydrogen production, thus contributing significantly to the circular and low-carbon economy.

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April 18, 2024