In 1874, science fiction author Jules Verne mentioned an interesting element in his book The Mysterious Island. An element that can be used as fuel and provides an inexhaustible source of heat and light by replacing coal.
Seems too good to be true, right?
Fascinatingly, the element mentioned in the book is hydrogen. Fast forwarding to 2022, we witnessed governments, institutions, and corporations considering hydrogen as the key towards net zero emission. It is estimated that at least 43 countries have strategies or plans for a hydrogen economy. One reason for this strategy is the fact that green hydrogen can help in decarbonising the hard–to-abate (HTA) industries.
Still, we can witness corporations and institutions repeatedly dismissing the idea of hydrogen/ fuel cells. For instance, the automobile company Volkswagen prefers electric vehicles over hydrogen-powered cars. Elon Musk once described the fuel cells as “mind-bogglingly stupid.”
The reason for the concern lies in the storage and safety of hydrogen. Large or heavy storage space is needed in a vehicle to store hydrogen. Being high in energy density by weight, hydrogen is compressed at 350-700 bar in the storage tanks. This means the storage tank must have a volume of about 200 litres or 3-4 times the volume of gasoline tanks. Creating such a huge space for storage in a vehicle must “sacrifice passenger and cargo space.”
Hydrogen Fuel Production:
Steam methane reforming (grey hydrogen) and coal gasification (black and brown hydrogen) are used to produce hydrogen. Unfortunately, both methods are carbon-intensive methods and harmful to the environment.
At present, an electrolysis method is introduced to produce green hydrogen. Hydrogen can be sustainably produced with zero carbon emission using electrolysis with renewable energy sources such as wind or solar.
However, electrolysis for hydrogen production faces many hurdles. Firstly, current green hydrogen projects are under construction. The ones operating are at the pre-commercial phase and have limited electrolyser capacities. Secondly, the manufacturing and operating electrolyser (the unit in which electrolysis happens) is costly. The reason is the increased price of metals like Platinum, Nickel, and Iridium in the past few years.
Moreover, hydrogen is compressed and stored at high pressures, which can sometimes cause rupture and hydrogen leakage. This leakage can ignite easily because hydrogen has a flammable nature and lower ignition energy than gasoline and natural gas.
Also, hydrogen is a small molecule that can easily leak into the atmosphere, which leads to higher methane concentrations, ozone, and atmospheric water vapour. An increase in such gases will indirectly warm the climate, thereby diminishing the benefits of hydrogen to a large extent.
Advantages of Hydrogen Fuel:
Despite challenges and technological limitations, Hydrogen fuel has advantages in hard–to-abate (HTA) industries. HTA industries contribute approximately 30% of global emissions.
Iron and steel, cement, chemicals, building materials, and heavy-duty transportation like trucking and shipping are examples of HTA industries. These industries cannot be directly electrified using renewable power. They rely on fossil fuels for fuel, high-temperature energy, or for chemical feedstocks. Hence, decarbonisation of this sector is crucial to achieving net-zero goals.
Apart from decarbonisation, hydrogen as a fuel gives the heavy-duty transportation sector an edge. One of the advantages of hydrogen fuel is its by-product. After combustion in a fuel cell, hydrogen fuel produces only water, which is environment friendly and causes no harm to the health.
In addition, there are two major features that a Hydrogen fuel cell EV has over the electric vehicle (EV). Due to better energy storage density than lithium-ion batteries, hydrogen fuel cell EV’s are quick to refuel and offer a long range.
For instance, when an electric vehicle (EV) takes 8 hours to charge fully, a Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV) powered by hydrogen can be fueled within 3-8 minutes. Another advantage of FCEV is the range (a range is defined as the distance (km/miles) a vehicle can travel after one time charging or refilling the fuel tank). Compared to EV’s, FCEV delivers a more extended range.
The above advantages in the transport sector and decarbonising the hard-to-abate industries makes hydrogen a fuel of choice. Eventually, multiple applications development will come with hydrogen fuel.
However, building infrastructure for transporting and storing hydrogen is expensive, challenging, and requires high initial capital costs. The pipeline and compressor need new design and material to withstand the hydrogen properties. Monitoring and controlling leakage requires about $800 billion annually to set up the entire hydrogen transportation infrastructure.
Other than the above disadvantages, policies and laws of a country can discourage investments and new opportunities in the green energy sector, especially for green hydrogen.
For example, in India, research and development for green hydrogen is still in its nascent stage. India’s Central Pollution Control Board has categorised hydrogen as a hazardous substance. Additionally, the board has classified industries producing hydrogen as ‘Red’ category industries.
On top of that, renewable energy sources attract a 12% Goods and Services Tax which brings uncertainty in taxation policy.
The need and urgency to fight climate change is well understood, and hydrogen should be one of the ways to tackle it. Energy efficiency, renewables, and direct electrification-supportive ecosystems are key to climate action.
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Sources
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Photo by Rafael Classen rcphotostock.com: https://www.pexels.com/photo/hydrogen-molecules-against-blue-background-10670941/
