HP March 2022 eBook—Energy Transition - 25

Special Focus
Process Optimization
N. LIU, Shell Catalysts & Technologies,
The Hague, the Netherlands
Increasing blue hydrogen production affordability
Large-scale, affordable, " blue " hydrogen
(H2
) production from natural gas,
along with carbon capture, utilization and
storage (CCUS), is necessary to bridge
the gap until large-scale H2
ing renewable energy becomes economic.
The cost of carbon dioxide (CO2
makes blue H2
via steam methane reforming
(SMR) competitive against gray H2
(without CCUS), and a newly available
processa
(POX) technology and pre-combustion
CO2
increases the affordability of blue H2
greenfield projects.
Why blue H2
for
? A growing number of
have announced
as a clean-burnnational
governments and energy companies,
including Shell,1
net-zero-emissions ambitions. Although
renewable electricity is expanding rapidly,
without low-carbon H2
ing, long-term-storable, energy-dense
fuel, a net-zero goal is difficult to achieve,
especially when it comes to decarbonizing
fertilizer production and hard-to-abate
heavy industries such as steel manufacturing
and power generation. H2
also has potential
as a transport and heating fuel that
could repurpose existing gas distribution
infrastructure or be introduced into existing
natural gas supplies.
Consequently, H2
part in many green strategies. The EU's
H2
strategy,2
published in July 2020, describes
it as " ...essential to support the
EU's commitment to reach carbon neutrality
by 2050 and for the global effort
to implement the Paris Agreement while
working towards zero pollution. "
Momentum is building with a succession
of commitments to H2
by various
companies and governments. For example,
in June 2020, Germany announced a €9-B
H2
strategy,3
Agency stated, " Now is the time to scale
and the International Energy
production us)
already
up technologies and bring down costs to
allow hydrogen to become widely used. " 4
Over the past 3 yr, the number of companies
with membership in the international
Hydrogen Council-which predicts a tenfold
increase in H2
demand by 20505
-has
jumped from 13 to 81 and includes oil and
gas companies, automobile manufacturers,
trading companies and banks.
In 2018, global H2
based on gas partial oxidation MMtpy.4
capture solvent technology further
Today's demand is split between
use for upgrading refined hydrocarbon
products and as a feedstock for ammonia
production for nitrogen fertilizers. Nearly
all H2
production comes from fossil fuels:
it accounts for 6% of natural gas and
2% of coal consumption, as well as 830
MMtpy of CO2
emissions6
double the UK's emissions.7
major source of CO2
-more than
Gray H2
emissions. If H2
is a
is to
contribute to carbon neutrality, it must be
produced on a much larger scale and with
far lower emissions levels.
Over the long term, the answer is
likely to be " green " H2
, which is produced
from the electrolysis of water powered
by renewable energy. This supports the
integration of renewable electricity generation
by decoupling production from
use. H2
becomes a convertible currency,
plays an important
enabling electrical energy to be stored
and used as an emissions-free fuel and
chemical feedstock.
Green H2
projects are starting. For
example, a Shell-led consortium is at the
feasibility stage of the NortH2 wind-toH2
project
in the North Sea, and a Shell-
Eneco consortium secured the right
to build the 759-MW Hollandse Kust
Noord project at a subsidy-free Dutch
offshore wind auction in July 2020; this
project will include a green H2
technology
demonstration.
However, electrolysis alone will not
meet the forecast demand. It is expensive
at present, and there is insufficient renewproduction
was 70
able energy available to support largescale
green H2
would require 3,600 TWh of electricity,
more than the EU's annual use.4
production. To put the
scale of the task into perspective, meeting
today's H2
demand through electrolysis
Moreover,
using the current EU electricity mix
would produce gray H2
from electrolysis
from natural
with 2.2 times the greenhouse gas emissions
of producing gray H2
gas.8 This is because nearly half (45.5%)
of the net electricity generated in the EU
comes from burning natural gas, coal and
oil,9
and generating electricity from natuproduced
production,
but the
ral gas, for example, has a 44% efficiency.10
An alternative is blue H2
from natural gas, coupled with CCUS. H2
production via electrolysis has a similar
efficiency to blue H2
levelized cost of production is significantly
higher for electrolysis at €66/MWh, compared
with €47/MWh for SMR-CCUS.11
In addition, it is widely acknowledged
that scaling up blue H2
easier than delivering green H2
ple, the EU strategy2
production will be
. For examstates,
" Other forms of
low-carbon hydrogen [i.e., blue] are needed,
primarily to rapidly reduce emissions
... and support the parallel and future uptake
of renewable [green] hydrogen. "
However, the strategy goes on to claim
that neither green nor blue H2
cost-competitive against gray; the H2
production is
costs
estimated for the EU are €1.5/kg for gray,
€2/kg for blue and up to €5.5/kg for green.4
These costs are based on an assumed natural
gas price for the EU of €22/MWh, an
electricity price of €35/MWh-€87/MWh
and a capacity cost of €600/kW.
With the cost of CO2
at $25/t-$35/t,
blue H2
becomes competitive against gray
still may be more than double the price
Some foreeven
with higher capital costs, and green
H2
of blue H2 by 2030 (FIG. 1).4
casts indicate that cost parity will occur
around 2045.12
Hydrocarbon Processing | JUNE 2021 | HydrocarbonProcessing.com
http://www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com
HP March 2022 eBook—Energy Transition

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