Delivering hydrogen in liquids

UNCOMMON CARRIER

HYDROGEN • AS THE WORLD MOVES TOWARDS AN ENERGY TRANSITION, THOUGHTS ARE TURNING TO HOW TO DELIVER CARBON-NEUTRAL FUELS. A NEW IDEA IS GAINING ATTENTION

HYDROGEN HAS BEEN widely tipped as the fuel of the decarbonised future. It is easily available and technologies already exist to use it to fuel engines. While there are safety issues, a major sticking point has been the design of a hydrogen supply chain: how is hydrogen to be stored and moved safely and cost-effectively?

That hydrogen-fuelled future may be closer than many think. Hydrogen does not need to be moved in the form of hydrogen: it can use a carrier, and be separated at the point of use. Attention is turning to the potential use of a liquid organic carrier, which would allow use of the existing chemical supply chain to move hydrogen simply and quickly.

Over the past few years, Hydrogenious LOHC Technologies has been developing a system using a liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC), in this case dibenzyl toluene. The company was formed in 2013 in a spin-off of research undertaken at Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany and received early support from UK-based venture capital fund AP Ventures.

More recently, Hydrogenious LOHC Technologies has built partnerships with Clariant, Eastman Chemicals and engine manufacturer MAN, and then in July announced a €17m investment by Vopak, Mitsubishi Corp and Covestro. “We warmly welcome our new investors and are very excited to work with them as strategic partners who share our vision of a LOHCbased worldwide hydrogen infrastructure,” says Daniel Teichmann, CEO of Hydrogenious LOHC Technologies. “With these investments, our company will be strengthening our international industrial base, using the funding to bring additional projects to market.”

MAKE A NETWORK According to Vopak, which led the latest round of investment, the strategy behind the move envisages development of LOHC technology as an essential component of the international hydrogen infrastructure. The operational expertise of Vopak and the other new investors will enable international distribution of renewable energies via hydrogen. Stored in the carrier oil, hydrogen can be transported as easily and efficiently as conventional liquid fuels.

In particular, the approach can store hydrogen produced in areas where there is a surplus of renewable energy and efficiently transport it using existing fuel infrastructure to locations where there is a demand for renewable energy. Asian countries have recognised hydrogen as a valuable energy carrier and the LOHC technology is expected to provide an economical viable solution that is ideal for storing large volumes of hydrogen in densely populated urban areas as well as distributing it over long distances.

“The combination of Vopak’s global terminal and knowledge network with this LOHC technology is a breakthrough in the storage and logistics of renewable energies,” says Marcel van de Kar, director of new energies at Vopak. “This strategic partnership will facilitate development of transregional and global transport of hydrogen and contribute to the development of hydrogen-based economies.”

“Affordable and clean energy is a key issue for the chemical industry and we believe hydrogen has the potential to become an important energy vector in the future,” adds Dietrich Firnhaber, head of strategy and portfolio development at Covestro. “We do believe that the LOHC technology is a promising solution for its transportation and storage.” HCB www.apventuresllp.com www.hydrogenious.net