Low-carbon hydrogen: Carrying the hopes of a cleaner future

Linde plc

The effects of climate change - global warming and the corresponding shifts in climate patterns - are increasingly visible on the environment, society, and the global economy. Climate change is not a distant threat - it is happening now.

The Paris Agreement, an international treaty on climate change, was adopted in 2015. Its goal is to limit rising temperatures to well below 2°C, preferably to 1.5°C, compared to pre-industrial levels, through a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

As a result, more countries, regions, cities, and companies are establishing ambitious carbon neutrality targets and looking for solutions to reach those goals. Hydrogen is set to play an important role in a new energy system.

HYDROGEN AS AN ENABLER OF DECARBONIZATION

To tackle climate change, countries around the world are putting in place their transition plans to use low-carbon sources of energy, with hydrogen at its core. The hydrogen future is here now.

Hydrogen is a versatile, clean and safe energy carrier that can be used as fuel or as industry feedstock. It produces zero emissions as it only emits water vapor, setting it as a strong contender to decarbonise transportation. It can be stored and transported in liquid or gaseous form for a wide range of applications to lower their carbon footprint all the way to zero emissions.

THE JOURNEY FROM GRAY TO GREEN HYDROGEN

Hydrogen is colorful - depending on its net carbon dioxide emissions intensity, production method and feedstock content, a different color will be attributed, with green hydrogen being the ultimate goal.

Hydrogen can be produced from a range of feedstocks and natural resources. Grey hydrogen is the most common form generated from natural gas or methane through a process called “steam reforming” which is the main method used to produce hydrogen on an industrial scale today. This process can be converted into blue hydrogen production by adding carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) technologies. And, green hydrogen can be generated by electrolysis technology with renewable energy as feedstock. An alternative production method is steam reforming with biomass as feedstock.

HYDROGEN: ONE GAS, MANY APPLICATIONS

Potential applications for low carbon hydrogen, in descending order of adoption, start with the following cases that are already viable today.

• Power-driven use: countries with an increasing penetration of renewable energy generation sources are Europe, Australia and parts of the US. Clean hydrogen can replace gas for these applications.

• Steelmaking: we see the steelmaking sector becoming a much bigger user of hydrogen in the future, as the sector has committed to cutting its carbon footprint. We expect more widespread use in the energy fuel & feedstock sector, which causes hydrogen as a feedstock.

• Chemical processes: many sustainable chemical industries rely on hydrogen and CCU technology, which accelerate decarbonization solutions across industrial and energy sectors.

• Transportation and mobility: hydrogen has been already utilised for decarbonisation of the automotive sector, long-haul road transport or shipping the fuel. It has a clear advantage.

• Regulation-driven use: in regions such as Europe, large carbon emitters such as oil refineries are under growing pressure to cut emissions. They could start adopting clean hydrogen to help meet regulations such as Europe’s Renewable Energy Directive II.

• Building heating: replacing natural gas with hydrogen could result in a significant decarbonisation of this sector and goes hand in hand with conversion of natural gas grids.

CASE STUDY: A HYDROGEN ECONOMY IN THE MAKING

Linde was recently part of a key development towards decarbonisation.

The trial to blend hydrogen with natural gas to power the 400 MW turbine resulted in an important step in the conversion to greener and more efficient energy sources to the Donaustadt power station in Vienna, Austria – one of the largest combined heat and power plants in the world.

For more information, please visit: https://www.linde.com/clean-energy

SUSTAINABLE MOVEMENT IN THAILAND’S LOW CARBON HYDROGEN VALUE

Linde’s HyCO (Syngas) plants are built to your requirements for hydrogen and CCU process requirements. With the sustainable technology which integrated CCU process technology for today, Linde can provide low carbon hydrogen to Thailand’s refinery and petrochemical complex with sustainable products of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. This is today’s solutions for tomorrow’s Thailand sustainable industries. Linde Thailand has provided extensive supports for numerous research endeavors focusing on CCUS and low carbon hydrogen projects in Thailand, with the ultimate goal of promoting a sustainable environment for our society.

Contact details:

Jugkapong Rattanasuwan

Bulk Products Management Manager Linde (Thailand) Public Company Limited

+66 86 792 2697

Jugkapong.Rattanasuwan@linde.com www.linde.co.th