THE MIDDLE EAST & HYDROGEN - A CLIMATEFRIENDLY ALTERNATIVE TO FOSSIL FUELS

Thanks to the Arabian Gulf region’s abundance of inexpensive solar energy, green hydrogen is a market where GCC countries have an advantage over many others.

Many GCC countries’ national visions are aligned with the circular economy concept especially with regards to hydrogen production.

For the energy transition and climate protection, hydrogen (H2) is one of the key instruments to effectively reduce emissions from energy generation. In 2017 Qatar reconfigured its export market, switching 25% of exports from GCC member UAE to East Asia, including China, Singapore and South Korea. In doing so, it became the world’s fifth largest hydrogen exporter, with sales of more than US$520m by 2019.

Hydrogen is now being considered as an economic saviour for other GCC countries as the global energy market transforms following the Covid-19 pandemic and moves to decarbonise.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s second-biggest oil producer, has committed to hydrogen in a big way. In February 2020 Aramco, the kingdom’s energy giant, announced it would invest US$110bn in the biggest shale gas development outside the US to extract the potential fuel from the ground through fracking.

Riyadh is not going to follow the usual route and export the product as a liquefied natural gas (LNG), which would place it in direct competition with Qatar, the world’s largest LNG exporter. Instead Riyadh plans to use the extracted gas to produce hydrogen.

If produced in a climate-friendly way, hydrogen offers a compelling, sustainable, and efficient alternative to fossil energy sources such as coal, oil, and natural gas. The European Union, for example, intends to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.

Green and Blue Hydrogen: Climate-Neutral Fuel and Energy Store

Compared to fossil fuels, the carbon emissions of sustainably produced hydrogen are much lower. About 96% of the hydrogen produced around the globe is produced from natural gas, oil, and coal.

Not all hydrogen types come from zero-carbon production. Distinction is made between green, blue, turquoise, and gray hydrogen.

Green hydrogen is produced via electrolysis using renewable energies, while blue hydrogen is produced using the steam reforming method in which the CO2 is captured and stored. At the bottom line, the production of both types of hydrogen is carbon-neutral.

Hydrogen approved for use as fuel for MWM gas gensets

Besides the benefit of lower emissions, the use of hydrogen also affects the efficiency, initial investments, fuel and maintenance costs, and the material quality of the piston engines.

The properties of hydrogen give rise to a number of structural requirements which must be met and that are vital for products that support hydrogen.

For example, this includes a wide range of flammability (enables lean mixtures), high autoignition temperature (similar to methane), low ignition energy (risk of premature ignition and flashback), and potential material incompatibilities (embrittlement of the steel). The developers of the MWM gas engines have mastered these challenges through ongoing research.

MWM has extensive experience in the use of gas engines with hydrogen admixture. Through the deployment of various MWM products and technologies in customer projects, MWM has implemented trend-setting projects with a hydrogen content of up to 60%.

MWM gas engines are already capable of running with a hydrogen admixture of up to 10% without any technical modifications.

Higher hydrogen admixtures of up to 25 vol% are also possible with MWM gas engines; in this case, however, technical modification is required in order to ensure safety and best-possible performance and efficiency of the energy generation.

For customers who want to invest in new engines for continuous operation, base load supply, or peak load operation, MWM has introduced gas engines that can run on natural gas with a hydrogen admixture of up to 25%.

This applies to the TCG 3016, TCG 3020, and TCG 2032 series. For customers who want to upgrade their plants for the use of hydrogen, MWM offers retrofit kits for the gas engines of the TCG 3016, TCG 3020, and TCG 2032 series in order to enable a hydrogen admixture of up to 25%.

This offering facilitates the transition to plant operation with hydrogen admixture, thereby boosting operational efficiency and reducing emissions.

Benefits of the operation of MWM gas engines with hydrogen

•Climate-friendly, future-proof alternative to fossil fuels;

•Energy generation with reduced carbon emissions;

•Easier compliance with emission limits;

•Based on long-standing experience with various technologies;

•New engines and retrofit kits for MWM gas engines of the TCG 3016, TCG 3020, and TCG 2032 series available for hydrogen admixture of up to 25%;

•Hydrogen admixture of up to 10% already possible without any technical modifications;

•Sustainable, profitable operation of your plant with MWM engines and hydrogen;

Caterpillar Energy Solutions and its brand MWM are a member of the “Allianz Wasserstoffmotor e.V.” (Alliance Hydrogen Combustion Engine). As an ambassador, mediator and supporter of the hydrogen combustion engine technology initiative the alliance is committed to future climate-neutral mobility and the generation of sustainable electricity. www.mwm.net