HANNIBAL (Ohio aEUR) A big blue building with pipes running in and out could be part the country’s transition towards cleaner energy. It is located on an industrial site near the Ohio River. Its owners hope so.
The plant houses a gas-fired power station that can generate enough electricity to power almost 400,000 homes. Long Ridge Energy, which operates the plant has been experimenting with blending hydrogen in small amounts with natural gas.
Bo Wholey, CEO, says that the market has changed significantly over the past couple of years. “We are responding to the market’s needs.”
The market is looking for energy that doesn’t cause carbon pollution. Wholey believes hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe could be the solution.
Hydrogen’s main byproduct when it’s used for fueling a car or power station is water aEUR”, not climate-warming CO2. For decades, scientists and policymakers have struggled to find a reliable and affordable source of hydrogen.
Wholey hopes that the plant will be able to run entirely on hydrogen one day. This goal might be easier to achieve after Congress passed and President Biden signed last year a major infrastructure bill. The $8 billion includes funds for at least four hydrogen hubs that will produce, store, and use the combustible fuel. Several groups across the country are looking to locate hubs, one of which is in the Ohio River Valley.
Wholey states, “That’s definitely something we’re going be looking at, just like we think about making running on hydrogen more economically.”
When you mention hydrogen, many people will recall the 1937 Hindenburg catastrophe, in which a hydrogen-filled airship burst, though there are still questions as to whether the flammable gas caused the explosion. Climate scientists today see hydrogen as a clean alternative to fossil fuels in heavy industries.
Paulina Jaramillo is a Carnegie Mellon University professor of engineering, public policy and co-author of the U.N. report on Climate Change. She believes hydrogen can be an alternative to steel mills, fertilizer plants, and shipping.
The largest bill for infrastructure is part of a long list of efforts to encourage hydrogen technology in the U.S. that the federal government has tried to support since George W. Bush’s time.
The problem with hydrogen is the big one. There are many ways to make hydrogen. Each one has its own color-coded name. Gray hydrogen is produced by heating natural gas. This is the most common form of hydrogen today. This produces a lot of carbon dioxide, which is the main driver of climate change. The United Nations calls it a “threat (to) human well-being, and (the), health of the planet.” Big oil and gas companies are pushing blue hydrogen as a low-carbon energy source. Blue hydrogen is where the CO2 is stored underground.
The infrastructure bill requires four hubs for hydrogen “clean”, including one for blue hydrogen and one for green hydrogen. This is the process by which hydrogen is extracted from water using electrolysis. It emits no carbon dioxide. A second hub will make pink hydrogen using electrolysis powered with nuclear energy.
Jaramillo believes green hydrogen is “the best,” but blue hydrogen can still help the world reach its climate goals if it uses carbon capture & sequestration (CCS).
Jaramillo says, “If we want to make hydrogen with natural gas it must have CCS.”
Blue hydrogen can capture up to 90% CO2 and is dependent on natural gas systems. However, it also leaks methane which is a potent greenhouse gas. Scientists are now questioning the benefits of blue hydrogen for climate change.
Julie McNamara is the deputy policy director for energy and climate at the Union of Concerned Scientists. She wants stronger methane safeguards in federal funding for blue hydrogen.
McNamara says, “It’s one the most important things you can get right, because $8 billion is being invested by the government to catalyze an industrial sector that might not even be clean at all if this doesn’t go right.”
Some scientists believe it is worth investigating, even if there are still questions about blue hydrogen.
Goetz Veser is a professor of chemical and engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. “For the immediate future, aEUR”, the next 10, 20, years aEUR,” making hydrogen from fossil resources in an efficient manner might still be the fastest way to reduce our carbon footprint,” he says. Veser studies hydrogen production and uses, as well as ways to capture carbon dioxide.
Veser believes that blue hydrogen has one advantage: it is based on technology that is decades old.
Bridget van Dorsten from the Wood Mackenzie energy research consulting says that another advantage is the political power of the fossil fuel industry in the United States. According to her, this makes blue hydrogen more likely than green hydrogen.
“Do you think a natural gas industry would be more open to a plan that says, “Hey, we’re totally going to get rid of all your infrastructure?” van Dorsten asks.
Or do you think they would prefer to hear, “Hey, you know, that investment you made in all that infrastructure, you have the right to keep it. Carbon capture will cost more. She says they would be interested in it because she believes so.
Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), is a key supporter of blue hydrogen. Although he blocked Biden’s climate agenda last years, he said that if a bill with clean energy tax credits was passed, a smaller one would be acceptable, which would include one for hydrogen. Manchin has also made it clear that he would like one of the hydrogen hubs to be built in West Virginia.