The hydrogen economy is growing in publicity with references occurring in technical journals and news reports, inboxes are overflowing with hydrogen related courses, press releases and events. Perhaps now is the time to look at what the benefits of a hydrogen economy could mean to the North East and how we as a region can seize the opportunity.

The hydrogen market is developed and established due to its use in ammonia and methanol production, as well as in the refining of crude oil. However, more recently, its use is transitioning as it becomes an energy vector too in areas such as transport, fossil fuel replacement and energy storage.

Furthermore, there is growing development of hydrogen’s potential in the domestic setting as well as its current industrial use. When most think of hydrogen one of their first thoughts is the 1937 Hindenburg disaster and yet, despite this, safety surrounding hydrogen has developed such that, less than 100 years later, plans are being drawn up to pipe it directly into homes as an alternative domestic fuel. So what improvements have been made in safety and how significant are the advantages that vastly outweigh this preconception?

Environment and safety

When hydrogen burns it produces water as opposed to conventional fossil fuels which produce CO 2 – the main cause of global warming. Hydrogen is therefore a good choice for replacing fossil fuels such as natural gas, diesel or petrol in applications where it is particularly hard to reduce CO 2 emissions by other means. Additionally, combustion does not generate particulates, which can be problem in urban locations or enclosed areas and is estimated to lead to approximately 29,000 deaths per year in the UK.

Energy system stability and optimisation

Hydrogen can be produced by the electrolysis of water and thus can assist with balancing supply and demand on the National Grid, this is especially important with the higher utilisation of renewable generation such as wind and solar resulting in supplies onto the grid being hard to predict and control compared to conventional generation.

By utilising surplus electricity to produce hydrogen the imbalance can be controlled, and a useful product obtained that can either then be used as hydrogen in transport or industrial processes for example. Alternatively, hydrogen can be stored and converted back into electricity when there is a shortfall by using fuel cells.

Compressed hydrogen has an energy density 4x that of Lithium Ion Batteries on a volume basis and 3x that of petrol on a mass basis making the use of hydrogen as an energy storage medium very attractive for both fixed energy storage systems and a replacement for petrol and diesel-powered vehicles.

Hydrogen use

The use of hydrogen poses several unique technical, social, financial and political challenges and work is ongoing to overcome and current progress is considered to be very positive.

The nature of the hydrogen molecule, being extremely small and its very fast flame speed, present a number of challenges which need to be considered in the design of hydrogen related equipment. Although these challenges are present with natural gas and petrol for example, mitigation measures have been built into existing engineering and operational controls.

The extremely small nature of the hydrogen molecule mean that leakage rates are much greater than other gases and hydrogen can actually dissolve into metals affecting their properties and leading to embrittlement if materials of construction are not carefully selected. Integrity of joints in hydrogen systems is critically important to ensure that leakage is controlled.

It must be remembered that the Chemical Industry is widely experienced at designing, operating and maintaining large scale complex systems containing dangerous and corrosive gases and has a good safety record – experience that is transferable to that required for the hydrogen economy in general.

The issues associated with utilising hydrogen in domestic equipment, such as cookers and hot water boilers, are currently being explored through several different studies examining both safety and practicality of the conversion of the existing natural gas distribution network to hydrogen.

The use of hydrogen in domestic equipment is likely to require changes to the design of burners that are optimised for natural gas and these changes may require the purchase of new equipment, installation of conversion kits. Indeed, in future, dual fuel equipment may be released on the market capable of firing either hydrogen or natural gas.

The situation with the use of hydrogen for transport is much further advanced with both hydrogen fuelled vehicles, trains and refuelling stations already available and operating in some areas. In this case the situation can be compared with the roll out of electric vehicles albeit due to the higher ranges and re-fuelling speeds currently seen on hydrogen vehicles the infrastructure requirements are likely to be less.

Hydrogen and the NEPIC region

Teesside already has 50 per cent of the UK’s total hydrogen production with BOC’s steam methane reformer, as well as distribution pipelines and salt caverns for transporting and storing large volumes of hydrogen. SABIC’s “Cracker” also produces hydrogen as by-product of the cracking of ethane and used internally in the process and as a fuel gas.

The region is also well provided with existing electrical generation with more schemes currently in planning, including several renewable and biomass plants, and the grid connection point for part of the Dogger Bank Wind Farm project allowing additional “green hydrogen” to be produced utilising electrolysis. Furthermore, the Carbon Capture network proposed by Teesside Collective has already examined and costed the installation and operation of Carbon Capture from BOC’s steam methane reformer.

The ambitious H21 Leeds City Gate project seeks to demonstrate the conversion of a large metropolitan area from natural gas to hydrogen and looks to produce this from four new 256MW steam methane reformers located in the Tees Valley – utilising salt caverns for storage and the proposed Teesside Collective CCS network to capture the carbon produced during manufacture.

In terms of transport and logistics, the region also makes a fantastic location for the development and roll-out of hydrogen powered vehicles given the existing hydrogen assets, supply chain, skills and knowledgebase that already exists.

Additionally, the manufacturing sector within the region generates in a high number of vehicle movements covering relatively high mileage per day but within a physically compact area. The region is already familiar with High Hazard COMAH sites and makes the provision of hydrogen refuelling facilities less problematic than if there was the need to install a much more geographically diverse network.

Work is already going on to examine and increase the efficiency of hydrogen production by fermentation of wastes and biomass thus adding further opportunities to produce green hydrogen. Again, the region has vast experience in biotechnology that can be harnessed to take advantage of this opportunity.

Conclusion

The growth of the Hydrogen Economy is increasing and will result in significant disruption to many existing markets ranging from automotive, domestic equipment, oil and gas and energy through to the process sector. This disruption also creates a number of opportunities and it is up to us as a region and sector to seize these and exploit our talents and resources to ensure we are at the forefront of the process and enjoy the commercial and environmental benefits rather than be left behind as our competitor’s race ahead.

The NEPIC region is ideally placed to take advantage of the benefits of the hydrogen economy due to the unique combination of existing assets, established supply chain, unrivalled R&D facilities and the skills and experience of the existing workforce. One thing is for certain, if the region does not firmly grasp the opportunity other regions will and we will miss out on the economic and energy security benefits associated with the Hydrogen Economy. Already other regions such as the North West are progressing plans to incorporate H2 and Carbon Capture and Storage in parallel with Germany, Japan and the US already active in developing substantial hydrogen powered transport systems.

Given the potential benefits to the region NEPIC is keen to see the North East process sector at the forefront of the hydrogen economy and will be looking to work with members to seek opportunities and help progress this vital technology. As part of this we will be engaging with key players to understand how we can help the region deliver the opportunities a hydrogen-based economy promises.

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