Hydrogen and energy

A South Australian wind farm Photo taken by my drone, 2016/08/14 Hydrogen production While hydrogen is by far the most common element in the Universe it does not occur in its free form above or under the surface of the Earth in useful deposits. However it is plentiful in petroleum, and most importantly as far as sustainability is concerned, in water. In petroleum hydrogen is combined with carbon and in water it is combined with oxygen. How do we get free, uncombined, hydrogen? There are four main sources for the commercial production of hydrogen: natural gas, oil, coal, and electrolysis; which account for 48%, 30% 18% and 4% of the world’s hydrogen production respectively (Wikipedia). The first three methods are of no use if we are to achieve the zero carbon economy that we must have if we are to not irreparably damage the planet because they all involved burning fossil fuels and releasing carbon dioxide. Electrolysis, which uses electricity to break hydrogen away from oxygen in water can be powered sustainably by renewable energy.

Mugga Lane solar farm, Canberra, ACT, Australia Photo taken by my drone, 2016/11/07 What's wrong with using gas, oil or coal to produce hydrogen? If gas is used to produce hydrogen, for every tonne of hydrogen 9 to 12 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) are also produced (Wikipedia). If oil is used, even more CO2 is produced, and coal is far worse again. Gas and oil contain substantial amounts of hydrogen, coal contains very little. When coal is used to produce hydrogen it serves only as a source of the energy needed to break the water molecules into free hydrogen and oxygen atoms. This results in huge amounts of CO2 being released; for example, in a pilot plant for using brown coal to produce hydrogen to be built in Australia, 160 tonnes of coal will be used to produce three tonnes of hydrogen, along the way releasing 450 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere; that is 150 tonnes of CO2 for every tonne of hydrogen. A process called carbon capture and storage can theoretically be used to catch the CO2 and put it in underground reservoirs where it will stay for many years. However, this process is so expensive that it is rarely used. Worldwide the production of hydrogen is a major industry. Chris Goodall states in Carbon Commentary that 1% of the world's greenhouse gases come from the production of hydrogen. There is every reason to believe that hydrogen production and use will increase greatly in years to come so making that production sustainable is very important.

Electrolytic production of hydrogen   Sundrop Farms – the solar power installation Sundrop Farm is a huge greenhouse development near Port Augusta in South Australia, powered by solar including the desalination of the water required. Photo taken by my drone, 2016/03/14 French company Neoen is intending to build the Crystal Brook Energy Park (CBEP) in northern South Australia. The CBEP will include a wind farm, solar farm, big battery and an electrolytic hydrogen plant aimed at producing 20 tonnes of hydrogen per day. Garth Heron of Neoen has said: "At CB we are aiming to be competitive with Australian based steam methane reformation economics for hydrogen production." Home Top Index I believe that most Australian steam methane reformation would use natural gas; that is, mainly methane. There is another renewably powered electrolytic hydrogen production plant planned for Port Lincoln, also in South Australia. It has been reported that the Port Lincoln facility will produce ten tonnes of hydrogen per day. It is worth noting that photo-voltaic solar with electrolytic hydrogen production could compete with solar thermal power with storage.