Innovative Solutions to Decarbonize Hydrogen Production

Abstract

The Energy Transition mandates durable long-term solutions for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by addressing future energy needs in terms of generation, storage and utilization. Hydrogen is essential to low-carbon energy solutions, particularly in the "difficult-to-decarbonize" segment of energy markets. Deeply decarbonized, cost-effective hydrogen production solutions are already accessible at industrial scale, for both new plants and for retrofits. For newly built plants we easily arrive at deeply reduced carbon footprints, and KPI's comparable to the most competitive green solutions. Retrofitting existing hydrogen plants to "blue plants" is not only feasible, but is a particularly cost-effective carbon reduction measure. This paper addresses carbon intensity of various hydrogen production routes: ranging from traditional grey hydrogen (itself with proven options for carbon mitigation) through blue hydrogen with various schemes and capture depths, as well as green hydrogen (generally by electrolysis).