The photo is sourced from Shawn Hempel/Shutterstock.com
The development is designed for creation of an alternative to two most common methods of hydrogen production – steam methane reforming, which is associated with 9 kg emissions of carbon dioxide per 1 kg of H2, and water electrolysis, the specific cost of which (50 kWh per 1 kg of hydrogen) is one and a half times higher than the energy capacity of the final product (33 kWh per 1 kg). The new method actually allows separation of hydrocarbons into two basic components (hydrogen and carbon) by providing compactness of the production facilities. A thermal plasma electrolysis unit occupies the area of a conventional cargo container, which can be placed in close proximity to the place of hydrogen consumption. The advantage of the technology is the already mentioned production of carbon as a by-product, which can be used in production of tires, rubbers and building materials.
The new technology will find its first industrial application at a 49 MW gas-fired power plant in Lincolnshire where hydrogen will be used for electricity generation from Q3 2023. Initially, the H2 share in the structure of the gas mixture will be only 3% but over time it will increase to 20%. This will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in terms of the specific volume of which gas fired power plants (490 g per 1 kWh of generation) are more than 40 times more than of nuclear reactors (12 g per 1 kWh according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change).
If successfully commercialised, the innovation will make an important contribution to the development of new methods for hydrogen production. One of such methods is production of H2 with use of porous silicon (Si+), which was proposed by EPRO Advance Technology: Si+ not only generates hydrogen when it comes into contact with water, but also can be stored in the most common plastic packaging, which can solve the problem of expensive transportation of H2.
