Grey versus green versus blue hydrogen

Some of you might have come across various colours of hydrogen: grey, blue, green, white, purple etc., but let’s not focus on these for the moment, but rather on “grey hydrogen,” “green hydrogen” and “blue hydrogen.” “Grey hydrogen” (95 per cent of the global hydrogen production) is produced through the steam methane reforming (SMR) process by using fossil fuels (e.g., natural gas and coal). This is a highly polluting process. This CO2 can be captured and sequestered underground by using carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies to produce “blue hydrogen.” In the case of “green hydrogen," it is a hydrogen produced through the electrolysis of water in an electrolyzer, powered by renewable electricity, the so-called “green electron," for example, wind, solar, hydro, thermal, etc., (less than one per cent of the global hydrogen production). In that case, the full life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of the production of “green hydrogen” are close to zero. Some recent market reports indicate that between 400-550 million tonnes of hydrogen will be produced by electrolysis, requiring 3,000-4,000GW of electrolyzers and 4,500-6,500GW of renewables capacity dedicated to hydrogen production. Also note that “green hydrogen” may also be produced through gasification, the reforming of biogas (instead of natural gas) or biochemical/bioelectrochemical conversion of biomass (and biowaste), if in compliance with sustainability requirements. Overall, it is estimated that hydrogen will enable US$2.5-trillion in annual sales and create 30 million jobs globally. Since 2020, over 20 countries (representing 75 per cent of the global GDP) have recently adopted a hydrogen strategy or are about to do so, and in late 2021, over 20 large hydrogen-producing projects were announced worldwide, representing a total of 150-200GW. Blue and green hydrogen in Canada Canada is endowed with vast territories, abundance of water, mineral resources, biomass, hydropower (fourth largest in the world), etc., and natural gas and oil of course. It is also home of one of the largest nuclear plants in the world. These are perfect ‘ingredients’ for building a strong hydrogen value chain, from minerals extraction to low-carbon hydrogen production, distribution, and utilization. Moreover, Canada is already very well placed as it is one of the top ten largest hydrogen producers in the world and a leading producer of hydrogen fuel cells (especially in British Columbia), it is certain that Canada will benefit from growing global demand for hydrogen. Similarly to Norway, Canada will be a large producer of both “green” and “blue” hydrogen that will be used in various sectors as a feedstock and fuel in industry, in fuel cell vehicles for transportation, for storage or grid balancing for electricity, and as a fuel for buildings and communities. Any surplus will be exported to countries like Germany (who will depend on hydrogen imports to power its economy). Like in other regions of the world, to reach net zero carbon by 2050, the primarily focus is on targeted industries and sectors difficult to decarbonize, the so called "hard-to-decarbonize" sectors (or “hard-to-electrify”), especially the energy-intensive industries like iron, steel, mineral and chemical processing, commodity chemicals, fertilizer, heavy duty transportation—freight trucking, shipping and aviation. However, there is a great need for more investment at federal provincial, and industrial levels (multi-billion CAN$), for constructing a clean hydrogen infrastructure as well as actioning for implementation of the Canadian Hydrogen Strategy. It is important to scale up or, in other words, to think big and implement quickly. Like in the EU, large R&D funding, including infrastructure across the hydrogen value chain, is urgently needed to validate the technology and generate innovation, IP, and new industries (entrepreneurship) as well as training the next generation of hydrogen scientists and technologists. Additionally, Canada needs to strategically create and implement these so-called “Hydrogen Valleys” (like in Europe) or “Hydrogen Hubs” to cluster several industrial and government-funded initiatives to carry out industrial small- to large-pilot projects, technology demonstrations, across the complete hydrogen value chain that is, from production, transport, distribution, and end use with storage. These hubs would also attract light and heavy-duty transportation manufacturers, power-to-gas manufacturers, to name but a few. The country also needs to see more of these “net-zero hydrogen energy facilities” like the one in Edmonton (CAD$1.3-million), that will operate competitive and low-carbon hydrogen network. Bruno G. Pollet is a professor of chemistry at the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières. He has recently been awarded a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Green Hydrogen Production with a strong focus on the next generation of electrolyzers and other low-carbon hydrogen-generating technologies. The Hill Times