Hydrogen is the fuel of the future, safe for the environment
Anton Chernyshev, Director for the Europe and Central Asia Region of UGTR, speaking at the Ashgabat forum on environmental aspects of hydrocarbon production, spoke in his speech about various approaches to hydrogen production and the prospects of hydrogen energy.
– Now hydrogen is considered as an important fuel for the future energy transition and is widely used mainly in oil refining and the production of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers. However, due to its high cost compared to fossil fuels, it is less popular in energy production.
I note that hydrogen is increasingly being promoted as a "panacea" in solving the problem of climate change. In fact, it is. In industrial production, it can provide heat without forming greenhouse gases, since the calorific value of hydrogen (119.7 MJ/kg) is 3 times higher than that of other fuels.
In addition, hydrogen can be used as an energy storage device and at the same time reduce resource losses caused by instability of electricity from renewable sources - wind energy or photovoltaic energy. The production of such electricity will become more affordable.
And among the advantages of a modern energy carrier, I will name such qualities as fast refueling than cars with batteries, safety, compared to other types of commercial fuel, efficiency, competitiveness, besides, it is a clean fuel with zero greenhouse gas emissions.
There are different colors of hydrogen that are "mined" in different ways. Its vast majority, which is 96%, is formed from fossil fuels as a result of steam conversion of methane (SMR) of natural gas. The "product" obtained in this way is often called "gray hydrogen", and created by coal gasification – "brown hydrogen". There is also "blue hydrogen" – a mixture of gray or brown hydrogen with carbon dioxide capture and storage. But the "green" is formed during the electrolysis of water using solar energy. Currently, this type of hydrogen is priced more expensive and cannot compete with the more affordable "gray". But the situation is changing – the cost of renewable energy sources is rapidly decreasing, and electrolyzers are becoming more efficient and the price of "green" is gradually decreasing.
Today, in the age of high technology, thanks to innovations in the infrastructure of energy technologies, hydrogen is beginning to "master" new markets, betting on renewable energy. Here are a couple of examples where this fuel can be used: in decarbonizing heavy vehicles over long distances, or in heating infrastructure – heat supply to buildings.
Thus, scientific and industrial efforts should be focused on "green hydrogen", which can become the basis of a future economy based on electrification and other innovative technologies using renewable energy.
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