Transitioning to Hydrogen - Assessing the Engineering Risks and Uncertainties

Transitioning to Hydrogen, a joint report from five engineering organisations, focuses on the engineering challenges of replacing natural gas in the gas distribution network with hydrogen in order to reduce emissions. The production of this report is timely, following the commitment from Government this week to legislate for net zero emissions by 2050. It is expected that hydrogen will play a big part in the reduction of emissions from the heating, transport and industrial sectors.

The report concludes that there is no reason why repurposing the gas network to hydrogen cannot be achieved, but there are some engineering risks and uncertainties that need to be addressed. In the development of the report many questions were posed and members of IMechE, IChemE, IET and IGEM were surveyed to better understand the challenges faced by the hydrogen production and gas industries planning to undertake this ambitious transition. Further information was obtained from the Health and Safety Laboratories.

The report also highlights 20 ongoing projects in the UK that are looking at various aspects of hydrogen production, distribution and use.