Applications & Pathways

The Swedish steel industry stands before a potential transition to drastically lower its CO₂ emissions using direct hydrogen reduction instead of continuing with coke-based blast furnaces. Previous studies have identified hydrogen direct reduction as a promising option. We build upon earlier efforts by performing a technological innovation system study to systematically examine the barriers to a transition to hydrogen direct reduction and by providing deepened quantitative empirics to support the analysis. We also add extended paper and patent analysis methodology which is particularly useful for identifying actors and their interactions in a technological system. We conclude that while the innovation system is currently focused on such a transition notable barriers remain particularly in coordination of the surrounding technical infrastructure and the issue of maintaining legitimacy for such a transition in the likely event that policies to address cost pressures will be required to support this development.

As fossil fuels continue to be extracted and used issues such as environmental pollution and energy scarcity are surfacing. For the transportation industry the best way to achieve the goal of “carbon neutrality” is to research efficient power systems and develop new alternative fuels. As the world’s largest product of chemicals ammonia is a new renewable fuel with good combustion energy. It can be used as an alternative fuel to reduce carbon emissions because of its proven production process low production and transportation costs safe storage the absence of carbon-containing compounds in its emissions and its future recyclability. This paper firstly introduces the characteristics of ammonia fuel engine and its problems; then it summarizes the effects of various ammonia-blended fuels on the combustion and emission characteristics of the engine from the combustion problem of ammonia-blended engine; then the fuel storage of ammonia-blended hydrogen is discussed the feasibility of hydrogen production instead of hydrogen storage is introduced.

During 2020 the Scottish Government in partnership with Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Scottish Enterprise commissioned Arup and E4Tech to carry out a hydrogen assessment to deepen our evidence base in order to inform our policies on hydrogen going forward. The assessment aims to investigate how and where hydrogen may fit within the evolving energy system technically geographically and economically. To assist in this consideration a key part of the Hydrogen Assessment is the development of distinct viable scenarios for hydrogen deployment in Scotland and the economic assessment of those scenarios.<br/>From our assessment it is clear that hydrogen is not just an energy and emissions reduction opportunity; it could also have an important role in generating new economic opportunities in Scotland. The assessment forms an important part of the evidence base that informed the development of the Hydrogen Policy Statement.

Initial assessment of Scotland’s opportunity to produce green hydrogen from offshore wind

Summary of Key Findings

• Scotland has an abundant offshore wind resource that has the potential to be a vital component in our net zero transition. If used to produce green hydrogen offshore wind can help abate the emissions of historically challenging sectors such as heating transport and industry.
• The production of green hydrogen from offshore wind can help overcome Scotland’s grid constraints and unlock a massive clean power generation resource creating a clean fuel for Scottish industry and households and a highly valuable commodity to supply rapidly growing UK and European markets.
• The primary export markets for Scottish green hydrogen are expected to be in Northern Europe (Germany Netherlands & Belgium). Strong competition to supply these markets is expected to come from green hydrogen produced from solar energy in Southern Europe and North Africa.
• Falling wind and electrolyser costs will enable green hydrogen production to be cost-competitive in the key transport and heat sectors by 2032. Strategic investment in hydrogen transportation and storage is essential to unlocking the economic opportunity for Scotland.
• Xodus’ analysis supports a long-term outlook of LCoH falling towards £2/kg with an estimated reference cost of £2.3 /kg in 2032 for hydrogen delivered to shore.
• Scotland has extensive port and pipeline infrastructure that can be repurposed for hydrogen export to the rest of UK and to Europe. Pipelines from the ‘90s are optimal for this purpose as they are likely to retain acceptable mechanical integrity and have a metallurgy better suited to hydrogen service. A more detailed assessment of export options should be performed to provide a firm foundation for early commercial green hydrogen projects.
• There is considerable hydrogen supply chain overlap with elements of parallel sectors most notably the oil and gas offshore wind and subsea engineering sectors. Scotland already has a mature hydrocarbon supply chain which is engaged in supporting green hydrogen. However a steady pipeline of early projects supported by a clear financeable route to market will be needed to secure this supply chain capability through to widescale commercial deployment.
• There are gaps in the Scottish supply chain in the areas of design manufacture and maintenance of hydrogen production storage and transportation systems. Support including apprenticeships will be needed to develop indigenous skills and capabilities in these areas.
• The development of green hydrogen from offshore wind has the potential to create high value jobs a significant proportion which are likely to be in remote rural/coastal communities located close to offshore wind resources. These can serve as an avenue for workers to redeploy and develop skills learned from oil and gas in line with Just Transition principles.

This study compares the cost of several low-greenhouse gas (GHG) or GHG-neutral residential heating technologies in the year 2050: (1) hydrogen boilers (2) hydrogen fuel cells with an auxiliary hydrogen boiler for cold spells (3) air-source heat pumps using renewable electricity and (4) heat pumps with an auxiliary hydrogen boiler for cold spells. The assessment includes low-carbon hydrogen from steam-methane reforming (SMR) using natural gas combined with carbon capture and storage (CCS) or SMR + CCS and zero-carbon hydrogen produced from renewable electricity using electrolysis.

The analysis finds that air-source heat pumps are the most cost-effective residential heating technology in 2050 and are at least 50% lower cost than the hydrogen-only technologies. In a sensitivity analysis we find that even if natural gas costs were 50% lower or renewable electricity prices were 50% higher in 2050 compared to our central assumptions heat pumps would still be more cost-effective than hydrogen boilers or fuel cells. Renewable electrolysis hydrogen can be cost-competitive with SMR + CCS hydrogen in 2050 although electrolysis hydrogen is not produced at scale today. At the same time energy efficiency measures to reduce heat demand would be a more cost-effective strategy for achieving GHG reductions than any of the low-GHG heating pathways we assess in this study.

The analysis shows that all pathways using renewable electricity have a near-zero GHG intensity while SMR + CCS hydrogen could reduce GHG emissions by 69%–93% compared to natural gas if improvements are made in the future to reduce the GHG intensity of this pathway. Quantifying the GHG impact and cost effectiveness of various heating pathways is relevant for European policymakers facing decisions on how to both decarbonize buildings and alleviate energy poverty in line with commitments made in the Renovation Wave Initiative.

The document can be downloaded from the ICCT website

The medium- and heavy-duty (MD/HD) vehicle sector is a large emitter of greenhouse gases. It will require drastic emissions reductions to realize a net-zero carbon future. This study conducts fourteen short feasibility investigations in the Canadian context to evaluate the merits of battery electric or hydrogen fuel cell alternatives to conventional city buses inter-city buses school buses courier vehicles (step vans) refuse trucks long-haul trucks and construction vehicles. These “clean transportation alternatives” were evaluated for practicality economics and emission reductions in comparison to their conventional counterparts. Conclusions were drawn on which use cases would be best suited for accelerating the transformation of the MD/HD sector.

There is a huge quantity of energy needs/demands for multiple developmental and domestic activities in the modern era. And in this context consumption of more non-renewable energy is reported and created many problems or issues (availability of fossil fuel stocks in the future period causes a huge quantity of toxic gases or particles or climatic change effects) at the global level. And only sustainable or renewable fuel development can provide alternate fuel and we report from various biological agents processes including microbial biofuel cell applications for future energy needs only. These will not cause any interference in natural resources or services. Microbial biofuel cells utilize the living cell to produce bioelectricity via bioelectrochemical system. It can drive electricity or other energy generation currents via lived cell interaction. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) and enzymatic biofuel cells with their advancement in design can improve sustainable bio-energy production by proving an efficient conversion system compared to chemical fuels into electric power. Different types of MFCs operation are reported in wastewater treatment with biogas biohydrogen and other biofuel/energy generation. Later biogas can convert into electric power. Hybrid microbial biofuel cell utility with photochemical reaction is found for electricity generation. Recent research and development in microbial biofuel design and its application will emphasize bioenergy for the future.

A rapid transition towards a CO2-neutral steel industry is required to limit climate change. Such a transition raises questions of justice as it entails positive and negative impacts unevenly distributed across societal stakeholders. To enable stakeholders to address such concerns this paper assesses the justice implications of three options that reduce emissions: CO2 capture and storage (CCS) on steel (up to 70%) bio-based steelmaking (up to 50%) and green hydrogen-based steel production (up to 100%). We select justice indicators from the energy climate labour and environmental justice literature and assess these indicators qualitatively for each of the technological routes based on literature and desk research. We find context-dependent differences in justness between the different technological routes. The impact on stakeholders varies across regions. There are justice concerns for local communities because of economic dependence on and environmental impact of the industry. Communities elsewhere are impacted through the siting of infrastructure and feedstock production. CCS and bio-based steelmaking routes can help retain industry and associated economic benefits on location while hydrogen-based steelmaking may deal better with environmental concerns. We conclude that besides techno-economic and environmental information transparency on sector-specific justice implications of transforming steel industries is essential for decision-making on technological routes

Decarbonizing the current steel and power sectors through the development of the hydrogen direct-reduction iron ore–electric arc furnace route and the 100% hydrogen-fired gas turbine cycle is crucial. The current study focuses on three clusters of research works. The first cluster covers the investigation of the mass and energy balance of the route and the subsequent application of these values in experiments to optimize the reduction yield of iron ore. In the second cluster the existing gas turbine unit was selected for the complete replacement of natural gas with hydrogen and for finding the most optimal mass and energy balance in the cycle through an Aspen HYSYS model. In addition the chemical kinetics in the hydrogen combustion process were simulated using Ansys Chemkin Pro to research the emissions. In the last cluster a comparative economic analysis was conducted to identify the levelized cost of production of the route and the levelized cost of electricity of the cycle. The findings in the economic analysis provided good insight into the details of the capital and operational expenditures of each industrial sector in understanding the impact of each kg of hydrogen consumed in the plants. These findings provide a good basis for future research on reducing the cost of hydrogen-based steel and power sectors. Moreover the outcomes of this study can also assist ongoing large-scale hydrogen and ammonia projects in Uzbekistan in terms of designing novel hydrogen-based industries with cost-effective solutions.

Metal fuels as recyclable carriers of clean energy are promising alternatives to fossil fuels in a future low-carbon economy. Fossil fuels are a convenient and widely-available source of stored solar energy that have enabled our modern society; however fossil-fuel production cannot perpetually keep up with increasing energy demand while carbon dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel combustion cause climate change. Low-carbon energy carriers with high energy density are needed to replace the multiple indispensable roles of fossil fuels including for electrical and thermal power generation for powering transportation fleets and for global energy trade. Metals have high energy densities and metals are therefore fuels within many batteries energetic materials and propellants. Metal fuels can be burned with air or reacted with water to release their chemical energy at a range of power-generation scales. The metal-oxide combustion products are solids that can be captured and then be recycled using zero-carbon electrolysis processes powered by clean energy enabling metals to be used as recyclable zero-carbon solar fuels or electrofuels. A key technological barrier to the increased use of metal fuels is the current lack of clean and efficient combustor/reactor/engine technologies to convert the chemical energy in metal fuels into motive or electrical power (energy). This paper overviews the concept of low-carbon metal fuels and summarizes the current state of our knowledge regarding the reaction of metal fuels with water to produce hot hydrogen on demand and the combustion of metal fuels with air in laminar and turbulent flames. Many important questions regarding metal-fuel combustion processes remain unanswered as do questions concerning the energy-cycle efficiency and life-cycle environmental impacts and economics of metals as recyclable fuels. Metal fuels can be an important technology option within a future low-carbon society and deserve focused attention to address these open questions.