Muhaimin Iqbal
Author

Introducing Low Cost Green Hydrogen

Advanced Renewable

Tue , 12 Mar 2024 16:14 WIB

It could be that carbon-free energy is in sight, namely green hydrogen. The two main obstacles that have haunted hydrogen economy - can now be overcome. Green hydrogen production can be truly green and low cost - both in terms of production and logistics.

If so far the majority of hydrogen is still produced through expensive steam methane reforming (SMR), or water electrolysis, now it can be produced directly from charcoal. Through two reaction steps in the reactor which we call XH2 - Extra High Hydrogen, the charcoal pellets in the photo turn into hydrogen with a delivery rate that is much higher than other hydrogen carriers - see the comparison in the graph.

Hydrogen production in this way is also very energy efficient, apart from the heat energy that can be produced from sacrificing part of the carrier or charcoal itself, the energy requirements are also very low compared to, for example, the energy requirements for electrolyzing water into hydrogen and oxygen.

Of the two Water Gas and Water Gas Shift reactions that we use to produce hydrogen from charcoal, the total delta enthalpy for both is only +90 kJ/mol. If we just burn charcoal, this delta enthalpy reaches - 394 kJ/mol. This means that to produce the heat energy needed for this hydrogen production reaction to occur, we only need to sacrifice 90/394 parts of the charcoal, or 23% of the charcoal.

With the concept of autothermal, we can produce hydrogen from charcoal by sacrificing 23% of the charcoal as a heat energy source, while 77% of the charcoal will be processed into hydrogen. Apart from only needing 6 kWh to produce 1 kg of hydrogen, this 6 kWh is in the form of heat that can be produced by cheap heat sources.

With this process, hydrogen logistics, which is very expensive because it requires a pressure of 700 Bar or minus 253 degrees Celsius, can be avoided. The method is to only produce hydrogen in-situ and in-time, only where and when it is needed. It is where hydrogen is needed that we install the XH2 reactor mentioned above.

Those who need green hydrogen can already order this XH2 reactor and its charcoal feedstock supply as in the photo below. The XH2 reactor can be seen here : https://lnkd.in/g_SbVEvE