Hydrogen plays a critical role in the energy transition and in mitigating the effects of climate change. Clean hydrogen produced from renewable energy sources will be essential to decarbonizing hard-to-electrify industrial processes like steelmaking and chemicals processing. Hydrogen can also provide a zero-emissions fuel source when used in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
Clean Hydrogen Production
Why Clean Hydrogen?
In energy-intensive sectors of our economy where electrification isn’t practical—like heavy industry and heavy transportation—clean hydrogen molecules can provide a zero-emissions source of energy.
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What is hydrogen?
Hydrogen is the universe’s most basic element, with just one proton and one electron. It’s also the most abundant element in the universe, comprising 75% of all matter. It’s found chemically combined with other elements, such as water (which has two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom in every molecule of H₂O).
What is green hydrogen?
Green hydrogen—or hydrogen produced without emissions—is produced using renewable energy, like wind or solar power. The electricity generated using renewable energy can then be used to separate water molecules (H₂O) into hydrogen and oxygen gas (H₂ + O₂) in a process called electrolysis. Since the hydrogen is produced using renewable energy and the fuel produces no emissions, the hydrogen is considered a “green” energy.
What is blue hydrogen?
Blue hydrogen is hydrogen produced by conventional means—usually steam methane reforming, where natural gas or methane react with steam to produce hydrogen gas and carbon dioxide—but where the carbon dioxide byproduct is captured and permanently stored far below the earth’s surface. This process is called carbon capture for permanent sequestration. This reduces the emissions of the hydrogen generated by around 90%.
How can hydrogen help decarbonize industry?
In energy-intensive sectors of our economy like heavy industry, hydrogen is a practical, zero-emissions solution to provide power. Hydrogen will play a large role in decarbonizing a wide array of industries like steelmaking, chemicals processing, refining, electronics, power generation, and glass manufacturing. Hydrogen can be adopted as a 100% replacement for natural gas in the combustion process, or it can be introduced through on-site blending skids that can help incrementally begin the path to decarbonization.
How can hydrogen help decarbonize transportation?
In applications where vehicle weight is very large or the range needed is long, hydrogen becomes a more efficient option than battery electric power. Hydrogen can power a vehicle using a fuel cell. Since the only emission of hydrogen-powered engines is water, replacing fossil-fuel-burning vehicles with hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will lead to a decrease in air pollutants, including carbon dioxide and particulate matter.
What is Air Products' role in producing clean hydrogen?
To quickly scale clean hydrogen production to decarbonize heavy industry and heavy transportation and to support meeting the world’s 2050 net-zero goal, Air Products is building several of the largest low- and zero-carbon hydrogen plants in the world.
Abundant Clean Hydrogen Energy Supply
Renewable energy facility in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will be the world’s largest green-hydrogen-based ammonia production facility.
Air Products’ net-zero hydrogen energy complex will produce clean hydrogen in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Air Products’ clean energy complex in Eastern Louisiana will produce both blue hydrogen and blue ammonia.
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