If the latest university hydrogen research and development breakthroughs prove commercial, they may radically impact the way the gas is produced industrially.
Currently, there are not just one but three processes in the pipeline that could achieve this.
Scientists from the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology in Russia have proposed a method of extracting hydrogen from natural gas formations that shows “incredible” potential.
- University of Illinois, Chicago is working on a process that uses agricultural waste as feedstock.
- The RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS) in Japan reports a new method that reduces the amount of iridium needed to produce hydrogen from water by 95%, without altering the rate of hydrogen production.
- Scientists from the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology have proposed a method of extracting hydrogen from natural gas formations that shows “incredible” potential.
Natural gas to H2 downhole
In research funded by the Russian Science Research Council, a team of scientists at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology say they have come up with a promising alternative to steam reforming of methane, which is currently the main method of producing hydrogen.
The new method makes it possible to produce hydrogen downhole in four key stages.
First, water vapour and a catalyst are pumped into a candidate gas well, followed by air or pure oxygen, thanks to which natural gas is combusted right inside the formation.
During the combustion process, natural gas turns into a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen: carbon monoxide produces carbon dioxide, which remains inside the formation. Hydrogen is extracted from the well using a membrane that does not allow other reaction products to pass through.
As a result, all emerging gases except hydrogen, including carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, remain forever preserved underground, making it possible to minimise the carbon footprint.
The Global Energy Association reports that the new technology underwent testing in a reactor, which made it possible to recreate gas formation conditions, including pressure 80 times higher than atmospheric pressure.
The team loaded crushed rocks into the reactor and then used pumps to inject methane (the main component of natural gas), water vapour, catalyst and oxygen into the reactor.
An analysis of the gas composition in the reactor showed that a high amount of hydrogen – 45% of the total volume of gases – was formed at a temperature of 800 degrees Celsius with large volumes of water vapour supplied to the reactor (in a ratio of four-to-one to the volume of natural gas).
The yield of hydrogen during the experiment also depended on the composition of the rocks.
If aluminium oxide was used, which did not react with the substances surrounding it, hydrogen yield was at 55%.
In turn, the use of natural rocks saturated with chemically active minerals that entered into side reactions with the components of the gas mixture led to a lower hydrogen yield.
All stages of the proposed process are based on well-proven technologies that had not previously been adapted to extract hydrogen from a real gas formation.
Seventeen tests using custom-designed and manufactured reactors were carried out.
In their research paper, the team say: “Our findings suggest the incredible potential for underground hydrogen generation in natural gas reservoirs.
“This approach holds great promise as a leading candidate for the foreseeable future, benefiting from the synergy of the fossil fuel industry and an innovative hydrogen production technology.”
They point out: “All four stages of the proposed process rely on well-established and widely used technologies, indicating the potential for this process to emerge as a highly promising technology for hydrogen production in future.”
The next step is to run trials in a real gas reservoir.
H2 from muck
University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) engineers have helped design a new method to make hydrogen gas from water using only solar power and agricultural waste, such as manure or husks.
The method reduces the energy needed to extract hydrogen from water by 600%, creating new opportunities for sustainable, climate-friendly chemical production.
Hydrogen-based fuels are one of the most promising sources of clean energy. But producing hydrogen is an energy-intensive process.
In a paper for Cell Reports Physical Science, a multi-institutional team led by UIC engineer Meenesh Singh unveils the new process for green hydrogen production.
The method uses a carbon-rich substance called biochar to decrease the amount of electricity needed to convert water to hydrogen. By using renewable energy sources such as solar power or wind and capturing byproducts for other…
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