Blue hydrogen can be a source of green energy in the period of decarbonization

Abstract

The most troublesome problems in making blue hydrogen are fugitive emissions of methane in extraction, transportation, and in converting methane to hydrogen by the SMR-WGS-PSA that needs burning methane to provide endothermic heat. The solution is to generate blue hydrogen on the extraction site and use a part of the hydrogen to make electricity on site by a hydrogen fuel cell that also provides steam and heat and eliminates H2 burning. CO2 emissions are sequestered by pushing the gas into geological formations from which fossil gas was extracted. Another alternative is to use a half of the produced H2 to make ammonia on-site by the Haber- Bosh process along with the electricity by the hydrogen fuel cell that also provides concentrated nitrogen from air used to oxidize hydrogen. Turquoise hydrogen conversion wherein high heat or plasma converts methane to COx free hydrogen is promising and produces valuable solid carbon and graphene byproducts.