New potential source for Green hydrogen
Most hydrogen is currently produced at refineries. I believe this hydrogen costs significantly less than green hydrogen produced by the electrolysis of water. Electrolysis of water would also consume significant green electricity which already has many demands.
Unfortunately, because of the highlevel of greenhouse gases that refineries produce, we cannot continue to keep refineries operating just to get enough hydrogen.
Natural gas is methane, CH4. Methane with one carbon molecule (C) producing heat and emissions, and four hydrogen molecules (H), should be the ideal carbon fuel for producing hydrogen.
If we can produce hydrogen by refining oil, we can produce hydrogen by “refining” natural gas at commercial natural gas plants. Producing hydrogen at a natural gas plant would allow the relatively small amount of carbon released to be permanently removed by direct carbon capture. Methane (natural gas) is also one of the products produced at refineries. Hydrogen produced at refineries is produced by steammethane reforming. The reaction is brought about by a catalyst, which is a reaction promoting material, in a reformer vessel with a high-pressure mixture of methane and steam. This reaction requires a large amount of heat.
The identical process would be used to produce hydrogen at a natural gas plant. I assume the heat would be produced by burning methane and recycling the heat through a heat exchanger to minimize the required combustion. Carbon dioxide would be carbon captured into the existing natural gas strata. The costs of these elaborate facilities do not scale down well, so if added to an existing gas plant, it should be added to a world scale gas plant such as Shell Caroline west of Red Deer. In a world moving to carbon neutral, addition to an existing plant should be preferred.
Maintaining the operation of an existing natural gas plant would result in another benefit. The current known non-steel container for hydrogen is known as ‘pet plastic’. In addition to methane, ethylene is also produced at commercial natural gas plants. Ethylene is used to produce plastics and would address the significant concern about the loss of plastics if oil and gas production is terminated. The Shell Caroline plant sends ethylene to the ethylene processing plant at Joffre, Alberta. Again, carbon emissions at the ethylene processing plant could be directly captured and a strong and robust plastic recycling plan would help to reduce the need for the production of new plastics.
A process engineer could provide quick advice on the best approach, and confirm both the hydrogen production and plastic production processes are practical. I would suggest talking directly to the process engineering manager with Jacobs Engineering Group in Calgary. Jacobs engineered the Shell natural gas plant at Caroline and has been involved in design of refinery systems.
If requested, they could also give an estimated cost of hydrogen per kilogram if it is produced on an industrial scale at an existing natural gas plant. I assume the cost of producing hydrogen at a natural gas plant would be similar to the current cost of refinery hydrogen, with the added costs of carbon capture.
Process engineering could also recommend adding cogeneration with carbon capture to make efficient use of the steam methane reforming heat. This would also provide green power for carbon capture and continued existing plant power.
Process engineering can likely provide sufficient information to allow at least initial decisions on hydrogen production.
In 1889, In 1902,
In 1907, Fort William and Port Arthur, Ont., were incorporated as cities. They merged to become Thunder Bay in 1970.
In 1910, Parliament passed a bill setting up the Canadian Navy. The bill was given Royal Assent on May 4.
In 1945, during the Second World War, allied forces took control of the German cities of Nuremberg and Stuttgart.