Russia looks to hydrogen to make gas greener for Europe

RUSSIA is looking at how to develop a market for hydrogen in Europe, a move that would help maintain demand for one of its primary exports as governments everywhere work to cut pollution.

Gazprom, the Russian company that’s the dominant exporter of natural gas into Europe, is exploring ways to produce emissions-free hydrogen from its fuel and create a 153 billion- euro ( RM717 billion) a year market by 2050, according to a presentation executives from the company made in Brussels last month. That would be bigger than the US$ 110 billion value of Europe’s existing natural gas supply last year.

The effort would bring Russia in step with the government of Japan, oil major Royal Dutch Shell and a handful of companies that are promoting fuel cells and hydrogen as an alternative to electricity generation and transportation fed by fossil fuels. With Europe working to make dramatic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, Russia is looking for ways to make its gas green enough to remain part of the energy mix. Hydrogen is an option because it can be made from natural gas without generating additional emissions.

“It would not do the entire job but a large part of it,” Michael Faltenbacher, a principal consultant at Germany’s Thinkstep , which carried out a study for Gazprom, said at the presentation at Gazprom’s offices in Brussels. “We are looking at a major CO2 reduction potential which will come at a financial cost. There is definitely investments related to that but also opportunities for industry and economy.”

Natural gas already is the main raw material used to make hydrogen commercially, and some of the lighter gas is already blended in a small proportion into Europe’s gas pipeline network. What Gazprom is envisioning is gradually boosting the share of hydrogen in those pipelines and then turning its natural gas into hydrogen through green processes that don’t exacerbate global warming.

While several technologies to produce hydrogen including water electrolysis are being developed, Gazprom is investigating one process known as thermal methane pyrolysis. This reaction takes place in a low-temperature, nonequilibrium plasma that’s put under high pressure in a small reactor. The company is trialing the technology in the Siberian town of Tomsk.

With no contact with oxygen, no CO2 is emitted when hydrogen atoms are split off from natural gas. That process makes a stream of pure hydrogen, with carbon dropping out as a solid instead of escaping into the air as CO2. That solid carbon can be used in industries. If wind or solar farms are used to generate energy needed for that process, zero emissions would be used in manufacturing the hydrogen.

“Gas companies are scared and worried as renewable costs are falling, electricity heating is expanding, and European nations are adopting very strong hydrogen policies, potentially making the entire gas infrastructure redundant,” said Claire Curry, an analyst at Bloomberg NEF in New York. “It sounds interesting if they can capture carbon cheaply, but there are challenges. It is unclear if people will want hydrogen in their homes, and that also wouldn’t help Europe become energy independent.”

Gazprom’s vision is to introduce an emissions-free form of hydrogen into its business over the next few decades. That would help Europe to reduce emissions by 62 per cent by 2050, a big chunk of the bloc’s commitment to slash pollution 80 per cent by that year from 1990 levels. Gazprom is offering three stages, as outlined below.

The first stage in the Gazprom programme, already being promoted, envisages switching power plants and vehicles to gas from coal and gasoline, respectively. The next stage would involve building up hydrogen in a mix with natural gas.

Current blend limit of hydrogen into gas grids varies from zero in the UK to 12 per cent in the Netherlands, according to Thinkstep. A mix with as much as 20 per cent of hydrogen could be used on the majority of applications, without challenges or infrastructure changes, according to Gazprom.

A ratio of over 25 per cent of hydrogen used in the pipeline networks can lead to lower crack resistance in steel pipes and increases over 30 per cent may require adaptation of turbines and compressors, according to Thinkstep.

“Pipelines and regulations would have to be changed to allow a higher ratio of hydrogen used in the system,” Bloomberg NEF’s Curry said. — WPBloomberg

It would not do the entire job but a large part of it. We are looking at a major CO2 reduction potential which will come at a financial cost. There is definitely investments related to that but also opportunities for industry and economy. Michael Faltenbacher, principal consultant at Germany’s Thinkstep