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Summer 2018/19
energysafe issue 52
The emergence of H 2
as an energy source
By Tyler Mason, Gas Engineer
As part of the global effort to reduce man-made carbon dioxide
(CO 2 ) emissions and prevent possibly damaging changes to the
Earth’s climate, work is being undertaken on a number of fronts
to provide viable alternatives to reliably deliver the enormous
amount of energy our society requires.
Whilst public debates about
electrification, renewables and battery
storage continue, a promising potential
solution is emerging in the form of
hydrogen (H 2 ).
Hydrogen is a gas that still undergoes
combustion/oxidation, resulting in usable
heat release. However, there is no
carbon involved in this reaction, meaning
no carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide
is produced and the only combustion
by-product is water. Therefore, what you
can create with natural gas can also be
done with H 2 , including fuelling power
stations—without generating CO 2 .
Additionally, H 2 can be used in
conjunction with oxygen from the air
to generate electricity in a fuel cell.
This technology has existed for over
half a century and provided electrical
power for the Apollo Command Module
(the vehicle that took us to the moon)
throughout the 1960s and ‘70s.
Hydrogen gas can be generated
from renewable energy sources by
using renewably-generated electricity
to electrolyse water, which is an
established process that produces
both hydrogen and water.
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In the shorter term, while renewable
generation capacity is still lacking the
capacity to fully satisfy society’s energy
needs, hydrogen can be extracted from
natural gas or coal through a process
known as thermal reforming. Thermal
reforming is a modern and proven
technology that can be combined with
carbon capture and storage (CCS) to
capture the vast majority (approximately
98%) of generated CO 2 .
Beyond the almost too-good-to-be-true
properties of H 2 for energy transport
and delivery, hydrogen also has a similar
energy storage potential to natural gas,
which is piped to the vast majority of
Australian homes and businesses. This
means there is the potential to repurpose
gas infrastructure to store, transport and
deliver hydrogen instead.
Whilst it can be easy to overlook gas in
a pipe as an energy storage means, the
piping network’s volume actually allows
the storage of a vast amount of gas
under pressure.
In comparison, the United Kingdom’s
Northern Gas Networks’ H21 Project
estimates that Northern England’s
natural gas distribution network can
store, by volume of hydrogen, the
equivalent energy potential of more than
62,000 South Australian mega batteries.
This stored energy can be rapidly
converted to either heat or electricity,
as required.
While it sounds like the answer to all our
energy and environmental needs, a huge
amount of work is needed to bring it all
about, not to mention that the storage
and use of hydrogen has its risks that
need to be managed — see ‘Hindenburg
disaster’.
The H21 Project from the Northern Gas
Networks (UK) is working closely with
the UK’s safety regulator, the Health and
Safety Executive, to design and conduct
a significant range of tests to determine
the potential impacts on consumer and
industrial safety that may result from
the radical adoption of hydrogen in
place of natural gas, within the existing
distribution infrastructure.
ESV is closely monitoring this project
and other emerging technologies as
a part of our role overseeing the safe
use of gas and electricity in Victoria.