Beyond the Colours of Hydrogen: Opportunities for Process Systems Engineering in Hydrogen Economy

Abstract

In the midst of a climate crisis, alternative and low-carbon energy resources must be put to scale in order to achieve carbon emission reductions in the coming decades. In this respect, hydrogen has gained attention as an alternative energy carrier. Hydrogen can be produced from methods that are commonly classified by a range of colours. However, each hydrogen source has its own challenges in terms of energy security, energy equity, and environmental sustainability. This perspective offers insights about the critical role that Process Systems Engineering (PSE) will play in addressing these key challenges. We also present suggestions on possible future PSE studies in the area of the hydrogen economy.

Policy Implementation Roadmap, Diverse Perspectives, Challenges, Solutions Towards Low-Carbon Hydrogen Economy

“…Another issue is that green technologies like electrolysis, which produces green hydrogen, have more significant production costs than traditional H2 production methods, which produce grey hydrogen. Figure 6 (Chew et al, 2023) demonstrates that the cost of producing H2 using electrolysis ($10.3 per kg H2) is five times higher than that of more established methods ($1.5-2.3 per kg H2). As a result, another obstacle to the involvement of H2 in the energy mix is the expense of "green" H2 (Chew et al, 2023).…”

“…Figure 6 (Chew et al, 2023) demonstrates that the cost of producing H2 using electrolysis ($10.3 per kg H2) is five times higher than that of more established methods ($1.5-2.3 per kg H2). As a result, another obstacle to the involvement of H2 in the energy mix is the expense of "green" H2 (Chew et al, 2023).…”

“…The ecological effects could be easily assessed by energy sources (fossil fuels, internally generated steam, solar, wind, and nuclear) and feedstock (natural gas, coal, woody biomass, water + algae, organic biomass, and water). Using natural gas with the SMR to produce hydrogen is currently thought to be the most economical option while still emitting little carbon (Chew et al, 2023;Tetteh & Salehi, 2023;Posso et al, 2023;Ferahtia et al, 2023) . Large-scale green and blue H2 production systems' techno-economic analyses indicate that integrating renewable energy sources is necessary to compete with the market's current grey H2 output (Dillman & Heinonen, 2023;Hong et al, 2023;Zhuang et al, 2023;Akhtar et al, 2023;Khan & Al-Ghamdi, 2023)…”

“…Whenever such policies are divided, they are divided into strategy, committee, national law, programme, scheme, funding, financial incentive, road tax exemption, innovation strategy, energy strategy, legislative decree, national plan, etc. (Akhtar et al, 2023;Azni et al, 2023;Beasy et al, 2023a;Beasy et al, 2023b;Chew et al, 2023;Dillman & Heinonen, 2023;Hong et al, 2023;Kar et al, 2023;Liu et al, 2023;Tetteh & Salehi, 2023;Zhuang et al, 2023).…”