From hydrogen energy to the hydrogen economy
The Paris Agreement, adopted in 2021, aims to combat global warming, the main cause of which is considered to be greenhouse gas emissions. Fossil fuel energy was eventually identified as the main culprit of anthropogenic emissions. To meet the requirements of the Paris Agreement, the global energy structure will obviously have to undergo radical changes in the coming decades. Many countries around the world are seriously talking about completely abandoning traditional raw materials in favor of hydrogen. What about Russia? Today, scientific and educational organizations and representatives of the industrial and energy sectors are trying to develop an area that is still viewed with distrust in Russia, a raw material power. Is hydrogen a threat or a new opportunity for our country? Yuri Dobrovolsky answers.
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Yuri Anatolyevich Dobrovolsky - Doctor of Chemical Sciences, professor, head of the Competence Center of the national technological initiative “New and Mobile Energy Sources” at the Institute of Chemical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Chernogolovka.
— What are the goals and objectives of the Competence Center?
— Our Center, among others, was formed at the end of 2021. Its objectives were formulated by a special program - the National Technology Initiative. The center was created with the aim of overcoming a number of technological barriers within the framework of “end-to-end” technology for such NTI markets as Autonet, Aeronet, Marinet and the most “core” for us - Energynet. The task of the employees is to develop new technologies, create a consortium of scientific, educational and technological partners, and also bring to prototypes those energy sources - electrochemical and photovoltaic, which are most in demand today.
When the Center was just being created, we already understood that we would not be able to develop those markets that had long been occupied in the West. We had to take several steps forward at once and start developing fundamentally new technologies. Having assessed their own capabilities, the Center’s staff made a forecast that in 2021 the most pressing topic in energy and transport will be hydrogen. As you can see, we were not mistaken.
Therefore, we implemented one of the tasks - to predict new trends - in full. Now we must follow current trends in the energy sector and create technologies that will be popular in the near future.
— What is included in the concept of “hydrogen energy”? How much is this type of energy in demand today?
— I would look at this issue more broadly. We are talking not so much about hydrogen energy as such, but about the hydrogen economy in general. What explains the increased interest? This topic is directly related to the problem of climate change, as well as reducing carbon dioxide emissions. If we agree with the theory of anthropogenic impact, then this issue certainly needs to be addressed. For me the motivation is quite clear.
Will hydrogen solve all our problems? I’ll say right away that for energy in its current understanding, when fossil fuels are burned and heat is converted into electricity, hydrogen is not the best electron carrier. Meanwhile, this is a chemical product that is actively used in metallurgy, chemical and petrochemical industries. Most nitrogen fertilizers are made from hydrogen.
For us, this is a chance to “green” not only the energy sector, but the entire economy.
But, of course, the topic is controversial: the hydrogen we use today cannot be called clean and “green”. What does it mean? At one time, the international community, for a more simplified perception, divided hydrogen according to the type of source into several conventional colors. The cleanest hydrogen we are striving for today is “green”. This is hydrogen obtained only from renewable energy sources by electrolysis of water. This cycle does not involve any greenhouse gas emissions. As a scientist, I will make a reservation that there are no products in the world without a carbon footprint. During production, carbon dioxide is still released at some stage. But green hydrogen is the closest thing to cutting-edge, emissions-free technology. However, we must not forget that hydrogen produced by electrolysis is the most expensive.
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Orange hydrogen is hydrogen produced using electricity from nuclear power plants. And besides this, there is “gray” and “blue” hydrogen. The bulk of the cheapest hydrogen produced today is “grey” hydrogen. It is produced from natural gas using the vapor-gas inversion method. Water is mixed with natural gas, heated by a catalyst, and the output is a mixture of hydrogen and carbon dioxide (which we are fighting with). “Blue” hydrogen is hydrogen that is obtained in the same way as “gray”, but in this case the carbon dioxide is buried in one way or another to prevent its release into the atmosphere.
There is also “turquoise” hydrogen, also obtained from hydrocarbons, when the output together with hydrogen is not carbon dioxide, but certain forms of pure carbon: for example, coal soot. This is a familiar product for us. We know where and how to use it, and most importantly, store it.
Today, hydrogen energy has entered the agenda of politicians and economists. Many countries around the world have adopted programs for its development. Hydrogen can provide the entire chain of creation of various products.
And although hydrogen is not the best fuel for energy, it is very conveniently combined with renewable energy - solar and wind. The production cycle of renewable energy sources is always intermittent. Therefore, excess energy must be accumulated somewhere in order to spend it when there is not enough of it. Currently, existing technologies are quite expensive. And hydrogen can be stored almost indefinitely, and within the framework of “green” electricity , it can be used as an energy source for transport. We are actively working on this today.
— Before hydrogen can be used, it must be produced. What experience have you gained in this area?
“We, as a consortium of leading scientific and educational organizations, have really accumulated extensive experience in the production and use of hydrogen. We managed to organize the development and transfer of model samples to industrial partners for production. Here, on the territory of the Institute of Chemical Physics in Chernogolovka, there is a center that traditionally deals with the production of hydrogen and the processing of hydrocarbons. Our institute has been studying this topic for many decades. Therefore, when the NTI Competence Center was formed, it was easy for us to start research and development, since the necessary skills in hydrogen topics had already been acquired.
We continue to work on the production of blue hydrogen. In addition, we are collaborating with colleagues from Tomsk and Moscow as part of work to produce pyrolysis or “turquoise” hydrogen. By the way, such developments are presented only in our country. The first prototype is already ready.
When it comes to transport - an airplane, a car, a train, it is necessary to create refueling systems, preferably cheap ones, otherwise the idea will not receive practical implementation. And we have such a gas station. With the help of an electrolysis unit we are trying to obtain that same “green” hydrogen. True, so far there is no talk of its exceptional environmental friendliness, since we still get electricity from an outlet, and not from windmills or solar panels.
Our goal now is to create a facility for industry that can produce cheap hydrogen in different ways, depending on the raw material.
Parts of an electrolyzer for hydrogen production
Photo: Nikolay Malakhin / Scientific Russia
Electrolyzer for hydrogen production
Photo: Nikolay Malakhin / Scientific Russia
— What results can you already boast about?
— Over the past six months, we have created a working electrolyzer for a gas station. And this is a very short period of time. It is believed that an acceptable cycle from the start of development to its first sample is from 3 to 5 years.
The company, headed by graduates of our institute’s graduate school, was tasked with making the first Russian large electrolyzer for a gas station. This spring it will be connected to the installation. In just 6 months we managed to bring the technology to a prototype with a working gas station. By the way, recently foreign colleagues came to us to negotiate about testing hydrogen transport using our gas station.
— Is there any interest on the part of the state in expert forecasts and technologies that you and your colleagues create?
— There is a lot of interest. But for now it’s verbal. Too little time has passed since the program was initiated at the state level. In December 2021, President Vladimir Putin said that hydrogen-powered buses would appear in Moscow in 2023. Of course, in 2023 such buses will definitely not be in mass production. Perhaps by this time the first prototype will be developed. But this is too short a time to build the necessary infrastructure. Nevertheless, it is good that this topic has appeared on the state agenda.
In addition, the Ministry of Energy launched the implementation of a program for the development of hydrogen energy in Russia. The road map will be ready very soon. I am part of the working group for its development, and our analytics form the basis of the accompanying documents created. Employees of the competence center implemented an analytical project on the situation with hydrogen energy in Russia. We completed another similar project in a very short time for Rosatom. Who would have thought that it would be Rosatom that would join this topic on the production and use of hydrogen.
— Russia, being a raw materials power, is already aimed at developing hydrogen energy: a program until 2050 has been developed.
— Until 2035. But the program until 2050 will also appear in the near future.
— Will we be able to switch to this energy source and move away from oil and gas production?
— The question, of course, is complex. Why are there heated discussions on hydrogen in Russia? Firstly, Russia, we must admit honestly, is no longer a technological power, but a raw materials power, and most of our budget is based on the export of hydrocarbons. If you look closely at the forecasts of European companies, the share of gas exports will decrease due to the increasing exports of hydrogen. Therefore, a logical question arises: should we participate in this? Will we lose some of our income?
It is clear that risks exist, especially if Russia begins to produce only “blue” hydrogen. According to the most optimistic forecasts, only half of the hydrogen will be “green”, and the other half will be “blue”. Other species are not considered at all in existing development programs adopted in different countries.
Plus, while striving for hydrogen energy, we run into a problem associated with the transportation of hydrogen: it is difficult to store and transport. In fact, hydrogen production is estimated to be in the billions of tons. But it is produced and consumed in one place.
The issue of export is also acute for Europe. They will not be able to produce as much hydrogen as they plan to use within the approved programs. This means they will be dependent on imported hydrogen. Whether it will be Russia, African countries or South American states depends on many reasons, including our readiness to supply hydrogen. At the same time, we are talking about hydrogen, which should go green by 2050.
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It is obvious that natural gas consumption will decrease. Whether we replace it with hydrogen or not is still unclear. Although the transportation issue has been partially resolved, since the pipeline method of delivering hydrogen is the cheapest.
The main idea that I (and some politicians) are promoting is that without domestic hydrogen consumption and the necessary infrastructure, Russia will fall far behind. We can build wind turbines, electrolyzers, etc., but they will be useless without export and domestic consumption. For Russia, transport can be considered the most appropriate direction for domestic hydrogen consumption. Current battery electric vehicles are not suitable for the long distances and sometimes harsh weather conditions of our country. Hydrogen fuel cells, and the excess heat they produce that can be used for heating, are an exciting alternative. This is the very advantage of hydrogen energy specifically for Russia or other cold countries.
This direction can become a driver of our economy. There is a chance to save the domestic auto industry from falling behind. KamAZ and GAZ, the leading associations of the machine-building group, are showing great interest. Even Russian Railways plans to convert its locomotives to hydrogen.
The second area of interest to us is related to the export of metals, nitrogen fertilizers and other chemical industry products. With the introduction of a carbon tax, the production of green hydrogen will become much more profitable, and we will have a new competitive advantage.
After all, hydrogen fuel is the most environmentally friendly. During its use, only water remains. And the only way to solve the environmental problem is directly related to the introduction of electric, and for Russia, hydrogen transport.
Very soon an article will be published based on our calculation of economic indicators and carbon dioxide emissions of different types of buses, from which it follows that for the Moscow region a hydrogen bus is already an environmentally justifiable phenomenon today.
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— What scientific problems need to be solved first? You talked a lot about technology, about the creation of mobile energy sources and batteries for them. What about fundamental problems?
“There are fantastically many of them at every stage of production, storage, transportation and processing into electricity or any other product. One of the most pressing problems is related to producing hydrogen in a cheaper way than electrolysis. For example, photocatalysis is the photobiological production of hydrogen literally from dirt.
The second fundamental challenge relates to hydrogen storage. We have not yet fully learned how to properly transport and store hydrogen. That is why the cost of hydrogen largely consists of the price of logistics: storage and transmission. There are many interesting works in this direction: for example, the storage of hydrogen in various organic compounds.
We, too, are trying to solve the third problem. We are talking about creating fuel cells. Today, only two types of fuel cells are actively used: solid polymer and solid oxide. The most promising area of development is related to medium-temperature fuel cells. Prototypes already exist. However, their effectiveness is much worse than those we already use. I hope that in the future these technologies will advance and provide us with new types of environmentally friendly transport and other advanced solutions.
— What does the future hold for hydrogen energy?
— Over the next five years, we will see many new ways to produce hydrogen and some work on transportation: from Australia to Japan by sea, through pipelines of European countries, internal transportation throughout the country, in organic and inorganic media, and so on. We don’t know exactly which method will ultimately be preferable, but experimentation in this area will definitely continue in the coming years.
In addition, a surge of interest in hydrogen technology is expected. It is already happening in Europe right now. Just recently, employees of one of the largest bus manufacturers, Solaris, came to us. According to their information, orders for water buses have already been fully completed until 2022. At the same time, for electric buses, which they also produce en masse, only until mid-2021.
A separate story for Russia: new generation locomotives. Calculations indicate that a hydrogen locomotive will be in demand. A prototype will appear in Russia next year.
Water transport will also actively develop. Already today, environmental standards for coastal ships (those that sail between seaports of the same state) require zero environmental pollution. And this can be achieved only in two ways: using a battery or hydrogen.
And, of course, we must not forget about aviation. Unfortunately, the civil aircraft industry is poorly developed in Russia. At the same time, this direction is actively developing in the West. Forecasts suggest that short flights on small aircraft will definitely switch to hydrogen, and large aircraft will have hydrogen auxiliary power units. Giants such as Boeing and Airbus have said that in 2035 their planes will fly on hydrogen fuel. To be honest, I am skeptical about this. Let me remind you that one of the first aircraft using hydrogen fuel, the Tu-155, flew in the USSR back in the last century. Boeing and Airbus are trying to redesign something similar.
Of course, the use of hydrogen may sometimes not be justified. But we are increasingly talking about the transition from a hydrocarbon economy to a renewable energy economy, and hydrogen is one of the key components.
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