Blue in the EU: Production of Blue Hydrogen for a Greener Future
Team Members Heading link
- Erica Caruso
- Courteney Fabbri
- Anne Serban
- Maurice Smith
Advisors: Betul Bilgin, PhD, Gavin Palmer, MEng, Brindley Engineering
Project Description Heading link
Most of the world’s energy comes from oil and coal, both of which release large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and cause detrimental effects to the environment. In order to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, many countries around the world like Germany have set strict standards in order to become extensively greenhouse gas-neutral by 2050. One way to implement this change is by targeting the transportation sector and converting fuel-guzzling buses, trains and cars to fuel cells. In order to power these fuel cells, hydrogen fuel and oxygen react spontaneously through a set of redox reactions, generating electricity as well as water and heat byproducts. Current methods for green hydrogen—which is produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen through electrolysis—are very costly and cannot yet be competitive with the prices of petrol. Steam methane reforming, on the other hand, is a well-known process that takes pipeline methane and reacts it with steam to produce hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide. By combining carbon capture with this process, environmental impacts are mitigated, and the final product is a consumer-friendly, high-purity blue hydrogen product that can be cost competitive with petrol. Given our chosen process of steam methane reforming (SMR), we plan to produce 1.5 KMTA of blue hydrogen in Weinheim, Germany to meet one third of the current demand for hydrogen fuel at H2 Mobility refueling stations throughout the country. Our SMR plant will be analyzed for its safety and process integrity as well as economic feasibility given the projected market. Our product will cater to the ramp-up of 250,000 fuel cell vehicles expected to hit the road by 2023 as well as present a cheaper alternative for clean energy to consumers. During the 20-year lifespan of our plant, we do not expect radical advancements in electrolysis technology to produce an affordable green hydrogen product that can compete with petrol. At around five times cheaper than green hydrogen, our blue product will serve as an important component in Germany’s Climate Package to reduce carbon emissions by 55% from 1990 by the year 2030, as well as, to help Germany achieve fossil fuel independence by 2050.
See supporting documentation in the team’s Box drive.