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If we stop using fossil fuels to make chemicals and materials, we'll need vast quantities of electrolytic hydrogen. Ammonia production alone was about 175 milli
by philipkglass 6y ago
If we stop using fossil fuels to make chemicals and materials, we'll need vast quantities of electrolytic hydrogen. Ammonia production alone was about 175 million tonnes in 2016, requiring 31 million tonnes of hydrogen. At 50 kWh per kg of hydrogen, that would be roughly 177 GW of electrolyzer capacity working at a 100% duty cycle. Using hydrogen in place of coal for reducing iron ore would consume even more hydrogen.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonia_production https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonia_production
Japan is interested in it as fuel, despite the well known drawbacks, because Japan has such limited domestic energy resources.
- omgwtfbyobbq 6y agoThere's also been work on getting solar thermal to the point where heat alone could be used at input into an industrial process. https://www.fastcompany.com/90477609/this-startup-uses-mirrors-to-create-solar-powered-1800-degree-heat-for-industrial-factories https://www.fastcompany.com/90477609/this-startup-uses-mirro...
- wil421 6y agoWhat if we lived in a world where EVs are ubiquitous and they are powered by lithium ion batteries charged by renewable energy and/or nuclear. Specialized plants can still exist in this scenario to provide hydrogen and even diesel for industrial processes. The existing gas and coal plants wouldn’t be used for powering the general population anymore and would become more specialized producers.
- pjc50 6y agoBut the original article's project isn't stopping using fossil fuel. It's using fossil fuel to make hydrogen. This is just money laundering for carbon atoms.
- philipkglass 6y agoYou are correct. I originally thought that this was another article about this Australian hydrogen project, also targeting Japan (and other energy importers) but powered by renewables: "Western Australia’s multi-gigawatt green hydrogen giant edges forward" https://www.pv-tech.org/news/western-australian-renewables-hub-to-expand-to-26gw-solar-and-wind-generation https://www.pv-tech.org/news/western-australian-renewables-h...