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I didn't get why Terraforms focus on producing natural gas (CH4) instead of just hydrogen (H2)? Today we use a lot of CH4 to produce hydrogen primarily for fert
by jakozaur 3y ago
I didn't get why Terraforms focus on producing natural gas (CH4) instead of just hydrogen (H2)? Today we use a lot of CH4 to produce hydrogen primarily for fertilisers (ammonia) and oil refining.
The first step should be stop using CH4 for H2 production, which is 65-75% efficient (steam reforming) and instead use green hydrogen. Today, hydrogen production is $155 Bln / year market that may take even a decade to transition. Simpler and more profitable than synthesising CH4.
One more trick, would be to connect partial solar to grid at lower capacity to benefit from price surges (e.g. evening). E.g. 100 MW solar, but with grid connection of just 1 MW to profit from when grid electricity is expensive.
Also please do not worry about transporting or storing hydrogen. Just produce ammonia and sell it on the market. Till we decarbonise ammonia production (1%+ of global CO2 emission), we don't have to worry about that.
- brutusborn 3y agoThis saves on infrastructure since we already have CH4 pipelines, power plants, vehicles etc. If we stop and just produce hydrogen, we need to redesign every single pipeline and plant. Also H2 has the downsides that it is extremely explosive and not very energy dense. Only upside I can think of is that hydrogen is so light that leaks don't tend to pool around the plant.
- jakozaur 3y agoYou argument holds true if you want massive distribution. I believe 100% green ammnoia is first step and for that I just need green H2. No need to redesign anything.
- brutusborn 3y agoI don't think so, the only real limit is reusing existing infrastructure. I think you could put ammonia through most pipelines so that isn't a concern, but you will have to replace generators/engines if you want to use it for storage and produce power from it.
- Sunflower98 3y agoWhy bother? The main use case for hydrogen is energy storage. So you just have a big tanker next to the solar farm that fills up when its producing more than the grid needs, and then burn it when there's less than the grid needs.
- Symmetry 3y agoI think it's pretty implausible that the main use case for hydrogen will be energy storage when so many important industrial processes require a good reducing agent that's either currently hydrogen generated from natural gas or carbon monoxide from coal. Steal production, fertilizer production, etc. It's a pretty large chunk of our current global energy use.