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The title of this article is correct but seems to be misleading some readers. Their goal is not to produce hydrogen, but to produce synthetic natural gas. Usi
by nkurz 3y ago
The title of this article is correct but seems to be misleading some readers. Their goal is not to produce hydrogen, but to produce synthetic natural gas. Using solar to produce hydrogen as a precursor is just the particular approach they've chosen:
We’re developing a scalable electrolyzer to deliver the cheapest possible green hydrogen, which we use as a precursor chemical to make cheap synthetic carbon neutral natural gas in our Terraformer.
As a result, some of the comments so far that correctly point out the difficulties of establishing a hydrogen infrastructure are missing the point. They aren't planning to distribute hydrogen, and don't need such infrastructure. Instead, they're planning process the hydrogen immediately and internally and then piggy-back on the existing natural gas infrastructure.
- namibj 3y agoNote that large amounts of natural gas distribution networks are hydrogen-capable, and adding decarbonization reactors to the supply allows CO2-free operation of formerly natural gas appliances. IIRC the process is thermal cracking of the methane, which can use solar energy.
- bryanlarsen 3y agoMost "hydrogen-capable" networks cannot pipe pure hydrogen, only natural gas "sweetened" with hydrogen.