Introduction: This report is for policymakers and people in the downstream sector with an interest in hydrogen. It sets out the manufacturing processes involved in the many forms of hydrogen which will all be crucial in helping the UK transition to net zero. Hydrogen has multiple, important roles such as replacing refinery fuel gas (RFG) as a source of energy in refineries and can be sold to directly reduce emissions from final users by powering airplanes or vehicles on the ground, or for heating homes. The importance of Low Carbon Hydrogen (LCH) in meeting Net-Zero by 2050 is clear from the Climate Change Committee's (CCC) latest report to Parliament: in it we see that
Green hydrogen is produced by using low carbon electricity to split water through electrolysis [1]. Pink hydrogen also uses electrolysis to split water but uses electricity from nuclear sources [2]. Blue hydrogen comes from Steam Methane Reforming (SMR) [3] Autothermal Reforming (ATR) [4] or Partial Oxidation (POX) [5] combined with CCUS [6]. BEIS's LCH Standard (LCHS) [7] and LCH Business Models [8] are incentivising supply of these forms of hydrogen. It is expected that these initiatives will help facilitate the UK Government's ambition to provide 10GW of hydrogen by 2030 in accordance with the 2022 British Energy Security Strategy [9]. LCH derived as a by-product from Catalytic Reforming of Naphtha [10] is not currently recognised under the LCHS but might be in the future as the standard develops. The emission pathway for biohydrogen, which involves the gasification of biomas to produce a mixture of gasses similar to Blue hydrogen, is included in the LCHS calculation methodology but not in the LCH Business Model.
hydrogen may have a role in the decarbonisation of various sectors including industry, buildings, and transport [ref]. Hydrogen is not itself an energy source and must be produced using other sources of energy. Where the source is from fossil resources, then no carbon benefit is gained unless the carbon is captured so that carbon dioxide (CO2) is not released to the atmosphere, a process called Carbon Capture Utilisation & Storage (CCUS). There are a number of routes to produce and supply LCH currently available.
Made with FlippingBook Annual report