The paradox of Hydrogen clean label
As the electric energy, the hydrogen energy is often perceived as a renewable and clean energy able to replace fuel-based activities in the near future.
It’s true that unlike current fuels, while burnt, hydrogen does not release carbon emissions, only pure water.
Less known, is the process most largely used to produce hydrogen nowadays (around 95% of the global production), which is based on the division of methane.
As seen on the picture, this method of hydrogen production consumes oxygen and entitles large emission of CO2, the gas responsible for the greenhouse effect.
Producing Hydrogen in these conditions is clearly counterproductive to the energy transition and cannot be tagged as clean way to produce energy.
To tackle this problematic, some researchers just released a white paper detailing a new method of hydrogen production which would be both economically viable and free of greenhouse gases emissions in the atmosphere.
When Carbon capture also applies to Hydrogen
The concept of this production relies on the same chemical reaction, but extracts the hydrogen from oil fields while leaving carbon related emissions underground.
By injecting oxygen underfoot, the temperature inside the field rises liberating hydrogen and other gases.
A simple filtrating of those gases would enable the production of hydrogen without releasing CO2 or greenhouse effect gases in the atmosphere.
In this method the oil field acts as a Carbon capture chamber and retains the CO2, making the Hydrogen production cleaner.
Current research indicates that this method is applicable to both oil fields and oil sands, with results on green and brown fields.
From an economic standpoint, the production cost of this process is evaluated around $0.50 per kilo, when currents methods stand around $2 per kilo, making this process economically viable.
Even more interesting, this process of extraction being close to the oil one, the hydrogen production could re-use existing infrastructures installed for oil production, limiting the capital investment.
The method still needs to go under extensive testing before being expanded to an industrial scale, but it already offers interesting perspectives toward the valorization of oil fields and the path to an energy transition through hydrogen.
