After attending a Hydrogen seminar last night, I have some news that I wanted to share.
The seminar was about a Hydrogen generation project happening in Albury here in 2024, but it got some brain juices flowing.
Especially in the application of dryers/boilers in the food and bev sector and gas fired furnaces for the steel industry.
The guts of a quick calculation:
Hydrogen is approx $7.00/kg. This is the upper USD limit from https://sustainability.crugroup.com/article/energy-from-green-hydrogen-will-be-expensive-even-in-2050#:~:text=Taking%20these%20costs%20into%20account,(real%202022)%20in%202050.
Hydrogen produces 120MJ/kg
LNG is domestically priced at $0.0193/J
This means Hydrogen costs is $0.0000000583/J
Long and short:
- Hydrogen is MUCH cheaper per Joule than LNG
- Plant dosing systems are possible with small plant modification. This utilises the existing burners to a maximum mixture of 20% Hydrogen. https://www.saacke.com/industry/applications-industry/power-to-x-hydrogen
- Full Hydrogen conversions for burners can be undertaken, no more LNG. https://www.kiwa.com/en/stories/articles/from-gas-to-hydrogen-the-hydrogen-burner-conversion-development-testing/
A couple of fast facts about Hydrogen
- 15-20 litres of raw water to make 1kg of H
- The electrolyser has a life of about 40000hrs or 4.8years
- Despite its potential, challenges such as production efficiency, storage, and distribution infrastructure need to be addressed to fully unlock hydrogen's role as a renewable energy carrier on a large scale.
- Hydrogen can be used in fuel cells to generate electricity.
- Hydrogen can serve as a feedstock in the production of various industrial and agricultural products, including fertilizers and chemicals.
- Hydrogen can be used as a clean fuel for various modes of transportation, particularly in fuel cell vehicles.
- If Hydrogen was to be widely used in the transportation sector, it has some major safety challenges ahead.
Hydrogen is stacking up to be a very competitive alternative fuel source, any business operating any kind of burner should consider Hydrogen as a part of their future. My interest is to help everybody innovate for competitiveness and profitability.