Austrian researchers have demonstrated that the chemical recycling system can be retrofitted into a biogas plant. It is said that this new technology can produce high-purity hydrogen for fuel cells on an industrial scale. Relevant scientists stated that their system can produce hydrogen at a price of 5 euros/kg on a decentralized basis.
Austrian Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) and compatriot start-up Rouge H2 Engineering announced the "world's first" use of a new chemical cycle process to produce high-purity hydrogen from biogas. The decentralized production of hydrogen is carried out at pressures up to 100 bar using biogas containing all relevant impurities. "We [have shown] that it is possible to integrate the chemical recycling system into an existing biogas plant," said Viktor Hacker from the Institute of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Technology at the Graz University of Technology. "The high-purity hydrogen used in fuel cells is produced from real biogas; not only in the laboratory, but actually on an industrial scale."
According to the university, the biogas in question consists of methane from pig manure; a liquid byproduct of the glycerol phase of biodiesel production; corn silage, which is commonly used in cattle feed; and grain residues. “The 10-kilowatt plant transfers approximately 1% of the biogas flow (approximately 30 liters per minute) and mixes it with steam,” says TU Graz. "The mixture flows into the plant's reactor. There, the biogas is reformed and produces synthesis gas. The gas then reduces the iron oxide to iron. Then steam enters the reactor to reoxidize the iron to iron oxide. This releases a purity of 99.998% hydrogen."
The researchers told Photovoltaic Magazine: “Researchers can also direct the entire biogas flow of the biogas plant (approximately 480 cubic meters per hour) through the correspondingly amplified chemical cycle plant instead of 1%. This will lead to the establishment of a 3 MW system. Hydrogen plant.” Rouge H2 said that it is now open to orders from the biogas industry. The researchers predicted that the price of hydrogen produced by their process was 5 Euros/kg, but added that the pressure-related complexity makes the application mainly used for powered tractors and forklifts.
Fortescue Future Industries (FFI), a subsidiary of Australian iron ore producer Fortescue Metals Group, has signed multibillion-pound hydrogen supply agreements with British construction equipment manufacturers JCB and Ryze Hydrogen. "JCB and Ryze will buy 10% of FFI's global green hydrogen production," the Australian company said on Sunday. "It is estimated that by 2030, FFI's green hydrogen production will increase to 15 million tons of GH2 [green hydrogen] per year, and it will accelerate to 50 million tons per year in the next decade." Fortescue said that it is expected to become the largest green in the UK JCB Hydrogen supplier, and Ryze will manage the UK’s green hydrogen distribution and demand development
The British government is also trying to send a signal to promote cooperation between companies and international participants. Last week, Leeds-based Atome Energy signed an agreement with Paraguay’s Itaipu Binational Science and Technology Park concerning the planned site selection of a 250 MW green hydrogen and ammonia facility. "Atome intends to increase production from the initial 50 MW unit starting at the end of 2024, which has a huge potential local end market," the British government reissued a press release. The UK hopes to import green and gas plus carbon to capture blue hydrogen and promote the country's technology abroad. The British Ambassador to Paraguay Raminawai said: "We are very excited about this news. The production of green hydrogen and ammonia in the future will be a great bilateral achievement. The United Kingdom provides its expertise and Paraguay provides Itaipu's clean energy. ."
Fortescue has also made huge investments in green hydrogen production in Argentina. "Fortescue has already started exploration work in Rio Negro province to produce green hydrogen on an industrial scale, which will require an investment of 8.4 billion US dollars [7.26 billion euros]," wrote the Casa Rosada office in Argentina. A meeting was held during the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow this week. This development marks the first major hydrogen announcement at a global event. According to the office of Argentine President Alberto Fernández, the production capacity of the Negro River is expected to reach 2.2 million tons per year by 2030. The news of Australia's export capacity is closely related to local development, as Australian media reported that the central region service Emerald Coaches Queensland has decided to switch its diesel bus fleet to hydrogen fuel cells. Local reporters said this is Australia's first.
Kazakhstan's state-owned energy company KazMunayGas and German multinational chemical company Linde signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop clean energy projects in this Central Asian country. "The first phase of the cooperation will focus on exploring opportunities for the production of hydrogen and ammonia from natural gas (blue hydrogen and blue ammonia) and/or water electrolysis (green or blue hydrogen and green or blue ammonia)," read the press release issued yesterday , Which added that the two companies will conduct a feasibility study first.
The Japanese auto giant's Mitsubishi Electric Americas Storage Solutions Division in Florida and DT Midstream, a natural gas pipeline business company based in Detroit, signed a strategic joint development agreement (JDA) to promote and develop clean hydrogen projects in the United States. JDA focuses on the production, storage, transportation and use of hydrogen and other commodities," Mitsubishi Electric Americas wrote yesterday. "Opportunities include the provision of hydrogen in liquefied or compressed form for a variety of applications, such as power generation and transportation, as well as steelmaking, refining and Fertilizer manufacturing. The partners intend to create interstate and intrastate pipelines. Mitsubishi Electric has previously announced developments in Utah and North Dakota. David Hunter, senior vice president of Mitsubishi Electric Americas, said: “This cooperation will increase the A'hub-and-spoke' hydrogen infrastructure established by a North American partnership. DT Midstream has approximately 1,200 miles (1,931 kilometers) of transportation pipelines. The companies did not disclose financial commitments or investment figures.
Hydrogen Optimized in Canada has announced the display of the world's highest current water electrolyzer since the 1980s. The company wrote today: "The operation of a 50,000-amp RuggedCell unipolar electrolyzer represents a breakthrough in large-scale green hydrogen production technology and a direct way to commercialize a single electrolysis module with a rated power of up to 100 MW."
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