HYDROGEN

PRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION & CONTEXT

Introduction to Hydrogen production

Denis Bossanne – IFP School

1 Introduction

To understand our motivation behind proposing this module to you, I will quote Dr Fatih Birol,
from the International Energy Agency (IEA).
"Hydrogen is today enjoying unprecedented momentum. The world should not miss this unique
chance to make hydrogen an important part of our clean and secure energy future.”
H2, as an energy carrier, should play an important role in the Energy transition for industry and
heavy mobility if efforts are deployed to reduce H2 production costs and if a supply, storage
and distribution infrastructure is put in place.
So, this module will allow you to acquire a basic understanding of the H2 market and to learn
more about the mature technologies currently used to produce H2 at an industrial scale.
We will see how to move from a high-carbon H2 to a low-carbon one, in order to limit the
anthropogenic CO2 emissions in the atmosphere and limit our impact on climate change.
First of all, I will present current H2 requirements and the different sources of production.
Then I’ll present the usage and sources of H2 in 2050.
Finally, I’ll describe the main industrial pathways to produce H2.
At the end of this video, you will be able to:
Explain the main trends of hydrogen usage, sources and production between now and 2050.

2 Uses & production methods of Hydrogen today

2.1 De mand in 2020

Let’s start with the current demand for H2.

According to the IEA, around 70 Mt/yr of Hydrogen is used today in its pure form: large volumes
of it are used as feedstock in the petrochemical and chemical industries to produce ammonia,
refined petroleum products, and other chemicals: only small levels of additives or contaminants
are tolerated.
On top of this pure H2 production, 45 Mt of H2 mixed with carbon monoxide is used in industry
to produce electricity or fuels and chemicals. Methanol, DRI (direct reduced iron steel
production) represent demand for applications that use hydrogen as part of a mixture of gases,
known as synthesis gas or syngas.
Total annual hydrogen demand worldwide is around 330 million tons of oil equivalent (Mtoe),
larger than the primary energy supply of Germany (IEA).
Less than 5% of the total H2 demand is used in the Transport, Building and Power industry. The
latter is the largest source of CO2 emissions. More than 40% of worldwide CO2 emissions come
from the power generation sector.

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Introduction to Hydrogen production
2.2 Sources of production in 2020

Regarding sources of production.

Energy is needed to produce Hydrogen. So, depending on the source of the energy that is used,
hydrogen is classified as high-carbon H2 or low-carbon H2. According to the European
taxonomy, a low-carbon H2 emits less than 3 kg of CO2 per kg of H2.
The majority of hydrogen (roughly 95%) is produced from fossil fuels (coal, naphtha, LPG, and
natural gas) and is known as high-carbon H2.
75% of high-carbon H2 comes from the processing of Natural gas. In this case it is known as
grey H2.
Hydrogen produced from natural gas is responsible for carbon dioxide emissions of around
830 million tons per year.
We call it low-carbon H2 and it turns blue if it is produced from natural gas with CO2 capture.
We also call it low-carbon H2, if it is produced from non-fossil fuels, that is to say from water
that is split using nuclear, solar, wind or hydro energy.
It is called Green H2 if the electricity used to produce the hydrogen comes from renewables
(solar photovoltaic, hydropower, and wind)
However, renewable-based energy is inherently variable, owing to intermittent cloud coverage,
diurnal and seasonal variations in solar incidence angles, and seasonal variations in day length.
Whereas production systems based on fossil fuels can easily be controlled, as the primary
energy supply remains stable and constant throughout the year.

FOSSIL
SOURCES

FUELS
CO2
CO2

OTHERS
H2 NUCLEAR, REN
USES

INDUSTRY

FIGURE 1: CURRENT SITUATION: ADAPTED FROM HYDROGEN ENERGY AND FUEL CELLS, A VISION OF OUR FUTURE, EUROPEAN COMMISSION, EUR 201719

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Introduction to Hydrogen production
3 Uses and solutions in 2050

What is expected to happen in the coming years?

By 2050, H2 will cover not only the needs of the industrial sector, but those of the electric power
industry too.
Decarbonizing the power sector is necessary to reach our Net Zero Emission targets.
One way to reduce CO2 emissions when producing electric power is to burn more H2 in a Gas
Turbine.

FIGURE 2: SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM OF A GAS TURBINE

This would mean that current gas turbines would need to be upgraded.
Please note also that H2 will play a key role as a means of storing and smoothing intermittent
energy produced from solar and wind power.
Another way of decarbonizing the industry is to replace the current fired heaters, that use fossil
fuels, with electric furnaces equipped with H2 fuel cells.
Fuel cells technology will also expand in heavy mobility, powering high mileage cars, trains,
ships, trucks and buses.
And finally, H2 will participate in decarbonizing the building sector, supplying low-carbon heat
and low-carbon electricity.
By 2050 we will see an increasing diversification of the energy mix, but the share of fossil fuels
will remain high.

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Introduction to Hydrogen production
Therefore, there will be a significant switch from coal, the most carbon-intensive fossil energy,
to natural gas, the least carbon-intensive fossil energy.
To limit anthropogenic CO2 emissions into the atmosphere when using fossil fuels, we will have
to capture and store them. This will be achieved through a Carbon Capture and Storage facility
(CCS).
The share of the low-carbon H2 produced from renewables or nuclear energy is increasing
worldwide. This will help us reduce our CO2 emissions in line with our Net Zero Emissions (NZE)
targets,
It is estimated that the use of both renewables and nuclear will enable us to reduce, by more
than one-third, the CO2 emissions produced by the industry and the use of fossil fuels.
While the demand and production of Hydrogen will expand drastically by 2050, its usages will
diversify & the sources will turn to greener solutions, as requested by public authorities.
COAL

NATURAL NUCLEAR
NUCLEAR
RENEWABLES
GAS
RENEWABLES

BUILDING
H2
FUEL CELLS
TRANSPORT
INDUSTRY INC.
POWER
FIGURE 3: 2050 SITUATION: ADAPTED FROM HYDROGEN ENERGY AND FUEL CELLS, A VISION OF OUR FUTURE, EUROPEAN COMMISSION, EUR 201719

4 Industrial pathways
Let’s now present the main industrial pathways to produce hydrogen and let’s start with the most
common one, today, the steam methane reforming.

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Introduction to Hydrogen production
This is a process in which natural gas (mostly methane) is heated with steam to produce a mixture of
carbon monoxide and hydrogen.

The second most common industrial route to produce H2 is Gasification.

Gasification can be described as an oxidation process in which carbonaceous materials react with an
oxidizing agent and produces a syngas containing mainly carbon monoxide and hydrogen but also
particles and acid gases.

Finally, the last industrial pathway to produce H2 is water electrolysis.

Electrolysis of water is not a spontaneous phenomenon. Therefore, it needs a power source.

Water electrolysis is the process whereby water is split into hydrogen and oxygen through the
application of a direct current into an electrolyte.

The electrolyte can be made of an alkaline solution containing ions, a proton exchange membrane or
an oxygen ion exchange ceramic membrane.

Although water electrolysis has been known for around 200 years, it still contributes to only a minor
fraction of the total production of hydrogen (4% of the worldwide hydrogen production).

When compared to other available methods, water electrolysis has the advantage of producing
extremely pure hydrogen (>99.9%), ideal for some high value-added processes such as the
manufacturing of electronic components.

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 TO SUM UP
o H2 demand will increase by 2050, supplying not only the ammonia
manufacturing and refined products industry but also the power industry,
the transport and the building industries. The use of H2 in these last three
sectors, will help decarbonizing them.
o Current H2 production from SMR will be retrofitted to include a CCS facility
in order to limit CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.
o Low carbon H2 will also be produced from biomass gasification and water
electrolysis using electricity from renewables or nuclear.

REFERENCES

[1] THE COST OF HYDROGEN PRODUCTION, SELECTING ROUTES TO HYDROGEN PRODUCTION CALLS FOR A BALANCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT AND COST,
LORENZO MICUCCI, SIIRTEC NIGI , SAEID MOKHATAB, GAS PROCESSING CONSULTANT

[2] HYDROGEN ENERGY AND FUEL CELLS, A VISION OF OUR FUTURE, EUROPEAN COMMISSION, EUR 201719 EN

[3] THE FUTURE OF HYDROGEN, SEIZING TODAY’S OPPORTUNITIES, REPORT PREPARED BY THE IEA FOR THE G20, JAPAN

[4] HYDROGEN SCALING UP, A SUSTAINABLE PATHWAY FOR THE GLOBAL ENERGY TRANSITION, HYDROGEN COUNCIL NOVEMBER 2017

[5] HYDROGEN, A RENEWABLE ENERGY PERSPECTIVE, IRENA, REPORT PREPARED FOR THE 2ND HYDROGEN ENERGY MINISTERIAL MEETING IN TOKYO, JAPAN

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