Project will need new technology and unusual utilization of outputs

From an Essay by Betsy Lawson to Morgantown Dominion Post, August 25, 2023

As reported in The Dominion Post on Aug. 17, the governor announced a big state investment in a hydrogen plant to be built in Mason County by Fidelis New Energy of Houston. The plant, to be called Mountaineer Gigasystem, is designed to generate hydrogen to be used for energy while capturing carbon dioxide to be buried below wildlife management areas.

The impetus behind this project is the money made available by the Inflation Reduction Act, passed last year, which provides tax credits for so-called clean energy. The intention is to reduce greenhouse gases, which trap heat in our atmosphere. Sounds good, but is it really?

Hydrogen gas, which is highly explosive, is made by separating the atoms of water (H2O), which requires a lot of energy. If renewable energy is used to separate the atoms, the hydrogen is “clean.” But the Fidelis project will mostly use fracked gas, whose drilling process and pipelines to transport the gas leak a lot of methane, an 80-times more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

Pumping CO2 underground, the second facet of this project, only works in very specific types of porous rock sandwiched between layers of solid rock, preventing its escape. But once the CO2 reaches the cap rock, the captured CO2 can migrate horizontally for a substantial distance. What could go wrong?

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has identified 6,500 known orphaned oil and gas wells but potentially thousands more exist that have yet to be found.  If these unplugged wells should reach into the potential carbon storage field formation, the potential for leakage into the atmosphere is enormous, defeating the purpose of carbon capture. For carbon capture and storage to make any sense in West Virginia, orphaned oil and gas wells must be properly plugged.

So far, carbon capture and storage is a new and commercially unproven technology. Chevron’s CCS project in western Australia, to date the largest in the world, is only operating at one-third capacity after six years of operation. Unexpected high pressures occurred, slowing the process.

It is known with certainty that injecting fracking waste water into porous geological formations increases pore pressure in ways that can trigger stressed fault lines to slip. This also applies to buried CO2. The result can be earthquakes. Further, when CO2 meets water, it becomes carbonic acid, a corrosive liquid. What effect will this have on underground water supplies?

Bottom line: hydrogen gas is expensive to produce, so will there even be a market for it? And, if it relies on natural gas for its creation, methane will be leaked into the atmosphere. Tying it to unproven carbon capture risks leaking more CO2 into the atmosphere via the many abandoned wells in this area.

With the state’s  $62.5 million in forgivable loans and anticipated funding from the federal government, the public investment for this project could already be at $112.5 million before ground has even been broken. Do we taxpayers want to further subsidize a project that has such an unproven and potentially risky technology and continues to add greenhouse gases into the atmosphere? This project defeats the purpose of the Inflation Reduction Act, which is meant to reduce the greenhouse gases that are warming our planet.

>>> Betsy Lawson is the Secretary of the Monongahela Group of the W.Va. Chapter of the Sierra Club.

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Mountaineer GigaSystem Project ~ Memorandum of Understanding with West Virginia Economic Development Authority. Some call this a massive giveaway to an out of state company having no established record of technological quality or concern for our communities!

Massena, NY, is on the St. Lawrence River at the Canadian border

From an Article by Lucy Grindon, America Corps, October 18, 2022

Air Products, a company that makes industrial gases and chemicals, has announced plans to open a new liquid hydrogen manufacturing facility in Massena. The facility will require an investment of about $500 million.

Patrick Kelly, CEO of the St. Lawrence County Industrial Development Agency, said the project reaffirms Massena’s status as an important regional manufacturing center. Multiple plants for companies like General Motors, Reynolds, and Alcoa have closed or downsized there over the past few decades. “It’s a major milestone in establishing New York State as a hydrogen energy leader,” Kelly said.

NASA calls liquid hydrogen “the fuel of choice for space exploration.” It’s often used to power rockets. It’s also seen as a key green energy source that can reduce carbon emissions and slow the effects of climate change. Liquid hydrogen is becoming more common in the shipping and manufacturing industries. In the future, it may be used for more cars.

Earlier this year, Governor Kathy Hochul said she wants New York to become a “regional clean energy hydrogen hub.”

To make liquid hydrogen, water and electricity are required. Kelly said the area around Massena is rich in those resources. “We have low-cost renewable energy, we have an abundance of water,” he said. The New York Power Authority (NYPA) has made a deal to provide Air Products with low-cost electricity. Some of that electricity will come from NYPA’s hydropower dam on the St. Lawrence River.

Kelly said the area also has plenty of workers with manufacturing skills because of its history of aluminum production, mining, paper mills, and food production. Those workers will be another important resource that Air Products will need, he said. The facility still has yet to be built. Commercial operations are scheduled to begin in the 2026-27 fiscal year.

NYPA spokesperson Paul DeMichele said that after Air Products starts using NYPA’s low-cost electricity, the company will have three years to create at least 90 new full-time jobs, per its deal with the state. “There’s a hundred-year history or better history in Massena of being a world-class manufacturing community,” Kelly said. “There’s a specific and someone unique skill set in running these kinds of facilities.”

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SEE ALSO: Ammonia might just be the ticket for a more sustainable future, Christopher McFadden, Interesting Engineering, October 19, 2022

Largely used to make fertilizer, ammonia might have another trick up its sleeve. It could, some claim, be the “green” holy grail of alternatives fuels. This is because it uses the same existing transportation and distribution methods that industries are already using without requiring any infrastructure changes. In the past ten years, attempts to employ ammonia in gas turbines and internal combustion engines have significantly increased.

As a potential fuel source, ammonia has some significant advantages:

>> It is both carbon-free and relatively safe for the environment (excluding carbon costs for its production).
>> It has three hydrogen atoms and could perhaps be employed as a hydrogen carrier.
>> Compared to many other fuels, their manufacturing, storage, transportation, and distribution are significantly simpler.
>> It is practical and affordable for use in applications.
>> It could serve as a substitute for kerosene, diesel, and gasoline.
>> It can be considered for all combustion systems, including gas turbines and engines.
>> It might be a viable fuel for renewable energy production in remote places.

The hydrogen storage challenges are substantial .....

From an Explainer Article by Quinn Glabicki, Public Source, 8/8/22

Nature’s simplest element is at the center of a new energy strategy that has won the support of much of the Pittsburgh region’s leadership, while drawing scorn from sustainability advocates who say it would actually entrench the carbon economy.

As proponents tout the potential of so-called blue hydrogen to shepherd our region to a sustainable future, climate scientists and financial analysts question the viability — technologically, economically and ideologically — of developing a hydrogen hub reliant on natural gas and carbon capture in Western Pennsylvania.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed last November contained $8 billion appropriated for four “clean hydrogen hubs” nationwide. In May, Gov. Tom Wolf announced that his administration would pursue the federal funds for Pennsylvania, and the state’s bipartisan congressional delegation threw its weight behind the effort in June. Even before that, a group of local industrial titans including Shell, EQT and U.S. Steel issued a joint press release pledging support for the idea.

With the process still firmly in the beginning stages, questions remain about how a hydrogen hub would be implemented, who gets a say in that process and whether it advances climate goals.

PublicSource spoke with climate scientists, financial analysts, critics and industry stakeholders in an effort to better understand the status and viability of the proposed hydrogen hub. Here are some of the questions and emerging answers.

What does hydrogen have to do with energy? When hydrogen burns, it produces heat and the only byproduct is water. The most abundant element in the universe, however, is itself not a source of energy.

“Hydrogen is another form of energy storage, like batteries,” said Neil Donahue, a climate scientist and professor of chemical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University [CMU]. “Batteries are not a form of energy, nor is hydrogen.” The question, says Donahue: Where does the energy needed to produce hydrogen come from?

Renewables, fossil fuels and nuclear power are all potential energy sources for hydrogen production. Each occupies a corresponding space on a figurative color wheel often used in discussions of hydrogen power.

>> Green hydrogen is made using renewables like solar and wind energy through electrolysis to isolate the element.

>> Blue hydrogen is produced using natural gas, and the carbon emissions are captured and stored underground using carbon capture, utilization and sequestration technology.

>> When hydrogen is produced using fossil fuels but the carbon is released into the atmosphere, it’s known as gray hydrogen.

>> Nuclear power can also be used to create hydrogen in a process known as pink hydrogen.

>> Regardless of the energy input, the hydrogen produced is identical.

Experts say that hydrogen, when produced cleanly, has significant potential to reduce global carbon emissions, particularly among heavy industries like steel and concrete manufacturing, in large-scale transportation like trucking and aviation, and as a vehicle for energy storage in fuel cells. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s [IPCC] climate mitigation report released earlier this year listed hydrogen as a viable pathway to net-zero carbon emissions.

What is a hydrogen hub?

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law describes a regional clean hydrogen hub as “a network of clean hydrogen producers, potential clean hydrogen consumers and connective infrastructure located in close proximity.” The bill dictates that two of the four envisioned hubs are destined for areas “with the greatest natural gas resources.”

Because of abundant natural gas resources and infrastructure in Western Pennsylvania, southeastern Ohio and West Virginia, a hydrogen hub in this region would in all likelihood be blue — that is, it would source the energy needed to produce hydrogen from natural gas, at least to start.

….. see this extensive Article from the ‘Public Source’ …

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Public Power Officials Play Key Roles With Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association

Douglas County PUD General Manager Gary Ivory and Tacoma Power Director Jackie Flowers are playing key roles with the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association (PNWH2), serving as the association’s secretary and treasurer, respectively.

PNWH2 recently completed its formation with election of Washington Commerce Director Lisa Brown as chair and Oregon Department of Energy Director Janine Benner as vice chair of the board.

The group is a non-profit, public-private partnership leading a regional effort to land a share of the U.S. Department of Energy’s $8 billion investment in a nationwide network of clean hydrogen hubs under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Formed at the direction of the Washington State Legislature, PNWH2 is currently preparing a final call for projects for consideration in its proposal to DOE.

A final request for information for individual project proposals is opening in early September. The RFI will be posted on Washington’s Electronic Business Solutions (WEBS) portal. More Information is available on the PNWH2 website and by emailing info@pnwh2.com.

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Build Back Better Lives Again, Now With Green Hydrogen

President Biden’s signature Build Back Better bill fell into the dustbin of history last summer, but apparently the US Department of Commerce did not get the memo. The agency has just put up $50 million for a green hydrogen hub in the New Orleans region under a new program called the Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBBRC). That’s going to be a tough row to hoe, considering the grip of fossil fuel stakeholders on the Pelican State. However, Build Back Better is all about transformation, right?

Follow The Money To Green Hydrogen ~ In an interesting twist, South Louisiana’s BBBRC grant dovetails with the U.S. Energy Department’s $8 billion plan to create a network of regional “Clean Hydrogen Hubs” throughout the US. The plan is funded through last year’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The new grant could give H2theFuture a leg up on the sustainable H2 competition. They’ll need all they help they can get. Also competing for a share of the $8 billion pot is a powerful alliance of six northeast coastal states that are primed and ready to tap into their offshore wind resources. That group initially launched with Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. Maine and Rhode Island have also hopped on board.

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Didado Electric to Partner with Newpoint Gas on Advanced Hydrogen Generation and Carbon Sequestration Project in Ohio

Didado Electric announced today that it has signed a teaming agreement with Newpoint Gas to serve as a design assist and installation partner and provide electrical and grid services work on the redevelopment of the former U.S. Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PORTS) into an advanced hydrogen generation, decarbonization and combustion clean energy manufacturing facility near Piketon, Ohio.

The centerpiece of the h2Trillium Energy and Manufacturing (h2TEAM) Complex, the $1.5 billion project will be an integrated energy system – closed loop manufacturing facility powered by clean hydrogen, with carbon sequestration. At peak, in the construction phase, it will provide approximately 2,900 jobs and, when finished, will produce clean silicon, ammonia, and power.

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Governor Hochul Announces $16.6 Million in Awards for Five Long Duration Energy Storage Projects To Help Harness Renewable Energy and Provide Stored Energy to New York’s Electric Grid

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced $16.6 million in awards for five long duration energy storage projects that will help harness renewable energy and provide stored energy to New York’s electric grid. Governor Hochul also announced an additional $17 million in competitive funding available for projects that advance development and demonstration of scalable innovative long duration energy storage technologies, including hydrogen. The projects will support the current Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act goal to install 3,000 megawatts of energy storage by 2030 while facilitating further development to 6,000 megawatts.

Governor Hochul made today’s announcement at the 2022 Advanced Energy Conference in New York City. These awards and new funding are being made available through the Renewable Optimization and Energy Storage Innovation Program administered by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). The awards and funding will advance renewable energy integration and reduce harmful emissions from reliance on fossil fuels. The $16.6 million in awards will support the following projects:

>>> Borrego Solar Systems, Inc. – $2.7 million – To develop, design and construct two stand-alone energy storage systems and perform field demonstrations of a six-hour zinc hybrid cathode energy storage system in New York City to help demonstrate that zinc hybrid technology is economically competitive with lithium-ion.

>>> JC Solutions, LLC dba RCAM Technologies – $1.2 million – To develop a 3D concrete printed marine pumped hydroelectric storage system that integrates directly with offshore wind development in support of grid resiliency and reduced reliance on fossil fuel plants to meet periods of peak electric demand.

>>> Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station, LLC- $12.5 million – To demonstrate nuclear-hydrogen fueled peak power generation paired with a long duration hydrogen energy storage unit to help reduce emissions from the New York Independent System Operator electric grid.

>>> Power to Hydrogen – $100,000 – To develop a Reversible Fuel Cell System for Hydrogen Production and Energy Storage called the Clean Energy Bridge and to help facilitate the system’s readiness for demonstration and commercial adoption.

>>> ROCCERA, LLC – $100,000 – To evaluate and demonstrate a novel commercially viable Solid Oxide Electrolyzer Cell prototype for clean hydrogen production together with a corresponding scalable, more efficient manufacturing process.

Industrial cooperation needed to develop sustainable processes

From an Article by Joseph Chang, ICIS News, May 20, 2021

NEW YORK (ICIS)–Dow is advancing ethane dehydrogenation (EDH) and electric cracking (e-cracking) technologies in a bid to dramatically lower carbon emissions from existing crackers, and to one day build the low-to-zero carbon crackers of the future, executives said.

“If you look at both technologies, you can get 40-50% reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions [from each]. Our plan is to… get them to a point where they start supporting our net carbon neutrality goals,” said Manav Lahoti, global sustainability director for hydrocarbons for Dow, in an interview with ICIS.

“We’re trying to move as fast as we can in bringing EDH forward because there’s a high level of interest not only within the company but a need in the marketplace to have [low carbon] technologies that make ethylene economically viable,” he added.

Dow plans to cut net annual carbon emissions by 5m tonnes, or 15% by 2030 versus its 2020 baseline, with carbon neutrality achieved by 2050, including the impact of product benefits.

EDH FOR LOW-CARBON ETHYLENE

Dow is using its proprietary technology to develop EDH but also evaluating several potential technology providers, including EcoCatalytic Technologies.

The basis for Dow’s EDH is its UNIFINITY fluidised catalytic dehydrogenation (FCDh) technology, which it is deploying at its Plaquemine, Louisiana site. It is retrofitting one of its mixed-feed crackers there with FCDh technology to produce 100,000 tonnes/year of on-purpose propylene.

The project is expected to be built in 2021 with start-up slated for 2022. “We will demonstrate the propylene technology next year while we continue working on ethylene. Our long-term plans are to use that platform and apply it to ethane-to-ethylene [via EDH],” said Lahoti.

“It’s not going to happen in the next couple of years – it’s a little further out. It’s part of our multi-generational plan. We’re going to demonstrate EDH in one of our existing crackers and then from there we can talk about building a cracker using EDH from the ground up,” he added.

E-CRACKING PROGRESS

Dow is also working with Shell to develop electric cracking. Since their announcement in June 2020, “significant progress” has been made, with announcements to come in the weeks and months ahead.

In e-cracking, electricity would be used to heat cracker furnaces rather than natural gas. If that electricity comes from renewables such as solar and wind, it would largely decarbonise the process.

“We’re going to look at retrofitting some of the e-cracking technology into our crackers, demonstrating the technology. But at the same time, we are trying to figure out how to develop what we consider a novel solution that allows us to apply e-cracking to building a cracker from the ground up. That’s going to be further out,” said Lahoti.

Any decision to build a new cracker would take carbon emissions into account, and thus use one or more carbon mitigation technologies. “We build these assets for many decades. Any view [looking over] many decades has to have an ability to manage the climate conditions and regulations. I don’t see climate regulations getting easier over time,” said Edward Stones, global business director for energy and climate change.

VALUE-CHAIN DRIVEN

The timing of the use of low carbon cracker technologies will depend not only on technology development, but the value customers will assign to products produced with these technologies.

“Our customers are very interested in low carbon solutions, and frankly the cost of carbon abatement rises as we get closer to net zero, and the value of our products rises. So what we can afford to do in our value chain increases, and the speed can increase as well,” said Stones.

Dow is also developing resiliency on a corporate level, working on many different technologies and methods to reduce carbon emissions, including blue hydrogen, carbon capture and storage (CCS), renewable energy and efficiency projects.

“Those are areas where we can get tangible reductions in emissions with known technologies today that build your credibility and build the customer value chain,” said Stones.

EDH and e-cracking are not one-size-fits-all technologies – they would be part of a site-wide solution, he noted. “When you [look at] game changing technologies, this is where we believe that companies like Dow have a competitive edge because we are used to dealing with the complexities that come with these large, integrated sites,” said Lahoti.

“There’s no single technology that’s going to give us what we need. It’s going to be a combination of things we know today and things we’re working on that will make a significant difference,” he added.

The goal will be to get to world-scale capacities with these new technologies. “That is definitely where we want to take these technologies. We’re not going to stop at just a furnace or two. We want to make sure that it gets to be world-scale at that point in time when it’s ready,” said Lahoti.

HYDROGEN’S ROLE

Dow also sees hydrogen playing a role in decarbonising its crackers, most likely starting with blue hydrogen produced when methane is fed into an autothermal reformer (ATR), which produces carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen.

The CO2 is captured and stored, and the hydrogen can be sent to the cracker furnace to provide the process heat. Off gas can also be recycled back into the ATR.

“You also can use that hydrogen and CO2 cycle to feed your cogeneration facility, which will be important… in mitigating volatility of renewables [in electric power generation],” said Stones.

“An integrated site in the future would have all of these technologies. What we’re trying to figure out is, what’s the right balance across the sites? And some of that depends on what the value chain allows you to do… Developing those technologies in an integrated way is really how we win,” he added.

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