A new type of energy has just been discovered in the United States, with the possibility closer than ever to change the global landscape and bring us closer to net zero. It is turquoise, or rather, a fusion of two that we already know, blue and green, respectively. We tell you what it is, how it will revolutionize transportation and how we intend to produce it on a large scale.
The new type of energy we´ve just discovered: turquoise and special
Nowadays, there is more and more srong desire for a new kind of hydrogen named by scientists “turquoise hydrogen” in the US. The term turquoise hydrogen can be applied to a crude pyrolysis case where the natural gas is being heated in an oxygen deprivation mechanism to produce hydrogen and a solid carbon product.
While methane reforming that produces steam as a by-product of hydrogen emission is the traditional method of hydrogen production, ‘turquoise hydrogen’ process retains the solid carbon to give nearly zero emission of greenhouse gases.
During the next 4 years the Biden’s administration is going to procure a transformation of the power source to the carbon-free level by 2035. Therefore, efficiency in energy saving must assume precedence during the transition of fuel sources to renewable hydrogens.
Major US power suppliers have announced their plans on developing blue hydrogen plants in the country. People in culture simply date it turquoise hydrogen a potential factor of transformation in the United States to reach its high stakes of the climate goals as well keeping the energy security.
Three main ways of producing hydrogen in United States: what about turquoise one?
Most of the hydrogen produced today comes from fossil fuels, which results in carbon emissions. There are different categories of hydrogen production:
- Gray hydrogen is produced from natural gas or coal, without capturing any of the resulting carbon emissions. This is the most common method today, but also the most carbon-intensive.
- Blue hydrogen also uses fossil fuels as the energy source, but the carbon emissions are captured and stored or utilized. This makes blue hydrogen less carbon-intensive than gray.
- Green hydrogen is produced via electrolysis powered by renewable energy. This process splits water into hydrogen and oxygen using an electric current.
Turquoise hydrogen, also known as low-carbon hydrogen, is a new method of producing hydrogen with significantly lower carbon emissions than traditional methods. It uses a process called pyrolysis to produce hydrogen from natural gas.
Benefits of turquoise hydrogen: more than one may think
Hydrogen tinted green hydrogen has several worthwhile advantages to be considered while hydrogen production scaling-up is being considered in the US. The most noticed affect of blue H2 is that it emits lower amounts of carbon than gray hydrogen that is generated using natural gas.
Instead of going for the standard process of methane splitting into carbon dioxide and hydrogen, turquoise hydrogen is using a direct methane pyrolysis to disintegrate natural gas into hydrogen and solid carbon which produces zero direct greenhouse gas emissions.
Additionally, turquoise hydrogen is estimated to currently be able to produce power cheaper than green hydrogen derived from hydroelectricity facilitated by renewable energy. By now, the technology of electrolyzers and renewable sources, compared to fossil fuels, are still more expensive.
Considering the forecast that pure turquoise hydrogen can cost $1-2/kg for production (compared to at least $3-5/kg green hydrogen and higher), there is a great anticipation for its economic future. This means, therefore, that turquoise is economically as good as scaling up hydrogen production with existing natural gas.
It is clear that turquoise hydrogen has the potential to redefine the rules of extraction, leaving behind the unsustainable methods that characterize other colors of this energy. Among them, pink, red or purple, which are not very convincing (not even using Bill Gates’ Natrium, which even the White House is considering boosting with subsidies).