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March 01, 2022Hydrogen and inorganic chemicals in 2050
The chemicals, fuels, and materials industries are undergoing a fundamentally energy transition to become carbon neutral by 2050. The major inputs for the process industries – carbon sources, minerals, energy, and inorganic chemicals – will all have to fundamentally change to accommodate this goal. What kind of transformation this implies is a major question, and as the world’s leading consultancy for sustainability in the process industries NexantECA is working hard on researching the shape of the future.
Critical inorganic materials are in many cases dependent on fossil fuels, despite containing no carbon. Hydrogen, chlorine, caustic, hydrogen peroxide, ammonia, quicklime, and sulfuric acid are all basic inputs critical to industry. Virtually all depend, directly or indirectly, on fossil fuel inputs. The main current exceptions are chlorine and caustic, which are produced using the electrified chlor-alkali process
The future of these inorganic chemical industries goes beyond mere retrofitting for electrification. Current hydrogen production is almost entirely based on fossil-based natural gas reforming and on reformer operations in refineries, and both peroxide and ammonia are dependent on hydrogen. Quicklime production is based around kiln designs that require direct impingement of a radiant flame for heat transfer. Sulfuric acid production processes are centered on reduced sulfur derived from petroleum and natural gas. All of these uses of fossil process inputs and energy will be radically curtailed in 2050.
What changes are likely to occur by 2050? For some of these chemicals, wholesale process changes or additional inputs will be needed. Quicklime production, for example, may be forced to move to indirectly heated rotary kilns using electrical heating elements, redesign using exotic heating methods not currently in use, or else sequester their carbon emissions. Sulfuric acid production has the advantage of being a net energy producer when based on byproduct elemental sulfur, but the cessation of byproduct removal from fossil fuel desulfurization may eventually see a return to pyrite roasting after current sulfur inventories are exhausted.
Hydrogen-based processes, however, have a wide variety of interesting options for which there is no clear front-runner. The sheer diversity of hydrogen production options has been driven by decades of research on automotive fueling, synthetic fuels, and the “hydrogen economy” concept. Not only has “blue hydrogen” based on conventional methane reforming with carbon capture and sequestration been proposed, electrolysis of water for hydrogen production has been greatly advanced by the commercial development of PEM membrane technology. Still other proposals have included methane pyrolysis, renewable feedstock-derived syngas production, and even the exotic high-temperature sulfur-iodine cycle.
NexantECA’s upcoming report on Green Hydrogen, part of our Biorenewable Insights series in the Technology and Costs program, takes a deep dive into the latest available data, using our unique capabilities in techno-economic analysis to benchmark new and innovative processes against existing methods of production. New in 2022, our Biorenewable Insights reports now feature analysis of Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions from modeled processes to provide an industrywide accounting of competitiveness along this new important policy compliance axis.
Find out more...
Biorenewable Insights Report on Green Hydrogen. Renewable or green hydrogen is being developed as a working chemical for the renewable fuels and chemicals sector and as fuel for transportation and other applications. Production options explored for several global regions include thermochemical (biomass gasification), bio-methane reforming, electrolytic, and other, advanced pathways.
Market Insights: Hydrogen - 2022 provides a comprehensive review of the global hydrogen market, including various sources of hydrogen supply and demand in refineries, ammonia, methanol, energy and fuels, oxo alcohols, other chemicals (cyclohexane, hydrogen peroxide, aniline etc).
The Author
Joshua C. Velson, Consultant
About Us - NexantECA, the Energy and Chemicals Advisory company is the leading advisor to the energy, refining, and chemical industries. Our clientele ranges from major oil and chemical companies, governments, investors, and financial institutions to regulators, development agencies, and law firms. Using a combination of business and technical expertise, with deep and broad understanding of markets, technologies and economics, NexantECA provides solutions that our clients have relied upon for over 50 years.
