February 24, 2022 • Paul Rodden • Season: 2022 • Episode: 93
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Welcome to The Hydrogen Podcast!
In episode 093, A lot of buzz going around about hydrogen internal combustion engines, a new program for subsurface hydrogen gets launched. And could the electrolyzer supply issues damage India’s hydrogen goals? All of this on today’s hydrogen podcast.
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Transcript:
A lot of buzz going around about hydrogen internal combustion engines, a new program for subsurface hydrogen gets launched. And could the electrolyzer supply issues damage India’s hydrogen goals? All of this on today’s hydrogen podcast.
So the big questions in the energy industry today are, how is hydrogen the primary driving force behind the evolution of energy? Where is capital being deployed for hydrogen projects globally? And where are the best investment opportunities for early adopters who recognize the importance of hydrogen? I will address the critical issues and give you the information you need to deploy capital. Those are the questions will unlock the potential of hydrogen, and this podcast will give you the answers. My name is Paul Rodden, and welcome to the hydrogen podcast.
First off today, Cemvita in a press release, announced they have launched the gold hydrogen program for subservice bio manufacturing of hydrogen. The announcement released on February 17, states that the gold hydrogen program which is a coalition of organizations seeking to support the scale of this clean energy resource, announced its launch and the debut of a pilot microbial gold hydrogen process during this week’s second American hydrogen forum, a joint industry partnership to commercialize clean gold hydrogen. The program’s founding members include Cemvita Factory, which is an innovator in low carbon microbial solutions for energy and mining resource extraction, production and renewal and Chart Industries Inc, a leader in clean energy solutions. Other collaborators include EXP, which is a global engineering consulting firm, and the Center for Houston’s Future, a nonprofit organization devoted to fact based strategic planning, collaboration and action on issues of great importance to the long term future of Houston.
Now, hydrogen can be naturally occurring or manufactured when burned, its only byproduct is water at almost double the efficiency of conventional fuel, It is a prized source of clean energy. However, conventional hydrogen production is energy intensive. Thus, hydrogen products are classified by colors, green, blue, gray, brown, and more that describe the process used for creation this including electrolysis, Steam methane, oil or coal production methods, and now found naturally deep in the earth, Gold hydrogen is an unparalleled resource that until now has been cost prohibitive to extract and not commercially viable. However, this could change with a new subsurface bio manufacturing technique spearheaded by Cemvita that hold the promise for efficient and clean extraction. With the potential to revitalize and remediate 1000s of depleted abandoned oil and gas reservoirs around the country.
The extraction techniques meld existing infrastructure with cutting edge microbiology to scale clean energy solutions quickly while creating new revenue streams for heavy industry companies. In a quote from Moji Karimi CEO Cemvita Factory gold hydrogen presents a unique opportunity for innovative companies who would like to lead the energy transition not follow, especially the legacy oil and gas companies with existing assets and infrastructure, skilled workforces and global footprints. And according to Zach Broussard, head of petroleum microbiology at Cemvita and gold hydrogen program manager, reservoir microbiology has incredible potential for unlocking the promise of gold hydrogen in a clean, efficient way.
Through this program, we are looking forward to collaborating with companies who value true disruptive innovation and are committed to pioneering the clean energy transition, not just talking about it, and according to L.J. Guillotte, EXP’s Business Development Director of Energy Services, The need for innovative energy solutions is paramount as the role continues to shift towards green energy to help clients achieve their goals of outcome focused, safe and achievable energy solutions. We joined Cemvita and partners on this important initiative. And according to Brett Perlman CEO for the Center for Houston’s future, Cemvita Factories work on building an alliance to commercialize gold hydrogen, and to transform Heavy Industries for a Net Zero economy shows how Houston companies can lead and low carbon energy innovation.
The center is creating a coalition of stakeholders, including Cemvita and its partners committed to developing the Houston region as a clean hydrogen hub. Cemvita work illustrates how hydrogens deep energy industry expertise can drive this effort. And in a quote from Jill Evanko, CEO of Chart Industries, we continue to believe that innovation and collaboration are critical to the future of hydrogen in the accomplishment of private and public carbon emission reduction goals. Cemvita has a unique approach to this and we are pleased to partner with another application that is likely to utilize Chart hydrogen and cryogenic equipment. Through the gold hydrogen program member companies collaborate to generate gold hydrogen cleanly, efficiently and at scale to meet rising demand. Program members receive early access to IP at preferential rates and participation and the group is capped at 10 members.
Okay, so this isn’t the first time I’ve mentioned gold hydrogen on this show. But this technology in this technique is very different. What is probably the most interesting thing about this technology is that they’re estimating their cost of production of hydrogen to be less than $1 per kilogram. So now if that estimation holds true, and they can produce this at scale, this could be a very good solution for hydrogen production in depleted oil and gas reservoirs. Next, in an article from reuters.com Sudarshan Varadhan writes, India plans to produce 5 million tons per year of green hydrogen by 2030. India will set up separate manufacturing zones and wave interstate power transmission charges for 25 years and provide priority connectivity to electric grids to green hydrogen and ammonia producers in a bid to incentivize production. This is according to the Federal Power ministry. The 5 million tonnes production target is half that of the European Union, which plans to produce 10 million tonnes of hydrogen from renewable energy by 2030. While green hydrogen is not currently made in India on a commercial scale, the country’s richest men, Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani have announced plans to produce it.
India with a population more than three times larger than that of the EU has a much lower per capita energy consumption but among the fastest rates of energy demand growth in the world. Mayank Bansal, chief commercial officer of ReNew Power said the incentives announced by India could help lower the cost of hydrogen manufacturing. Quote, currently manufacturing green hydrogen is a costly proposition. And in cognizance of this, the government has correctly waved off interstate transmission charges. India’s power Minister RK Singh said on February 16, the green hydrogen manufacturers will also be allowed to transmit unused electricity to the grid. And the incentives announced on the 17th are the first part of India’s national hydrogen policy. The government has not said when the rest will be released. India also plans to provide federal financial support to set up electrolyzers as it wants to make use of the green hydrogen mandatory for refineries and fertilizer plants.
Okay, so this is interesting news to come out of India. But it does throw a red flag in it looking to produce 5 million tons per year of green hydrogen in the next eight years is a huge undertaking. And it’s going to rely heavily on the availability of electrolyzers. And with other countries as well as the European Union already having announced massive plans for green hydrogen, it could be very difficult to get electrolyzers. Now with all that being said, it’s entirely possible that is going to be a non issue, and that the demand for 5 million tonnes may not be there. But until we get more information on the fleshed out hydrogen plan for India, all we can do now is speculate. And lastly, some fun news from Yamaha and Toyota as together they’ve developed a five liter V eight engine for hydrogen combustion. Now this isn’t the first time that we’ve talked about Toyota’s development with hydrogen internal combustion engines and this team up with Yamaha is really interesting. Because this is the second time Toyota and Yamaha have teamed up on a car.
The first being the Lexus LFA. And also interesting in this announcement is the fact that Yamaha is also working with Kawasaki on developing another hydrogen internal combustion engine for motorcycles. I don’t know just how valid this is in terms of future development for hydrogen internal combustion engines. But Toyota and Yamaha aren’t alone in the Japanese car market looking at hydrogen internal combustion engines. Mazda Kawasaki and Subaru have also pledged to look at alternative fuels for their vehicles while also pledging to continue to invest in internal combustion engines. And this announcement comes one week after Yamaha put out a press release, stating that they will bolster its research and development facilities for powertrain technologies aimed at achieving carbon neutrality, such as electric motors and hydrogen engines throughout the duration of its new medium term management plan.
This expansion will install in stages various new equipment, including electric motor test benches, hydrogen supply equipment, and carbon neutral fuel storage tanks. Also, coming on the heels of this joint venture announcement was a teaser from Renault about a new hydrogen fuel cell car that they’re developing the final concept of which is scheduled to be revealed in May of this year. Ultimately, I think hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will win out in this hydrogen race for cars if for no other reason than because with the cost of creating hydrogen being so high, you need the most efficient way of extracting the energy out of hydrogen and that would be fuel cells. But I’m not gonna lie. The Car Guy in me loves the idea of hydrogen internal combustion engines.
Alright, that’s it for me everyone. If you have any questions, comments or concerns about today’s episode come and visit me at thehydrogenpodcast.com. Or you can always email me at info@thehydrogenpodcast.com. I would really love to hear from you. And as always, take care. Stay safe. I’ll talk to you later.
Hey, this is Paul. I hope you liked this podcast. If you did and want to hear more, I’d appreciate it if you would either subscribe to this channel on YouTube, or connect with your favorite platform through my website at www.thehydrogenpodcast.com. Thanks for listening. I very much appreciate it. Have a great day.
