Will ‘white’ hydrogen rather than ‘EVs’ keep cars on the road

‘Clean’ electric vehicles (EVs) powered by renewable green energy are the current champions of sustainable motoring. Could they be overtaken by lots of ‘mining’ renewable ‘white’ hydrogen found in nature? Both have advantages. Both have challenges. The jury could be out for a while.

It may be a long-shot. But a big ‘yes’ for white hydrogen could affect our entire clean energy system. Because the impact could be potentially huge, I thought we should look closely at what a carbon-free natural energy resource might mean for our green energy infrastructure.

The ‘yes’ could also be important for Enzygo (www.enzygo.com). As an environmental planning and permitting consultancy we have already gained favourable consent conditions for a major pioneering UK energy project (‘Enzygo secures planning permission for the UK’s first waste-to-jet-fuel facility’ - (https://www.enzygo.com/news/enzygo-secures-planning-permission-waste-to-jet-fuel/).

Other wheels within wheels …

We also secured consent for two sustainable fuel plants producing Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), advanced biofuels, and Carbon Black (rCB) from end-of-life tyres that can cut environmental impacts from landfilling or the less-sustainable disposal of hard-to-recycle materials. More details later.

Just to recap the broad picture, the world’s goal is travel with no greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Batteries or gas when the pedal hits the metal?

EVs are one answer. But they are costly to make, need extensive power networks to recharge their heavy batteries, have range problems, and crucially must be run on green no-emissions electricity.

More than a million EVs have now been sold to run on UK roads, which is a powerful credential. But a tough competitor might be making rapid progress in the fast lane - naturally-occurring hydrogen.

Seldom do we get anything for nothing - and exploiting white hydrogen deposits is unlikely to be straight-forward. However, some powerful people are beginning to take it very seriously.

The US Geological Survey believes there is enough to meet world needs for centuries. President Macron has also promised ‘massive investments’ to kick-start the industry in France where a major find was made in early 2024.

Politics and fast cars

Political support for hydrogen projects in the US is also growing thanks to three recent laws - the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act and the CHIPS and Science Act.

But could the renewed interest in hydrogen recently shown by major car-makers be the extra vital catalyst needed to help trigger a white hydrogen revolution?

BMW CEO Oliver Zipse reportedly thinks hydrogen engines will have a significant long-term role as fast performance, quick refuelling, and environmental sustainability factors become aligned with other emerging transport sector priorities. White could be a bonus.

If only there was more hydrogen!

So, how do the battery v hydrogen (hydrogen fuel-cell) arguments stack up?

We know hydrogen can replace petrol and diesel in combustion engines. But a more efficient use of the gas is in ‘fuel-cells’ - essentially small power stations which generate electricity but release only pure water as waste.

High-pressure hydrogen gas from a vehicle’s storage system combined with atmospheric oxygen is fed into the cells. As this comes into contact with the cell’s anode and cathode, an electrochemical reaction breaks up hydrogen molecules - releasing water, plus electrons which generate electricity.

EV advocates say battery technology is three times more energy-efficient than hydrogen. Hydrogen carried in thousands of cars is an explosion hazard, they warn. Hydrogen will always be in limited supply, they add. It escapes easily from pipeline networks. And it is a greenhouse gas.

The counter-argument is that large fuel-cells already provide stationary energy sources in big buildings. Hydrogen will also power heavy vehicles, trains and ships. As a combustible gas, it could be used as a domestic fuel in the home - although there are public-acceptability problems here.

Hydrogen, however, could have a major new ‘supply’ trick and renaissance up its sleeve.

Blue, green and white supply routes

The conventional wisdom is that hydrogen does not occur naturally and must be ‘made’ or manufactured from other feedstocks. To date, two main production routes are being developed in the UK.

The first is ‘blue’ hydrogen made industrially using fossil-fuel sources to split methane. The co-product is CO2 which to be sustainable must be captured and stored permanently underground. The second is ‘green’ hydrogen isolated using renewable energy to split water by hydrolysis.

Producing both blue and green hydrogen currently involve setting up ‘clusters’ of specialist technology companies and operations at key points across the country.

But the discovery of huge natural ‘white’ hydrogen reserves that might be ‘mined’ could offer a third route without an extensive production infrastructure, although a distribution network will still be needed.

Much may depend on how the white hydrogen exploration pans out in the short- and long-term.

What will the future bring?

Hydrogen and battery technologies both distribute energy to distant customers. Each faces tough challenges. However, the current winner for many governments is EVs, and EV charging networks.

Even so, there are now very strong signs that hydrogen is gaining a second-wind. Some leading car-makers, including BMW, see it as a necessary addition to batteries to ensure sustainability.

One view from the high-end automotive sector is that the EV revolution will be followed in the 2050s by a true hydrogen revolution. Another suggestion is to link the two technologies, with white hydrogen fuelling future power stations that generate clean electricity for EV charging networks.

Meanwhile, another interesting question is what is causing a sudden surge in white hydrogen optimism which did not exist even a year ago.

Mining clean hydrogen worldwide - the next huge thing?

At the time of writing this post, a huge deposit of natural hydrogen gas has been detected under an Albanian mine (https://www.newscientist.com/article/2416060-huge-deposit-of-natural-hydrogen-gas-detected-deep-in-albanian-mine/?utm_source=onesignal&utm_medium=push&utm_campaign=2024-02-09-Underground-hyd).

It follows another major January 2024 find by French scientists - possibly 250 million tonnes - 1,000 metres underground in north-east France which they estimate could meet the planet’s demand for at least two years (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/25/underground-hydrogen-discovery-france-raises-hopes-for-clean-energy).

Probably even more importantly, white hydrogen is produced when groundwater reacting with iron-rich minerals is split and releases hydrogen in a process they think could continue almost indefinitely – making it a true renewable.

Not just Europe

Going still further, the US Geological Survey (USGS) estimates some 100,000 megatonnes of hydrogen are accessible worldwide under the Earth’s surface, and that if only a small fraction is recovered, there might be enough to last for hundreds of years.

Another interested party is the?US Department of Energy (DOE) which is focussing on finding disruptive ways to reach, explore, and perhaps stimulate, the yield potential of geological hydrogen.

The search is now also on in Australia, Canada, Norway, Mali and Oman. Russia with its great land take is a known source. Britain, unfortunately is not. But might be a potential importer.

Drilling down into the problems

As I said above, there are unlikely to be easy early answers. There will almost inevitably be many hurdles, maybes, unknowns and dead-ends before we know whether we are facing a second, more extensive, and almost completely sustainable hydrogen revolution.

Is there a huge reserve of hydrogen hidden in the Earth? The answer is probably yes, but no one yet knows how much - and how much could be recovered for energy.

Scientists have known about white hydrogen for years but assumed it would also dissipate naturally into the atmosphere. As a result, many unanswered questions remain about volumes, accessibility, costs, extraction rights, and international transport systems.

Vested fossil-fuel interests

Another influential party that could make or break a white hydrogen revolution is the established oil and gas industry which does want its fossil-fuel assets to be ‘stranded’, and might be weighing up whether supporting geological hydrogen will be in its best long-term interests.

To understand white hydrogen’s full potential, we need to look at some other factors that coincidentally at this point are helping to shape transport history.

- On the road

According to Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT data in February 2024, a million pure battery electric car (1,001,677 in fact) were sold in the UK since 2022 - and could reach two million by 2026. Most of the 35.1 million on UK roads in 2022, however, were fossil-fuel driven.

EVs are powered by electricity stored in stacks of lithium-ion cells rechargeable batteries. They drive an electric motor that creates a magnetic field which turns a rotor shaft that drives the car’s wheels. Regenerative braking recovers energy from the wheels and tops up the battery.

- On your marques

A number of high-end marques have overcome hydrogen’s hurdles and foresee a future EV/hydrogen production mix. BMW says its flagship factory in Munich will produce just EVs from 2027, but is allocating space for other sustainable options, including hydrogen alternatives it is working hard to develop.

Hyundai and Honda see 2040 as a possible date for the mass adoption of hydrogen passenger vehicles - depending of refuelling infrastructure, reaching critical mass, and reducing customer prices. Honda foresees the EV era coming first, followed by fuel-cell cars some time later.

Meanwhile, both marques are focussing their hydrogen efforts on replacing diesel as the fuel of choice for heavy goods and commercial vehicles.

UK hydrogen production

The UK’s hydrogen strategy in 2021 set out delivery plans up to 2030 to support the Sixth Carbon Budget, plus net-zero, through the development of production, networks, storage, end-users, and markets (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64c7e8bad8b1a70011b05e38/UK-Hydrogen-Strategy_web.pdf).

The strategy was updated in 2023 by the ‘Hydrogen Net Zero Investment Roadmap’ (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/649e92d906179b000c3f75b0/hydrogen-investment-roadmap.pdf).

UK hydrogen clusters

In 2021, a carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) cluster sequencing process was introduced to identify clusters suitable for the mid-2020s. This was also updated in 2023 (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cluster-sequencing-phase-2-eligible-projects-power-ccus-hydrogen-and-icc/cluster-sequencing-phase-2-eligible-projects-power-ccus-hydrogen-and-icc).

Redcar rebels!

But not everyone is happy. Plans to trial hydrogen to heat homes in Redcar on the Yorkshire coast were abandoned in December 2023 after strong opposition from residents who feared the ‘hydrogen village’ scheme expected to start in 2025 would raise their energy bills and be unsafe.

Similar plans to pilot hydrogen as a low-carbon alternative to home gas supplies in Whitby, Cheshire, were scrapped in July 2023 after local opposition. The Government’s explanation was that the schemes were cancelled because of insufficient local hydrogen production.

Even with white hydrogen, a revolution might not be an automatic done deal!

Hydrogen rainbow

As a footnote it might be worth mentioning that ‘brown’ hydrogen is produced by burning lignite (brown coal) and ‘black’ hydrogen by burning coal. ‘Pink’ hydrogen (also known as ‘purple’ or ‘red’) comes from using nuclear energy for electrolysis.

‘Turquoise’ hydrogen is the result of methane pyrolysis which produces hydrogen and solid carbon. Meanwhile, yellow hydrogen is produced using solar power for electrolysis.

Tired old tyres

I also mentioned above winning planning permission for a key tyre recycling project … in Belfast.

We actually secured consent under delegated powers for two sustainable fuel plants in a single planning application. One produces Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) from used cooking oil (UCO) while the other produces advanced biofuels and recovered Carbon Black (rCB) from end-of-life tyres.

The significance is that the proposed development will reduce environmental impacts associated with landfilling - or the less sustainable disposal of hard-to-recycle material - and will provide a source of renewable fuel from UCO and end-of-life tyres in accordance with the waste hierarchy.

More information

White hydrogen is a very specific topic. However, if you would like more information on any planning-related issues, or want to discuss potential projects where design, planning, or permitting factors are involved, please feel free to contact me directly.

Matt Travis, Managing Director, Enzygo Ltd