Around 1.5gt/yr of CO₂ could be captured and stored by installations producing blue hydrogen in 2030—roughly 20pc of the 7gt/yr that needs to be captured and stored under a scenario where net-zero emissions are achieved by 2050, according to the latest report from thinktank the Energy Transitions Commission (ETC).

Despite the falling costs of green hydrogen, some blue hydrogen capacity is likely to be needed to meet hydrogen capacity targets, says the report, entitled Carbon Capture, Utilisation & Storage in the Energy Transition: Vital but Limited.

“Blue hydrogen may still be a key growth sector for CCUS in the 2020s, particularly in regions that can benefit from low gas production costs,” it says.

“Blue hydrogen may still be a key growth sector for CCUS in the 2020s” ETC

Seven commercial plants are in operation today, with another 17 in the pipeline.

A plausible pathway for CCUS deployment could see around another 50 added in the
next decade, with total capture capacity of 1.5gt/yr by 2030, the report outlines.

“This growth reflects the fact the blue hydrogen is currently still lower-cost than green in several locations, particularly in cases where existing “grey” (unabated) production can be retrofitted via the addition of CCS,” it says.

However blue hydrogen faces potentially significant public opposition if concerns around the impact of methane leakage cannot be addressed, the report authors note.

There is an active debate around blue hydrogen on the grounds that if methane leakage rates in the supply chain are high pre-conversion and capture rates low post-conversion, this undermines the technology’s climate benefit.

Governments and companies should ensure that monitoring is in place throughout the supply chain, and ensure high-emitting projects are tackled with regulation, industry standards and limits on eligibility for public funding.

Tackling upstream methane emissions is particularly important, according to market reporting organisation ICIS.

Upstream gas operations were responsible for 28mn t/yr of methane emissions in 2020.

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Author: Tom Young