15 June 2021
Welcome to the first feature in a series entitled Hydrogen for Industry (H24I) from the Ashurst Global Towards Net-Zero Emissions team. This H24I feature is entitled Hydrogen from Waste.
Ashurst suite:
The H24I features are intended to complement other Ashurst initiatives, including publications Low Carbon Pulse and The Shift to Hydrogen (S2H2): Elemental Change series. Low Carbon Pulse is published every other week to provide an update on significant current news on progress towards net-zero GHG emissions. S2H2 articles are published once a quarter or so to provide a more detailed review of matters of general application to all industries (Article 1: Why H2? Why now?, Article 2: What needs to be decarbonized? And what role can hydrogen play?). The intention is to publish a H24I feature every other month. Each H24I feature will take a more detailed look at an industry or sector, or part of it, and the role of hydrogen in that industry or sector.
During the next twelve to fifteen months or so the intention is publish H24I features covering the following subject matter: Hydrogen and Freight Haulage (Road, Rail and Shipping), Hydrogen and the Public Transport sector, Hydrogen and the Automotive Industry, Hydrogen in the Difficult to Decarbonise Industries, Hydrogen in the Energy Mix During Energy Transition and Energy Transition and the Building and Construction sector.
The intention is to keep each H24I feature to between 6,000 and 7,500 words in its published form: each feature is derived from fuller form materials prepared for Ashurst clients to allow a broader and deeper understanding of the subject matter, critically, the commercial, legal and technical issues that arise in development and transactional settings, and transition to net-zero.
Context and time define:
Much of the text in this H24I feature (Hydrogen from Waste) was drafted over 12 months ago for inclusion in an article titled Part 1: Fuel and Feedstock Resource Recovery – Energy Carriers from Waste (published April 21, 2020), the seventh article in the Ashurst Waste-to-Wealth series. At that time, hydrogen from waste was recognised as likely to develop in the context of waste processing and treatment projects generally. The authors chose not to include reference to hydrogen as one of the energy carriers from waste in that article because the thinking was that it was too early to do so.
Since that time, the momentum towards the use of hydrogen as an energy carrier has increased dramatically, and appears increasingly likely to be critical as part of progress towards net-zero with the use of CH4-rich wastewater and the organic fraction of waste streams as a feedstock to derive and to produce hydrogen.
On May 18, 2021, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released a publication entitled “Net Zero by 2050, A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector” (IEA Special Report) (link). The IEA Special Report focuses on the Energy Sector. The Energy Sector includes bioenergy, which includes deriving or producing energy from waste, what the IEA refers to as advanced bioenergy. The use of wastewater and waste to derive and to produce hydrogen greatly increases the potential of bioenergy.
Overview of this feature:
This H24I feature is divided into two sections:
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Section 1 – On the Road to Net-Zero: providing background on the GHG emissions that arise from wastewater and waste, the type of wastewater and waste used as a feedstock to derive or to produce hydrogen, the characterisation and colour of hydrogen used to describe hydrogen derived and produced from wastewater and waste, and an introduction to the technologies used to derive or to produce hydrogen; and
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Section 2 – From Wastewater and Waste to Energy Carrier to Oxidation: providing background on hydrogen, the production and use of hydrogen as an energy carrier, and, in this context, the energy content of hydrogen compared to other energy carriers, such as diesel and motor spirit (gasoline and petrol), and more detail on thermo-chemistry.
Click here to download.(Pdf 20 Pages).
