Europe is striving to decarbonize all sectors and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. A major challenge, especially in Poland, is the heating sector, which is increasingly feeling the pressure to modernize and use alternative solutions. One of these is hydrogen, specifically a hydrogen boiler, which will enable carbon-free heat generation.
The emission-free hydrogen boiler – what is it and how does it work?
The hydrogen boiler being developed by SES Hydrogen Energy is an innovative and environmentally friendly heating device for medium and large-scale applications – in district heating, industry, and as a local heat source for commercial buildings and residential estates.
The operation of a hydrogen boiler is based on burning hydrogen in pure oxygen, rather than in atmospheric air or a blend with natural gas, as is the case with H2Ready boilers. They are similar in design to gas boilers and are adapted to burn natural gas with a hydrogen admixture of typically about 20-30% (depending on the technology). They are an environmentally friendly alternative for heating and industry, providing emissions reduction but not elimination.
A hydrogen boiler, using clean substrates and a specially designed closed loop, will ensure the elimination of not only COx emissions but also NOx, SOx, and dust. This is because the only products of the combustion process are energy and steam (water). This finds additional application in the food, processing, chemical, pulp, and paper or steel industries as high-temperature process steam.
Hydrogen boiler – hydrogen unequal to hydrogen
The main advantage of hydrogen is zero emissions. During its combustion, unlike conventional sources, no harmful pollutants are produced. However, if we want to talk about a fully ecological solution, we must also consider the source of hydrogen.
Currently, the most common is gray hydrogen which is extracted by the SMR (steam methane reforming) process, whose emissions are estimated at 9 kg of CO2 for every kilogram of hydrogen produced. About two-thirds of the total global production is hydrogen produced in special facilities, and the remainder is a by-product of technological processes or is produced in a mixture with other gases. The production of gray hydrogen per year can account for up to 830 million tons of CO2 emissions.
That is why the European Commission is putting special emphasis on replacing gray hydrogen in all sectors with green hydrogen. This is hydrogen produced by electrolysis of water using renewable energy. In hydrogen generators, commonly known as electrolyzers, water is split into oxygen and hydrogen under electric voltage. This produces substrates without emitting CO2 throughout the process.
Hydrogen boiler plant – production of green hydrogen and clean heat
A solution that combines the production of green hydrogen and clean heat is a hydrogen boiler plant. It is a medium-sized hydrogen hub that can include production, storage, and heat generation modules.
A full hydrogen boiler plant provides the use of energy from dedicated RES farms – photovoltaic and/or wind – to power an electrolyzer system that produces pure hydrogen. Depending on the configuration, it is possible to supplement the hub with grid power to increase the stability of the plant’s operation. The ultimate purity of such a process depends on the purity of the electric grid. The hydrogen can then be compressed and stored for up to a long time and be used to power a hydrogen boiler.
Hydrogen heating – why does the EU need new heating models?
New heating models based on renewable hydrogen fuel will ensure that cities, businesses, and investors meet EU and national goals to decarbonize the most demanding sectors, diversify energy sources, increase the share of RES, develop distributed energy, replace conventional fuels with renewable hydrogen, and thus increase its consumption in Europe in line with the EU Hydrogen Strategy. This is also an opportunity to improve energy security. After all, a hydrogen boiler plant can act as an independent energy ecosystem, thus reducing dependence on fuel imports and the risk of volatile fuel prices in the long term.
All of the above are extremely important in light of the ongoing energy transition, which aims to reduce EU emissions by 55% by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. This will not be possible without reducing emissions from the buildings sector, which currently has a key share, accounting for 35% of the EU’s total energy-related emissions. Currently, up to about 80% of the sector’s energy demand comes from heating and cooling needs. Emissions therefore come largely from the direct use of fossil fuels in buildings for heating (gas and coal-fired boilers), and partly from the production of electricity and heat in centralized facilities for transmission and end use.
The European Commission has taken several regulatory measures to adapt buildings in the EU and create new heating systems that increasingly use renewable energy, to make it up to 100% by 2050 (Energy Efficiency Directive). The hydrogen boiler plant is already meeting these goals, guaranteeing clean hydrogen and emission-free heat.
Sources: IRENA, Hydrogen Overview https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/indicators/greenhouse-gas-emissions-from-energy
