BROWN HYDROGEN SYNGAS LIGNITE

BROWN HYDROGEN

BROWN HYDROGEN IS DIRTIER THAN GRAY, BLUE OR TURQUOISE AND BAD FOR THE PLANET YELLOW AND GREEN ARE CLEAN

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MULTI PURPOSE - The same service station that provides freshly charged hydrogen batteries, doubles up as an energy store for the national grid of the country concerned, without resorting to gas holders. Why put in load levelling stations that only have one function? We hope this is a topic of discussion at the forthcoming UN COP 26 in Glasgow, Scotland in November 2021.

WHAT IS BROWN HYDROGEN ?

Brown hydrogen is hydrogen that is produced via the gasification of coal or lignite, in other words converting a fossil fuel into a more useful energy carrier. But converting coal to hydrogen is not climate friendly, or an efficient use of resources when it comes to cooling planet earth.

Brown hydrogen is dirtier than Gray, Blue or Turquoise hydrogen. The cleanest form of hydrogen production is Yellow or Green hydrogen, produced from renewable electricity.

The oldest way of producing hydrogen is by transforming coal into gas. Gasification processes convert organic or fossil-based carbonaceous materials into carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide. Gasification is achieved at very high temperatures (more than 700°C), without combustion, with a controlled amount of oxygen and/or steam. The carbon monoxide then reacts with water to form carbon dioxide and more hydrogen via a water-gas shift reaction.

The gas generated via coal gasification is called syngas and the hydrogen can be separated from the other elements using adsorbers or special membranes. This hydrogen is known as brown or black depending of the type of coal used: brown (lignite) or black (bituminous) coal. It is the result of a highly polluting process since both CO2 and carbon monoxide cannot be reused and are released in the atmosphere.

This an extremely dirty way of producing hydrogen, unsustainable and one of the least attractive options in terms of a creating a circular economy.

HYDROGEN COLOUR	METHOD	ENVIRONMENTAL RATING
-	-	-
WHITE	NATURALLY OCCURRING	NEUTRAL
YELLOW HYDROGEN	SOLAR POWERED ELECTROLYSIS	CLEANEST
GREEN HYDROGEN	RENEWABLE ELECTROLYSIS	CLEAN
TURQUOISE HYDROGEN	METHANE PYROLYSIS	UNDER EVALUATION
BLUE HYDROGEN	STEAM REFORMATION	USING CARBON CAPTURE & STORAGE
PINK HYDROGEN	NUCLEAR POWERED	LONG TERM POLLUTION ISSUES
GRAY HYDROGEN	STEAM REFORMATION	DIRTY
BROWN HYDROGEN	COAL GASIFICATION	SERIOUSLY DAMAGING
BLACK HYDROGEN	COAL GASIFICATION	SERIOUSLY DAMAGING

NATURAL CARBON LOCK - It took a long time for nature to capture and lock up carbon in coal. It makes no sense to gasify coal to release carbon and hydrogen, as with conversion options using carbon capture and storage (CCS) to turn a process from dirty to near neutral. That is wasteful of energy and unsustainable.

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