Unlocking the potential of the hydrogen sector

Hydrogen is the smallest and most abundant element in the universe. On Earth it is rarely found in its free form - hydrogen gas. Instead, it must be extracted from compounds that contain it such as water, methane, and biomass.

Unlike traditional fossil fuels, the combustion of hydrogen does not produce any greenhouse gas emissions, such as CO2. “Hydrogen is a clean fuel since its combustion yields only water – this is of significant interest to securing a net zero future given its potential to decarbonise electricity generation, transport, and heat” explains Levidian’s Research and Innovation Funding Manager Mike Lloyd.

Despite being considered an energy carrier of the future, hydrogen and, more specifically, its mass adoption has faced its challenges.

These in part relate to doubts about hydrogen’s efficiency and economic viability. As hydrogen must be made from other compounds, renewable electricity might be more energy efficient to use as power, rather than first converting it to hydrogen. Traditional methods of producing hydrogen have also been called out for not being as ‘green’ as made out to be. Moreover, to accommodate hydrogen at scale would require significant new and/or adapted energy infrastructure to be put in place.

Fast forward to today and renewable power is cheaper, technologies have matured, and there is a greater focus on the devastating impacts of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.

Advancements in the production and storage of hydrogen are making it more accessible as a fuel, challenging the idea that it will never be used at scale. The understanding and appreciation of hydrogen’s power to transform the energy landscape means the industry is innovating and putting in the effort to produce it.

Governments around the world have reviewed technologies that can help humanity reach net zero goals, and have unanimously agreed that hydrogen has a role to play in achieving it. As a result, nations are setting hydrogen production and use targets in sectors such as energy, industry and transport – this is stimulating private sector investment and the acceleration of technology deployment.

The Levidian LOOP

Significant progress has been made in recent years to drive hydrogen production and adoption. Numerous exciting projects and companies are dedicating their efforts to finding solutions to enable a hydrogen fuelled, cleaner future.   

Levidian is part of these efforts, unlocking the potential of hydrogen through the Levidian LOOP.

The LOOP system uses a patented low temperature, low pressure process to crack methane into its constituent atoms, hydrogen and carbon, without the need for catalysts or additives. This process, utilising microwave plasma, produces no CO2 emissions.

“We use microwaves to directly ionise methane gas, creating a plasma. The high-frequency electromagnetic microwaves energise electrons in the gas and promote collisions with other molecules, breaking them apart and generating more free electrons and positive ion radicals,” explains Mike. “This plasma ‘soup’ is not to be confused with plasma torches typically used in pyrolysis, which use plasma to create the reactor heat. In the microwave plasma method, the methane is the plasma, with most of the energy contained in the microwaves delivered directly to the electrons and ions of the gas. As these excited electrons and ions exit the plasma region, they cool and combine to stable compounds, principally molecular hydrogen gas and solid carbon particles in the form of graphene”.

Removing the obstacles

Many traditional ways of producing hydrogen require enormous scale to be cost-effective. Hydrogen technologies are advancing, but face operational cost challenges, which makes it difficult to compete with alternatives such as fossil fuels.

With LOOP, Levidian’s aim is to address two key things that have stood in the way of hydrogen being adopted quickly: scalability and cost.

This is one of the reasons why LOOP is modular in design – to offer flexibility to scale. The modular LOOP means it can be deployed almost anywhere, with the ability to dock with existing infrastructure. With an additional hydrogen separator, LOOP can deliver pure hydrogen directly at the point of use.

“Businesses everywhere are putting increasing focus on their net-zero plans, but for those that are reliant on significant heat or power, decarbonising remains a challenge. LOOP offers a way to decarbonise an existing natural gas supply and provide hydrogen back into the industrial processes” says Steve Jones, Head of LOOP Sales and Business Development at Levidian.

The costs associated with hydrogen are based on its production, how it is transported, and what its intended end use is. “Hydrogen must be derived from inputs such as methane, water, or renewable electricity, so there will always be a cost associated with its production, but the LOOP process of generating hydrogen can be controlled. The modular design of LOOP requires very few changes to infrastructure, while the cost of producing the hydrogen is offset by the value of the graphene that is also produced” explains Steve.

Graphene is truly superlative. It is the thinnest, lightest, strongest (100 to 300 times stronger than steel) material, best conductor of heat at room temperature, and best-known conductor of electricity.

The graphene produced by LOOP is sustainable and, when produced using waste gas, is carbon negative. Graphene can be used as produced or functionalised for numerous applications – making materials stronger, lighter, and more efficient.

“LOOP allows further downstream decarbonisation of industries utilising the graphene produced. For example, if graphene is introduced into concrete, it becomes stronger, therefore less concrete is needed in the construction process. This is also true of polymers and composites that might be used to manufacture vehicles – making them more lightweight and therefore, use less fuel. Graphene in rubber tyres can increase material properties to reduce the number of fine particles in the air leading to better air quality” describes Steve.

Tackling climate change

To become the clean fuel of the future, it is crucial to focus on the carbon footprint associated with hydrogen production and scale and invest in technologies and infrastructure that will help to address climate change most effectively.

Methane is a naturally occurring molecule and is produced through “normal” activities like food consumption and waste. Being able to utilise this methane to produce hydrogen and graphene offers a valuable opportunity for a circular economy to reduce the amount of damaging methane allowed into the atmosphere.

With LOOP, there are three things that dictate the environmental benefit: the source of the methane (utilising methane that would otherwise be vented or flared is the most beneficial), where the electricity comes from to power the system, and finally what the graphene produced is used for.

“LOOP can significantly help with the green credentials of a business. The energy of the gas going into the LOOP is the same as that coming out – it just has less carbon in it. A LOOP100 has the potential to produce 15 tonnes of hydrogen (enough to satisfy average weekly gas demand from 30,000 UK homes) and 14.25 tonnes of graphene from 75 tonnes of methane input. That would result in a total CO2 equivalent saving per year around 260 tonnes” explains Mike.

Levidian is currently scaling up the technology to deploy LOOP1000+, each of which could remove more than 1,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent annually.

Industry impact

Heavy industry is a key market for LOOP. Steve explains that “LOOP can decarbonise a typical industrial process by up to 40%. This is achieved by removing carbon that would otherwise become CO2 through combustion, and replacing it with a cleaner burning, hydrogen-rich gas. By volume, if 100% of the input is methane, typically 70% of the output by volume is hydrogen, the other 30% is methane, and the carbon is then captured in graphene.”

The hydrogen-rich blend produced by LOOP can be used immediately as a drop-in fuel, enabling industrial energy users to decarbonise their existing natural gas use with minimal infrastructure change. With the addition of a hydrogen separator, LOOP can deliver point-of-use pure hydrogen suitable for a variety of applications.

In addition to decarbonising heavy industry, LOOP can also support transport’s journey to net zero. The hydrogen can be used in fuel cells to generate electricity or in direct combustion.

The future is bright for hydrogen

The strong commitment to decarbonisation throughout the world and the technological advancements made in recent years are fuelling momentum in the hydrogen industry.

Levidian’s LOOP is just one solution to support the scale up and commercialisation of hydrogen, which is critical to reducing global carbon emissions.

Hydrogen’s potential to decarbonise and revolutionise hard-to-abate sectors such as industry, transport, heating, and power is being realised, and the challenges that have traditionally faced hydrogen production and adoption on a mass scale are increasingly being addressed and solved.

The time for hydrogen is now.