Renewable Hydrogen

Simply put, green hydrogen is renewable hydrogen. The color refers to the different raw energy sources used to produce the hydrogen, which today are almost exclusively coal and natural gas due to their abundance and low cost. The production of this fossil fuel-based “grey” hydrogen from steam methane reforming or gasification always generates a positive net level of CO2 emissions, even when carbon capture technology is used downstream to make cleaner “blue” hydrogen.  

Renewable (green) hydrogen earns its name by using an entirely different production method, electrolysis, which can be powered by electricity from carbon-neutral or renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar and biomass, with only oxygen as a byproduct. With the development of increasingly efficient electrolysis and fuel cell technologies, green hydrogen could supplement and eventually replace natural gas, petrol, diesel and other fossil-based fuels across the global economy in the next 20 years. 

​Electrolysis is an electrochemical process by which an electrical current is applied to water, splitting the hydrogen and oxygen atoms in the molecules and releasing them as pure gases. Hydrogen is collected and transported or stored for later use as a fuel or raw material. The necessary electrical current can be pulled from the existing power grid or from renewable energy sources, as is the case with green hydrogen. 

The issue facing engineers today is two-fold: scaling up electrolysis technology so that the capacity per unit is high enough to meet growing regional, and eventually global, demand; and making them more efficient so that they consume less power and operational resources to generate the same amount of H2 gas of the necessary purity. Further investment in research and development to solve these problems is needed before the global economy can fully benefit from the commercialization of green hydrogen as a fuel. 

Automation technologies increase the capacity, reliability and efficiency of electrolyzers -- and with them the potential of a green hydrogen economy -- in several ways, from handling fluctuating power loads to measuring and controlling water flow with greater precision to using digital analytics for energy management applications. Automation can also improve safety, equipment lifespan and regulatory compliance while lowering materials and workforce costs. 

Another critical step in reaping the benefits of a green hydrogen-powered energy market is developing fuel cells that are small and lightweight but also durable and dependable enough for transportation applications that require high power-density systems. Because they are rated to operate in extreme temperatures and very high pressures, advanced digital solutions -- namely automated pressure regulators, flow sensors and solenoid valves -- make it possible to build and use the kind of cost-effective fuel cells that offer the reliability in a compact footprint that the industry needs to get moving.