Biomass for hydrogen - facilitating the contribution to the sustainable energy transition
On Wednesday 2 November 2022 GBEP hosted a webinar on ‘’Biomass for hydrogen – facilitating the contribution to the sustainable energy transition’’. Experts from the University of São Paulo (Brazil), the University of Perugia (Italy), and the PtX-Hub (GIZ, Germany) presented recent research in the field of biohydrogen from Europe and Brazil, and provided perspectives on the use of biomass in integrated renewable fuel systems, such as Power-to-X. The discussion encompassed production, storage and distribution, as well as challenges and opportunities for widespread commercialization of biohydrogen.
Hydrogen is a key element for energy transition, providing fuel for transportation and power, heat for industry and buildings, and feedstock for chemicals and product manufacturing. Hydrogen can be produced from three main sources: nuclear, renewable energies and fossil fuels. As such, hydrogen production is flexible, as low-carbon hydrogen may be produced through water electrolysis, reforming, gasification or bio-electrolysis, employing resources such as natural gases, coal combined with CCS, renewable energy and biomass. Even marginal lands and several herbaceous crops, such as Cardoon and Carthamus, used in Italy, are useful resources to produce biomethane, and sources of lignocellulosic biomass to produce syngas and biohydrogen. Herewith, energy sourced from biomass is the only form of renewable energy which captures CO2 from the atmosphere, where only a part of CO2 is re-emitted into the atmosphere during conversion. Furthermore, hydrogen production can be part of a larger eco-friendly chain with natural CO2 capture and storage systems: Hydrogen may be produced using trees as feedstock, which, in turn, may be planted to capture CO2. In turn, biochar, by-product of hydrogen conversion, can be used to store CO2 into the soil in the form of fertilizers. In addition to the absorption of CO2, forests provide multiple services, such as maintaining biodiversity, providing food and wood, or attracting tourism.
In Europe, forests are expanding together with sources of lignocellulosic biomass, and several plants exist which provide wood chips that can be directly converted into green hydrogen through steam gasification, increasing efficiency in the production process. The most important pillar is the ‘’do no significant harm’’ principle, to reduce CO2 emitted into the atmosphere during the conversion process.
In Brazil, hydrogen production is an answer to two main topics: The need for fertilisers and Brazil’s energy transition. On the one hand, fertilisers in Brazil are mostly imported, costly and used extensively across the whole country. On the other hand, hydrogen can be seen as the next step in the energy transition, especially in hard-to-decarbonize sectors such as the transport sector. Brazil has a large sugarcane industry, from which huge quantities of sugar, ethanol, electricity and biogas are produced. The last three are resources for hydrogen production, which, again, can be accompanied by CO2 capture and storage into the soil. The transition needs to be governed through adequate policies, which the country is currently lacking, and requires understanding and awareness by Brazilian civil society.
Hydrogen is part of a broader picture of decarbonization and defossilisation, contributing to the electrification of all sectors and to eliminating the need for fossil fuels. The International Power-to-X Hub aims at providing drop-in fuels and platform chemicals, based on biomass, renewable electricity and carbon, to sectors which cannot be directly electrified. Carbon can be sourced from direct air capturing, carbon capture and use from industry, and biogenic residues. The latter also provide water, which allows to produce hydrogen through electrolysis.
Combining biohydrogen with various biotechnologies, a set-up can be created to accommodate the sustainable development goals, benefitting the whole society, and allowing the establishment of close capture cycles and circular economies. While hydrogen has advantages and may be the key to several issues, its widespread commercialization still presents challenges spanning over technological, regulatory and economic barriers. Civil society must be involved, and normative work must be developed to valorise biohydrogen as a source of green hydrogen.
Presentation and recording of the webinar are available on trequest: [email protected]