Future Fuels CRC CEO David Norman discusses Europe and Australia hydrogen networks and the opportunities for novel hydrogen production.
In recent months in Australia and Europe we’ve seen continuing developments to deploy hydrogen and biomethane at scale.
The Victorian Government has just announced its Renewable Gas Directions Paper, charting a path to renewable gas in Victorian networks from 2027. The paper proposes a small scheme with up to 1PJ of renewable gas by 2030 and 4.5PJ by 2035. But importantly this now puts a policy in place to get renewable gas flowing in Australia. Other nations have then found the momentum to develop a much larger industry.
In Western Australia, APA and Wesfarmers Chemicals Energy and Fertilisers published the key results from their Parmelia green hydrogen project feasibility study. The study explored the potential to produce and transport green hydrogen via APA’s Parmelia pipeline to the ammonia production facilities at Kwinana. The project offers the opportunity to deliver large-scale green hydrogen to the established industrial precinct at Kwinana and creates options for hydrogen use in industry decarbonisation and growth. The project also demonstrates how existing assets including the Parmelia gas pipeline and Wesfarmers ammonia facility can be repurposed to support the energy transition from a commercial perspective.
Germany’s Federal Network Agency has approved the country’s first national hydrogen grid, to start operations as early as 2025.
The full grid will be in the process of completion over the next seven years with 9040km of pipelines connecting up all of Germany’s industrial centres with import and production zones. Building on significant projects in Germany and neighboring Rotterdam, the grid will carry hydrogen to major consumption points in Germany. The pipeline corridor from Rotterdam to the Ruhr Valley in Germany has received priority from the Dutch government with further confirmation of support and incentives for pipelines carrying both hydrogen and CO2 occurring recently. That project is called the Delta Rhine Corridor (DRC).
All of this activity complements our work on infrastructure, preparing the new knowledge needed to deliver renewable gas in Australia. It also supports the early stage work we’ve delivered to develop and report on many different hydrogen production technologies. Our earlier assessment of production technologies found 26 different viable technologies that could produce hydrogen and related products. This was openly released on our website last year and is one of many such research projects available. As part of Future Fuels CRC’s research to accelerate development of early stage, breakthrough technologies, our teams of researchers have developed a small selection of these:
Novel methanol production: a hybrid membrane technology and bespoke catalysts to improve hydrogen to methanol conversion for use-cases when methanol is a more practical fuel. This technology combines a catalytic reactor with membrane separation to achieve a membrane-based reactor, reducing the overall equipment footprint. This transformative technology can assist hydrogen producers to efficiently produce alternative fuels.
Solar catalysis: developing technology that allows for the production of hydrogen with direct sunlight – a process known as photocatalysis. This process has potential cost advantages compared to other renewable hydrogen production technologies and our research has focused on developing the new photocatalyst material needed to unlock this technology.
Methane pyrolysis: advancing the development and demonstration of a novel process with strong potential to achieve a step-change in the cost of production of hydrogen from natural gas. Natural gas pyrolysis involves the cracking of methane into solid carbon and hydrogen, allowing the solid carbon to be simply stored or used for other higher value purposes. The project focuses on both catalyst and reactor development.
This year will mark Future Fuels CRC’s final year of operation, having delivered seven years of world-leading, industry-led, outcomes-focused research. The Australian pipeline industry is already developing its next approach for the future of collaborative research, to take it forward in 2025 and beyond. We look forward to sharing more in future editions of this magazine.
This feature also appears in the January edition of The Australian Pipeliner.