Hydrogen, a “Green” Future for Big Industry

The steel, cement and petrochemical industries generate around 20% of the total global emissions of Greenhouse Gases (GHG). These sectors face the gigantic technological and economic challenge of meeting the climate goals of zero net emissions by 2050. In the steel industry, steelmaking involves the reduction (chemical purification, or oxygen absorption) of the iron with an agent reducer, usually coal, which leads to large CO2 emissions. For its part, the manufacture of cement requires the decarbonation of calcium carbonate or limestone and clay, which are the raw material, which is achieved by cooking – literally – the limestone at more than 1,400 degrees Celsius to obtain Clinker, which It is basically composed of calcium silicates. Obviously, the process means significant CO2 emissions from the carbon present in the calcium carbonate. In the petrochemical industry, a basic process is the thermal or catalytic fragmentation or “cracking”” of hydrocarbons with steam at high temperatures (between 500 and 800 degrees Celsius) to obtain their constituent molecules, the foundation of petrochemistry and of more than 30,000 products. (including plastics). Obviously, steam heating requires the use of fossil fuels and involves considerable CO2 emissions. It is probably in these sectors (along with aviation) that the most important obstacles to the decarbonisation of the global economy are found.

Recently, however, very promising developments have been made thanks to hydrogen (the most viable replacement for fossil fuels) and electricity generated from clean sources, both of which are essential components of the new economy of the 21st century. First, it is imperative to produce hydrogen in an environmentally and climatically sustainable manner, which is achieved through the dissociation of water into its constituent elements, hydrogen and oxygen, through a separation process with an electric current (electrolysis) fed with renewable energy. clean. From there, hydrogen can be used in various industrial processes without generating GHG emissions, both in the steel, cement and petrochemical industries. Europe is a leader in these new technologies, thanks to carbon taxes, carbon markets and climate regulations, proof that environmental and climate policies generate strategic competitive advantages. The foregoing, in addition to the fact that a large number of industrial companies have committed to reaching carbon neutrality or net zero emissions by 2050. Today there are more than 70 industrial projects in Europe to reduce emissions through the use of hydrogen. In Sweden, the H2GS company is building a gigantic steel plant worth 4 billion euros that will use hydrogen in direct reduction of iron instead of coal; hydrogen produced with hydroelectric and wind energy, the latter supplied by a large Iberdrola wind project. Hydrogen is used instead of coal in the direct reduction of iron, and the by-products are simply water (H2O) and sponge iron, which is refined in electric arc furnaces fueled by clean energy. Other large European steel companies have made alliances with this same objective, such as Vattenfall, Arcelor-Mittal and Thyssen-Krupp. Automotive companies (BMW, Mercedes Benz, Scania) and household appliances (Electrolux, Miele), for example, have signed contracts to supply “green” steel, which offer guarantees to banks and investors who finance these initiatives. For their part, cement companies also plan to use hydrogen or clean electricity in the calcination of calcium carbonate for the production of clinker, but they are also oriented towards capturing CO2 emissions and sequestering them in stable geological formations. Another option being explored is converting CO2 emissions into new hydrocarbons by reacting them with hydrogen. An intelligent solution for the cement industry will be to venture into wooden buildings that allow the sustainable use of natural forests and plantations and the indefinite capture of carbon in them. In the petrochemical industry, the giant BASF develops electrical systems to heat steam for the purpose of cracking hydrocarbons, fed with clean energy, as well as processes for recycling plastics through pyrolysis (thermal destruction in the absence of oxygen) to recover its components. fundamental.

This is how Europe is building ambitious “green” technology platforms, based on climate policies, industrial policies and public-private partnerships, which will make it a “green” industrial superpower. Mexico, in the stone age…

Postscript. 1) Ongoing “soft” military coup in Mexico, ominous prospects. 2) I don’t like Lula, but he must win in Brazil to save the Amazon.

@g_quadri