Globaldata: Hydrogen-Based E-Fuels will Accelerate Global Transition to Clean Energy
Hydrogen is expected to be a game-changer in the world's move toward renewable energy because it can be used to make fuel cells, alternative propulsion systems, and renewable power.
GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, says that hydrogen and hydrogen-based e-fuels are getting a lot of political and business support because they can be used to store large amounts of clean energy for long periods and help generate power from renewable sources.
Kiran Raj, Practice Head of Disruptive Tech at GlobalData, says:
"While the race is on for a net-zero economy, hydrogen jumps to the top of the global agenda. Several nations, corporations, energy enterprises, and startups have realised that now is the time to scale up technologies and bring down costs to tap into the hydrogen potential.
"New developments should materialise at par with accelerating hydrogen production, revising regulations, developing charging infrastructure, using existing gas infrastructure, and establishing shipping routes to take full advantage of the momentum.”
Shagun Sachdeva, Project Manager of Disruptive Tech at GlobalData, says:
"Growing technological advances in hydrogen-based e-fuels and the number of demonstration projects done in the last few years have made it possible to build a sustainable future in sectors that cannot be directly electrified, such as long-distance aviation, feedstock in chemical production, steel production, and possibly high-temperature industrial processes.
"At the same time, easier storage and transportation than electricity or pure hydrogen, along with being an energy-efficient and cost-effective solution, has seen a rise in popularity of hydrogen-based e-fuels.”
The report "Hydrogen: Key Disruptive Forces for the Global Transition to Sustainable Energy" from GlobalData's FutureTech Series shows over 40 disruptive forces in hydrogen that are emerging, accelerating, or maturing in terms of their rate of innovation growth.
Hydrogen-based e-fuels support game-changing use cases across transportation, pulp & paper, power, and shipping sectors in terms of long-haul freight and heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs).
In September 2022, Amazon made a deal with Infinium, a company that makes technology for renewable fuels, to use ultra-low carbon e-fuels made from green hydrogen and recycled carbon waste to power its transportation fleet.
The Navigator Company and Germany-based developer P2X-Europe established a joint venture in July 2022 to generate e-fuels based on green hydrogen and biogenic CO2. Navigator will be able to add value to biogenic CO2 from its sustainable forest and pulp & paper production, while P2X Europe's parent firms, H&R Group and Mabanaft, will be able to scale up market supplies to the chemical sector and non-fossil, green jet fuel for the aviation industry.
Porsche announced a $75 million investment in HIF Global LLC, a holding company of internationally active project developers of eFuel production facilities, in April 2022. This is consistent with Porsche's goal of electrifying 80% of its model lineup by 2030.
Sachdeva concludes: “Despite advances in hydrogen-based technologies, challenges such as optimal regulatory conditions, slow infrastructure development, repurposing of existing pipelines, limited cross-sector collaborations, and associated technical problems may arise due to the technology being relatively new, causing inefficiencies for operators, and holding back its widespread adoption.”
“Given such challenges are addressed, diverse potential applications can help hydrogen-based e-fuels transpiring into maximised climate benefit.”
Source: Hydrogen Central
