Agriculture & Climate Change, Canada (Commonwealth Union) – Carbon emissions are a significant environmental issue that has gained widespread attention in recent years. Carbon emissions are the release of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, primarily as a result of human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels for energy production, transportation, and industrial processes. Environmentalist have indicated that these emissions play a role in global climate change, which is causing a range of negative impacts, including rising sea levels, increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events, and shifts in agricultural patterns.
A new study has demonstrated the possibilities for “near-term opportunity” to lower carbon emissions with no changes to existing infrastructure.
The combustion of a blend of hydrogen and natural gas for heating homes can bring a saving of 5% on carbon emissions with no change to existing infrastructure, as stated by a University of Alberta expert in hydrogen energy.
Hythane, can also be a prominent move forward in the transition to clean energy, according to Professor Amit Kumar from the Faculty of Engineering – Mechanical Engineering Dept of the University of Alberta, who had advised the provincial government in forming the Hydrogen Roadmap.
Hythane is a gaseous fuel that is a blend of hydrogen and methane. It generally consists of between 18% to 40% hydrogen by volume, with the remainder being methane. Hythane is often touted as a low-emission alternative to traditional natural gas, as the addition of hydrogen to methane can result in lower carbon emissions and improved combustion efficiency.
“You can transport it in current pipelines, you can use it in your appliances and you can use it for heating purposes with current equipment,” said Professor Kumar, who is also NSERC/Alberta Innovates/Cenovus Associate Industrial Research Chair in Energy and Environmental Systems Engineering.
“You don’t need to make any modifications,” he adds, provided the amount of hydrogen in the blended fuel doesn’t exceed between 15 and 20 per cent by volume.
Professor Kumar’s research applied the modelling of various energy pathways, with the utilization of a combination of renewable and non-renewable energy for lowering the overall carbon emissions in an economic path for the next few decades.
The latest study of Professor Kumar had a team led by engineering PhD student Matthew Davis examine 576 long-term scenarios jurisdictions worldwide between 2026 and 2050, with variations depending on hydrogen blending intensity, carbon policy and hydrogen infrastructure development.
As it was economical, Kumar and his team discovered that introducing hythane into natural gas networks gives a “near-term opportunity for capacity building, technology learning and building confidence in the consumer.
“Economies will benefit from the infrastructure scale-up through job creation, attracting investment and technology exports,” he says.
Capturing around 42% of the carbon emissions can form an overall “well-to-combustion” lowering across the chain. With greater carbon emissions reduction, fuel will cost less as a result of savings in the carbon tax, according to professor Kumar.
The Alberta Carbon Trunk Line (carbon capture and storage (CCS) pipeline) presently utilizes only 1 to 2 million tonnes of its 14.5-million-tonne capacity, giving it a larger capacity to transport more as indicated by Professor Kumar.
He further indicated that beyond Alberta, there was a huge potential to export hydrogen along with their expertise in production and carbon capture, particularly in fast-developing countries within the Asia-Pacific.
But presently the utilization of a blend of hydrogen and natural gas is the simplest option in progressing towards a clean energy economy according to researchers.
Alberta’s Hydrogen Roadmap, a vital component of its economic recovery plan, marked key markets like residential and commercial heating, transportation, power generation and storage and chemical processing. Clean fuel, hydrogen is also made use of in the formation of fertilizer, ammonia and other chemicals.
