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A government-ordered study reveals industrial site owners would be interested in using hydrogen as the lead heating source on their sites.
The study – led by engineering consultant Aecom – examined the feasibility of implementing hydrogen at seven anonymised industrial sites across the country.
It concludes that “hydrogen could offer a competitive option for industrial decarbonisation”.
It adds: “The majority of sites were interested in using hydrogen after reviewing the reports and assuming there was a reliable supply of hydrogen available most sites could see hydrogen as a lead option for their sites.
“Sites also indicated that further support, work and guidance would be useful, and that being part of this study had made them more inclined to use hydrogen.”
Despite the support for hydrogen from the site owners, the study’s summary report does raise some potential barriers to its implementation.
In particular, the report flags infrastructure concerns concluding that “much of the existing natural gas piping and infrastructure on the sites requires replacement for use with hydrogen”.
It estimates that approximately 50% of the existing pipework at the seven sites would need to be replaced because it is too small for hydrogen.
The report also raises concerns about the size of the natural gas connection with only three of the seven sites having connections of adequate size to accommodate hydrogen.
However, despite the up-front costs of upgrading the infrastructure, the report concludes that for the surveyed sites “the 100% hydrogen solution is typically significantly cheaper on CAPEX terms than the best alternative (non-hydrogen) solution, which is most often electrification, due to the ability to retrofit and avoidance of new or reinforced electrical infrastructure”. It adds: “A hybrid hydrogen solution may offer a lower CAPEX option in some cases.”
Safety considerations for the use of hydrogen also “require continued study and assessment”, the report concludes.
It adds: “Hydrogen has a lower ignition energy, wider flammable limits, is more explosive and has a lower detonation energy than natural gas. If no mitigation measures are implemented, there is a potential for a significant increase in explosion risks with greater potential for injuries, fatalities and equipment and building damage when operating with hydrogen.
“The larger volumetric flows of hydrogen, compared to natural gas at the same conditions, can also result in a significant increase in flammable gas cloud sizes from a leak orifice of a given size – in particular for areas where ventilation is poor.
“Additional risk controls were recommended at all sites surveyed to mitigate the additional risks associated with hydrogen such that risks would be broadly equivalent to operating with natural gas from a high-level qualitative perspective. These measures range from minor modifications, such as additional ventilation, to potentially redesigning and replacing major pieces of equipment.”
The government is due to make a decision on the long-term role for hydrogen in heating in 2026 following trials of a hydrogen neighbourhood, village and then town.
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