Fly Me to The Moon – But Not for Some Time with Renewable Fuel

The Hydrogen Economy #30

Fly Me to The Moon – But Not for Some Time with Renewable Fuel

• Weekly Theme: Hydrogen’s Role in Clean Fuels – This Year
  • News Update
  • Projects Update
  • Ammonia/Methanol Update
  • Power Update
• Next Week: What Happens To Old Grey Ammonia/Methanol

Key Points

• Clean fuel production is challenging, with the volumes of renewable diesel and SAF available today insignificant as a share of the total market. Capital costs, technology, and inputs are constraints – but so is hydrogen.
• Any fuel input containing oxygen can only be blended to a limited degree, like ethanol in the gasoline pool. Hydrogenation is needed to make a like-for-like fuel, and this needs hydrogen.   
• But the consumers (especially the airlines) are counting carbon – as are those willing to provide incentives and tax breaks. Consequently, low-carbon hydrogen is worth much more to the fuel makers than grey hydrogen.  
• Fuels progress in 2024 will focus on waste fat/oil fuels, but the blending limits remain without hydrogenation, and with grey hydrogen, you lose the low carbon claim – these projects may pay up for clean hydrogen. 
• The challenge in 2024 is finding clean hydrogen; no blue projects will be online soon, and electrolyzers can only find enough accessible clean power in Texas and a few other limited US locations – not much in Europe in 2024.

Exhibit 1: This is an old image but depending on oil composition – this needs 1.3-3.0 GW of green hydrogen in 2024

Source: DTN