Monday, September 06, 2021

LearnNBlog #19: The Hydrogen Rainbow

Climate change concerns have propelled the shift from fossil fuels to alternates in the quest for cleaner energy resources. 

In high school chemistry, Hydrogen was described as a colourless gas. Yet today when we hear talk of a green economy, it is the various shades of Hydrogen hogging the headlines. But what exactly do the different colours signify? The colours indicate the source of Hydrogen and how it has been produced. The primary ones are as follows (and it is an ever expanding spectrum) 
  • White: Naturally occurring but of limited commercial value. 
  • Brown/Black: Produced by transforming coal into gas. 
  • Grey: Produced from Natural Gas through Steam Forming. The most common process currently 
  • Blue: Same as grey. However the emissions are captured and stored. 
  • Turquoise: Extracted from Natural gas but leaving Solid Carbon as a by-product 
  • Pink: Electrolysis using Nuclear Energy 
  • Green: Electrolysis using Renewable energy 
For a really clean economy, green hydrogen is "The One" as the others still release carbon emissions! Thus not fully suitable for a Net Zero emissions ambitions being articulated. 

How will this all pan out? Well, the answer is not easy but at least the world is trying before its too late!

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Previously on Learn N Blog: Ubuntu 

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