Khalifa University’s Prof. Lourdes Vega was invited to serve as a guest Editor of a special issue of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research from the American Chemical Society dedicated to the latest technological developments and innovations that underpin the establishment of a hydrogen economy.

A continued reliance on fossil fuels for energy production is not sustainable, particularly as energy demand continues to rise in parallel to the industrialization of developing countries and world population growth. Not only does reliance on the combustion of fossil fuels result in greenhouse gas emissions detrimental to the environment, it also creates energy security challenges given that oil, coal, and natural gas are geographically concentrated and subject to volatile prices.

As the world seeks more efficient and environmentally-friendly sources of energy, attention has turned to low-carbon hydrogen production and applications. Hydrogen offers a potential decarbonization solution but technical and economic factors stand in its way.

Given this topic’s global relevance, dedicated a to hydrogen and asked two recognized experts from the editorial board to act as guest editors. Prof. Lourdes Vega, Director of the Khalifa University Research and Innovation Center on CO2 and Hydrogen (RICH) and Acting Senior Director of the Petroleum Institute, and Prof. Sandra Kentish, University of Melbourne, were selected and invited to edit this special edition, which included three papers from RICH researchers.

“Governments internationally are reacting to global warming wake-up calls, putting forward new targets and timeframes for decarbonizing industries and societies,” Prof. Vega said. “To achieve these objectives, the policies of most developed countries now include a commitment to hydrogen as a key alternative energy source.”

Hydrogen fuel is a zero-carbon fuel that can be used in fuel cells or internal combustion engines, including buses, passenger cars, and spacecraft. Hydrogen is abundant in enormous quantities on Earth, but not freely. It is bound in water, hydrocarbons, and other organic matter, making efficient extraction of hydrogen one of the main challenges to using it, or one if it’s derivatives, as a fuel or feedstock for other applications.

Hydrogen production is usually classed in terms of color labels: ‘grey’ hydrogen, the most common way of producing hydrogen today, is obtained from methane and water in what it is called steam methane reforming, producing a large amount of CO2 emitted to the atmosphere;�� ‘blue’ hydrogen is produced through the same process, but adding a subsequent process in which CO2 is captured via carbon capture technologies for further utilization or storage; and ‘green’ hydrogen is produced entirely from renewable energy sources used to split water or, via a much less common approach, hydrogen sulfide.

Osahon Osasuyi, Dr. Georgia Basina, Dr. Yasser Al Wahedi, Dr. Mohammad Abu Zahra, Dr. Giovanni Palmisano, and Dr. Khalid Al-Ali, all from ����’s Department of Chemical Engineering and members of the RICH Center, a toxic byproduct of the oil and gas industry. While many studies have examined the potential of the process experimentally, there is a lack of comprehensive research into how to select the appropriate metal for the thermochemical splitting process. In this paper, 17 metals were shortlisted, with six found to be promising candidates with high efficiency and high hydrogen yield.

Once produced, hydrogen can be used in many of the same applications as natural gas, except it produces no carbon or methane emissions when combusted.

“Hydrogen can help to decarbonize the economy and to reach a net zero emissions goal in a variety of ways,” Prof. Vega said. “In addition to providing a viable solution for energy storage from intermittent renewable energy, hydrogen is also seen as a key source of combined heat and power to replace natural gas and for transport, particularly in difficult to abate sectors such as heavy vehicles, trains, and shipping, since it can offer a zero-emission alternative to fossil fuels.”

“However, there is clearly a long way to go before any country can claim to be a hydrogen economy. Making this energy transition is not an easy task for any nation. The price of renewable energy must decrease to make green hydrogen competitive; new distribution networks, refueling stations and transport pathways must be developed to carry hydrogen to the final destination; and equipment and infrastructure must be adapted. These changes are not straightforward.”

Once hydrogen has been produced, it needs to be stored and transported. Hydrogen has extremely low volumetric energy density, meaning effective hydrogen storage must usually be done at very high pressures or low temperatures to reduce the volume. Unfortunately, compression for storage or transport can consume 20 percent of the energy of the hydrogen itself.

����’s Dr. Anish Varghese, Dr. Suresh Kumar Reddy, and Dr. Georgios Karanikolos, from the RICH Center and the Department of Chemical Engineering,, which are porous and easily tunable to adsorb hydrogen for storage. The team developed a metal-organic framework using copper and graphene oxide for hydrogen storage at ambient temperature, which could be more practical compared to traditional cryogenic conditions.

For hydrogen transport, leakage from infrastructure through valves and other fittings is a significant safety and economic concern. Hydrogen is an extremely small molecule, which means it is difficult to retain, and it also readily forms atomic radicals when in contact with steel and other metals, which puts infrastructure at risk of embrittlement and ultimately, failure. One option is to blend hydrogen into existing natural gas networks as studies suggest these pipelines can handle a blend of up to 30 percent hydrogen before embrittlement becomes a concern.

����’s Dr. Ismail Alkhatib, Dr. Ahmed AlHajaj, Prof. Ali Almansoori and Prof. Vega, all Department of Chemical Engineering,. Despite the attractiveness of hydrogen blending, it’s important to know just how much hydrogen can be included in natural gas pipelines without jeopardizing the safety and operation of the existing pipeline grid. The team also quantifies the effect of hydrogen concentration in the properties of natural gas, with changes noted in the density and speed of sound in particular. This knowledge will help not only for transportation, but also for the utilization of hydrogen blends to replace natural gas, as a way of decarbonizing the industry.

“We hope that readers find these articles of interest,” Prof. Vega said. “Only through the concerted effort of many scientists and engineers can we drive the hydrogen economy further and advance action against climate change.”

Jade Sterling
Science Writer
24 May 2022

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Hydrogen offers a potential solution to the problem of supporting more sustainable industries, but technical, economic, social, and political factors stand in its way, according to a new paper produced by an international team of experts from a variety of disciplines.��

Using decarbonized hydrogen, so-called green hydrogen, is an avenue to a low-carbon economy that is attracting renewed interest. Technological developments and cost reductions could allow hydrogen to contribute significantly to a decarbonized economy as a fuel and a feedstock. As a fuel, hydrogen offers considerable potential because it generates no carbon dioxide on combustion. As a feedstock, low-carbon hydrogen could replace high-carbon feedstocks in processes such as steel production.

At a critical juncture for the industry and global climate, Dr. Steve Griffiths, SVP Research and Development and Professor of Practice, offers a critical, systematic and interdisciplinary assessment of industrial decarbonization via hydrogen. Dr. Griffiths and his team reviewed more than 2,100 sources of evidence, referencing over 700 papers and studies, using a sociotechnical lens to examine hydrogen production and use across multiple industries. The work on hydrogen is part of a broader set of studies that the team has undertaken with support from the Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre (IDRIC) in the United Kingdom.

Team members were Dr. Benjamin Sovacool, University of Sussex, UK; Dr. Jinsoo Kim, Hanyang University, Republic of Korea; Dr. Morgan Bazilian, Colorado School of Mines, USA; and Joao Uratani, a research engineer also from Khalifa University.

Their review was published in.

“Hydrogen is increasingly being positioned as a key energy vector due to its versatility as a chemical store of energy for use in the power, buildings, transport, and industrial sectors,” Dr. Griffiths said. “More importantly, hydrogen is one of the key options for many decarbonizing industrial sectors, particularly those that require hydrogen as a feedstock for process chemistry.”

Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe but hydrogen atoms do not exist in nature by themselves. To produce hydrogen, its atoms need to be decoupled from other elements in resources like�� water, plants or fossil fuels. The method by which hydrogen is produced largely determines its sustainability.

“,” Dr. Griffiths said. “Its properties make it an excellent fuel but hydrogen requires considerable care in processing and handling. Further, transporting it long distances in a liquid form is currently very expensive.”

Although the use of hydrogen is somewhat limited in scope today, a very different future may be on the horizon. The industrial processes used to make steel, cement, ceramics, glass and chemicals all require varying amounts of high-temperature heat. For these sectors, hydrogen is one of the very few long-term options for replacing fossil fuels at large scale.

The use of hydrogen in shipping, particularly in the form of ammonia, is the major opportunity here.

However, the main challenge with scaling up the hydrogen-supply chain is to lower the costs of transporting it. The existing technologies for transporting and distributing hydrogen long distances in a volumetrically energy dense liquid form are still significantly more expensive than those of other fuels, such as oil and natural gas. Hydrogen, or one of its derivatives, particularly ammonia, may play a prominent role in such long distance transport. However, pipeline transmission of hydrogen gas is currently the economic means of moving hydrogen at large scale.

Compressed hydrogen could use converted natural-gas pipelines, or newly built ones, or even be co-transported with natural gas to partially decarbonize natural gas already used in the energy sector. A lack of dedicated global hydrogen pipeline networks is, however, a current challenge to be overcome if regional and national hydrogen trade is to be established. Once transported, hydrogen storage becomes the priority, but hydrogen’s low volumetric energy density can make it difficult to store. Fortunately, there appears to be no insurmountable technical barrier to storing hydrogen over the longer term in high capacity geologic formations like aquifers and rock caverns.

The final cost of hydrogen in international trade will depend on what it costs to produce and transport it, Dr. Griffiths said. “Connecting suppliers and consumers at the global level via the most cost-effective means will be a great challenge.”

Such considerations are particularly relevant for connecting global supply and demand. This said, sociopolitical factors could hinder hydrogen’s growing role in industrial decarbonization and so must also be considered.

The review paper considers the social and technical systems involved in making, distributing, and using hydrogen, with the authors accounting for institutional inputs, policy and regulatory frameworks, and financial and economic enablers. There are many socio-technical elements at play:

“Industry decarbonization via hydrogen will require policy mechanisms that stimulate both hydrogen supply and demand and support development of the necessary supply-chain infrastructure,” Dr. Griffiths said. “While policy toolkits can be built upon existing efforts targeting renewable-energy generation and use, specific hydrogen-targeted policy instruments will be needed.”

Further, policies can spur innovation, and dedicated funds will be required to support research and development in academia and industry.

In this context, dedicated hydrogen-research centers are appearing, and public-private partnerships for the demonstration and scale up of hydrogen technologies and projects can be found around the world. Regulatory and certification frameworks are emerging that cover the production, supply-chain and industrial-use elements of hydrogen at the national level. Internationally, seventeen standards had been published and fifteen more were under development at the time the paper was written. These standards cover most elements of the technical pathways for hydrogen production and use.

However, the degree to which countries have been able to implement regulation varies. National and regional regulatory bodies will need to adopt harmonized policy instruments to avoid being excluded from accessing international hydrogen markets. Additionally, the regulatory frameworks on safety and quality control will need to be particularly robust.

“The absence of comprehensive, national and international policy and regulatory frameworks for hydrogen adoption, particularly for�� industrial systems, is a major challenge,” Dr. Griffiths said. “Despite increasing interest in hydrogen, policy support in the form of roadmaps, action and strategic plans is still not fully implemented on a global level.”

The future of hydrogen trade relationships will also rely heavily on geopolitics. The role that renewable hydrogen could play on the energy geopolitics stage remains to be seen. Particularly as transport costs are reduced, the importance of where resources are found will be reduced. Contrasting this to the geopolitical clout afforded to countries located on top of robust oil reserves suggests how global geopolitical dynamics could be affected.

“Whether countries will adopt particular roles in a hydrogen-economy transition is likely to depend on existing resources and infrastructure,” Dr. Griffiths said. “Some countries are more likely than others to lead the global markets in production capacity and export heavily, while others will focus on importation to meet demand. Countries that are more likely to import are already net energy importers under the current fossil-energy paradigm.” Industrial adoption of low-carbon hydrogen still faces a significant number of barriers. Regulatory and standardization instruments are perhaps the key means of driving rapid hydrogen utilization, according to the study authors, but support for R&D is also critical.

“Decarbonizing hydrogen is key to decarbonizing the chemical and refining industries, but it will also help decarbonize a number of other industries,” Dr. Griffiths said.

Applying decarbonized hydrogen across a wide range of sectors could benefit a large number of companies and economies. Of these, perhaps the most significant are the oil and gas firms that are increasingly facing calls to halt fossil-fuel production. As these companies look to diversify their portfolios, green hydrogen or hydrogen produced from fossil sources coupled with carbon capture, could be critical. Cutting the costs to achieve global industrial adoption of low-carbon hydrogen will require massive investment and scale, which oil majors could provide.

The authors noted that moving forward, the most ambitious targets for hydrogen use will require additional study, ranging from R&D to market stimulation, with further consideration of potential geopolitical ramifications and also further consideration of opportunities and challenges for hydrogen adoption in developing countries.

Most articles about hydrogen involve engineering and the natural sciences with social sciences representing a small fraction of total papers published. This suggests there is a lot of room to study in more detail the sociotechnical aspects of hydrogen use.

Jade Sterling
Science Writer
29 September 2021

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As the world’s leading energy organization reports the radical steps needed to reach net zero emissions by 2050, SVP Research and Development Dr. Steve Griffiths discusses the prospects for the oil-producing GCC countries in a webinar hosted by The Middle East Institute.

By Dr. Steve Griffiths

In May 2021, the International Energy Agency (IEA) published a on a pathway to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Among the many proposals in the report is the call to immediately end new investments in oil and gas exploration and development. Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economies still depend heavily on oil and gas for their national income, despite economic diversification initiatives over the last several years. How credible is the IEA pathway to Net Zero by 2050 and how will this affect the oil-producing countries in the GCC?

In the 1800s, we went through a period where we were a society based on biomass, then the industrial revolution followed and we switched to coal for a new form of energy. Finally, in the last few decades, coal, oil and gas have become the dominant sources of energy with the proliferation of hydrocarbons, but of course, renewable energy sources have appeared as well. We are seeing sustainability coming into play and as it does, we have to ask the question: what’s going to happen over the next 80 years as we see the end of the ‘oil age’, particularly as we work on limiting the emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels?

The current thinking is it would be much better for the planet to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, because when you get to 2 degrees, the climate issues we’re seeing now will simply be exacerbated. The 2050 dialogue is now on the table, and this creates a discussion about how quickly we can move towards mitigating or eliminating our emissions.

The sustainable development scenario is essentially a net zero solution, but with a postponed deadline: global CO2 emissions from the energy sector and industrial processes would need to fall by more than 70 percent by 2050 to be on track for net-zero by 2070. This would limit global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius relative to pre-industrial levels.

A shorter timescale, and the one recommended by the recent IEA report,, would see global CO2 emissions reduced to net-zero by 2050, falling around 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030. This would, with high probability, limit global warming to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius relative to pre-industrial levels.

It’s pretty ambitious to aim for Net Zero by 2050, since to see a more than 40 percent decrease in our CO2 emissions by 2030, which is what the pathway suggests, would require a massive change in the way we use and view energy.

There are many net-zero scenarios and the oil and gas sector is heavily impacted in each. All these scenarios have a fairly similar trajectory for oil and gas, and if we follow a Net Zero 2050 pathway, we’ve already hit peak oil.

To reach net zero by 2050, there will need to be a 70 percent reduction from 2020 to 2050 with oil demand never exceeding 100 million barrels a day. In fact, along this trajectory, we’ll see a rapid decline in oil demand, dropping sharply over the next three decades to 25 million barrels a day. On the same path, natural gas is yet to see its peak, but that’ll happen within this decade. With a more gradual decline to 2050 than oil, demand for natural gas will fall off by 40 percent.

OPEC is particularly well situated in the IEA Net Zero scenario with more than half the market share; if you’re a Middle Eastern country producing oil, the situation looks pretty good, so to speak. However, even if you’re still a producer with more than 50 percent market share, you have to consider the impact the reduced demand will have on revenues as diminished demand impacts oil prices. The challenge we’re going to face here is that the economic structures of the GCC countries are generally not compatible with a Net Zero world. While they have made some positive progress in economic diversification between 2010 and 2020, they are still heavily reliant on hydrocarbons for government revenues, exports, and economic activity. Among the GCC countries, the UAE is perhaps best positioned but also needs to make further progress. As it stands, this region, and many others, are not ready to jump straight into a Net Zero world trajectory.

Net Zero by 2050 assumes a very rapid global shift in energy consumption patterns, with a precipitous drop in demand for oil in particular. To follow this IEA recommendation, we would need to stop developing new oil fields immediately, with any new investment directed to maintaining production at existing fields. Likewise for natural gas, all investment would be used to sustain existing production to meet residual demand in the future.

However, many are still assuming that oil demand by 2030 will largely follow a trajectory based on current and announced government policies focused on climate and sustainability. This, coupled with the fact that a number of countries that are heavy energy consumers, such as India, are rejecting a rapid decarbonization trajectory indicates a good chance that demand for oil will increase by 2030. Confirming this notion, consulting firm Wood Makenzie announced recently that they foresee a 2030 oil demand supply gap of about 20 million barrels per day. This is not to say that Net Zero by 2050 is completely out of the question, but it’s unlikely given the fact that the need for increased oil production in the coming decade is a very real possibility.

However, while Net Zero by 2050 is debatable, planning for Net Zero is nonetheless important. There will be a net zero: maybe not by 2050, but someday it’s going to happen, and the low-cost hydrocarbon producers will be the ones that survive or at least last the longest.

When oil demand decreases, which it inevitably will, oil prices will fall and this will lead many oil-producing countries to have uneconomical or stranded oil reserves. If the asking price for a barrel of oil falls below the cost of production, countries will find themselves with oil reserves they cannot exploit without incurring a loss. Therefore, oil demand in the future will be optimally met by low-cost, low-carbon producers located in economies that can remain viable when faced with reduced income from oil and gas exports, such as the GCC producers.

In planning for net zero, companies in the oil and gas industry need to consider strategies involving reducing production costs, moving downstream into refining and petrochemical production, or investing in low-carbon energy, transitioning from ‘oil and gas’ companies to ‘energy’ companies. The strategy that players in this industry will pick is context dependent. National oil companies (NOCs) need to monetize their oil and gas reserves to the extent possible, and selected NOCs have downstream opportunities to explore. Many of these companies with downstream integration, which are located in the Middle East, and particularly in the GCC, can pursue potential long-term opportunities in refining and petrochemicals. Qatar in particular will bet on long-term demand for low-carbon natural gas, particularly LNG, and its derivative. It is expected that under any future scenario in which demand for oil remains, GCC countries will be prominent producers and gain market share, partly due to the low geopolitical risk in the region.

In the long-term, GCC national oil companies will pursue greener oil and gas production while also looking towards low-carbon energy sources that fit with Net Zero ambitions but align with core competencies. In this vein, hydrogen, particularly blue hydrogen, which is hydrogen produced primarily from steam methane reforming coupled with carbon capture, is an opportunity consistent with Net Zero pathways. Qatar, for example, is likely to focus on low-carbon gas supply for the production of blue hydrogen elsewhere, while Saudi Arabia, and perhaps the UAE, may produce blue hydrogen locally and export it or additionally see opportunities for importing and storing CO2 from blue hydrogen production abroad. Hydrogen is a core element of the IEA Net Zero plan, and the GCC countries are poised to produce and export blue hydrogen, its derivatives, and natural gas for hydrogen production elsewhere. However, finding the right business cases for the options to pursue is the current challenge.

As the IEA report says, reaching net zero by 2050 “requires nothing short of a total transformation of the energy systems that underpin our economies.” While 2050 is an ambitious goal, Net Zero will happen eventually and the global energy transition will, over time, reduce dependency on fossil energy sources. It’s clear that oil producers and exporters will increasingly face economic challenges as the transition unfolds but various strategies exist for continued prospects for GCC national oil companies in a Net Zero world. Gas producers and exporters are expected to have opportunities in low-carbon gases, particularly hydrogen, but hydrogen exports will not make up for long-term decline in oil export rents. The economic diversification initiatives currently underway in the region must continue.

Even as the world pursues decarbonization and emission reduction technologies in the pursuit of Net Zero, oil and gas will continue to play a role in many energy systems. It’s clear that oil and gas must be a part of the broader net zero conversation.��

Dr. Steve Griffiths is the Senior Vice President of Research and Development and Professor of Practice at Khalifa University.

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International Energy Experts from Japan, Saudi Arabia and UAE to Analyze Hydrogen Markets in Asia, Europe and the GCC Region ��

Khalifa University has announced the UAE Chapter of the International Association for Energy Economics (UAE-IAEE) will organize a webinar on the role of hydrogen in a global context to highlight the opportunities and challenges for hydrogen as a key energy sector in Asia, Europe and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

The webinar, titled ‘Hydrogen in a Global Context’, will be held on 21 April at 5pm in the UAE (9am EST), and will be moderated by Dr. Steve Griffiths, Senior Vice President for Research and Development, and Professor of Practice, Khalifa University. Panelists will include Professor Masakazu Toyoda, Chairman and CEO, The Institute of Energy Economics, Japan; Ahmad O. Al Khowaiter, Chief Technology Officer, Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia; and Robin Mills, CEO, Qamar Energy, UAE.

Dr. Griffiths said: “Khalifa University is pleased to organize this webinar and highlight the immense potential for hydrogen in the local, regional and international markets. With government and private stakeholders committed to producing hydrogen through low-carbon sources, this platform will highlight some of the most recent advances in the commercial development of hydrogen as well as forward-looking challenges and opportunities.”

Panelists will discuss wide-ranging issues including Japan’s hydrogen strategy and the opportunities and challenges for developing a hydrogen market from a hydrogen importer perspective, as well as Saudi Aramco’s hydrogen plans and its ambitions domestically and internationally from a hydrogen exporter perspective. Panelists will also share their perspectives on the developing hydrogen markets in Europe and the GCC region, as well as opportunities for GCC-Europe and GCC-Asia cooperation in hydrogen.

As a leading research-intensive institution, Khalifa University is already collaborating with the IEEJ and Kyushu University on concepts for the development of low-carbon hydrogen for domestic use and international export. . In addition, the Abu Dhabi Hydrogen Alliance, with stakeholders including Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC), Mubadala Investment Company and the holding company ADQ, are planning to produce both green hydrogen and blue hydrogen – which is produced from natural gas – to export to emerging international markets. Aligned with this initiative, Khalifa University is currently working with ADNOC on designs for large-scale low-carbon hydrogen research to be jointly conducted in Abu Dhabi.

According to estimates, the global hydrogen market could be worth as much as US$200 billion by the year 2030. Hydrogen could help countries globally achieve their ambitions to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, particularly through utilization in sectors such as chemicals, steel, refining, air travel, shipping, and heavy-duty road transport. Hydrogen use is expected to increase significantly in the near future as the world turns to cleaner sources of energy.

Clarence Michael
English Editor Specialist
18 April 2021

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By Dr. Ludovic �ٳܳ�é��

Dr. Ludovic �ٳܳ�é�� , Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at Khalifa University, outlines the strategies and technologies that could be deployed to turn CO2 emissions into a resilient circular economy.

Read Arabic story .

The continuous emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is the leading cause of climate change and subsequent extreme weather events.

In 2015, the international community adopted the Paris Climate Agreement, agreeing to limit the global average rise in temperature to less than 2° C, compared to pre-industrial levels, but with ambitions to limit the rise to less than 1.5° C. Along with a paradigm shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, deployment of carbon capture and storage technologies was proposed as a core strategy to actively and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This is in addition to the clear economic benefit that could be derived from using CO2 as a feedstock material for chemical products in a resilient circular economy.

While research into CO2 capture technologies is gaining traction, research into integrated capture and conversion strategies – which involves capturing CO2 at its source and effectively transforming the CO2 into value-added chemicals within the same chemical process – has received significantly less attention.

With my colleagues from Deakin University in Australia, including Dr. James Maina, Prof. Jennifer Pringle and Prof. Joselito Razal, and Dr. Suzana Nunes from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, Dr. Fausto Gallucci from Eindhoven University of Technology in Netherlands, and Dr. Lourdes Vega, Director of Khalifa University’s Research and Innovation Center on CO2 and Hydrogen (RICH), we published a review paper in the journal to assess recent advances in the integrated capture and conversion of CO2 from industry gases and atmospheric air.

Carbon capture and storage technologies (CSS) have been demonstrated across a number of pilot operations globally and typically include capturing CO2 from emission sources such as power plants, followed by compression prior to transportation to long-term storage sites. Although CSS technologies are viable for the capture of CO2 from large sources at high concentration levels, such as fossil fuel power plants or cement factories, they are not practical for small and distributed sources, such as transportation and residential heating, which cumulatively account for around half of all CO2 emissions.

For these cases, technologies that can extract CO2 directly from the atmosphere are needed if the associated carbon emissions are to be mitigated. These are direct air capture technologies (DAC) and they have some distinct advantages over traditional carbon capture technologies, including not needing to be located close to emission sources, which makes them deployable to any location around the world. However, since there is a much lower concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere compared to that available in the by-product gas from industrial plants, DAC is much more costly and energy intensive.

Associated with carbon capture and storage is carbon capture and utilization (CCU) where the CO2 captured from various sources is put back to work as a raw material. While CCU is most often associated with Enhanced Oil Recovery, CO2 can also produce valuable chemicals and fuels, which may be marketed to generate revenue and offset the expenses associated with the capture process. With a suitable catalyst, CO2 can be converted into a wide variety of products, including acids, monomers and carbon nanomaterials.

The potential for developing profitable businesses from products generated from CO2 is evidenced by the large number of recent start-up companies. The annual methanol market, for example, is expected to reach US$91.5 billion by 2026 and since methanol can be made from hydrogen and CO2, this represents a significant opportunity.

However, to further minimize energy requirements and eliminate the risk of secondary CO2 emissions, new, sustainable and energy efficient materials and processes that capture and convert CO2 emissions from the air directly need to be developed.

In our paper, we recommend that conversion reactions be carried out using renewable energy and that any chemicals and catalyst materials be produced using sustainable methods. Otherwise, CO2 derived products won’t have a low carbon footprint compared to fossil-fuel derived products. To highlight this, the generation of methanol from a reaction between CO2 and hydrogen generated by reforming of natural gas was found to release three times more CO2 than the conventional industrial production technique. But when the same reaction was carried out with hydrogen generated from wind power, there was a 58 percent reduction in emissions.

There is great potential in the scale-up and commercialization of capture and conversion technologies, but there are also key technological challenges hindering the advancement of this field that research can help overcome. Research and development carried out in the RICH Center at Khalifa University is tackling some of these challenges from a different angle.��

Dr. Ludovic �ٳܳ�é�� is an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at Khalifa University and a faculty member of the Research and Innovation Center on CO2 and Hydrogen (RICH).��

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Hydrogen is in high demand as an energy source but producing it can be difficult. A UAE-Japan research collaboration is looking to tackle these challenges and see the opportunities ahead.

Hydrogen could help tackle – critical energy challenges in the modern world, with its ability to provide a sustainable energy source to meet the demands for quality of life and economic growth, while avoiding emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Hydrogen use is expected to increase significantly in the near future in line with efforts to compensate the declining fossil fuel reserves and as the world turns to cleaner sources of energy.

Khalifa University’s Research and Innovation Center on CO2 and Hydrogen (RICH) is collaborating with the Institute of Energy Economics Japan (IEEJ) and Kyushu University on hydrogen projects in the UAE and Japan.

Collaboration between the UAE and Japan in the area of hydrogen began in 2017 with several bilateral meetings between academia, companies and government. In 2019, the first UAE-Japan Workshop on Hydrogen was held in Abu Dhabi with participants from UAE and Japanese industry and academia enjoying presentations, roundtable discussions, poster sessions and the exhibition of the Toyota Mirai Hydrogen FC Electric Vehicle. In 2020, a steering committee was created to define a roadmap and specific objectives and projects between IEEJ, Khalifa University, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), and the Abu Dhabi Department of Energy.

The low density of hydrogen made it a natural choice for one of its first practical uses—filling balloons and airships, but now, hydrogen can be used as a means of decarbonizing heavy industry; used as a zero-emission fuel for transportation, including trains, buses, trucks, and ships; provide a source of energy and heat for buildings; and store energy produced from renewable sources.

And there’s plenty of it. Hydrogen is found in the sun and most of the stars, and the planet Jupiter is composed mostly of hydrogen. On Earth, hydrogen is found in the greatest quantities as water. While it is present in the atmosphere, only tiny amounts of pure hydrogen persist since any hydrogen that does enter the atmosphere quickly escapes the Earth’s gravity into outer space.

Despite being the most abundant chemical substance in the universe, producing hydrogen is the tricky part. Most of the hydrogen produced today is from steam methane reforming, where natural gas is heated with steam to form syngas (a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide), which is then separated to produce pure hydrogen. However, this process is energy intensive and comes with a large carbon footprint.

Considerable efforts have been made in recent years to find cleaner methods, mainly by water splitting using renewable sources of energy or by capturing the carbon dioxide produced by steam methane reforming.

Around 75 million tons of pure hydrogen are produced today, with 76 percent of that from natural gas and 23 percent from coal. Transitioning into low carbon energy with hydrogen is on the horizon. Hydrogen-derived synthetic fuels offer real potential for combining hydrogen with carbon dioxide to produce cleaner fuels for those traditionally ‘hard-to-reach’ sectors such as aviation and shipping, which have so far proved hard to convert to green energy.

Water splitting via electrolysis is expected to increase as surplus energy from renewables offers a low-cost way of providing the electricity needed. However, if all current dedicated hydrogen production were produced through water electrolysis, this would require more electricity than the annual generation of the European Union. It’s clear there are still several challenges to be solved.

There are various projects underway at RICH to meet these challenges. Solar-driven hydrogen production by water and hydrogen sulphide – a by-product of natural gas and oil processing – ��splitting is one such project.

Research shows that using 20 percent of the UAE’s land surface for solar plants producing green hydrogen for export would match the country’s current oil and gas revenue. Concurrently, using hydrogen to turn ammonia – another abundantly available resource – into a carbon-less fuel is also a focus for researchers in the center. Storing, processing, transporting and ultimately using these fuels requires an integrated infrastructure, which the researchers are also investigating via a systematic approach for optimal design and operation of a UAE hydrogen, carbon dioxide network.

With IEEJ, ADNOC, the Department of Energy, and Kyushu University, RICH is working to define a hydrogen smart town in Abu Dhabi in close relation to a more valuable oil and gas industry, while also developing a roadmap for research and development collaborations in low carbon hydrogen and hydrogen transportation.

As further opportunities in hydrogen production and use become apparent, the floor is open between the UAE and Japan to materialize them.

Jade Sterling
Science Writer
16 February 2021

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Study Outlines Favorable Prospects for Hydrogen Mobility in UAE

Air Liquide, Khalifa University of Science and Technology and Al-Futtaim Motors released a joint study during Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2019, on the ‘Medium to Long Term development of Hydrogen Mobility in the UAE’. This collaborative study outlines the contribution of hydrogen to the energy transition and demonstrates the favorable prospects for hydrogen mobility in the UAE.

The study demonstrates that hydrogen mobility��in the UAE has��a substantial potential to develop into a major economy for the country, and can contribute to the achievement of its clean energy goals, in line with the UAE’s Vision 2021. The study was conducted by Maram Awad, a Khalifa University graduate student during her summer internship with Air Liquid. Awad was guided by Olivier Boucat of Air Liquide, and Dr Ahmed Al Hajaj, Assistant Professor, Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Khalifa University.

The study reiterates the UAE’s commitment to diversifying the energy sources, and calls for the pivotal collaboration of the various public and private players for a successful deployment of hydrogen mobility. It also demonstrates the requirement for an initial focus on fleet vehicles, such as buses, trucks and taxis, which would generate enough hydrogen need for an optimized production scale. The use of local sources of hydrogen in addition to excess hydrogen��produced in various industries, such as refining, can also contribute to very competitive costs of hydrogen for commercialization.

Air Liquide is��leading the hydrogen supply for the Hydrogen Mobility market in the UAE, with ongoing projects to develop the hydrogen infrastructure, connecting hydrogen production sources and utilization routes.

Hydrogen is an alternative to fossil fuels in addressing the clean transportation��challenge while improving air quality. Used within a fuel cell, hydrogen combines with oxygen from the air, to produce electricity, with water as the only byproduct. The fuel cell is used to convert hydrogen into energy to run an electric motor in vehicles known as Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles��(FCEV). FCEVs are considered complementary to Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV), especially in large fleets of vehicles, in heavy duty vehicles and in providing greater autonomy in extreme climates, where BEVs are less efficient. A FCEV can be refuelled as quickly as an internal gas or diesel combustion engine vehicle, hence allowing for optimum flexibility of use.

Hydrogen as a transportation fuel has gained momentum globally for its emission-free property and its ease of use. The deployment of hydrogen powered vehicles is already in progress and expanding in the United States, Europe, Japan and Korea, and is now being introduced in the UAE.

As a leading research-based institution in the region focused on providing cutting edge technologies in clean energy and sustainability, Khalifa University, through Masdar Institute, remains committed to obtaining solutions for carbon mitigation and climate change especially through innovations in CO2 capture, biofuel, waste-to-energy, energy storage, desalination and solar power.

Air Liquide and Al-Futtaim Motors inaugurated the Middle East’s first hydrogen station in Dubai, in October 2017, to support the deployment of the FCEVs in the UAE. Once deployed on a larger scale, the Fuel Cell Electric technology has the potential to significantly reduce the UAE’s dependence on oil and lower car-generated pollution levels.

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Abu Dhabi

15 January 2019

The post KU, Air Liquide, and Al-Futtaim Motors Release Study on Hydrogen Mobility in UAE appeared first on Khalifa University.

A team of researchers from Khalifa University has discovered an easy, low-cost and sustainable way to make catalysts that can split oxygen molecules from water, and in turn, produce hydrogen for energy storage and clean fuel applications.

The new catalyst, which is made of electrodeposited metallic elements cerium, nickel and iron, can split oxygen from water (called the Oxygen Evolution Reaction, or OER) at a rate that is two times more efficient than conventional catalysts, which are primarily made from noble metal oxides.

The collaborative team includes KU Post-Doctoral Researcher Dr. Ranjith Bose, KU Professor of Chemical Engineering Dr. Akram Alfantazi, Dr. Dhinesh Babu Velusamy from KAUST in Saudi Arabia, and Prof. Hyun-Seok Kim and Dr. K. Karuppasamy, both from Dongguk University in Seoul. The results of the team’s work was published in in August 2019.

Traditional catalysts are made via a solution-based process, which can pose serious issues related to the catalyst efficacy. With a solution-based process, engineers cannot control the size of nanomaterials that are used, or control the growth of the crystals used to make the catalyst. The solution-based process is not recommended for industrial applications due to the complicated synthesis procedures, thus limiting the use of catalysts made this way to small-scale applications.

The researchers developed an alternative method to synthesizing catalysts using an electrodeposition technique. Electrodeposition is the process of coating an ultrathin layer of one metal on top of a different metal to modify its surface properties. It is a simple process that can be easily scaled up for industrial applications.

“Electrodeposition is low cost and offers high controllability, as well as compatibility with nano-scale features. Furthermore, it can be performed at room-temperature,” said Dr. Ranjith.

However, electrodeposition for synthesizing metallic catalysts also has limitations. Previous studies have reported that a flat substrate, such as the ultrathin metallic layer coating, results in limited available active sites – or places where the catalytic “action” happens. This is because only the outermost electrons of the catalyst substrate are in contact with the electrolyte – the electrically conducting solution that interfaces with the catalyst to complete the reaction. More robust reactivity depends on a larger surface area, and flat 2D structures don’t offer high surface area.

To overcome these obstacles, Prof. Akram’s team layered the ultrathin metallic composites on a 3D foam structure, giving their catalysts a larger surface area, which translated into more active sites and better catalytic performance.

“We developed a catalyst made of a 3D nickel foam core, coated with an ultrathin layer of cerium oxide and nickel-iron hydroxide. This unique design combines the features of cerium oxide and nickel-iron hydroxide, which have outstanding mass-transfer properties, enhanced active sites, and energetics for OER, with the mechanical robustness of the 3D nickel foam core,” Dr. Ranjith explained.

The cerium oxide and nickel-iron hydroxide was synthesized by a two-step process that started with the preparation of nickel-iron oxide by electrodeposition, followed by anodic electrolysis – a technique that uses an electric current – to introduce the cerium oxide into the nickel-iron coated film.

The resulting composite catalyst exhibited excellent OER activity with a lower overpotential – the difference between the applied and thermodynamic potentials of a given electrochemical reaction – and higher electrocatalytic activity.

The research is an important contribution to the selection, production and optimization of electrocatalytic materials that can be leveraged to improve the efficiency of hydrogen electrolytic production.

“The results achieved by our catalysts undoubtedly represent an important milestone toward the development of efficient catalysts that use electricity to break water into hydrogen and oxygen to further reduce the operational costs of hydrogen production,” Dr. Ranjith said.

The work being done through this project and others reflects ����’s commitment to supporting the UAE’s clean energy transformation.

Erica Solomon
Senior Editor
3 November 2019

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