Hydrogen's Many Colors

Vera Eckert
Friday, November 19, 2021

Industries including energy, steel, and chemicals are looking to develop large-scale hydrogen applications to help reduce carbon emissions and avert global warming.

Although hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, it's very scarce as a gas, and so far most methods of producing gas at scale release large amounts of carbon dioxide.

Hydrogen is colorless, but each form of it has been categorized by a color that reflects its carbon footprint: The ultimate is green hydrogen, extracted using power from renewable energy such as wind or solar.

Here are details about green, grey, blue and turquoise hydrogen:

1. Green hydrogen

Derived from renewable sources which could include offshore wind, powering floating electrolysis plants. Green hydrogen can be stored, piped, or carried by tankers to consumers, for example, to serve hydrogen filling stations. So far it has mostly been produced for experimental projects.

2. Grey hydrogen

Grey hydrogen is extracted from natural gas using steam-methane reforming, currently the standard industry process.

3. Blue hydrogen

Blue hydrogen is produced in the same way as grey hydrogen but with CO2 emissions captured for underground or subsea storage. It's often presented as a transitional approach until green hydrogen output can scale up.

4. Turquoise hydrogen

Also called low-carbon hydrogen, and so far very small scale, this is hydrogen generated from natural gas but using pyrolysis - the gas is passed through molten metal, producing solid carbon as a byproduct with useful applications.

(Reporting by Vera Eckert; Edited by Sara Ledwith)


Categories: Energy Industry News Activity Hydrogen Decarbonization Offshore Wind Carbon Capture

Related Stories

Op-Ed: Kazakhstan’s National O&G Firm Positioning Itself as Global Energy Player

EnerMech Names APAC Regional Chief

CIP Reaches Financial Close for Offshore Wind Farm in Taiwan

ABS Approves Hanwha Ocean’s FPSO Design

AI & Offshore Energy: The Higher the Stakes, the More Value AI Creates

TotalEnergies Wraps Up Acquisition of SapuraOMV’s Gas Assets

Kuwaiti Oil and Gas Firm Exploring More Opportunities in Indonesia's Natuna Sea

Sunda Energy Closing in on Jack-Up Deal for Chuditch-2 Appraisal Well

Sembcorp Signs 10-Year LNG Supply Contract with Chevron

Saipem Gets $1B Job at BP’s Indonesian Gas and CCUS Project

Current News

CNOOC Makes Major Oil and Gas Discovery in South China Sea

Valeura’s Assets in Gulf of Thailand Remain Operational After Earthquake

Op-Ed: Kazakhstan’s National O&G Firm Positioning Itself as Global Energy Player

Woodside to Shed Some Trinidad and Tobago Assets for $206M

CNOOC Sees 11% Profit Growth in 2024 Driven by Record Oil Production

‘Ultra-Mega’ Offshore Deal for L&T at QatarEnergy LNG’s North Field Gas Scheme

Keel Laying for Wind Flyer Trimaran Crew Boat

MODEC Gets Shell’s Gato do Mato FPSO Ops and Maintenance Job

EnerMech Names APAC Regional Chief

CIP Reaches Financial Close for Offshore Wind Farm in Taiwan

Subscribe for AOG Digital E‑News

AOG Digital E-News is the subsea industry's largest circulation and most authoritative ENews Service, delivered to your Email three times per week

https://accounts.newwavemedia.com