This text is taken from the “Courrier de l’économie” of May 9, 2022. To subscribe, click here.
There is enough to tangle the brushes. A color palette is now used to designate hydrogen based on the energy source used to produce it. Thus, gray hydrogen is produced from natural gas, while blue hydrogen stems from carbon capture technologies and pink hydrogen from nuclear energy. In Quebec, it is mainly about green hydrogen, a molecule produced from the electrolysis of water powered by renewable energies.
More and more manufacturers are considering the use of this energy vector to replace the fossil fuels used in their energy-intensive transformation processes. This is the case with steelworks. The duty reported in the last few days that ArcelorMittal, a steel giant, was seriously considering using hydrogen to replace the use of fossil fuels. Conclusive tests have been carried out at its Contrecœur plant.
Why do these large emitters favor hydrogen rather than simply electrify? The question is valid. First of all, the hydrogen allows the furnace to reach the temperatures necessary for the melting of metals which, according to the processes, exceed 1000 degrees Celsius.
But that’s not all. “The process of refining steel from ore not only needs heat, but also a reducing element that serves to strip the iron molecule from the other elements in the ore,” says senior analyst Kris Chapman. senior at Dunsky Energy + Climate, a consulting firm specializing in energy.
At present, the “reducing elements” used in industry come mainly from natural gas and coal. “Hydrogen [qu’il soit vert ou d’une autre couleur] can also play this role. So the key role played by hydrogen is above all at the chemical level”, he specifies.
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