Hydrogen, the future of our energy?

Hydrogen is the energy carrier of the future, all governments and big players are talking about it. In a few places, it is already being used by heavy industry. APK Group is therefore fully expanding its new business in hydrogen grid construction. We will also connect hydrogen users to the new grid. But the use of hydrogen poses major challenges and will not serve our households or passenger cars anytime soon. We give you a glimpse into the future.

Starting with theory

Hydrogen is the smallest and most common element in our universe. It is trapped in larger elements like water, but in its pure form it is a gas. That energy we can pull out by reacting hydrogen with other substances such as oxygen. With that response then comes water-free and especially very much energy. To give you an idea: one kilogram of hydrogen contains about three times as much energy as is contained in one kilogram of petrol or 120 times more than in a battery of one kilogram. That sounds like a solution to all our climate problems, but is it? 

Practical challenges

The benefits from hydrogen are clear:

• Hydrogen is a powerful energy source available everywhere, including us! So we no longer depend on oil-producing countries for energy supplies.
• With green power, an electrolysis process "green hydrogen" produced, this without any CO2 emissions. Later, during combustion, or conversion to electrical energy, only water and oxygen are then released, but no more CO².
• It offers an answer to the sharply rising demand for energy.
• It could be used by all parts of our society.

Yet there are still a number of challenges when using hydrogen:

• At each step of the green hydrogen production process, an important portion of energy lost, mostly in the form of waste heat. We can, however, capture this energy in a heat grid.
• By the end of 2021, only 1% of the hydrogen produced was made with green electricity. If we start producing more hydrogen, we may only do so without fossil fuels to use because otherwise the impact on our climate at least as big. So there is great pressure to add offshore wind farms in a hurry. Consideration is also being given to producing hydrogen with new nuclear power plants.
• Hydrogen takes up a lot of space. It is difficult to compress into a liquid (like LNG in the case of natural gas). Road transport is therefore less profitable. The most appropriate means of transport is the underground pipeline. For offshore transport, import, of hydrogen, the choice will probably be to convert green hydrogen to other molecules such as ammonia. Ammonia can be compressed into a liquid. Once delivered to the ports, the ammonia can be converted back to hydrogen using chemical crackers. 
• It is highly flammable and therefore, like natural gas, potentially dangerous.

Decarbonisation of heavy industry

Under pressure from European regulatory legislation around hydrogen, all European gas network operators (Fluxys, Gasunie, Enagas, Gaz de France, etc.) rushed to design a new nationwide hydrogen network, the so-called "Backbone", the European H² main veins which will bring hydrogen to heavy industries.  

It has been calculated that 20 megatons of hydrogen will be needed annually in Europe from 2030 to reduce CO2 emissions by 55%, a requirement according to the European Green Deal. Interestingly, in doing so, half of this amount of hydrogen will be used for the decarbonisation of major industrial areas in the Benelux and Ruhr regions. Coincidentally, this is precisely the operating range of APK Group is. In other words, our area of operation will have the densest hydrogen network in Europe. 

We can expect the first hydrogen pipeline projects in 2024, with a peak between 2025 and 2029. Part of the existing natural gas (CH4) network can be converted and reused for hydrogen. All valve stations and control systems will have to be replaced. Furthermore, in Belgium alone, Fluxys plans about 650 km of new large diameter hydrogen pipelines.

In parallel, a CO2 pipeline network built. Indeed, heavy industry (cement, steel, petrochemicals) will still need gas and oil in part for its industrial processes. Unlike before, the CO² will no longer be emitted, but rather captured and injected into the CO² pipeline network. Compressors will pump the CO² through the pipelines to the ports of Antwerp and Ghent, where the CO² will be liquefied ("liquefaction"). This "liquid CO² can then be transported by ship to Norway, where the CO² will eventually be injected into empty offshore gas fields (CCS = Carbon Capture and Storage). 

Furthermore, all the major industrial players want to connecting to this H² and CO2 backbone. So in addition to the construction of the main pipeline (the backbone), we can also expect to see a mass of connection projects. Given that most major industries are located around port areas or in close proximity to canals and motorways, we can expect a lot of trenchless solutions, something APK Group excels at.   

The hydrogen production units produce green hydrogen that is injected into the H² backbone. In addition, these units also produce the by-products oxygen and waste heat. Oxygen can be injected into an oxygen line and residual heat can be injected via a heat grid be captured. Furthermore, the electrolysis unit of a green hydrogen plant needs to be connected to the power grid and will high-voltage cables need to be laid out. 

In and around a hydrogen plant will thus a mass of cables and pipes should be laid. This kind of synergy works with as little disruption as possible is precisely APK Group's speciality.

Interested in working together?
Contact Wouter Everaerts: +32 473 72 06 41, wouter.everaerts@apkgroup.eu