There is a unilateral focus across the G7 countries on using hydrogen as a clean fuel to meet the need for a high density clean energy carrier for decarbonization of our industries and cities through a combustible fuel. Countries with the largest economies globally have pledged to significantly accelerate the use of hydrogen as a clean fuel. The majority of several large corporations are also moving towards the use of hydrogen as a fuel, particularly in sectors that are more challenging to decarbonize such as heavy-duty transport, maritime, metals and other industrial applications.

The emerging technologies to produce green hydrogen generation include electrolysis of water using renewable electricity, as well as hydrogen production from biomass and advanced reforming of fossil fuels. The production of green hydrogen from electrolysis involves using electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen (by-product). The development of such technologies will lead to the decarbonization of conventional thermochemical hydrogen production methods, which accounts for around 830 MT of CO2 emissions every year.

Sinclair is developing a cutting-edge green Hydrogen technology which reduces the energy input for hydrogen production by >80% and utilizes domestic wastewater as a feedstock. This innovative approach will bring the cost of Hydrogen to <£2/kg in the short term, with a longer-term trajectory to <£1/kg aided by scalability and mass deployments.

Hydrogen is a zero-emission fuel with a very high energy density (120 MJ per kg; roughly 3 times that of diesel and natural gas). Hydrogen fuel is applicable in both industry and transport, e.g. powering cars, trains, boats and planes in applications which require heat as an input. Traditional methods of Hydrogen production use reforming-based techniques to convert hydrocarbons into hydrogen gas and carbon dioxide, which leads to a large amount of CO2 emissions (9kg of CO2 for every kg of H2). Over 90% of the world’s Hydrogen is currently produced from fossil fuels.

Heavy-duty transport accounts for a third of carbon emissions in the EU, so hydrogen as an energy dense fuel can be used to decarbonize heavy-duty vehicles. Hydrogen is especially beneficial over electricity in this case since electrification of large vehicles is challenging due to the requirement of large batteries and constraints around supply chain for rare earth metals. There is also a potential to use Hydrogen derivatives in internal combustion engines for greater power density over electrical drive train.

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The technology portfolio also includes the ability to convert CO2 into carbon-neutral synthetic fuels (CCU). The technology will be a gamechanger for carbon capture, by replacing the capture plant with a much simpler utilization plant. The process simplification and reduced energy input will bring the cost of capture down to <$15/ton.

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