27 technologies to produce lower carbon fuels from “second chance carbon” — and its practicioners. Who’s doing what, where, when, why and how?

Hydrogen 

Hydrogen can be produced from a range of sources: biomass, fossil fuels, fossil wastes and directly from electricity. Hydrogen produced from fossil electricity, and hydrogen produced from fossil fuels such as natural gas are both within scope of this report. 

Hydrogen from fossil electricity 

Hydrogen production from electricity via electrolysis is at TRL 9. However, given the high cost of hydrogen production from electrolysis and the poor GHG performance of transforming fossil based electricity inthydrogen, strong (policy) drivers targeting air quality may be needed for producers ttarget this in particular. If hydrogen is produced from grid electricity then a portion of that hydrogen is likely tbe produced from fossil electricity. 

Hydrogen as a by-product of industrial processes 

In some industrial processes hydrogen can be produced in excess as a by-product of the process. Hydrogen production by this method is at TRL 9. One notable example of this is in the chlor-alkali process. In the majority of plants the hydrogen is captured and used as a chemical feedstock or for provision of heat and/or power tthe plant27, but it has been estimated that 216,000 t/year (equivalent t15% of the global chlor-alkali hydrogen production) is vented.