Man looking at hydrogen plant

Hydrogen

Hydrogen can play a major role in the energy transition in various ways. The industry already uses hydrogen on a large scale as a building block for everyday products. If the production of this hydrogen is ‘green’, the end products will therefore also become sustainable. So-called 'green' hydrogen is produced with sustainable electricity from wind or solar. ‘Grey’ hydrogen is made from fossil fuel; which releases CO2. Then there is also a 'blue' variant. Here, the released CO2 is captured and permanently stored in empty gas fields at sea for example, as a result of which the hydrogen obtained is climate neutral. Furthermore, hydrogen can be used for the storage of renewable power such as solar or wind, for the built environment and for the mobility sector. Passenger cars, trucks and buses are already running on hydrogen, but hydrogen can also serve as an energy carrier for shipping or trains in the future.

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Man in plant

ETCA produces green hydrogen with electricity generated by 232 solar panels installed on the roof especially for this purpose. This renewable power converts water in a so-called electrolyser into hydrogen and oxygen.

Part of the hydrogen produced goes to ETCA's own hydrogen dispenser. ETCA uses two hydrogen cars that can be filled on site. Shell employees use these hydrogen cars for zero-emission business mileage. Another part goes to the gas-to-liquids (GTL) pilot plant. GTL is a technology that uses natural gas instead of oil to make liquid products such as fuels for diesel-powered cars and trucks or jet fuel. But it’s also used for raw materials for everyday products such as detergents, cosmetics and plastics. A second sustainability step is taken when, instead of natural gas, green hydrogen is used together with carbon dioxide (CO2) as the raw material for the pilot plant. Read more about this on the GTL page of this site.

The production and the use of hydrogen are not always in the same place. Transport is necessary to make optimal use of all produced hydrogen. An option to transport large amounts of hydrogen is through pipelines. This is already happening now. In 2016, 4500 km of hydrogen pipelines were already in use worldwide. For the time being, these pipelines are concentrated in industrial areas, such as around Rotterdam. The interest in and applicability of hydrogen is now expanding rapidly. As a result, there is a growing need to see whether existing natural gas pipelines can be used for hydrogen transport. Together with other companies, universities and knowledge institutes, Shell researchers look at how this can best be done, for example by studying and analysing the material, design and construction of existing natural gas pipelines.

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Waterstof

Waterstof speelt een sleutelrol bij het slagen van de Nederlandse energietransitie. En dan bij voorkeur groene waterstof, gemaakt met stroom uit wind of zon en zonder uitstoot van CO2. 

De ontwikkeling van rijden op waterstof in Nederland

Op 13 oktober was de opening van het waterstofstation Den Ruygenhoek nabij Hoofddorp.  Het eerste waterstofvulpunt is open. De komende weken voeren we nog wel een aantal testen uit. Hierdoor zal het station soms niet beschikbaar zijn. Houd de H2.LIVE app in de gaten voor de laatste status van het vulpunt. 

Wie, wat, waterstof

Wat is waterstof? En hoe maak je het? Twaalf weetjes over waterstof.