Many see the future of hydrogen as a fuel rooted in the ability to generate it on-site. That’s partly because transporting and storing hydrogen today is expensive and challenging. The good news is that new technologies are already making it possible to generate hydrogen from conventional natural gas and renewable natural gas derived from biomass. This approach to generating hydrogen is particularly interesting because it means that natural gas and existing natural gas pipelines can be used to transport hydrogen atoms to the exact point of use. If anything, people see on-site hydrogen as the next big thing, especially when it comes to heating factories and buildings, powering vehicles and trucks, and fueling power generators with a clean hydrogen supply.
A number of different technology companies are pursuing different methods for on-site hydrogen generation. Typical hydrogen feedstocks include water, ammonia, and natural gas. One technique for on-site hydrogen generation uses narrow, credit card-sized channels designed to transfer heat. The US Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Lab developed the technology. These so-called microchannels are highly efficient at driving heat energy directly into the chemical reactions needed to produce hydrogen, which can then be diverted to various heat and power purposes, including industrial operations.
This and other on-site hydrogen reactors, as they are called, is that energy users can now generate hydrogen gas at a comparatively lower price point, without the traditional logistics hassles associated with transporting it.