Future-proof CHP systems:
Opportunities for blending with hydrogen
Hydrogen offers great promises. No CO2 is released during combustion, while the production process of green hydrogen is also free of CO2 emissions. Especially now that Caterpillar offers 14 gas generator sets that are suitable for blending up to 25% hydrogen, plus retrofit kits to make existing generators suitable for this, it offers prospects for sustainable use in CHP systems.
Developments at Caterpillar
Alternative fuels have been on the radar of both Caterpillar and Pon Power for decades. The promise of hydrogen is perhaps greatest because of the possibility of creating a completely carbon-free cycle: from production to combustion in an engine. So no wonder the Cat G3516 gas generator set, which runs on 100% hydrogen in pilot projects, has been attracting attention for several years now. It is a project that shows the potential of hydrogen in places where the availability of greenly produced hydrogen is not an issue.
In the wake of G3516, Caterpillar offers 14 gas generator sets that are suitable for blending up to 25% hydrogen. For existing gas generator sets from the G3500 series and the CG132B and CG170B, retrofit kits are available that allow blending of up to 25%. This blending option enables a more sustainable operation of generators, and therefore CHP systems, without being dependent on hydrogen; after all, the generators also run on 100% gas.
“For most companies, complete reliance on hydrogen is still in the future”
The current practice of hydrogen
Dennis Hoek is an Energy Transition Expert at Pon Power and believes hydrogen in the Netherlands has indeed much to offer, but daily practice is lagging behind: “Of course, there are many promising goals in the Netherlands for which we want to increase the availability of hydrogen in the coming decades. Like the port of Rotterdam’s aim to import 18 megatons of green hydrogen annually, or the plans to increase the capacity of electrolysers in the Netherlands by a factor of 1000. However, the harsh reality is that we’re significantly behind these ambitious goals. The supply of hydrogen lags far behind demand, resulting in a significantly high price for green or blue hydrogen. In addition, we still have to overcome major infrastructure obstacles; we still don’t have an adequate transport network for hydrogen. We even have to wonder how branched that network will become. For most companies, complete reliance on hydrogen is still in the future.”
“The fact that we can now make existing CHP systems suitable for hydrogen with a retrofit kit suddenly makes them future-proof.”
The possibility of blending
makes it future-proof
According to Nico van den Biggelaar, Account Manager Energy Systems at Pon Power, Cat’s ex-works retrofit kits and the gas generator sets that are suitable for blending are in line with the current state of affairs: “Both the investment and the lifespan of a CHP system are considerable. The fact that we can now make existing CHP systems suitable for hydrogen with a retrofit kit suddenly makes them future-proof. A company that is considering a CHP system doesn’t have to invest in hydrogen yet, but knows that it will be ready by having a CHP system once the hydrogen infrastructure is in place.”
Is there also a reason not to immediately install a new CHP system that is hydrogen-ready? Nico: “The electrical efficiency on natural gas is slightly lower when a hydrogen kit is installed on the gas generator set. That’s why it’s wise to only make it hydrogen-ready when hydrogen is actually available. It’s all about being future-proof.”
Hydrogen as a fuel
Unlike fossil fuels, hydrogen does not contain CO2. No CO2 is emitted when hydrogen is burned. When it is combusted in a gas generator set, nitrogen oxides (NOx) are released. Hydrogen ignites 15 times easier than natural gas and is fairly explosive in air at concentrations of 4 to 74%. In the case of natural gas, this is 5 to 15%. But, with the right precautions, hydrogen is just as safe to use as natural gas.
Different colours of hydrogen
All hydrogen has exactly the same composition and colour. Whether we it’s grey, blue or green hydrogen: the chemical composition is the same and the engine is colour blind in this regard. The colours we give relate to the production process. Hydrogen is not an energy source like oil is, but an energy carrier: you have to make it first. The colour of hydrogen therefore has no influence on the emissions during use, but it does affect the well-to-wake emissions: the emissions from production to use.
Almost all hydrogen currently produced is ‘grey’ hydrogen. It is so called, because the production process is not sustainable. Natural gas is converted into hydrogen at high temperatures, releasing the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2).
In the case of ‘blue’ hydrogen, 80 to 90% of the CO2 emitted during the production process is captured and stored, which could be done, for example, in empty gas fields under the North Sea. Blue hydrogen is not yet produced on a large scale anywhere.
‘Green’ hydrogen is produced by gasifying biomass or using sustainable electricity through electrolysis. Electrolysis is a chemical reaction in which water (H2O) is split into oxygen (O2) and hydrogen (H2) using ‘green’ electricity.
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