H2-Industries have announced that they have developed a solution to convert environmentally harmful flaring gas right at the flare of an oil production field to clean hydrogen and solid carbon.
The company uses pyrolysis technology to convert this environmentally harmful waste product into clean hydrogen. The hydrogen production process from flaring gas is CO2-emission free.
Gas flaring is now recognised as a major contributor to the emission of harmful gases affecting climate change and society by creating increased incidences of cancer in communities close to flaring sites. The pollutants emitted are highly harmful to humans, according to a recent report by the BBC, and to the environment.
The technology will be delivered in self-contained 20 or 40-foot ISO containers and can be pre-assembled in a semi-serial production and shipped for installation to the flaring site. The process provides clean hydrogen bound in liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHC). LOHC are organic compounds that can absorb and release hydrogen through chemical reactions. LOHCs can therefore be used as a storage medium for hydrogen.
The only by-product of the process is solid carbon black that can be shipped for export to any place in the world using ISO container tanks. Carbon black is mainly used to strengthen rubber in tires, but it can also act as a pigment, UV stabiliser, conductive or insulating agent in various rubber, plastic, coating applications, and other everyday use, including hoses, conveyor belts, shoes, and printing.
The H2-Industries process captures clean carbon black, not produced from fossil fuels, but from harmful production emissions with no additional CO2 emissions. This carbon black can be sold on the world market, where the current prices are between $1.50 and $2.50 per kilogram.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the time is ripe for tapping into hydrogen’s much-vaunted potential contribution to a sustainable energy system. Hydrogen can be used in many more applications than those common today. By using H2-Industries technology, harmful emissions from gas flaring can be avoided and turned into valuable and much-needed green hydrogen to increase the pace of the energy transition.
