While global warming is driven by the use of fossil fuels, several initiatives in the energy sector focus on the production of so-called green hydrogen, which does not pollute the environment. The technological and scientific challenges are many, but Brazil has advanced towards this source of clean energy.
For some decades, several laboratories around the world have been dedicated to the production of green hydrogen, but in Brazil, this is a relatively new area. However, within six months, the country will take an important step on this path, through a project developed by the University of São Paulo (USP).
Under funding from the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (Fapesp) and Shell, the Research Center for Innovation in Greenhouse Gases at USP will start activities with a machine that produces green hydrogen from ethanol and water. .
The center’s coordinator and leading scientist in the field of bioenergy, Marcos Buckeridge, explains that the machine will be installed at USP, close to the Olympic lane, where the first part of the project will be conducted. Afterwards, the objective is to prepare three university campus buses that will be fueled by green hydrogen.
According to Buckeridge, the great innovation is in the ethanol used as a raw material to obtain hydrogen, making the technology a pioneer in global terms. The project aims to eliminate emissions from sugarcane production or “even make it negative in terms of emissions”, adds the scientist.
Only hydrogen whose raw material for its production comes from renewable sources or biomass, such as ethanol, is considered green. The hydrogen already used by many vehicles in the world is called “gray”, because it is produced from natural gases.
Expanding the possibilities
By the end of the year, EDP Brasil, one of the leading national companies in the energy sector, plans to inaugurate its first pilot plant to produce hydrogen from the breakdown of water molecules in the capital of the state of Ceará, Fortaleza. The planned investment is R$ 41.9 million.
This project, carried out in partnership with research groups and the private sector, is just one of the 17 projects in Ceará to produce green hydrogen. In 2023, construction will begin on the Cactus Energia Verde production plant, whose means of obtaining green hydrogen is a little different from that developed by USP.
In USP’s technology, ethanol “enters on one side and hydrogen exits on the other”, but several reactions need to be controlled in this process. In addition, at the end of the operation, carbon monoxide remains – one of the main greenhouse gases (GHG). Buckeridge explains that one of the alternatives for the adequate storage of carbon monoxide is to use the gas in the university’s own vegetable gardens, as vegetables, through photosynthesis, absorb carbon to grow.
Another possibility to store carbon, adds Buckeridge, is to bury it in places close to the plants, up to 4 kilometers deep. “Carbon, in this case, will react with other substances and become inert,” he explains. This method is already used by other global initiatives.
The Ceará project, on the other hand, will be based on breaking water molecules. For such a process, solar energy will be used to move the necessary equipment, without generating any pollutants at the end of the process. The results look promising, but there is still a long way to go before technological challenges to overcome until large-scale production of green hydrogen is achieved.
The International Renewable Energy Agency says that by 2050 green hydrogen will account for up to 12% of global energy needs. If carbon neutrality is achieved throughout the production chain of the new fuel, the impact on reducing global GHG emissions will be up to 20%.
4 min Innovation