ARTICLE Hydrogen solutions Electrolyzers, stacks, and H for transport: the challenges of2 harnessing hydrogen for Net Zero are multiple, but the potential solutions are close to hand. As we set out to create a hydrogen economy, little exists These include: in the way of green hydrogen supply. Nor is demand for • Liquefiers used to convert hydrogen gas to liquid for green hydrogen anywhere near the levels it will reach when transportation; hydrogen will have been widely adopted as an industry • Conversion of hydrogen to e-fuel for use in the mobility sector feedstock, a fuel for mobility, and an energy vector. In (traditional e-fuel refuelling stations also fall into the low-risk contrast, the technologies necessary to accomplish these goals category); are in most cases mature and low risk. All that is required • Alkaline electrolysis, which uses solar, wind, or hydroelectric now are the financial resources and regulatory frameworks energy to convert water into hydrogen; and necessary to roll them out. • Carbon capture, which can be used to reduce the impact of emissions generated during the refining of hydrogen using Very low risk technologies in the hydrogen sector, those fossil fuels. developed more than 30 years ago and currently used by more than ten discrete industrial players, include gasification, Medium-risk technologiesare those that are proven, but which compression, steam methane reforming (SMR), and hydrogen- have not yet been developed at scale. They include polymer to-ammonia conversion. Gasification has a role in the creation electrolyte membrane electrolysis, an old technology which will of hydrogen through the use of biomass. Compression is be less costly than alkaline electrolysis technology; hydrogen to essential for the distribution of hydrogen by pipeline and natural gas conversion, which may be used in interim periods road. SMR is used to create grey hydrogen using natural gas, when hydrogen cannot be used as a fuel; and hydrogen but the process can also be applied to the creation of green refuelling stations, which are rapidly moving into the low-risk hydrogen using biogas. Finally, conversion to ammonia is category as they are built around the world. required in multiple industrial applications, notably fertilizer production. We see only one technology as high risk, from the investor’s perspective. That’s the deployment of liquid organic hydrogen The next, low-risk category of hydrogen technologies includes carriers, or LOHCs. These are organic compounds which those adopted by multiple players but fewer than ten years old, are able to absorb and release hydrogen through chemical and 30-year technology used by fewer than 10 companies. reactions, and are useful in the transportation of hydrogen. 38