NETL expertise was showcased at a recent workshop held to develop innovative pathways to produce H₂ as a clean and affordable fuel of the future and identify opportunities for collaborative research efforts among national labs, academic researchers and industry partners.

Researchers from NETL, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory met with industry and academic representatives on June 22-23 at the NREL campus in Golden, Colorado, to discuss pathways to carbon-negative H₂ production.

“As we work to mitigate the impact of climate change, it’s crucial that we identify how we can best interact to unlock the potential of H₂ by developing carbon-negative H₂ technologies and systems,” said NETL researcher Jonathan Lekse, a member of the event’s organizing committee.

While H₂ is the simplest element in the universe, it doesn’t typically exist by itself in nature and must be produced from compounds that contain it. The most common way of producing H₂ today is natural gas steam reforming, which requires high temperatures so that steam reacts with the hydrocarbon fuel to produce H₂. The process remains energy intensive and emits carbon dioxide (CO₂), a greenhouse gas.

Nathan Weiland, a senior fellow at NETL, outlined analyses performed by NETL to support alternate methods of producing carbon-neutral or carbon-negative H₂.

He also explained how the research is aligned with the U.S. Department of Energy’s H₂ Shot, an initiative launched in June 2021 to reduce the cost of clean H₂ by 80% to $1 per 1 kilogram in 1 decade (“1 1 1”) as well as the newly announced Clean Fuels & Products Shot, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the fuel and chemical industry at least 85% by 2035. These DOE Energy Earthshot initiatives are key components to meeting the Biden–Harris Administration’s goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

In a presentation titled “Systems Analysis on Biomass Gasification to Carbon-Negative H₂,” Weiland explained how NETL, and its research partners are exploring ways to diversify gasifier feedstocks using biomass—a broad term to describe wood, food crops, grass, woody plants and other organic materials. 

Gasification is a thermal process that uses chemical reactions to break down carbon-based materials into molecular building blocks, creating syngas, a product primarily consisting of carbon monoxide and H₂ molecules. Traditionally, gasifiers have relied on coal and petroleum coke as feedstocks but advances in co-gasification and integrated carbon capture technologies can enable H₂ production with net-zero or net-negative CO₂ emissions potential by blending biomass into the feedstocks.

“Advances in gasification of blended and variable feedstocks may enable co-gasification technology to perform reliably and flexibly to produce reliable and affordable supplies of H₂ in a net-zero carbon emissions future,” Weiland said.

In addition, Weiland explained NETL’s intramural research efforts are investigating gasification of other waste feedstocks, such as construction demolition waste and municipal solid waste as well as reforming of renewable natural gas from landfills for carbon-negative H₂ generation.

“These and other projects are especially important to establish a H₂ economy and reap the many benefits it will provide,” Weiland said.