UCLA Scientists Turn Plastic Waste Into Pure Hydrogen Fuel
Russia's Biggest Black Sea Oil Port Goes Quiet as Drone Threat Grows Haley Zaremba is an energy journalist and researcher with more than a decade of professional experience covering global energy systems, land and natural resources, and… Green hydrogen was supposed to be a silver bullet solution for decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors like shipping and steelmaking.
It was the buzziest technology out there – and then it fizzled out completely.
But after years of languishing in labs without reaching any meaningful level of commercialization, hydrogen is making a roaring comeback thanks to back-to-back scientific breakthroughs and renewed interest in the fossil fuel alternative against the backdrop of the global oil and gas crisis brought on by the United States’ and Israel’s war in Iran.
Hydrogen is enormously useful in industrial processes and holds great promise for limiting their associated carbon emissions, as the element can be combusted at high temperatures like natural gas, heavy fuel oil, or thermal coal, but leaves behind nothing but water vapor when burned.
However, hydrogen is only as clean and green as the processes and energies used to make it.
The vast majority of hydrogen used in industrial applications is gray hydrogen, which is made using fossil fuels.
Green hydrogen is the name for hydrogen made with renewable energies, but this, too, has its drawbacks.
A 2022reportfrom the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) warned against the “indiscriminate use of hydrogen,” cautioning policy-makers to weigh their priorities carefully and to consider that extensive use of green hydrogen “may not be in line with the requirements of a decarbonised world” as it “requires dedicated renewable energy that could be used for other end uses.” In other words, green hydrogen may not be the smartest or most efficient use of clean energy.
Plus, the process is often too expensive to be a realistic replacement for fossil fuels.
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But recent breakthroughs have unlocked new methods of hydrogen generation that could change the calculus on green hydrogen’s affordability and efficiency.
Researchers from the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and Ewha Womans University in South Korea have discovered a way to convert plastic waste into pure hydrogen through a process called Alkaline Thermal Treatment (ATT).
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