Hydrogen & Other Clean Fuels
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"Hydrogen can be produced from domestic sources -- initially natural gas; eventually clean coal....That's important. If you can produce something yourself, it means you're less dependant upon somebody else to produce it."
President George W. Bush
February 6, 2003 |
In his 2003 State of the Union address, President Bush announced a $1.2 billion initiative to reverse America's growing dependence on foreign oil by developing the technology for commercially viable hydrogen-powered fuel cells to power cars, trucks, homes and businesses with no pollution or greenhouse gases.
A key element of the President's hydrogen initiative is to develop advanced hydrogen production and delivery technologies that can supply tomorrow's energy and transportation systems with affordable hydrogen with significantly reduced or near-zero emissions. Fossil fuels (e.g., natural gas and coal) can provide the transition to a hydrogen economy by delivering a near- to mid-term source of hydrogen. With carbon sequestration coal could be used to produce hydrogen for many decades without adding to concerns over the buildup of carbon gases in the atmosphere.
Hydrogen from Fossil Fuels - Today's Technology
Today's technologies can produce and deliver enough hydrogen to meet the demands of the nation's refineries and chemical industries. But to meet the expectations of President Bush's hydrogen initiative and supply the much larger volumes needed for a hydrogen-fueled transportation sector, the costs of producing, delivering and storing hydrogen from coal and natural gas must be reduced. As a starting point for describing the Department of Energy's efforts to achieve these cost reductions, this section describes the state-of-the-art of current technology for producing hydrogen from fossil fuels:
 Today's Hydrogen Production Industry
Hydrogen from Natural Gas - Future Technologies
This program is developing new technologies that lower the cost of producing hydrogen from natural gas in ways that permit capture of associated carbon dioxide. One technology, membrane devices, may simplify the process for producing hydrogen from natural gas and separating it by combining multiple chemical processes into a single step to lower costs and increase efficiencies.
Hydrogen from Natural Gas R&D
Hydrogen from Coal - Future Technologies
America's abundant coal resources offer an attractive mid-term option for producing the large quantities of hydrogen that will be required to fuel the nation's energy needs. Initially, hydrogen will be produced in coal gasification facilities capable of co-producing electric power and other high-value fuels and chemicals.
Hydrogen from Coal R&D
DOE's FutureGen Initiative to build a hydrogen-from coal prototype plant
Hydrogen Delivery
Today, most hydrogen used in refineries and chemical facilities is produced on site. In the future, other options may be necessary to deliver hydrogen to customers.
Future Hydrogen Delivery Options
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