"Green", "yellow" and "blue": Russia will be able to export hydrogen for every taste

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The ambitious plans of the European Union, the United States and China in just 3-4 decades to completely abandon the use of fossil fuels have become a serious challenge for the Russian economics... More than a third of our federal budget is formed from foreign exchange earnings from the export of hydrocarbons. But that's not all: the European Union, and after it other leading powers, intend to close their domestic market from products that have a high "carbon footprint" in their production, which will also hit domestic exporters. How can Moscow respond to this?

The plans of the EU, China and the United States for complete “decarbonization” in the foreseeable future undoubtedly caused a lot of unpleasant emotions in the Russian leadership, as they break the existing socio-economic model based on the export of fossil hydrocarbons. However, our country has all the chances to integrate into the "green economy" of the 21st and 22nd centuries, becoming one of the world leaders, as Mr. Chubais recently pointedly spoke about. Russia already has everything necessary for this. So, the most environmentally friendly hydrogen fuel is considered as a substitute for today's coal, oil and even natural gas. By 2035, Moscow claims to occupy at least 20% of the global hydrogen energy market, exporting from 2 to 7 million tons per year, and by 2050 - from 7,9 million tons to 33,4. If we take it to the maximum, then the income from the sale of hydrogen fuel abroad can reach $ 100,2 billion a year. These are the plans announced by the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation until 2050. But why such confidence and such figures, if we consider that the market for hydrogen energy as such has not yet taken place?



First you need to understand the terminology. Hydrogen can be very different depending on what raw material it is produced from and for what Technology... "Brown" hydrogen is released from coal, and "gray" - from methane, while emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere occur, which our Western partners are allegedly trying to combat. They don't need such hydrogen for free. The Europeans will be much more interested in hydrogen "green", "yellow" and "blue". The first is produced by electrolysis from ordinary water using renewable energy sources (wind turbines, solar panels, etc.), the second is also from water, but using nuclear energy, the last is from natural gas, but carbon dioxide does not enter the atmosphere , and is captured and converted into carbon using CCS technology (Carbon Capture and Sequestration, carbon capture and storage). Most of all, the leadership of the European Union, obsessed with environmental friendliness, is interested in "green" hydrogen, but its production costs several times more than "blue", therefore, in the European strategy, these two types of hydrogen should roughly divide the market in half.

Russia has all the necessary components for success in the new fuel market:

At first, our country has the entire range of natural resources - coal, natural gas, and water.

Secondly, we have modern nuclear energy, and there is great potential for the development of renewable energy. For example, endless wind farms are asking for the vast Russian expanses, and in the southern regions it is possible to build and operate solar power plants. The agricultural sector can become a driver for the development of biogas energy.

Thirdly, it is possible to use existing gas transmission networks and other infrastructure for the export of hydrogen. Thus, in the future, it will be possible to use the Nord Stream-2 pipeline for hydrogen supplies, having carried out its preliminary modernization. It is also possible to transport hydrogen by sea in a liquefied form.

Russia will indeed be able to export any kind of hydrogen fuel, for every taste of the most picky customer: what is "green", what is "blue", what is "yellow", what is "gray". It sounds fantastic, but certain contours of the energy of the future in our country have already begun to take shape.

In particular, the state corporation "Rosatom" is preparing a draft feasibility study for hydrogen supplies to Japan. Since it will be produced by electrolysis, it is obvious that we are talking about "yellow" hydrogen. It is planned to build a plant to liquefy this gas in the Sakhalin region, which will have to provide up to 40% of Tokyo's needs for this type of fuel. It turns out that Rosatom intends to diversify the types of its economic activities. Another Russian state corporation, Gazprom, plans to conquer the hydrogen markets of China, South Korea and Japan by supplying them with “blue” hydrogen produced in the Far East by the steam reforming of methane to ensure the capture and subsequent storage of carbon dioxide. Also, the private company NOVATEK has set its sights on the production of "blue" hydrogen using technologies for capturing and storing CO2.

Presumably, the government is not going to limit itself to these three players only. To increase production volumes and develop modern hydrogen technologies, four economic clusters will be created in Russia - North-West, East, Arctic and South. Program participants will receive special investment contracts, as well as the right to reimbursement of part of the costs. Apparently, the federal center is very serious not to be left behind, which means that the state will treat hydrogen energy with all due attention.
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10 comments
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  1. -1
    10 August 2021 18: 54
    Someone went? Or is it still mriya?
  2. +1
    10 August 2021 19: 10
    the automotive industry leaves no carbon footprint? are they going to take a rickshaw with a wooden cart? laughing
  3. +1
    10 August 2021 19: 13
    Russia will indeed be able to export any kind of hydrogen fuel

    What for??? The fact that Russia can produce this hydrogen in almost any quantity for its own needs is clear and understandable, but why should we get involved in this export epic? And Europe itself will be able to produce hydrogen WITHOUT Russia in the necessary (!) Volumes to replace hydrocarbon fuel? Especially - "green" :) ... Where can she get the energy from?
    Let them themselves first suffer with this hydrogen bullshit, and we will look and think: do we need it? :)
    1. -1
      10 August 2021 21: 15
      Quote: Andrey S
      Why should we get involved in this export epic?

      To replace 30% of budget shortfalls in oil and gas export revenues and take a large market share in the future. "Generational" investment is not for us, for posterity.
  4. +1
    10 August 2021 19: 29
    The plans of the EU, China and the United States for complete "decarbonization" in the foreseeable future undoubtedly caused a lot of unpleasant emotions in the Russian leadership

    Agas, I think that such "plans" can only cause wild laughter ... if laughter is "unpleasant emotions", then there are very big questions for such "Russian leadership". The use of hydrocarbons by mankind will only increase, and, by the way, not necessarily as a fuel.
    Mendeleev also said: "Oil is not fuel. You can also heat with banknotes."
  5. +1
    10 August 2021 19: 36
    There is nothing to say against it. Martsenkevich's works are beneficial. One thing is alarming - this is the steelmaker's amazing resilience in terms of rating.
  6. +3
    10 August 2021 20: 20
    Kazakhstan will reduce oil exports to the EU with the introduction of a carbon tax
    https://1prime.ru/oil/20210806/834389425.html

    In the meantime, there is this in real life
    Europe switched from gas to coal
    https://lenta.ru/news/2021/06/15/perehod/

    I have always said that half a year without oil and gas and Europe will understand who is hu ...
  7. +4
    11 August 2021 04: 50
    The author, did you study chemistry and physics at school?
    Due to the small size of the molecule, hydrogen penetrates into the structure of the metal and this leads to the so-called "hydrogen embrittlement", this process is especially intensive in the places of welding.
    As a result, the strength and toughness of alloys and steels drops and falls strongly, especially if hydrogen under high pressure, while transferring hydrogen through the existing gas pipeline, will lead to their rapid degradation and destruction.
    Since the author did not teach chemistry, I will tell him that hydrogen mixed with oxygen is extremely explosive.
    Leaks and accidents on hydrogen pipelines will lead to a large number of man-made disasters.
    Alloys and steels resistant to impact are not produced in industrial volumes, and scientists and specialists are not ready to tell us when they will be developed.
    It’s scary to even tell what will happen to the hydrogen storage facilities.
    In a nutshell, this is a good plan to destroy Europe's energy and gas infrastructure, without nuclear weapons.
    At the moment, there are no technologies for transferring hydrogen over long distances and there are no technologies, when it is not known when they will be developed.
    The use of hydrogen as a fuel for vehicles is even more dangerous, since for technical reasons, it needs to be pumped into a car's tank under a pressure of up to 700 atmospheres. In the event of an accident of such a car, it will be just a bomb of a volumetric explosion on wheels, the destruction of the surrounding cars and buildings is guaranteed.
    This is just another financial scam supported by the countries of the West and Europe in order to collect the so-called carbon tax from the countries of hydrocarbon suppliers.
    They will collect the tax now, and they plan to launch hydrogen energy in a few decades.
    In a few decades, everyone will forget about the plans for hydrogen energy, and the money will already ring in their pockets and be mastered by the interested parties.
    I have only one question, why the hydrocarbon tax should be paid by those who supply hydrocarbons, and not those who burn them.
  8. 0
    12 August 2021 17: 21
    Before you export something ... you need to figure it out, is the cost of "hydrogen" higher than the products (energy) generated from it? Or not?

    It seems to me that almost everyone judges the "prospects" of hydrogen export by personal feelings. They say - "Since Europe has adopted the hydrogen charter, it means that countries that are sources of non-renewable energy can profit from." Oh, is it?
  9. 0
    14 August 2021 11: 09
    ... in 3-4 decades? HA-HA-HA ... These political plans will remain plans, they do not fit in with the real state of affairs in alternative energy production ... and I believe that we, that is. It is at least stupid for Russia to lift its pants to help the West in the implementation of their next lying ideas, all the more so it tells me - this is again directed against us - to cut off a significant share of our income. When we ourselves deem it necessary to transfer the world to OUR hydrogen, then it is another matter, for now it is advisable to sell gas, and I am sure that the world will consume it on today's scale for at least another 50-100 years! Only something fundamentally new will be able to replace it, something like an "artificial sun", but these developments are still "in swaddling clothes" ... an inexhaustible number - but this matter is not even theoretically discussed, firstly, our earthly science has not yet reached these REAL laws of nature and we are technically unable to connect to this "free socket", and secondly, the same USA - all this is strangling , Tesla's archive was confiscated after his death by the special services and to this day he is gathering dust somewhere in their torture rooms ... - it is even possible that Tesla came to this, but the authorities looked and went nuts from simplicity - "is it that every Vasya at home can stick to stick it in the ground and draw electricity? And WE WILL BECOME A BOTTOM OF THE PEOPLE WILL BE NECESSARY ??? !!!