Scientists are working on other ways of making hydrogen production greener. Hydrogen, for example, can be used as a key component of power stations; oil and natural gas contain hydrocarbons, molecules which contain hydrogen and carbon, and it is possible to extract the hydrogen for re-use.
However, there is a problem because releasing the leftover carbon into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, is seen as undesirable.
Solving that problem promises to open up yet more commercial opportunities for companies operating in the chemicals sector. The answer is carbon capture in which the carbon is re-used rather than being released as a greenhouse gas, which is interesting some of the world’s major companies.
For instance, during the 6th round of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Beijing, Summit Power Group signed an agreement that linked the US and China in developing the technology.
The agreement introduced a new partner to Summit’s Texas Clean Energy Project, creating an alliance with Huaneng’s GreenGen, of China.
The coal gasification power/polygen project that Summit is developing near Odessa, Texas, is designed to capture 90% of its carbon dioxide for use in enhanced oil recovery by producers in the Permian Basin of West Texas, boosting U.S. oil production by six million barrels per year and generating thousands of jobs.
