North Sea Oil Group Equinor Scales Back Investment In Renewables
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
Equinor, which is attempting to develop one of the largest untapped oilfields in UK waters, also raised its fossil fuel production targets
This is the first paragraph.
The Norwegian state-backed oil company that is attempting to develop one of the largest untapped oil fields in UK waters, has dramatically scaled back its investment in renewables and raised its fossil fuel production targets, becoming the latest of the world’s energy giants to row back on the push towards green power.
A quiet revolution is happening that will change our use of natural gas very much for the better.
- In Rhodesia, which is a suburb of Worksop, a 24 MW Rolls-Royce mtu diesel peaker power plant, that runs on natural gas, but is also hydrogen-ready, has been installed to boost the electricity supply. The diesel engine is fitted with carbon capture and produces food-grade CO2, which is sold for food and engineering uses.
- Most of the excellent British tomatoes and soft fruit, we have been eating this winter, is grown in greenhouses, heated by natural gas-powered combined heat and power units, where the CO2 produced is captured and fed to the plants.
- HiiROC is a start-up from Hull, who are backed by Centrica, who use a plasma process to split any hydrocarbon gas including waste gas from a chemical plant, biomethane from a sewage works or natural gas into pure hydrogen and carbon black, which is needed to manufacture tyres and other products, and also to improve soil.
- In the last few months, a HiiROC device has been installed at Brigg power station, to generate zero-carbon electricity from natural gas.
- Imagine a housing or factory estate, a farm or perhaps a large country house, that wants to decarbonise. The gas feed to the property would be fitted with a HiiROC device and all gas appliances and boilers would be converted to hydrogen.
- I also believe that houses and other premises could have their own hydrogen pumps to fill up cars, ride-on mowers and other vehicles.
- Avnos is a company from the US, that captures CO2 from the air. What makes Avnos unique is that for every ton of CO2 it captures, it captures five tons of pure water.
More ideas like these are being developed.
What is wrong in using natural gas, to generate heat and electricity, if it doesn’t emit any CO2 into the atmosphere?
I suspect, that Equinor believe there will be a market for natural gas for years, as more and more clever ways to use it and turn it into hydrogen are developed.
Start-Up’s Plan To Convert Food Waste Into Green Fuel
The title of this post, is the same as that, of this article in The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
Dark Green wants to build biogas production plants to supply local authorities and businesses
These three paragraphs give some detail to the plans.
A Nottingham-based start-up wants to become the first company to build a fleet of plants that would convert food waste into green energy in urban centres across Britain, producing an alternative fuel for businesses and local authorities attempting to shrink their carbon footprints.
Dark Green expects to submit planning applications for six biogas production plants, including one each in Birmingham and Huddersfield, with a further six in the pipeline.
The facilities, which are more usually sited on farms, will be capable of handling 60,000 tonnes of organic waste a year, saving the same amount of carbon dioxide as taking 65,000 cars off the road, the company estimates, and will produce seven megawatts of energy, capable of powering around 6,000 homes.
I have a feeling that Dark Green fit a theme, that this blog has been following for a couple of years now.
I have been commenting on a company called HiiROC.
- I first became aware of HiiROC and their new method of generating hydrogen in this news item from Centrica, which is entitled Centrica And HiiROC To Inject Hydrogen At Brigg Gas-Fired Power Station In UK First Project.
- HiiROC is a Hull-based startup-up, that is backed by Cemex, Centrica, Hyundai, Kia, Siemens and other big names.
- HiiROC can take any hydrocarbon gas from something like chemical plant off-gas, through biomethane to natural gas and split it into hydrogen and carbon black.
- HiiROC call their process thermal plasma electrolysis.
- The carbon black has uses in the manufacture of tyres and rubber products, anodes for lithium-ion batteries and other materials and in agriculture, it can be used to improve soils.
HiiROC claim that their method uses a fifth of the energy to create hydrogen, than electrolysis.
It looks to me that if you pipe Dark Green’s methane-rich gas into one of HiiROC’s thermal plasma electrolysers, you’ll get two valuable products; hydrogen and carbon black.
Centrica have also been active with an energy storage company called Highview Power recently, in the company of Goldman Sachs and Rio Tinto.
Centrica seem to have a cunning plan!
Is Dark Green going to be part of it?
British Gas Partners With Strata And Daikin To Launch Eco-Tech Low Bill Homes
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Centrica.
This is the sub-heading.
British Gas is set to supercharge sustainable living across the UK with the launch of Low Carbon Homes – a ground-breaking pilot in partnership with Strata and heat pump manufacturer, Daikin.
These are the first four paragraphs, which fill out a bit of detail.
In anticipation of The Future Homes Standard, customers will move into new build homes which have been fitted with a full range of the latest low-carbon technology at no extra cost to the housebuilder or owner. The homes will be equipped with a 6-8 kWh Daikin air source heat pump, 4 kWh solar panels, 5 kWh battery storage, Hive electric vehicle charger and thermostat. These items will be integrated into Hive’s award-winning app, providing customers with one-stop visibility and control of their energy usage.
The first trial phase will launch at a Strata’s “Breathe” development site in Kiveton, Rotherham. As a thank you for participating in the pilot, British Gas is giving homeowners access to a fixed rate tailored British Gas tariff. Participants in the trial will also have access to a dedicated British Gas energy manager to help them optimise the technology and keep bills as low as possible, while still meeting their desired comfort levels.
Each home will be fitted with a Hive hub, which connects to the WIFI network and acts as the home’s operating system, integrating all the sustainable technology. The customers energy and heat schedules and budget will be optimised by the Hive Hub for further savings.
When the customer connects to Hive’s app they will be able to control and maximise efficiency by setting schedules and spending budgets and allowing the Hub to help them reduce their bills.
Note.
- As a Control Engineer, this to me is a good start.
- I suspect that a 6-8 kWh Daikin air source heat pump, 4 kWh solar panels and 5 kWh battery storage will keep the average house warm.
- I would expect that the three companies have optimised the ratios between the sizes of the components to give the best performance.
It is amazing to think that it was in the early seventies, that in the two sections, where I worked at ICI, engineers had just started controlling and optimising flows, pressures and temperatures in complex chemical plants.
If you’d asked any of us, when our houses heating systems would be as fully controlled, we’d have given twenty years at most.
What kept the world so long?
I have a few thoughts.
Could The Housing Have Gas For Cooking??
Yes! Centrica owns a big share with Hyundai, Kia and others of a start-up company called HiiROC.
- This is the HiiROC web site.
- HiiROC can take any hydocarbon gas and split it into green hydrogen and carbon black.
- Green hydrogen is obviously useful and the carbon black can be used for making tyres for vehicles, anodes for lithium-ion batteries and in agriculture for soil improvement.
- Waste off-gas from a chemical plant can be split into green hydrogen and carbon black.
- Biomethane from a sewage plant can be split into hydrogen and carbon black. Could a sewage plant on an estate be used to create biomethane for cooking and feeding to the HiiROC plant? Yes!
- Could green hydrogen produced on the estate be used to drive vehicles like cars, vans and ride-on-mowers. Yes! If the manufacturer of the vehicle allows it!
- How convenient would it be to have Hydrogen-at-Home?
How Much Does A British Gas Hive Save On My Energy Bill?
I asked Google and I got this answer from Home Hive.
£119. A smaller carbon footprint and a smaller bill – our award-winning smart thermostat could cut your energy bills by up to £170 a year. Join Hive Plus to boost your thermostat’s savings – and get exclusive access to £60 bill credit with any fixed British Gas dual fuel tariff.
At present, I have no intention of changing my energy supplier, but come the summer or if my health or energy circumstances change, I might see what is available.
Will British Gas Develop A Hive For a Smaller Dwelling?
I suspect in ten years, if I’m still of this world, I shall be living in the following circumstances.
- Alone.
- In a two bedroom house, cottage or flat.
- Some form of probably electric central heating or perhaps even hydrogen.
- No car.
- A short walk to the bus stop and/or train station.
- Communal gardens to sit in.
- An Ocado style delivery for food, groceries and other essentials.
- A local gluten-free cafe.
- Full Wi-Fi
Perhaps, British Gas and others will develop a community for people like me?
The Versatile Substance That Is Carbon Black
I suspect very few of us think much about carbon black.
In an over fifty-year working life, I have only come across carbon black indirectly and no-one has actually shown me any carbon black.
This is the first sentence of the Wikipedia entry for carbon black.
Carbon black (with subtypes acetylene black, channel black, furnace black, lamp black and thermal black) is a material produced by the incomplete combustion of coal tar, vegetable matter, or petroleum products, including fuel oil, fluid catalytic cracking tar, and ethylene cracking in a limited supply of air.
It doesn’t sound the most appetising of substances and the next sentence reinforces that view.
Carbon black is a form of paracrystalline carbon that has a high surface-area-to-volume ratio, albeit lower than that of activated carbon. It is dissimilar to soot in its much higher surface-area-to-volume ratio and significantly lower (negligible and non-bioavailable) polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) content.
The text is illustrated with what looks like a small pile of soot.
I first came across carbon black, in my first job after leaving Liverpool University at ICI Mond Division at Runcorn.
For a time, I shared an office with Peter, who was part of a number of engineers, who were trying to get a new plant, that had been purchased from BASF to make commercial quantities of acetylene. All the plant seemed to make was large quantities of soot, which it then proceeded to spread all over the town of Runcorn.
If I remember correctly, the process worked by burning ethylene in a limited supply of air and then quenching it with naphtha. The similarities between the BASF process and the method for producing carbon black lead me to believe, that ICI’s process was probably producing a lot of carbon black.
Peter was working on an instrument that measured the quantity of acetylene in the off-gas from the burners and he succeeded, but unfortunately proved that the plant was going into explosive limits. For this reason, ICI shut their process, although BASF persevered.
Ethylene is a hydrocarbon which has the formula C2H4 or two carbon and four hydrogen atoms. So if you can get them to stop tightly holding hands with no oxygen around, the hydrogen will pair off as H2 and the carbon will exist as a lot of single C atoms or carbon black.
BASF and ICI were trying to produce acetylene or C2H2, where there is a powerful triple bond between the two carbon atoms. All that energy in the acetylene makes it useful for activities like welding.
Common Uses Of Carbon Black
The Wikipedia entry for carbon black, has this summary of its uses.
The most common use (70%) of carbon black is as a pigment and reinforcing phase in automobile tires. Carbon black also helps conduct heat away from the tread and belt area of the tire, reducing thermal damage and increasing tire life. Its low cost makes it a common addition to cathodes and anodes and is considered a safe replacement to lithium metal in lithium-ion batteries. About 20% of world production goes into belts, hoses, and other non-tire rubber goods. The remaining 10% use of carbon black comes from pigment in inks, coatings, and plastics, as well as being used as a conductive additive in lithium-ion batteries.
The entry then gives a list of other uses, some of which are still being developed.
Global Production Of Carbon Black
This paragraph is from the Wikipedia entry for carbon black.
Total production was around 8,100,000 metric tons (8,900,000 short tons) in 2006. Global consumption of carbon black, estimated at 13.2 million metric tons, valued at US$13.7 billion, in 2015, is expected to reach 13.9 million metric tons, valued at US$14.4 billion in 2016.
So we have the useful paradox, that we don’t want to emit more carbon dioxide, but extra carbon black could probably be usefully used.
Conclusion
Using the HiiROC process to extract hydrogen could even give us a biproduct ; carbon black, that has uses.
Hydrogen Start-Up Can Expand Thanks To Northern Powerhouse Fund
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
Suiso’s technology for extracting clean fuel has been found to produce lower emissions and use less energy than common alternatives
These three paragraphs describe the finances and outline the their hydrogen generator.
Suiso, a South Yorkshire-based company developing a hydrogen generator, has raised £3 million from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF).
The company plans to create generators as big as shipping containers that could power factories, hospitals and warehouses or be used at filling stations to fuel hydrogen-powered vehicles.
The new funds come from the asset manager Mercia’s equity finance fund, which is part of the NPIF, and Mercia’s enterprise investment scheme.
This paragraph describes the technology.
Suiso uses novel microwave technology to extract hydrogen from natural gas or biogas, capturing the carbon in the form of carbon black, which can be used to make tyres, batteries and inks. In 2023 the company was one of the winners of a government competition to provide technology to supply hydrogen energy.
These are my thoughts.
Suiso And HiiROC
Suiso are taking a similar route to HiiROC.
- The base feedstock is natural gas, which is mainly methane or CH4, with four planet-saving hydrogen atoms and a very naughty carbon one.
- Clever technology is then applied to the methane atoms and the carbon atom doesn’t like it, so they let go of the hydrogen atoms.
- It is then a matter of physically separating the carbon black from the hydrogen.
The difference between the two processes is that Suiso use microwave technology and HiiROC use plasma technology.
HiiROC claim their process will work with any hydrocarbon gas from biomethane through off-gas from a chemical plant to natural gas.
So I suspect, that as Suiso says it will work with biomethane, both technologies will work with virtually any hydrocarbon gas.
Uses Of Carbon Black
This Wikipedia entry gives a lot of information on carbon black.
There is a section, which is entitled Common Uses, where this is said.
The most common use (70%) of carbon black is as a pigment and reinforcing phase in automobile tires. Carbon black also helps conduct heat away from the tread and belt area of the tire, reducing thermal damage and increasing tire life. Its low cost makes it a common addition to cathodes and anodes and is considered a safe replacement to lithium metal in lithium-ion batteries. About 20% of world production goes into belts, hoses, and other non-tire rubber goods. The remaining 10% use of carbon black comes from pigment in inks, coatings, and plastics, as well as being used as a conductive additive in lithium-ion batteries.
Carbon black is added to polypropylene because it absorbs ultraviolet radiation, which otherwise causes the material to degrade. Carbon black particles are also employed in some radar absorbent materials, in photocopier and laser printer toner, and in other inks and paints. The high tinting strength and stability of carbon black has also provided use in coloring of resins and films. Carbon black has been used in various applications for electronics. A good conductor of electricity, carbon black is used as a filler mixed in plastics, elastomer, films, adhesives, and paints. It is used as an antistatic additive agent in automobile fuel caps and pipes.
There is another section, which is entitled Use in Lithium-Ion Batteries, where this is said.
Carbon black is a common conductive additive for lithium ion batteries as they have small particle sizes and large specific surface areas (SSA) which allow for the additive to be well distributed throughout the cathode or anode in addition to being cheap and long-lasting. Unlike graphite, which is one of the other common materials used in chargeable batteries, carbon black consists of crystal lattices that are further apart and promotes Li+ intercalation because it allows more pathways for lithium storage.
Carbon black has a low density that allows for a large volume of it to be dispersed so that its conductive effects are applied evenly throughout the battery. Furthermore, its arrangement of randomly distributed graphite-like crystals improves battery stability because of the decrease in the potential barrier of lithium intercalation into graphite, which ultimately affects the performance of cathodes.
Carbon black does seem to be very useful.
Suiso’s Web Site
This is Suiso’s web site.
The page is headed About Us and this is said.
Suiso is a developer of a low energy near zero emission microwave-driven methane cracking process for onsite generation of Hydrogen.
Hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe, is rapidly emerging as a sustainable solution for the decarbonisation of the economy and a key piece of the energy transition picture in UK, Europe and around the world.
The cost and practical issues with generating and distributing Hydrogen has held back its use in most economies. Suiso’s technology uses existing electrical, natural/bio gas assets and infrastructure to produce clean low cost hydrogen. By transforming stranded ‘brown’ assets into vital hydrogen infrastructure, Suiso helps reduce CO2 emissions and enables countries throughout the world to meet challenging greenhouse gas emissions targets, quickly and cost effectively.
Suiso’s technology allows its generating units to be positioned anywhere there is a supply of natural/bio gas and electricity. Being located at the point of use eliminates the costly distribution (by truck or pipe) of H2 to the customer – delivering significant cost reductions. This allows it to offer competitively priced H2 for small to medium sized applications in developed and developing countries., including:
- H2 Fueling stations
- Biomethane (H2) conversion/decarbonisation for grid injection
- Light industrial applications
- Domestic H2 supply for small communities/towns
- Demand management/System top up
- Emergency H2 supply
It will design, build and supply these generators directly or via licensees to markets throughout the world.
Conclusion
I like this company.
Centrica Business Solutions Delivers Significant Energy Savings For The Pirbright Institute
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Centrica.
These three paragraphs outline the project.
Centrica Business Solutions has partnered with The Pirbright Institute to deliver sustainable on-site technology that will help reduce its net energy use by more than 10 per cent by 2026.
Centrica installed a new Combined Heat and Power Plant (CHP), which will provide around 75 per cent of Pirbright’s future power needs. The CHP uses natural gas to generate electricity and hot water at the site, with its exhaust gases also used to feed into a heat recovery generator to provide steam. It means CHP technology is over twice as efficient as conventional power sources and can lower organisational reliance on the Grid.
The Institute, which is dedicated to the study of infectious diseases of farm animals, has already devised an energy plan which has introduced energy-saving upgrades across the Surrey campus, including the closure of energy-inefficient buildings, the introduction of efficient lighting and a programme to raise staff awareness of energy consumption.
The system is still powered by natural gas.
Liverpool University
I was an undergraduate at Liverpool University and according to this page on their web site, which is entitled Sustainability, they seem to be following a similar route to the Pirbright Institute.
With a heading of Energy And Carbon, this is the mission statement.
The University’s ambition is to be a climate-resilient campus, that has minimal negative and maximum positive environmental impact, achieving net zero carbon by 2035. We monitor energy and carbon across the entire University as part of the Climate plan and in support of the Sustainability Strategy and Strategy2026 net zero carbon targets.
One section of the page has a title of The Green Recovery with Clarke Energy at the University’s Energy Centre, where this is said.
The University of Liverpool generates up to 90% of its campuses electricity needs on site in the Energy Centre, through CHP. Clarke Energy help the University operate CHP in the most efficient way, keeping us on track with technological developments, such as how the CHP can be adapted to take different fuel blends.
Although there is a nod to different fuel blends, I suspect that the system, like that at Pirbright, is currently powered by natural gas.
Clarke Energy, is headquartered in Liverpool and is a division of Kohler.
Centrica And HiiROC
CHP systems are becoming more common and like these two systems, they are generally powered by natural gas.
In Plans Submitted For Hydrogen Pilot Plant At Humber Power Station, I describe how Hull-based start-up; HiiROC are going to help fuel a gas-fired power station with a hydrogen blend.
This is a paragraph from this article on Business Live, which describes Centrica’s relationship with HiiROC.
It comes as the owner of British Gas has also increased its shareholding in the three-year-old business to five per cent. Last November it was one of several investors to pump £28 million into HiiRoc alongside Melrose Industries, HydrogenOne, Cemex, Hyundai and Kia, who joined existing strategic investors Wintershall Dea and VNG.
HiiROC’s system can take any hydrocarbon gas from biomethane, through chemical plant waste gas to natural gas and convert it to hydrogen and carbon black.
Carbon black has a large number of manufacturing uses and can also be used in agriculture to improve soil.
It looks to me, that HiiROC’s systems will be a simple way to convert natural gas-powered CHPs to zero carbon.
Centrica Signs UK Biomethane Agreement With Yorkshire Water And SGN Commercial Services
The title of this post, is the same as that of this news item from Centrica.
These three paragraphs outline the story.
Yorkshire Water, an essential water and wastewater services provider for the Yorkshire Region, and Centrica Energy Trading, have today announced signing a 15-year agreement to offtake biomethane production and manage shipping, trading, and balancing of production from two plants developed by SGN Commercial Services.
SGN, a leading manager of natural gas and green gas distribution networks in Scotland and the south of England will design, develop and operate the biomethane gas-to-grid sites, which once operational, will produce approximately 125GWh of biomethane annually — enough to heat more than 10,000 UK households.
Biogas will be produced as a by-product of Yorkshire Water’s sewage wastewater treatment processes, where Centrica will offtake production from the site and subsequently manage shipping, trading, and balancing of the green gas. Biomethane will be injected into the UK grid to displace natural gas, providing cleaner and more resilient gas supplies that reduces dependency on outside energy imports.
SGN Commercial Services are a wholly-owned subsidiary of SGN.
This mission statement is on the home page of their web site.
Our safety-first culture provides bespoke commercial solutions and green gas services to our clients, allowing them to better meet their business needs today and in the future.
In an energy market which is prioritising de-carbonisation and net-zero solutions, we can help navigate a clear pathway for your business to achieve its goals both responsibly and cost-effectively.
It looks to me, that SGN Commercial Services will design, develop and operate the biomethane gas-to-grid sites, so that the biomethane from the sewage works can be fed into Centrica’s main UK gas grid.
You could argue, that every sewage works and landfill producing large amounts of methane, should have one of these connections.
What would be the repercussions if SGN Commercial Services were asked to connect all these sites to the gas grid?
- How much gas would be collected?
- How many houses could be heated?
- How much of the greenhouse gas; methane would not be released into the atmosphere?
This is a cunning plan, that is worthy of Baldrick at his best.
Over a period of time, domestic gas consumption will fall as houses are fitted with heat pumps and other green methods for heating.
Could this mean, that as time goes on, more and more of our domestic consumption of gas is satisfied by net-zero gas from waste sources?
Does HiiROC Fit In Anywhere?
This article on UKTN is entitled Meet HiiROC, The Startup Making Low-Cost Hydrogen Free From Emissions.
There is a section, which is called How Does HiiROC Work?, where this is said.
The company’s hydrogen generation units use feedstock gases such as methane, flare gas or biomethane at high pressure and with a very high electrical field between an anode and cathode.
This dissembles the tightly bound molecules into hydrogen and carbon atoms, with both coming out as a plasma (like a gas). The carbon is instantly cooled and solidified as pure carbon, which means no carbon dioxide is formed, in a quenching process to stop it from reforming back into the input gas.
The end product is hydrogen and carbon black, a material used in rubber tires, inks and paint.
It’s a material that has wide industrial use, but current production methods create large amounts of CO2 and other environmentally harmful biproducts.
“Our process is emission-free,” says HiiROC co-founder and CEO Tim Davies. “Because all you’ve got is hydrogen and solid carbon – they are the two products.”
For every kilogram of hydrogen produced using HiiROC units, you’re left with three kilograms of carbon black. This, however, is a potentially valuable, clean solid by-product and does not contribute to global warming unlike processes that create carbon dioxide gas.
Read the full article on UKTN, as it is full of very interesting information.
It says this about distributing hydrogen to a number of industries.
Lots of industries need hydrogen, which means HiiROC has a broad range of potential customers.
Their smallest machine can produce up to 100 kilograms of hydrogen per day. But due to their modular design and small size, they can easily be stacked up to increase output, making them scalable for businesses requiring large-scale industrial hydrogen production.
So at one end of the scale, it could support a hydrogen filling station, or a farmer wanting to use hydrogen to go carbon-free and at the other, it could support an energy intensive process like hydrogen steelmaking. All that is needed is a suitable hydrocarbon gas feed.
Last night on the BBC, a program called What They Really Mean For You, was about electric cars.
The program flagged up a shortage of graphite for making the batteries for electric cars.
So seeing that HiiROC hydrogen systems, could be producing tonnes of carbon black could this be converted into battery-grade graphite?
Google says yes!
This article on Sciencing is entitled How To Turn Carbon Into Graphite.
Conclusion
As Centrica own a substantial portion of HiiROC and are lending the company a gas-fired power station for full scale trials, I believe that Centrica is up to something, that will have three strong benefits for the British public.
- They will be able to keep their gas boilers for longer.
- Hydrogen supplied by HiiROC’s devices will provide hydrogen in the required quantities to where it is needed.
- The carbon black produced by HiiROC’s devices, when turned into graphite will be a valuable feedstock for giga-factories making batteries.
Engineering is the science of the possible, whereas politics is dreams of the impossible.
The Anonymous Widower 