Steam Methane Reforming
In The Liverpool Manchester Hydrogen Clusters Project, I used an extract that describes the project.
This was a paragraph from the extract.
It proposes converting natural gas into clean-burning hydrogen gas, using a process called steam methane reforming. The process also removes CO2 from the gas, which can then be captured using existing carbon and capture storage technology and stored in depleted offshore gas reservoirs.
So what is steam methane reforming?
Methane is a chemical compound consisting of one carbon and four hydrogen atoms, that is the major component of natural gas.
This first paragraph is from the Wikipedia entry for steam reforming.
Steam reforming is a method for producing hydrogen, carbon monoxide, or other useful products from hydrocarbon fuels such as natural gas. This is achieved in a processing device called a reformer which reacts steam at high temperature with the fossil fuel. The steam methane reformer is widely used in industry to make hydrogen. There is also interest in the development of much smaller units based on similar technology to produce hydrogen as a feedstock for fuel cells. Small-scale steam reforming units to supply fuel cells are currently the subject of research and development, typically involving the reforming of methanol, but other fuels are also being considered such as propane, gasoline, autogas, diesel fuel, and ethanol.
If the process has a problem, it is that is produces carbon dioxide, which in the case of the Liverpool Manchester Hydrogen Clusters Project is captured and will be stored depleted gas reservoirs.
The Liverpool Manchester Hydrogen Clusters Project
The project is described briefly on this page on the Cadent web site.
This is the introduction.
The use of hydrogen in place of natural gas could offer a route to widespread decarbonisation of gas distribution networks.
The Liverpool-Manchester Hydrogen Cluster project is a conceptual study to develop a practical and economic framework to introduce hydrogen into the gas network in the Liverpool-Manchester area.
It proposes converting natural gas into clean-burning hydrogen gas, using a process called steam methane reforming. The process also removes CO2 from the gas, which can then be captured using existing carbon and capture storage technology and stored in depleted offshore gas reservoirs.
The hydrogen gas would then be supplied to a core set of major industrial gas users in Liverpool-Manchester and fed into the local gas distribution network as a blend with natural gas.
Note.
- At Runcorn, Ineos make hydrogen and chlorine by the electrolysis of brine.
- When I worked in Castner-Kellner works at Runcorn, it was generally taken away be truck.
- The Burbo Bank wind farm in Liverpool Bay, can produce 348 MW of electricity using some of the biggest wind turbines in the World, according to this article in The Guardian.
- Using excess electricity generated by win turbines at night, is used by the Germans to create hydrogen.
It doesn’t look like the project will suffer from a shortage of hydrogen.
Alsthom And Hydrogen Powered Trains
Alsthom have a site at Widnes, where they modify and paint trains. They have also indicated, that they might build new trains in the UK.
They have also developed a hydrogen-powered train called the Alsthom Coradia iLint, which starts test running with passengers in a couple of months.
This promotionalvideo shows how Alsthom’s hydrogen-powered Coradia iLint works.
The North Wales Coast Line would be an ideal test track.
- It’s around eighty miles long.
- It is nearly all double-track.
- It has a 90 mph operating speed.
- It’s probably pretty flat, as it runs along the coast.
I don’t think too many people would bother about a few extra quieter trains, just emitting steam and water vapour.
North Wales could be getting a new environmentally-friendly tourist attraction.
The Anonymous Widower 