Return to earlier listing…
The problem to find a sustainable different to aviation gasoline might supply new alternatives for Scotland’s carbon seize and inexperienced hydrogen industries, says Neil Kermode, Managing Director of the European Marine Power Centre (EMEC) in Orkney.
This text is predicated on a chat Neil gave to the Scottish Power Discussion board on 24 October 2024.
Scotland is at a pivotal second in its vitality transition, with hydrogen broadly promoted as a cornerstone of future decarbonisation methods.
There isn’t any doubt inexperienced hydrogen can have a task to play – in trade and in decarbonising these ‘onerous to succeed in’ elements of the economic system – however it isn’t an answer for every little thing.
It isn’t simply transported or saved, and it lacks the density of liquid fuels that some finish customers require – for instance aviation.
Nonetheless, with the right processes, inexperienced hydrogen could be mixed with CO2 to provide an artificial aviation gasoline indistinguishable from the unique.
This new inexperienced gasoline is extraordinarily precious as it’s vitality dense, could be comparatively simply transported, and requires minimal engine and refuelling infrastructure modifications – providing a serious alternative for Scotland.
This isn’t theoretical. It has already been executed, in Orkney, and the gasoline has been utilized by the RAF in a Guinness world-record flight.
Growing a zero-fossil carbon aviation gasoline is a serious objective for industrial nations – and home-grown artificial fuels can supply a real inexperienced possibility that performs to Scotland’s strengths, each within the manufacturing of inexperienced hydrogen and in using CO2.
We’re specialists in each.
In Orkney, we have now an extended custom of innovation. We have been dwelling to the UK’s first onshore wind turbine, and extra lately to pioneering wave and tidal vitality initiatives.
Nonetheless, as an island, we have now lengthy lacked the grid infrastructure that may enable us to export the inexperienced electrical energy we produce, and so necessity has allowed us to develop options – together with inexperienced hydrogen.
Orkney has been a pioneer within the improvement of inexperienced hydrogen – with our first manufacturing utilizing tidal vitality in 2017 – and this early publicity has enabled us to discover the place this ‘surprise gasoline’ can greatest be used.
Within the years since, we have now led plenty of inexperienced hydrogen initiatives – such and ‘Surf ‘n’ Turf – to harness wind and tidal vitality for hydrogen manufacturing, Hyspirits – exploring the feasibility of hydrogen for distilling, and HyDIME – hydrogen as a gasoline in marine transport.
One of the promising nevertheless, has been within the manufacturing of artificial gasoline for aviation.
In 2021 EMEC supported IGTL Know-how Restricted with Zero Petroleum in demonstrating the creation of artificial hydrocarbon gasoline to be used within the aviation sector on behalf of the Royal Air Power.
An artificial gasoline demonstration plant was put in on a short lived foundation onshore at EMEC’s Billia Croo wave vitality take a look at web site. The plant used hydrogen produced by EMEC from water by electrolysis as feedstock.
The artificial gasoline created by Zero Petroleum at EMEC’s web site was then utilized by the Royal Air Power in an illustration flight as a part of their Mission MARTIN, securing the Guinness World Data title of first plane powered by artificial gasoline.
Crucially, within the take a look at lab, the gasoline was indistinguishable from regular fossil gasoline, and in flight its efficiency was equivalent.
In fact, the mass manufacturing of artificial aviation gasoline would require important scale up, nevertheless it performs to Scotland’s strengths – we have now an plentiful wind useful resource with GWs because of come onstream within the a long time forward, but we have now a grid infrastructure that may battle to move that electrical energy to the place it’s required.
The manufacturing of inexperienced hydrogen – in locations comparable to Orkney – is a attainable different. However once more, there isn’t a easy or low cost approach to transport the gasoline to the economic centres within the south.
It subsequently is smart to make use of that precious feedstock and mix it with CO2 to make a extremely precious gasoline which could be extra simply moved.
From there, it isn’t an enormous leap to think about repurposing a few of Scotland’s present oil and gasoline infrastructure – for instance the Flotta Oil Terminal – to the manufacturing of sustainable artificial aviation gasoline.
Not one of the routes to a fossil free future is easy or simple however artificial gasoline performs to Scotland’s strengths and is an thought I imagine we must always pursue.
