Cooling vests for hot weather

 Cooling vests are designed to keep you cool when its hot. 

If you have to work outside or you want to play or exercise outside in hot weather, a cooling vest can keep you cool and comfortable. 

A cooling vest can also keep you cool and comfortable inside your home if your house does not have air conditioning. 

Many cooling vests have pockets to hold removable inserts filled with a phase change material, and others have these inserts sewn into them.

thermapparel - one of its Cooling Vests for Women

A phase change material we are all familiar with is water. Water (the liquid phase of this material) freezes, turning into ice (the solid phase of this material) at 0°C. 

Water ice also melts, changing from its solid phase back into its liquid phase (water) at the same temperature, at 0°C. 

Water ice would be a great phase change material in a cooling vest for a polar bear living in a warm climate. 

Why a phase change material is good at keeping you cool

You could put a jacket in your freezer overnight to wear the next day, and it would keep you cool - briefly.Your body and outside air would soon heat the jacket, and it would lose its ability to cool you after a few minutes. 

If you place 1 kg of crushed ice in a saucepan and place it on a hotplate on the stove, the ice will begin to melt as heat is added. This is the ice changing phase - melting into water.

As long as there is some ice left, you can continue to add heat, and the temperature will stay at 0°C. 

This is one thing a phase change material does well to keep you cool for longer. As long as some of it is solid, the temperature will stay constant while it absorbs heat, keeping you cool.

The other thing about phase change materials when they are melting from solid to liquid, is that they absorb a lot of heat. And remember, they do not increase in temperature. 

If there is no phase change, any heat added will cause a liquid to steadily increase in temperature. For example, adding heat to 1 kilogram of water at 20°C will increase its temperature steadily. The water will get to 30°C after absorbing a little over 40 kilojoules (heat energy).

Melting 1 kilogram of ice absorbs over 330 kilojoules (heat energy) before it has all melted. The entire time the heat is being absorbed, temperature of the remaining ice and the water from the ice that melted stays constant, at 0°C. 

 

For humans, a more suitable phase change material is one that melts at a temperature around 18°C. 

Cooling vests are even available for dogs - whether they are working dogs on farms and have to work when it is hot, or pets that need exercise even when it is hot outside. 

Coal Seam Gas Salt Management

The coal seam gas industry in Queensland has a problem with millions of tonnes of salts that are dissolved in water extracted from coal seams. 

In December 2018, Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA) provided a report to the Queensland Department of Environment and Science titled ‘Queensland Gas: end-to-end water use, supply and management’ (the APPEA Report):

The APPEA Report gives an overview of a number of feasibility studies that have been undertaken by industry operators individually or in collaboration with other industry operators. These feasibility studies examined the viability of the identified options through a range of potential risks and impacts such as environmental, economic, safety, technical, regulatory and social factors.  

The report summarises the findings of the following options examined by the studies:

• selective salt recovery
• injection
• ocean outfall
• encapsulation.

In summary, selective salt recovery was determined infeasible due to a lack of suitable technology at a commercial scale, high upfront and lifecycle costs, significant energy consumption requirements and low excess demand in the current market.

The report makes an incorrect assumption about the option for selective salt recovery. 

Sodium Bicarbonate Market - Forecasts from 2021 to 2026

 

Available Data

There are several reports on the volume of saline water and the chemicals dissolved in it are available. 

The assessment below uses the following quantities selected from reports referenced: 

• Total water production: 2,346 gigalitres 
  

(See, at page 14, the University of Queensland Centre for Natural Gas (UQ-CNG) report, "Independent Review: Brine and salt management (Section 6, Queensland Gas: end-to-end water use, supply and management).

• Composition of untreated produced waters from Australian coal basins

 

Alkalinity
Cl
SO4
Ca
K
Mg
Na

mg/L

1706
593
22.8
10.4
5.6
8.9
1406

(See, at Table 2, "Determining water quality requirements of coal seam gas produced water for sustainable irrigation".)

 Opportunity for Selective Salt Recovery

If the quantity for "alkalinity" is ignored for the moment, it can be seen that the total dissolved solids in coal seam gas water are almost entirely sodium and chlorine  - making up 1,999 mg per litre of the total.

The volume of produced water (2,346 gigalitres), using that estimate of 1,999 mg per litre, contain 4.69 million tonnes of sodium and chlorine (3.3 million tonnes of sodium and 1.39 million tonnes of chlorine). 

The 2018 APPEA report, and a similar report "Coal seam gas ‑ produced water and site management" in August 2014 by the Gas Industry Social and Environmental Research Alliance (GISERA), contain identical phrases describing the dissolved solids in produced water: 

"CSG water contains mainly sodium chloride (varying from 200 to more than 10,000 milligrams per litre), sodium bicarbonate [emphasis added] and traces of other compounds."

As mentioned above, if the quantity labelled "alkalinity" is ignored, the substance dissolved in produced water is, evidently, almost entirely made up of sodium chloride. That is, common table salt.

Each report on the economic viability of selective salt recovery proceeds on this basis, ignoring the quantity labelled "alkalinity", and concludes with the non sequitur that the recovery of table salt is not commercially viable. 

However...

• Sodium carbonate (soda ash) and cooking grade sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) are commercially valuable products. 
• The molar ratio of sodium to chlorine in table salt is 1:1. 
• The produced water contains 1.39 million tonnes of chlorine. If this was separated with sodium to form table salt, it would use a little under 1 million tonnes of sodium. 
• Produced water contains about 3.3 million tonnes of sodium. That is 2.3 million tonnes of sodium more than could be separated as sodium chloride. 

There is the opportunity to convert the extra 2.3 million tonnes of sodium dissolved in coal seam gas produced water into sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). 

If there is insufficient dissolved carbon dioxide (see "alkalinity", ignored previously) in the produced water to precipitate this quantity of sodium as sodium bicarbonate, the extraction plant could be used for carbon capture - dissolving an external source of carbon dioxide into the produced water - so that all of the available sodium can be extracted as food-grade sodium bicarbonate. 

The 2.3 million tonnes of dissolved sodium that is excess to the amount for dissolved sodium chloride is sufficient to manufacture 8.2 million tonnes of sodium bicarbonate or 5.2 million tonnes of sodium carbonate. 

The 2.3 million tonnes of sodium chloride dissolved in the coal seam gas produced water could be consumed by making sodium hydroxide and chlorine with it. Solar panels provide low-cost energy, and an innovative plant designed to operate economically during sunlight hours could be a useful innovation: competing with plants that were designed before solar energy costs had reduced to levels that have now been achieved. 

There is a large and expanding world market for sodium hydroxide which has uses in many industrial sectors. For instance,  sodium hydroxide is used in the purification of the bauxite prior to it being used to make aluminium.  

Allied Market Research reports 

"The global sodium hydroxide market is anticipated to develop at a momentous growth rate, accredited to growing application of the compound for industrial application."

Fossil energy cost analysis puzzles

 Santos proposes making hydrogen for $2 per kilogram from methane. 

With 48 kgs of methane Santos might make 84 kgs of carbon monoxide and 12 kgs of hydrogen. 

methane + oxygen → hydrogen+ carbon monoxide

3CH₄(g) + ³/₂O₂(g) → 6H₂(g) + 3CO(g)

 

The 84 kgs of carbon monoxide then could be used in two different processes: 

Reaction with 54 kgs of steam to produce another 6 kgs of hydrogen and 132 kgs of carbon dioxide, 

steam + carbon monoxide → hydrogen+ carbon dioxide

3H₂O(g) + 3CO(g) → 3H₂(g) + 3CO₂(g)

or 

Reaction with 160 kgs of iron ore to produce 112 kgs of iron and 132 kgs of carbon dioxide.

iron(III) oxide + carbon monoxide → iron + carbon dioxide

Fe₂O₃(s) + 3CO(g) → 2Fe(l) + 3CO₂(g)

With the first option, the 6 kgs of hydrogen produced at a value of $2 per kilogram would be worth $12. 

With the second option, the 160 kgs of iron ore would cost about $16 (at $100 per tonne for iron ore) and the 112 kgs of iron produced, at a value of $3 per kilogram would be worth $336. 

See Redox reactions are involved in the extraction of metals from their ores

 

QUESTION/PUZZLE

Why would Santos propose making hydrogen worth $12 from carbon monoxide made from methane when it could produce iron worth $336 from the same amount of carbon monoxide?

Hydrogen from Renewable Energy

 It may be surprisingly simple to make hydrogen commercially viable with renewable energy. 

In a renewable energy powered electrolyzer 91 tonnes of water can be decomposed into 80 tonnes of oxygen and 10 tonnes of hydrogen leaving a residue of 1 tonne of water. 

See for example "Alkaline Water Electrolysis Powered by Renewable Energy: A Review" by Jörn Brauns and Thomas Turek, Institute of Chemical and Electrochemical Process Engineering, Clausthal University of Technology, Leibnizstr. 17, 38678 Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany. 

At the target price of $2 per kilogram, the 10 tonnes of hydrogen has a sale value of $20,000.

The residue of 1 tonne of water contains a little over 7 kilograms of deuterium oxide. 

At $1,500 per kilogram, the 7 kilograms of deuterium oxide has a sale value of $10,500. 

The 80 tonnes of oxygen has a number of potential uses. 

One use is to generate electricity in a gas turbine while partially oxidising 80 tonnes of biomethane into 20 tonnes of hydrogen and 140 tonnes of carbon monoxide. 

See for example "Integrated Coproduction of Power and Syngas from Natural Gas to Abate Greenhouse Gas Emissions without Economic Penalties" by Mikhail Granovskiy, Southern Research, Laboratory of Sustainable Chemistry and Catalysis, Birmingham, Alabama, USA. 

At the top-left of the above schematic diagram, the "Air Separation Unit" is replaced with an alkaline water electrolyzer that produces oxygen, doing away with the need for an "Air Separation Unit".

At the target price of $2 per kilogram, this 20 tonnes of hydrogen has a sale value of $40,000.  

The power generated may be sold or used in powering the electrolyzer. 

The 140 tonnes of carbon monoxide can be combined with 90 tonnes of water to produce 230 tonnes of formic acid. Formic acid can be used in various industrial processes. 

At a price of $500 a tonne, the formic acid has a sale value of $115,000. 

Note that there are no carbon dioxide emissions. 

There is no carbon capture and storage required.

Hydrogen to Substitute Natural Gas

Australia recently examined the development of a hydrogen industry - Briefing Paper: Hydrogen's for Australia's Future.
Converting hydrogen to methane can reduce CO₂ emissions from electricity generation - in the short term at least - while production capacity of hydrogen is growing.

The arithmetic analysis.
If a region is considering thermal power options to provide electricity, two options may be:

1. Three coal-fired power plants running at 40% efficiency or
2. Two combined-cycle gas turbine power stations running at 60% efficiency.

An assumption is that each power plant consumes fuel with the same amount of chemical energy.

Because the coal-fired power plants are only two-thirds as efficient as the combined-cycle gas turbine power plants, a third coal-fired power plant is needed to produce the same electricity output as the two combined-cycle gas turbine power plants.

The CO₂ emissions are about 900 grams per kilowatt-hour generated for the coal-fired power plants and only 310 grams per kilowatt-hour for the combined-cycle gas turbine power plants.

NOTE: A reduction of two-thirds use of coal by 2030 is required to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
This ratio of CO₂ emissions of 310 to 900 grams per kilowatt-hour is equivalent to a 65% reduction in coal use.

By 2030 utilities would have to cut 2/3 of the coal they burn now to hold global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The cut is more than twice as steep as the boldest scenario outlined by the International Energy Agency. https://t.co/UyDjjfYl9p

— Janae Steville (@StevilleJanae) October 1, 2018

If sufficient hydrogen was produced to fuel one combined cycle gas turbine power plant, when three coal-fired power plants were the option being used, then one and a half coal-fired plants could be idled. This would cut coal-use in half and cut CO2 emissions from electricity generation in half. Average CO2 emissions for all electricity generation - from the coal-fired plants and the hydrogen-fueled combined cycle gas turbine power plant - would be 450 grams per kilowatt-hour.

However, if the same amount of hydrogen was reacted with carbonaceous material, such as coal, to produce synthetic methane, the resulting fuel would be sufficient to run two combined cycle power plants: all three coal-fired plants could be shut down. This would cut coal-use by two-thirds and cut CO2 emissions from electricity generation by two-thirds. Average CO2 emissions for all electricity generation - from the synthetic methane-fueled combined cycle gas turbine power plant - would be 310 grams per kilowatt-hour.

This process results in a greater cuts in CO₂ emissions. It also doubles the energy value that the hydrogen possessed before it was combined with carbon to form methane.

That is, it is preferable from both commercial and environmental perspectives.

The benefits are greater than just the cuts in CO₂ emissions arising from electricity generation.

In December 2018 the Australian Government released a document on projected CO₂ emissions - Australia’s emissions projections  2018.
This shows substantial fugitive emissions arise from natural gas production and from coal mining.

Out to 2030, several LNG plants are expected to source gas from new basins as current feed gas sources deplete. As the percentage of CO₂ is higher for some of these new feed gas sources the overall emissions intensity of Australia’s LNG projections increases which increases emissions.

Fugitive emissions for natural gas (other than LNG) are projected to be 17 million tonnes of CO_2-e each year from 2018 to 2030. The fugitive emissions from LNG production are projected to rise from 11 million tonnes of CO_2-e a year in 2018 to 13 million tonnes of CO_2-e a year in 2030.

The Australian Government's National Greenhouse Accounts Factors - July 2017 shows fugitive emissions from open cut coal mines in NSW are 200 times greater per tonne of raw coal mined than those of open cut coal mines in Victoria. The brown coal available in Victoria is also far cheaper than thermal coal mined in NSW.

As an indication of the amounts of fugitive emissions involved: Australia burns about 60 million tonnes of black coal a year for electricity generation. If sourced from open cut NSW coal mines, the fugitive emissions would be 60 million x 0.054 = 3.24 million tonnes of CO_2-e.

Total electricity generated in Australia from black coal in 2016-2017 was about 120 thousand gigawatt-hours. At an emission intensity of 900 grams of CO_2-e per kilowatt-hour (1 gigawatt-hour is 1 million kilowatt-hours), the generation of this much electricity from black coal would result in annual emissions of about 108 million tonnes of CO_2-e.

In  2016-2017 Australia also burned about 57 million tonnes of brown coal to generate about 44,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity. At an emission intensity of 1,100 grams of CO_2-e per kilowatt-hour (1 gigawatt-hour is 1 million kilowatt-hours), the generation of this much electricity from brown coal would result in annual emissions of about 44.8 million tonnes of CO_2-e.

The conversion of brown coal to synthetic methane with hydrogen would be commercially attractive in upgrading the value of this low-cost fuel stock and environmentally superior - cutting fugitive emissions that arise in both coal-mining and natural gas production.

Saving $1 million allocated to reinvent the wheel

The Australian Government announced it was allocating another $1 million for research into ways to make something useful from brown coal reserves in Victoria.

Senator the Hon Matt Canavan
Minister for Resources and Northern Australia

Investing in brown coal research and development

31 August 2018

The Coalition Government continues to focus on harnessing the economic benefits that can come from the nation’s vast brown coal resources by making $1 million in funding available to Brown Coal Innovation Australia (BCIA).

BCIA will use the funding to focus on advancing Australia’s economic prosperity by researching low emissions technologies for both electricity generation and products derived from brown coal.

Minister for Resources and Northern Australia Matt Canavan said BCIA was at the forefront of research into low-emissions, low-cost, coal technologies and novel, high-value products derived from brown coal. Since 2009, the Government has provided more than $7 million to BCIA through the Commonwealth’s funding of the Australian National Low Emissions Coal Research and Development initiative.
...
This funding comes on top of the $620 million already being administered by the Australian Government to accelerate the deployment of low emission fossil fuel technologies.

Australian Governments have been "investing" in "harnessing the economic benefits that can come from the nation's vast brown coal resources" long before 2009.

For over thirty years no progress has been made.

Victoria's brown coal in the Latrobe Valley still has a moisture content of more than 50%:

Research is still fixated with the presumption that before any value can be made of this vast resource that "coal drying is essential":

In 2012 the US granted a patent for converting 'wet carbonaceous material' (such as "brown coal") to methane:

Method and apparatus for steam hydro-gasification with increased conversion times

 Patent: US8143319B2

Abstract

A method and apparatus for converting carbonaceous material to a stream of carbon rich gas, comprising heating a slurry feed containing the carbonaceous material in a hydrogasification process using hydrogen and steam, at a temperature and pressure sufficient to generate a methane and carbon monoxide rich stream in which the conversion time in the process is between 5 and 45 seconds.

It could be applied in a plant with a design such as the following, or one that uses hydrogen produced by electrolysis from renewable energy in place of the steam reforming unit, or one that produces any combination of hydrogen and/or synthetic natural gas:

Converting brown coal - without drying - to methane (and/or hydrogen)

Energy transition

Final Report Summary - HELMETH (Integrated High-Temperature Electrolysis and Methanation for Effective Power to Gas Conversion), 25 July 2018

A highly efficient Power-to-Gas process has been realized by the European research project HELMETH. It has the potential to be the most efficient storage solution for renewable energy utilizing the existing natural gas grid without capacity limitations and to be a source for “green” Substitute Natural Gas (SNG) to avoid fossil carbon dioxide emissions.

The objective of the HELMETH project is the proof of concept of a highly efficient Power-to-Gas process by realizing the first prototype that combines a pressurized high temperature steam electrolysis with a CO2-methanation module.

The demonstration plant was assembled at the sunfire facility in Dresden. The methanation unit, developed and built by KIT in Karlsruhe, was set up inside a container and transported to sunfire to perform combined operational tests.

The steam outlet from the methanation cooling circuit is fed to the electrolyser and the hydrogen output from the electrolyser is fed to the methanation unit. The steam is converted to hydrogen in the electrolyser.

Coupled Power-to-Gas plant (left container: methanation; right container: electrolyser)

The efficiency is significantly increased by using the heat of reaction from the exothermic methanation reaction to produce steam for the high temperature electrolysis.

Since the produced SNG is fully compatible with the existing natural gas grid and storage infrastructure, practically no capacity limitations apply to store energy from fluctuating renewable energy sources.

Steam Hydrogasification

By replacing the CO2 methanation module in the Power-to-Gas process realized by the HELMETH research project with a lignite methanation module, Australia can manufacture 50% renewable methane. That is, synthetic natural gas containing 50% renewable energy (as hydrogen) and 50% fossil fuel (from low-cost wet lignite).

This can fuel dispatchable generators in conjunction with renewable intermittent generators to provide 100% reliable electricity generation: the intermittent renewable generators supplying 50% of electricity and dispatchable generators powered by 50% renewable methane providing the other 50%.

The lignite methanation module has been developed in the U.S.

Making synthetic natural gas from hydrogen and a variety of waste streams and coal has been researched for some time.

For example:

UC Riverside researchers receive two grants to advance steam hydrogasification reaction for waste-to-fuels, 15 September 2011

Researchers at the University of California, Riverside’s Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CERT) at the Bourns College of Engineering have received two grants to further explore a steam hydrogasification process they developed...

A $650,000 grant from the California Energy Commission (CEC) extends its commitment to $2 million to CERT for the patented steam hydrogasification reaction (SHR), which can turn any carbonaceous material into transportation fuels or natural gas. The CEC grant will allow for the completion of a process demonstration unit at CERT that will provide data needed before a proposed pilot plant is built at the city of Riverside’s waste water treatment facility.

Synthetic natural gas made from wet carbonaceous feedstock such as lignite

Transition from thermal coal exports

Australia exports 200 million tonnes of thermal coal each year.

Japan is the largest importer, importing 80 million tonnes per year. In planning to eliminate its reliance on fossil fuel imports, Japan is looking to CO2-free hydrogen to replace its imports of coal and LNG, used primarily for electricity generation, and oil, used primarily for road transport.

One step in the 20-year transition timetable is to invest in large solar PV installations in Saudi Arabia and construction of a 'hydrogen pipeline" to deliver hydrogen produced by electrolysis to Japan.

Another step is the construction of combined-cycle gas turbine power stations that have integrated gasification plants to convert imported coal to gas to fuel them. These plants can later run on hydrogen when sufficient supply is available.

Australia and Japan could co-ordinate projects in this transition of Japan's energy systems.
One of the benefits of co-ordination is that Australia's industry and workforce has a planned transition in how it prepares energy for export, adapting employment skills and infrastructure as the plan progresses.

Another of the benefits is that part of the infrastructure development is undertaken by Australia, sharing the effort so that Japan can focus its investments on the most efficient technology to use the energy it imports.

The long-term transition would see Australia's coal export terminals replaced with hydrogen export facilities and the fleet of bulk ore carriers replaced with specialised hydrogen shipping vessels. The coal mining workforce would gradually be replaced with a workforce that constructs and operates hydrogen production plants.

During the early years of the transition it may be beneficial to convert hydrogen and coal to methane and make use of existing natural gas pipelines, LNG export terminals and LNG tankers to transport the hydrogen to Japan's existing LNG import facilities.

One benefit for Japan would be to avoid the time and cost of building integrated coal-gasifiers with new combined-cycle gas turbine power stations and fuel cell generators. The gasification can be carried out in Australia before exporting the coal with hydrogen as LNG.

Large-scale solar farms are currently built with inverters that are a significant part of the cost.
The inverters change direct-current electricity produced by the solar panels into alternating-current electricity for distribution on the electricity grid.

Inverters aren't needed when the goal is to produce hydrogen by electrolysis with the electricity generated.

A second income-stream from renewable electricity production will assist farmers struggling with drought near coal-mining regions. Solar PV installations could be designed to be "stock-friendly" for Australian livestock producers, and not copies of European installations where fields are covered with closely-spaced solar panels just above ground level.

Cattle and solar PV systems

The renewable energy generated would be fed to electrolysis units creating hydrogen.
The hydrogen is to be transferred into methanation units that have pulverised coal handling equipment where the hydrogen and coal is transformed into methane, ready for transfer to LNG export terminals.

Thyssenkrupp coal handling system

Gasification technologies

See Thyssenkrupp Australia - "Power-to-gas: Storing wind and sun [energy] in natural gas"

The 2015 Japanese government report "Overview of Assessment by Power Generation Cost Verification Working Group", Institute of Energy Economics, Japan (IEEJ) explained that renewable energy costs are higher in Japan than in other countries, and showed Australia has a comparative advantage in large-scale wind and solar installations.

"Unit construction costs for solar PV and wind power generation systems in Japan are higher than in other countries. ...Apparent factors behind the cost gap include higher personnel costs, complex topography and FIT scheme introduction backgrounds in Japan." (at pages 8-9)

"Saudi Arabia and Japan's SoftBank expanded their partnership on Tuesday, announcing the world's biggest solar power generation project at a press conference in New York."
The 200 gigawatt solar power project was estimated to cost $200 billion. https://t.co/MOsH9HvsMG

— Askgerbil Now (@Askgerbil) August 10, 2018

"This new material provides superior hydrogen production with lower energy requirements. This enables hydrogen production from renewable energy sources such as solar and wind generated power." @UNSW https://t.co/rZBIg7PDjz #ausbiz #jobs #ausunions @CFMEU_ME

— Askgerbil Now (@Askgerbil) August 7, 2018

Related posts:

Australian energy exports

Keeping waste plastic out of landfill

 

Australian energy exports

Japan intends to establish a "hydrogen pipeline" to replace its existing imports of energy from Australia and elsewhere.

To speed up the development of a "hydrogen pipeline" for Japan, Australia may be able to adapt existing energy infrastructure for the purpose.

Hydrogen produced by renewable energy creates a number of challenges for special-purpose overland transport and shipping. An interim processing strategy can skip over these challenges and re-use existing infrastructure, saving time and money. A little chemistry explains how this can work...

When hydrogen is combined with carbon dioxide to form methane and water, the energy content in the methane is about the same as the energy that was present in just the hydrogen:

CO2 + 4H2 → CH4 + 2H2O

In the above reaction half of the hydrogen combines with oxygen from the carbon dioxide to form water. The other half of the hydrogen combines with the carbon from the carbon dioxide to form methane. This is known as the "Sabatier reaction". It is used commercially by Audi to create "e-gas" for its Compressed Natural Gas vehicles.

Natural gas is essentially methane with smaller amounts of other gases such as carbon monoxide and ethane. Methane made from hydrogen can be transported through natural gas pipelines and shipped as LNG - liquefied natural gas - from Australia to Japan using existing LNG terminals and LNG tankers.

When methane is combined with water to form hydrogen and carbon dioxide, the energy content in the hydrogen is about the same as the energy that was present in just the methane:

CH4 + 2H2O → 4H2 + CO2

In the above reaction oxygen from the water combines with carbon from the methane to form carbon dioxide. All the hydrogen that was part of both the methane and water is separated. This is known as "Steam Methane Reforming". It is widely used in industry to manufacture hydrogen from natural gas.

The carbon dioxide produced in the above reaction may be liquefied in Japan and returned to Australia on the empty LNG ships that delivered the methane.

This allows the carbon dioxide to be re-used indefinitely in Australia to convert hydrogen to methane for shipping to Japan using existing natural gas pipelines, LNG terminals and tankers.

Keeping waste plastic out of landfill

The March 30, 2018 report by the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation describes the fall in the price of waste plastic following Chinese import restrictions for packaging.

There is a relatively small drop in the price for Plastic - HDPE ($575/tonne during 2015-2017 to $500/tonne in 2018), a larger drop in price for Plastic - PET ($575/tonne during 2015-2017 to $375/tonne in 2018) and a substantial fall in price for Plastic - mixed ($325/tonne during 2015-2017 to $75/tonne in 2018).

One avenue that raises the value of waste plastic is to convert it to methane and use it with natural gas.

A number of projects are underway to convert renewable energy to hydrogen and inject that hydrogen into natural gas distribution pipelines.

New SA hydrogen plant to be 'world's largest' https://t.co/RdruIUr8sl via @ABCNews

— Kylie Hargreaves (@KylieHarg) March 9, 2018

Green hydrogen innovation hub to be built in WA - https://t.co/RFOdYL9lTx @ATCOAustralia pic.twitter.com/znObtrp72K

— ARENA Newsroom (@ARENA_aus) July 4, 2018

Watch this video by @abcnews which explains farming hydrogen with solar power https://t.co/U36O5msfnO - exactly what our member @ATCOGasAus is doing in their trial project  https://t.co/3rNbIkRlTM

— Energy Networks (@EnergyNetworkAu) July 5, 2018

The wholesale price of energy delivered via that method is about $10/GJ. The retail price is about $35/GJ.

One tonne of methane can be made from about 875 kilograms of plastic waste and 125 kilograms of hydrogen. The energy content of this methane is about 55 gigajoules. At $10/GJ its value is $550.

The 125 kilograms of hydrogen made with renewable energy has an energy content of about 15 gigajoules. It contributes about $150 to the $550 value of the tonne of methane.

Put another way, 875 kilograms of plastic waste adds $400 to the value of the hydrogen that is to be injected into natural gas pipelines. This lifts the value of plastic waste to about $455/tonne: more than the $325/tonne price for Plastic - mixed during 2015-2017 and substantially more than the $75/tonne in 2018.

---

Using hydrogen to produce of methane is the subject of a number of research papers and patents.

The availability of hydrogen that is intended to be injected into natural gas pipelines means that this established body of knowledge is increasingly likely to find commercially viable applications.

Some References

1. Hydrogasifcation of biomass to produce high yields of methane, U.S. Patent 4,822,935 April 18, 1989
2. Production of Substitute Natural Gas by Biomass Hydrogasification, M. Mozaffarian, R.W.R. Zwart, Netherlands Energy Research Foundation, ECN, April 7, 2008
3. The steam hydrogasification reaction, which researchers at the University of California, Riverside’s Center for Environmental Research and Technology engineers began developing in 2005, has been found to be 12% more efficient, with 18% lower capital costs, compared to other mainstream gasification technologies, September 15, 2011.

.@UCRiverside research is well advanced but low U.S. #natgas prices will hold back its commercial adoption in the U.S. https://t.co/nmmVw8uuqg "A goal is to produce synthetic natural gas from a mix of biomass, food waste, and biosolids as a renewable replacement for natural gas"

— Askgerbil Now (@Askgerbil) July 9, 2018

A different process is helpful if, for instance, you want to upgrade biogas - a mixture of carbon dioxide and methane - to be suitable for injection into a natural gas pipeline. One method is to separate the carbon dioxide from the biogas.

Another method available if you have a quantity of hydrogen that is to be injected into the same natural gas pipeline is to convert the carbon dioxide that it is in the biogas into methane with the hydrogen. This avoids both the overhead and cost of separating the carbon dioxide from the biogas. It also dodges the limitation that the quantity of hydrogen that can be safely mixed with natural gas should be no more than 10 percent: the hydrogen gets converted into methane.

In Europe the related Sabatier process is in use. https://t.co/XGYet8kDDb This process uses hydrogen to upgrade CO2 in biogas into CH4, avoiding the need to separate the CO2 before injection into #natgas pipelines. The CH4 has only a similar energy content as the hydrogen it uses

— Askgerbil Now (@Askgerbil) July 9, 2018

Converting CO2 to methane with hydrogen avoids the need to separate it.#NatGas industry uses CO2/methane separation https://t.co/6m8voNXtKg

— Askgerbil Now (@Askgerbil) November 2, 2017

Value for investment dollars - Snowy Hydro vs Plasma Gasifiers

The Snowy Hydro 2.0 project is one possible way to store renewable energy.
For each 100 megawatt-hours of electricity stored about 70 megawatt-hours is likely to be generated and delivered to consumers - after allowing for pumping, generation and distribution losses.

If the wholesale price of electricity is $70 per megawatt-hour, each 100 megawatt-hours to storage will cost $7,000. The amount available for delivery - 70 megawatt-hours - will thus cost $100 per megawatt-hour. (That is $7,000 for the 100 megawatt-hours of electricity stored divided by the 70 megawatt-hours delivered to consumers.)

The result is a 40 percent increase in the wholesale price of electricity.
If the purpose is to lower the price of electricity, Snowy Hydro 2.0 project isn't looking too good on this part of the assessment.

The next step is to consider the cost of constructing the scheme, and the need to pay interest to the investors on the amount. This is another problem for the goal of reducing the price of electricity. It is aggravated by the fact that the project lead time means that interest costs accumulate for many years before there is any opportunity to begin recovering those costs from electricity consumers.

Another possible of way of storing renewable energy is to run plasma gasification units with electricity to be stored, converting waste that would otherwise go to landfill into synthesis gas.

Westinghouse Plasma Gasification
Converting Waste Into Clean Energy for a Healthier Planet

These plants are able to deliver over double the amount of energy that is used to operate them.
For each 100 megawatt-hours of electricity costing $7,000 stored in synthesis gas, at least 200 megawatt-hours is available for delivery to consumers - reducing the wholesale price of electricity to $35 per megawatt-hour - a reduction of 50 percent in this stage of the analysis.

Unlike Snowy Hydro 2.0, the assessment of value for investment dollars gets better, not worse, in the next phase. The elimination of waste heading to landfill represents a further cost-saving for investors.

That plasma gasification units can be built quickly means the return on investment begins far sooner than is possible for Snowy Hydro 2.0.

Related post - Efficient renewable energy storage, waste recycling and zero fossil fuels

Orica invests in Australia, Incitec Pivot builds plant in US

The Business Council of Australia likes part of the story of Incitec Pivot, a company that invested in the US. Here's an Orica factory which is one of the many profitable Australian businesses the Business Council of Australia doesn't like to mention.

The BCA must be denigrating Australian investment opportunities to lobby for a corporate tax cut.

The NSW Department of Planning has approved Orica’s proposal to increase the levels of ammonia at its Kooragang Island facility.

US shale gas boom behind new Incitec Pivot factory

April 18, 2013

Incitec Pivot has credited the boom in US shale gas as a factor in its decision to build a new ammonia factory in Louisiana.

Incitec, which makes fertiliser and explosives for the agriculture and mining industries, is a heavy user of gas, and its CEO, James Fazzino, a critic of Australia’s unrestricted approach to gas exports.

"'[The plant] takes our North American business and any future expansions back to US gas economics," said Fazzino in a statement. "This is vital to this project because 80 per cent of the cost of making ammonia is gas."

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Moving forward to 2016...

Details of Incitec Pivot’s US ammonia plant site

Incitec Pivot, through its subsidiary Dyno Nobel, constructed its seventh ammonia plant at Cornerstone’s Fortier Manufacturing Complex in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, US.

The project was implemented in conjunction with the maintenance, upgrades and infrastructure expansion for Cornerstone’s complex. With a production capacity of 800,000t a year, the ammonia plant began its operations in October 2016. The feasibility studies for the project commenced in May 2012 and construction works commenced in May 2013.

The new ammonia plant was constructed on a brownfield site at Fortier Manufacturing Complex in Waggaman, Louisiana, on the west bank of the Mississippi River.

It is located on the site of a former ammonia plant, which was closed down more than a decade ago.

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Gilding the lily in 2017...
The Business Council of Australia copied the entire following article onto its web site from the Australia Financial Review.

Making a 'poster-child' of a business investing in the US and not mentioning a successful competitor, Orica, that invests in Australia looks like it is engaging in bashing Australian business.

Why Incitec Pivot Built a Factory in the US, not Australia

4 September 2017

This opinion article by Incitec Pivot chief executive James Fazzino was published in The Australian Financial Review on 4 September 2017.

With a dramatic sweep of his hand, the then-governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, proudly embraced the numerous manufacturing plants visible from the window of his office.

I will long remember the day that I made an impromptu contact with his office on the way to New Orleans where this obscure Australian company, Incitec Pivot Limited, was considering an $US850 million ($1.08 billion) investment in a world-scale ammonia plant. He cleared his diary to meet with me.

Statistically, there is much to recommend the US as a great place to do business: it is the world's largest economy and second largest manufacturer, with high levels of research, capital investment and productivity. These numbers help explain why the United States has been the largest destination for Australian investment for many years, as confirmed by the recently-released US Studies Centre report on the US-Australia investment relationship. However, numbers alone don't capture what is to me a key attraction for US investment – and an area where Australia could learn significantly: a strong supportive business-friendly culture. As the report details, Australian businesses like us who enter the United States receive a level of welcome that is rarely found in Australia.

More taxpayers, not taxes

Our experience in Louisiana is a testament to this: One of Jindal's initial comments to me about why he was focused on supporting project development particularly stood out: "I'm not about more taxes; I'm about more taxpayers".

This approach extended throughout his administration. It was essential to our project economics that the approvals process was expedited – not the standards lessened – so we could sign a lump-sum construction contract. Louisiana has environmental and regulatory standards the equal, if not higher, than Australia and yet we achieved approval in six months. Meanwhile, the US Studies report details how it took years for a simple retailer like Costco to get the zoning approval to open their first warehouse in Victoria.

The state government agency charged with encouraging business into the state is called Louisiana Economic Development (LED). When we discussed with LED the need to expedite the approval deadlines, the response was that "we won't lower the standards but we can have our people work overtime to ensure that all the documentation achieves the necessary quality … if you pay for the overtime". Of course, we agreed.

With LED, we were never forgotten after we began the process of building our plant. They contacted us regularly asking: "Is there any more that we can do to help further?" That's a business-friendly partner.

This level of commitment to a mutually-beneficial outcome extended to all levels of government from the state to the local.

On time and under budget

The Louisiana project was an outstanding investment for IPL and was recognised as such by an international management consultancy, which benchmarked the project in the top 2 per cent of global construction projects for delivery on time and under budget – and most importantly, with zero lost time injuries.

Sadly for Australia, we looked at a similar development at the same time in New South Wales that did not end up proceeding. Like other case studies of Australian firms detailed in the US Studies Centre report, the case for making such a sizeable investment in the United States was incontrovertible when compared with the same option in Australia.

Let me give you three simple examples for why.

Bureaucracy: The US Studies report details the lengthy regulatory process companies face in Australia and our experience is no different. The approvals process for our Australian project took some three years – about the same time that it took to construct the entire project in Louisiana. Our US plant was producing when we would have just started turning the first sod in Australia.

Workplace productivity: the cost to construct the project in Australia would have been 40 to 50 per cent more than what our Louisiana plant cost us.

Energy: To manufacture ammonia – and many commonly-used plastics and chemicals – gas is used as a raw material, in the same way as iron ore for the manufacture of steel. The competitive price of gas was a critical decision point for the Louisiana project. The US has a gas price of about $US3 per gigajoule, partly as a result of federal government policy. In Australia, previous Australian federal and state governments have allowed unfettered exports from the East Coast and the price of gas is as high as $20 for some industrial users; as well as adding $300 to $400 to some household energy bills. To his credit, Prime Minister Turnbull has regulated to ensure domestic supply is protected in balance with exports.

Confident in the US

While the United States has taken time to recover from the global financial crisis and there are some current headwinds, I'm confident about the outlook for the US economy.

There are predictions by many that the Chinese ascendancy is close. I have no doubt that will eventually happen – sooner or later. However, I have a soft spot for the United States and believe that their business-friendly culture will always provide that competitive edge. After all, it's a great place to do business.

James Fazzino is managing director and chief executive of Incitec Pivot Limited and adjunct professor to La Trobe Business School.

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Other businesses in competition with Incitec Pivot ...

Orica and Yara open the world’s first modular ammonium nitrate plant in Western Australia

25 Aug 2016

The next generation of downstream processing has arrived in the resource rich Pilbara region of Western Australia with the official opening of the Yara Pilbara Nitrates technical ammonium nitrate (TAN) manufacturing plant.

The plant, developed in joint venture by Orica Limited and Yara International ASA, will have capacity to produce 330,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate (AN) per annum. Ammonium nitrate is the main component of explosives used in the mining, quarrying and construction industries. The plant is currently in the commissioning phase and is expected to be operational by the end of 2016.

The Orica and Yara joint venture facility was opened today by Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett at a ceremony marking the completion of the plant construction phase. The plant is fully integrated with the neighbouring Yara Pilbara Fertilisers ammonia plant, which exports 800,000 tonnes of ammonia per annum to world markets.

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Orica launches fertiliser business

04 Dec 2017

Grain and cotton growers across NSW and Queensland are set to benefit as Orica launches its new fertiliser business with plans for a local manufacturing plant for urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) in Moree, NSW.

Orica Agriculture also expects to begin supply of anhydrous ammonia to east coast growers in April next year, with dedicated line haul and on-farm nurse tank fleets.

Construction of the UAN plant is scheduled to commence in 2018, but growers can access transported UAN immediately.

These investments will bring increased competition, as well as secure and consistent supply of liquid and gas nitrogen fertiliser, to growers on the east coast of Australia.

Orica Agriculture Senior Business Manager, Paul Scutt, says liquid fertiliser is a speciality product used with great success in Western Australia and other markets globally and there is growing interest in the eastern States.

“We believe the market is ready to embrace the benefits of UAN including precision application during specific crop growth stages, reducing passes over paddocks and the reliance on pending rainfall for incorporation of fertiliser.

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Orica snatches more business from Incitec as Roy Hill contract in doubt

12 Jan 2018

Orica appears to have snatched more business from rival explosives manufacturer Incitec Pivot, after Gina Rinehart's Roy Hill indicated it would not renew Incitec's contract to supply explosives when it expires next month.

Roy Hill's decision comes barely one month after BHP confirmed it would not renew Incitec's contract to supply ammonium nitrate prill to BHP's West Australian iron ore division when the contract expires in November 2019.

Loss of the BHP contract will deliver a combined $35 million hit to Incitec's net profits over the 2020 and 2021 financial years, and Incitec said this week the loss of the Roy Hill contract would deliver a further $81 million hit to net profits after tax over the next five years.

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Snowy Hydro 2.0 has competition

There are many ways to store renewable energy.

A problem with Snowy Hydro 2.0 is that it won't work without a large investment in additional 'poles and wires'. This is needed to move renewable energy to the centralised storage facility and to deliver it to consumers when needed. This very large outlay will add to already high electricity prices in Australia.

Another option reduces the need for spending on 'poles and wires' and cuts electricity prices: installing energy storage along-side solar PV systems owned by electricity consumers. See Affordable reliable electricity the easy way for a discussion on this option.

A different option for energy storage has even more advantages...

The Australian Government and other coal lobbyists express concerns with a fifty percent renewable energy target such as the one proposed by the Australian Labor Party:

"50% Renewable Energy by 2030 ...The Climate Change Authority has found that for Australia to achieve its bipartisan agreement to limit global warming by less than 2°C, renewable energy will need to comprise at least half of Australia’s electricity generation by 2030." 

Opponents make claims such as:

"Labor’s energy policy to deliver $200 bill shock ...Labor’s policy of a 50 per cent ­renewable energy target by 2030 would require the closure of 75 per cent of existing coal-fired power in Australia."

It's not as challenging a problem as some people think. Instead of using renewable energy to pump water uphill in a Snowy Hydro 2.0, it can be converted to despatchable fuel in two steps:

1. Produce hydrogen by electrolysis of water.
2. Use the hydrogen from the first step to manufacture methane from brown coal. 

The resulting fuel contains 50% renewable energy and 50% fossil fuel energy. If biomass was gasified in place of the coal, the fuel would be 100% renewable, despatchable energy.

The advantages include:

• There is no need for fracking to produce coal seam gas.
• There is no shortage of natural gas for the domestic market.
• Inefficient old brown coal power stations that produce over 1,100 kilograms of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour are replaced by efficient combined-cycle gas turbine power stations that produce only 330 kilograms of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour. 

The reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from over 1,100 kilograms to just 330 kilograms per megawatt-hour points to a fairly remarkable benefit:

• For Snowy Hydro 2.0 only about 2 megawatt-hours of renewable energy are returned for each 3 megawatt-hours of renewable energy that are stored... 
• Carbon in brown coal is only being converted into electricity at an efficiency of about 25% in existing coal-fired power stations.
• After this carbon is used to make methane with hydrogen from renewable energy, it is converted into electricity with an efficiency of 60% in combined cycle gas turbine power stations. 
• This change means the amount of coal needed for the same amount of electricity is cut by over 70%. Output is increased, not reduced in this option.

E.on launches power-to-gas plant
The unit uses wind power to run electrolysis equipment that transforms water into hydrogen

The conversion of coal and biomass into high energy synthetic gases suitable for use as fuels focused attention on the hydrogasification reaction: C + 2H2 ⇄ CH4.

Because this reaction is highly exothermic and requires the presence of hydrogen, it has been suggested that it be integrated with endothermic hydrogen-producing reactions such as the steam/carbon gasification reaction, C + H20 ⇄ C0 + H2, and the methane/steam reforming reaction, CH4 + H20 ⇄ C0 + 3H2, to conserve heat and reduce the amount of hydrogen which must be provided.

It has been found that this can be done by reacting the coal or other carbonaceous material with steam and hydrogen in a hydrogasification zone to produce a methane-rich gas, passing at least a portion of this gas stream through a methane reforming zone where it is contacted with steam to reduce part of the methane and form hydrogen, and then recycling hydrogen and carbon monoxide recovered from the steam reformer overhead gas to the hydrogasification zone.

Coal char or other carbonaceous solids are circulated between the hydrogasification and reforming zones to provide heat integration.