According to a report published by the University of Adelaide, green hydrogen could be key to carbon neutrality and reducing greenhouse emissions in the heavy industrial sector.
The report, titled ‘the HiTeMP Outlook #2’ followed the second HiTemp Forum which saw collaboration between industry, research and government from the industrial sector.
The report looked at developing affordable ways to produce materials such as steel, cement and aluminium through greener sources of energy.
“Green hydrogen – hydrogen produced from renewable energy – is the most plausible long-term route to producing ‘green’ steel, but it is not yet available at sufficient scale or sufficiently low cost, so that blue hydrogen will also be needed,” said Gus Nathan, Director of the Centre for Energy Technology and the Deputy Director of the Institute for Mineral and Energy Resources at the University of Adelaide.
The study found that high-temperature industrial processes such as iron, aluminium and cement and lime had multiple synergies. This presents an opportunity to transition these industries towards green hydrogen, green electricity and solar thermal energy that could reduce a majority of industrial greenhouse gas emission.
“The South Australian Government is focused on advancing industrial-scale production of green hydrogen as key to exporting low-carbon commodities and developing a green hydrogen international export industry,” said Dan van Holst Pellekaan, SA Minister for Energy and Mining.
“Transitioning heavy industry as a whole to a decarbonised future, as identified in the HiTemp Outlook #2 Report, will be cheaper than tackling one industry at a time. This is because many technologies and challenges are of a common interest across these seemingly different industries,” said Nathan.
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