To date, the use of green hydrogen is the best solution for the decarbonisation of hard-to-abate industrial sectors.
Specifically, hard-to-abate refers to energy-hungry industries where it is difficult to cut greenhouse gas emissions because it is not possible to replace methane with forms of electrification.
Some examples of industries that fall into the hard-to-abate category, because they are polluting and difficult to convert, are:
By decarbonising these activities, it would be possible to abandon the use of non-renewable resources for energy production and, consequently, reduce the environmental impact.
Green hydrogen in the hard-to-abate sector of steel mills
How can green hydrogen be used in the hard-to-abate sector of steel mills?
Steel mills are rightfully among those economic activities where a switch from fossil fuels to electricity is impractical, at least at present.
In these cases, the only solution that can decarbonise the sector and produce energy at the same time is hydrogen.
An interesting example of using hydrogen inside a steel plant is the Sicilian Sustainable Steel project implemented by Acciaierie di Sicilia, of the Alfa Acciai group, in collaboration with Enel Green Power.
Specifically, this project involves the installation of an electrolyser in an area next to the Acciaierie di Sicilia industrial plant.
In this way, it is planned to replace 30% of the natural gas currently used in the rolling mill’s reheating furnace with green hydrogen.
Incorporating green hydrogen into the industrial cycle of the Sicilian steel plant would avoid the emission of more than 4,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere per year.
Green hydrogen in the hard-to-abate refinery sector
Refineries, just like steel mills, fall into the category of energy-intensive and highly polluting industrial sectors.
Here too, however, there are projects in Italy that envisage the use of green hydrogen to decarbonise this hard-to-abate sector.
One example is the SardHy Green Hydrogen company born from the joint project of Enel Green Power and Saras related to the development of green hydrogen in Sardegna.
Specifically, the aim of this project is to build a green hydrogen production plant, by means of electrolysis, near the municipality of Sarroch, Cagliari.
This plant is intended to produce 20MW of green hydrogen for the Saras refinery with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from refining processes.
Among other things, the Sarroch plant is part of the ‘South Italy Green Hydrogen’ project carried out by ENI and Enel, which we discussed in the article on Hydrogen Valley in Italy.
Green hydrogen in the hard-to-abate glass sector
The third hard-to-abate sector that lends itself to the use of green hydrogen to replace fossil energy sources is the glassworks.
In general, the manufacture of glassware, of which Italy is the second largest producer in Europe with over 5 million tonnes per year, is energy-intensive and difficult to electrify.
Consequently, having an energy vector such as hydrogen available can be a viable solution for the hard-to-abate glassworks sector in terms of energy and emissions.
In this regard, it is interesting to analyse the Murano project.
Born from the collaboration between the Glass Section of Confindustria Venezia, the Stazione Sperimentale del Vetro and the company Hydrogen Park, the ‘Murano project’ aims to study the use of hydrogen as an energy vector for the production of art glass.
The aim of this project is to explore the feasibility of producing art glass in furnaces fuelled by variable mixtures of hydrogen and methane gas.
Not only that, but to understand whether green hydrogen combustion can be the answer to the energy needs of Murano’s artistic glass furnaces.
To this end, the collaboration between the three companies includes the testing and development on an industrial scale of technologies for the conversion of melting furnaces from the use of hydrocarbons to green hydrogen.
In addition, it foresees the execution of quality tests on products manufactured using this new fuel.
Green hydrogen in the hard-to-abate ceramics sector
Lastly, the fourth hard-to-abate sector in which green hydrogen can be used to replace fossil energy sources is ceramics.
It is worth mentioning that the Italian ceramics industry ranks first in Europe with 24% of the continent’s production and to date, is one of the hard-to-abate sectors technologically most ready for the introduction of hydrogen into the production cycle.
At present, in fact, this sector makes extensive use of natural gas. But the increasing costs of gas and the high amount of CO₂ produced have led the ceramics industry to look for alternative energy sources.
In particular, this sector is looking with great interest at green hydrogen as an energy carrier to begin a process of decarbonisation.
With this in mind, we at Simplifhy are involved with leading kiln manufacturers in the construction of test plants. In addition, we are collaborating with the Sassuolo ceramic district in developing solutions to support this complex decarbonisation process.
In this regard, it is also interesting to mention the case of Iris Ceramica.
The Iris Ceramica Group, in collaboration with SNAM, has launched a project to build the world’s first ceramic factory conceived and designed to run on green hydrogen.
Specifically, on the roof of the factory there will be a photovoltaic system combined with an electrolyser and a storage system for renewable hydrogen produced on site.
In general, we at Simplifhy welcome the initiation of concrete projects by industrial companies in order to find a solution to decarbonise the hard-to-abate sectors.
Among other things, as the first Italian solution provider we are able to offer strategies and systems for the decarbonisation of industry through the use of hydrogen-based technologies.
In particular, we realise custom-made projects designed to meet the specific needs of each customer.
Contact us for more information!
