Shell Energy Brazil has partnered with sugarcane miller Raizen to push the federal and Sao Paulo state governments to develop laws, regulations and incentives to produce hydrogen from ethanol.
The companies teamed up with the University of Sao Paulo (USP) and other research entities to launch a project that will produce hydrogen at 4.5kg/hour, the first attempt of its kind in Brazil. It will be used to fuel up to three electric buses and one small electric vehicle to serve USP's campus, where batteries are charged from the chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen at a fuel cell. The project should start operating in the second half of 2024 and receive R50mn ($10.3mn) from Shell through hydrocarbon regulator ANP's research program.
Raizen and Shell's efforts come as discussions of a federal law to incentivize clean hydrogen production in the country advance in congress. Sao Paulo state congressman Arnaldo Jardim, the president of the lower house commission formed to discuss a bill, said in June that he expects to have a draft ready for voting by the end of this year.
USP's research center for greenhouse gas innovation (RCGI) forecasts production of hydrogen from ethanol to result in the lowest output cost among other green hydrogen routes in Brazil, with emissions similar to those from hydropower and wind power methods. Producing hydrogen from ethanol in this experimental project will cost $6-9/kg, according to Julio Meneghini, RCGI's scientific director. That does not include any equipment investments.
One source from a large industry in Brazil who is studying hydrogen production told Argus that producing the hydrogen from wind power is much cheaper than other options available. Supporting hydrogen-from-ethanol is also an effort by Brazilian sugar mills to create demand for ethanol, as it could lose market share as the number of electric cars in Brazil increases — Chinese automakers BYD and Great Wall Motors have plans to build plants to produce alternative vehicles in Brazil — while other countries are reducing ethanol imports as they develop other clean energy sources.
Raizen says an advantage of producing hydrogen from ethanol is that liquid fuel can be easily transported in trucks and be converted into hydrogen in the same spot it will be consumed. It estimates that a single tank truck carrying nearly 300 bl of ethanol would produce roughly 6,000kg of hydrogen. That would allow for the technology to be adopted globally in vessels, according to RCGI.
Brazil can produce 19mn metric tonnes/yr of hydrogen, according to research energy bureau (Epe). Of the total, 41pc would come from wind power, 24pc from biomass, 23pc from hydropower and 12pc from solar power. The capacity to produce hydrogen from ethanol is unknown.
This is Shell's second hydrogen research project, as it has also invested in a 200MW offshore wind power site to produce hydrogen in Rotterdam.
