Hydrogen and its types

#GS-03 Science and Technology

For Prelims

Hydrogen

• Hydrogen is the first and lightest element on the periodic table and is rarely found in its pure form.
• Hydrogen is a nontoxic, non-metallic, odourless, tasteless, colourless, and highly combustible gas at standard room temperature and pressure.
• It can be used in fuel cells or internal combustion engines and is also used as a fuel for spacecraft propulsion.
• Hydrogen is a completely non-polluting fuel since on burning it gives out water vapour as the sole by-product.

Green Hydrogen

• Hydrogen gas can be created by using electrolytic division of water.
• Electrolysers use an electric current to split water into its basic components of hydrogen and oxygen, which emits zero-carbon dioxide.
• When the process energy for electrolysis is generated from renewable sources, the hydrogen generated is called green Hydrogen.
• Green hydrogen currently makes up a small percentage of the overall hydrogen, due to high production costs.

Types of Hydrogen

Blue hydrogen

• Blue hydrogen is produced using a process called steam reforming.
• This process brings together natural gas and heated water in the form of steam.
• Which results in the creation of Hydrogen and Carbon dioxide.
• The resultant CO2 is captured using carbon capture and storage (CCS)

Grey hydrogen

• This is the most common form of hydrogen production method currently in use.
• Grey hydrogen is created from natural gas, or methane, using steam methane reformation however, the resultant CO2 is not captured.

Black and brown hydrogen

• This hydrogen-making process uses black coal or lignite (brown coal).
• Black and brown hydrogen are the antithesis to green hydrogen in the hydrogen spectrum and are the most environmentally damaging.
• In common parlance, hydrogen made from any fossil fuels through the process of ‘gasification’ is often called black or brown hydrogen

Pink hydrogen

• Pink hydrogen is also generated through electrolysis, however, the electricity will be generated through nuclear energy.
• Nuclear-produced hydrogen is also sometimes referred to as purple hydrogen or red hydrogen.

Turquoise hydrogen

• This is a new entry in the hydrogen colour spectrum and production has not yet been proven at scale.
• Turquoise hydrogen is made through a process called methane pyrolysis which produces hydrogen and solid carbon.

Yellow hydrogen

• Yellow hydrogen is a new phrase for hydrogen made through electrolysis when the power is derived from solar power.

White hydrogen

• White hydrogen is a naturally-occurring hydrogen found in underground deposits and extracted through fracking.

Source “Centre clears ₹19,744 cr. Green Hydrogen Mission“