Hydrogen Economy

What is the Hydrogen Economy?

The energy transition, coupled with a global drive for sustainability in the energy and chemical industries, is already impacting the economy and all players across the energy value chain. The hydrogen economy is one of the hottest investment areas across the globe today—a rapidly-growing industry that has the potential to revolutionize the way we produce and consume energy. Hydrogen is a clean and efficient fuel source that can be used in a variety of applications, from powering vehicles to generating electricity.

The Possibilities of Hydrogen

Hydrogen holds promise as a clean and versatile energy solution. While its widespread adoption faces significant challenges, industrial digital transformation can play a critical role in solving them safely, quickly and at scale.

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, but it is not found in its pure form on Earth. Instead, green hydrogen is produced primarily through a process called electrolysis, which involves using electricity generated from renewable sources to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen can also be produced from natural gas, coal and other fossil fuels, but this process generates carbon emissions and is not considered a sustainable source of hydrogen. When it comes to hydrogen, AspenTech industrial digitalization solutions empower your organization to make informed decisions that minimize risk, maximize returns and optimize the entire lifecycle.

Advance to Net Zero with Digital Solutions

The sustainability revolution is powered by digital technology as asset-intensive industries develop emissions reduction and carbon mitigation strategies, including carbon capture, hydrogen projects and other sustainability innovations. Digital solutions are crucial to drive down innovation costs, increase the pace of implementations and improve confidence in design and operations.

Innovation to Improve the Economics of Low-Carbon Hydrogen

Business can accelerate hydrogen innovation and commercialization by integrating renewables with H2 production, optimizing production and storage and facilitating continued innovation of end use with digital twin technology and analytics, employing the end-to-end AspenTech hydrogen sustainability pathway. This process helps develop new technologies faster by reducing costs and time-to-market, justifying investment and financial decisions by evaluating risks and costs across lifecycle, reducing project risks by optimizing designs and accelerating delivery and execution—and scalable operation and optimization, maximizing load factor.

The Future of Hydrogen as a Decarbonization Solution

As cost-effective solutions are developed and scaled, green hydrogen's role as one of industry’s decarbonization solutions is expected to increase across a range of applications, such as green ammonia, remote power, green steel and transportation fuel.

Hydrogen projects, from production and storage to end use, are benefiting asset-intensive industries and sustainability in a variety of ways. As new technologies, digital solutions and applications for hydrogen are developed, we can expect to see even more benefits in the years to come through faster and safer scaling, for complete value chain optimization.

FAQs

What is the hydrogen economy?
The hydrogen economy is a rapidly-growing industry that has the potential to revolutionize the way we produce and consume energy. Hydrogen is a clean and efficient fuel source, and as cost-effective solutions are developed and scaled, it can be used in a variety of applications, such as green ammonia, remote power, green steel and transportation fuel.

How can AspenTech solutions help with hydrogen storage and transport?
When hydrogen gas is converted into liquid form (like methanol or ammonia) it is less flammable and occupies less space, making it safer and easier to transport and store, allowing use in remote locations or areas that are not connected to the electrical grid. Ensure safety and reliability of hydrogen storage and transport with the Aspen Plus® rigorous modeling environment for cryogenic hydrogen and fuel cell systems, and monitor and simulate hydrogen transport pipelines with AspenTech OSI Continua™. The AspenTech Subsurface Science & Engineering product suite helps evaluate and monitor subsurface salt domes or other formations.