PowerTap Hydrogen Capital Corp has shared an update on its technology for creating low carbon intensity blue hydrogen and how it is consistent with the draft US Infrastructure Bill’s definition of clean hydrogen.
The company intends to use renewable natural gas (RNG) blended with fossil fuel natural gas as a feedstock in its modular on-site hydrogen production and dispensing system to produce blue hydrogen. The team at PowerTap Hydrogen Fueling believes that by deploying its technology to manufacture hydrogen from current pathways utilizing California Air Resources Board (CARB) methods, a carbon intensity (CI) of zero (0) grams (g) CO2 per megajoule (MJ) or lower might be attained. The significance of a CI of 0 or lower is that PowerTap aspires to create and dispense hydrogen with a carbon footprint of zero or lower as the world advances toward lower carbon footprints in order to reduce or stop the effects of climate change.
PowerTap Hydrogen Fueling made the following assumptions to reach CI of zero (0) g CO2 per MJ: I its dispensed hydrogen will contain at least 40% renewable content (i.e. RNG), as required by paragraph 95486.2 (a)(4)(F)2 on page 83 of the Lower Carbon Fuel Standard Regulation administered by the California Air Resources Board3; and (ii) there is sufficient availability of RNG feedstock, taking into account the significant number of CARB-approved pathways with carbon intensities of 0. (“Environmental Attributes”). PowerTap Hydrogen Fueling anticipates that sufficient volumes of RNG with very low negative CIs will be available when needed, and that any blend of fossil fuel natural gas and RNG with a minimum of 41 percent RNG plus the application of available Environmental Attributes will result in a negative CI in consultation with carbon credits specialist, Carbonomics, and RNG marketer, Element Markets.
Importantly, the hydrogen produced by the PowerTap’s Gen3 unit falls under the new definition of “clean hydrogen,” which, as outlined in Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WV)4 draft Energy Infrastructure Act, will be defined based on the carbon intensity of hydrogen production and will apply to hydrogen produced from renewables, fossil fuels with carbon capture, biomass, and nuclear energy.
