A Canada-Germany agreement to explore the production of green hydrogen fuel for export to Germany could be an opportunity for Sarnia, an associate with a sustainable energy think tank in Sarnia says.
“It’s an opportunity for a new business, and it’s sitting right in front of us,” said Ed Brost with the Bowman Centre.
Hydrogen’s low density presents a problem for shipping it long distances, either as a compressed gas, or liquified at -253C, said Brost.
Its lack of density prevents moving pure, compressed hydrogen in any substantial amount in a pipeline, or in tanks, for the amount of energy expended, making moving it long distances inefficient and expensive, unless it’s bound to a chemical, he said.
Good candidates are toluene and di-benzyltoluene, respective gasoline and diesel analogs, he said, noting the former is already made at Sarnia-area refineries for other purposes, like enhancing gasoline octane; and the latter could be made here easily as well.
Because they’re so similar to gasoline and diesel, the chemicals could be shipped using existing gasoline or diesel infrastructure to the east coast, where wind projects are expected to produce green hydrogen for shipments starting in 2025, get loaded up with hydrogen there, then be shipped to Germany, where they could be stripped of the hydrogen and reused, Brost said.
“We don’t need to buy any infrastructure,” Brost said.
“There are no pipelines required, no new pumps, no new truck trailers, ships … you can put toluene on any facility system used to transport gasoline.”
Ditto for di-benzyltoluene in diesel systems, he said.
Sarnia could also be a hydrogen manufacturer, he said, noting the community has been pushing to become a hydrogen hub in Ontario.
“But how are you going to ship it? This is one way,” he said.
Hopes are provincial and federal government representatives from the community can advocate for Sarnia, and push for government incentives to help businesses get on board, he said.
“Sarnia could be an enabler for that agreement” between Canada and Germany, he said.
Brost is hosting an hour-long webinar Sept. 12 on the topic, starting at 4 pm
People can sign up at bowmancentre.com.