NETL researchers will provide updates on groundbreaking projects when the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Hydrogen Program hosts its 2022 Annual Merit Review (AMR) and Peer Evaluation Meeting Monday, June 6, through Wednesday, June 8.

Hydrogen is emerging as a clean fuel option for transportation, electricity generation and manufacturing applications to accelerate the United States’ transition to a low-carbon economy. Each year, hydrogen and fuel cell projects funded by DOE’s Hydrogen Program are reviewed during the AMR sessions.

In addition to supporting the nation’s decarbonization efforts, projects to be discussed next week align with the goals of DOE’s Hydrogen Shot, the department’s first in a series of Energy Earthshots initiatives.

Launched on June 7, 2021, the Hydrogen Shot seeks to reduce the cost of clean hydrogen by 80% to $1 per 1 kilogram in 1 decade (“1 1 1”) in order to more quickly reach the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 while creating good-paying union jobs and growing the economy.

NETL presenters and their project topics are:

• Angela Goodman — Subsurface Hydrogen Assessment, Storage and Technology Acceleration (SHASTA) project. Domestically, large-volume underground hydrogen storage has been demonstrated as safe and effective only in salt dome structures or caverns. However, not all regions of the United States have the proper geological prerequisites for salt dome or cavern storage. SHASTA is exploring storage opportunities in geologic porous media akin to underground natural gas storage reservoirs. Project partners are Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
• Eric Lewis — Comparison of Commercial, State-of-the-Art, Fossil-Based Hydrogen Production Technologies. Information to be discussed includes an independent assessment of the cost and performance of select hydrogen production plants using fossil fuel resources as the primary feedstocks. Potential pathways for performance improvements and cost reductions are noted.

NETL poster presentations are:

• Daniel Haynes — Progress on Natural Gas Pyrolysis for Low-Carbon Hydrogen Production. While the application of hydrogen as an energy source results in zero emissions, the production of hydrogen currently relies on steam methane reforming, which is energy intensive and releases carbon dioxide (CO2). NETL is supporting research to explore alternative pathways of hydrogen production via methane pyrolysis, which directly converts methane into solid carbon and hydrogen gas.
• David Tucker — Micro-Hybrid Development of Enabling Controls. The project focuses on modeling efforts to develop the cyber-physical components needed to adapt NETL’s Hybrid Performance laboratory to complete the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy INTEGRATE project.
• Ruishu Wright — Optical Fiber Sensor Technologies for Subsurface Hydrogen Storage Monitoring. Her areas of expertise include advanced sensors development for structural health monitoring and environmental detection for energy infrastructure using distributed and nondestructive sensor technologies to ensure safe, reliable and resilient infrastructure for natural gas and hydrogen transportation, subsurface wellbores, CO2 storage systems and plugged abandoned wells.

The 2022 AMR will be held virtually. All presentations are open to the public and free to attend. However, anyone who attends any portion of the AMR, including invited presenters and reviewers, must register in advance of the meeting. For more information on AMR registration, please contact H2AMR@orau.org.

NETL is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory that drives innovation and delivers technological solutions for an environmentally sustainable and prosperous energy future. By leveraging its world-class talent and research facilities, NETL is ensuring affordable, abundant and reliable energy that drives a robust economy and national security, while developing technologies to manage carbon across the full life cycle, enabling environmental sustainability for all Americans.