Environment & Energy

NNadir

(36,429 posts)

1. Despite the misleading slick ad from the fossil fuel industry, China's hydrogen is overwhelmingly made from fossil fuels

Reply to Caribbeans (Original post)

Sat Aug 2, 2025, 09:23 PM

Aug 2

The preparation of hydrogen from fossil fuels, which dominates the supply in that country, is accompanied by the destruction of exergy, meaning it wastes energy and drives extreme global heating faster.

It's a rather dirty scam.

I never tire of referencing this recent publication, not from the fossil fuel greenwashing team, but from the scientific literature:

Subsidizing Grid-Based Electrolytic Hydrogen Will Increase Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Coal Dominated Power Systems Liqun Peng, Yang Guo, Shangwei Liu, Gang He, and Denise L. Mauzerall Environmental Science & Technology 2024 58 (12), 5187-5195

The text is clear enough.

From the introductory text:

... Currently, nearly all hydrogen in China is either produced directly from fossil fuels (55% from coal gasification and 14% from steam methane reforming (SMR)) or as a byproduct of petroleum refining (28%), with only 1% coming from water electrolysis. (2) Producing 1 kg of coal- or SMR-based hydrogen emits roughly 19 and 10 kg of CO2, respectively. (3) In 2020, hydrogen production from fossil fuels in China emitted approximately 322Tg of CO2, equivalent to 25% of total CO2 emissions from industrial processes, a number expected to rise with increasing hydrogen demand. (4) Industrial processes include production of nonmetallic mineral products, chemical, and metal products, as well as production and consumption of halocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride. (4)

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The bold, italics and underlining is mine.

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Highlight:

"Green Hydrogen Is Finally in the Pipes" as Sinopec Begins Historic Blend Into China's Gas Grid [View all] Caribbeans Aug 2 OP

Despite the misleading slick ad from the fossil fuel industry, China's hydrogen is overwhelmingly made from fossil fuels NNadir Aug 2 #1

I wold not call it a scam Bluetus Aug 2 #2

Europe has been working on this for some time OKIsItJustMe Aug 2 #4

And then, this article about "hydrogen powder" Bluetus Aug 3 #6

They make a comparison to "green ammonia" OKIsItJustMe Aug 3 #9

I'm not impressed by the dishonest use of units of POWER to substitute for units of ENERGY. NNadir Aug 3 #5

Sorry, I don't follow your rant. Bluetus Aug 3 #7

Generally people who can't "follow" this sort of thing endorse solar and wind. NNadir Aug 3 #8

Once again, I cannpt follow your stream of riddles. Bluetus Aug 3 #10

They're not "riddles." They're DATA and historical reports on the cost of energy during Dunkleflaute. NNadir Aug 3 #11

Post removed Post removed Aug 3 #12

Your first simile comes closest OKIsItJustMe Aug 3 #14

This "conversation," such as it is, is concluded. NNadir Aug 3 #15

I will take your challenge. OKIsItJustMe Aug 3 #13

Thank you kindly for this nice succinct correct statement of my views. NNadir Aug 19 #17

I'm glad you feel I accurately summarized your views OKIsItJustMe Aug 19 #18

System Analysis: Hydrogen production from nuclear energy OKIsItJustMe Aug 19 #19

Thank you for sharing, but I have many hundreds of papers on various thermochemical hydrogen cycles going... NNadir Aug 20 #20

I also have been familiar with "Nuclear Hydrogen" for decades OKIsItJustMe Aug 20 #21

The highlighted statement or a variant is similar if not identical to those... NNadir Aug 21 #22

"Soothsaying" OKIsItJustMe Aug 21 #23

"... object to me continuously producing the following table ..." OKIsItJustMe Aug 4 #16

Hydrogen can be mixed with "natural gas" much as ethanol can be mixed with gasoline OKIsItJustMe Aug 2 #3