Shell Canada has signed an MoU with Mitsubishi Corporation to build a low-carbon hydrogen (called the blue hydrogen) production unit near Edmonton, Canada. As per the agreement, Mitsubishi will be building a world-class blue hydrogen facility that will house Shell’s carbon capture and storage technology from the proposed Polaris CCS project.
The facility will use natural gas feedstocks abundantly available in Edmonton region in assistance with carbon capture and storage technology to produce blue hydrogen. The facility, in the first phase of its functioning, will exhibit a capacity of 165 KTPA of hydrogen, that will be upgraded in the proceeding phases. Mitsubishi plans to export the produced hydrogen to the Japanese market to enable the production of clean energy in that region.
Hydrogen with its potential for zero-emission of greenhouse gases is viewed as the future fuel for the automobile sector. As per ChemAnalyst, hydrogen demand has witnessed an exponential rise in the developed countries and fast-growing economies owing to the increasing environmental pollution and shifting preference towards exploitation of clean energy-based technologies. The most widely used technique for the generation of hydrogen is steam-reforming of natural gas that yields hydrogen and carbon monoxide after breaking methane molecules. Capturing the carbon content is a significant step towards improving air quality and tackling climate change. Building a blue hydrogen facility will strengthen the position of these companies in the energy sector. The Asia-Pacific market will also benefit from the commencement of this plant which is expected to furnish good supplies of hydrogen.
