1, Direct Air Capture of CO2. In its quarterly results presentation, Exxon Mobil said it had ‘Completed construction of a direct air capture (DAC) prototype piloting proprietary technology’. Few further details were provided and the company divulged little information in response to an oral question (at about minute 55 of this recording). It has been working with Global Thermostat, one of the start-ups in DAC, but there was no reference to this company in the presentation itself. Exxon seems to have a growing interest in carbon capture, both from high concentration streams of CO2 and from the air. In September of last year, a senior Exxon executive was quoted as saying the company sees a clear place for DAC in a net-zero future and a recent acquisition gives it a very substantial capacity to ship CO2 through pipelines in the southern US, as well as developed CO2 storage sites.
2, Energy efficiency of electric cars. The contention that EVs are no more energy efficient than internal combustion engine vehicles continues to erode the confidence of potential customers. The erroneous hypothesis is that the electricity used to fill the battery will often have been generated by fossil fuels so there is no advantage to driving an electric car; the energy losses in the power station will be the same as the losses in a petrol engine. An article on a Yale site provides an excellent visual summary of the correct numbers, showing that an EV uses about half as much primary energy as an internal combustion engine car with the current US electricity mix. As electricity decarbonisation proceeds, this advantage will increase.
3, Perovskite solar efficiencies. Followers of Oxford PV will have been pleased by the world record efficiency of 25% reported last week. This was for a commercial size panel composed of a perovskite layer deposited on silicon in the so-called ‘tandem’ arrangement. But, like me, some observers may have been initially confused by the news. The first minor grumble is that Oxford PV also claimed a world record efficiency in May of last year, stating that its cells had achieved 28.6% conversion of solar energy into electricity. The lower figure given a few days ago was for a complete panel of 1.68 m2 whereas last year’s figure was for the constituent cell of a solar panel, measuring about 258 cm2. Perhaps readers should have been told clearly of the likely percentage efficiency losses when solar cells are put together into panels. More seriously, other perovskite cell producers have recently claimed much higher efficiency than Oxford PV. Chinese producer Longi said three months ago that its perovskite tandem cells had reached 33.9% efficiency, a far higher figure than Oxford PV’s numbers. Additionally, the Financial Times has twice published a chart based on the figures from the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory agreeing that ‘tandem’ perovskite cells can now reach well over 33% efficiency. When these cells are combined into panels, the conversion of the sun’s energy into electricity will beat Oxford PV’s new record. And, of course, we still have to be reassured that perovskite panels will last more than a few months in strong sun or very high humidity. Perovskite panels may eventually give the world more electricity per square metre than pure silicon but we are not there yet.
4, Hydrogen from methane. Several companies are focusing on splitting methane (CH4) directly into its constituent atoms as a way of producing hydrogen. Most of the innovators are producing the carbon from the methane in the form of carbon black, a product that is used in tyre manufacturing. Hazer Group, an Australian company, uses an iron catalyst to instead make H2 and graphite, the type of carbon that is required for the anodes of batteries. Hazer said this week that it has commenced production at its first commercial test plant, using 900 degree heat and a process which ‘fluidises’ the catalyst to ensure a rapid breakdown of the methane in the natural gas. In countries with cheap natural gas, this process could be a cost competitive route to making hydrogen, with the graphite as a valuable by-product.
5, New clothing materials. Alternatives to leather and other clothing materials are appearing more and more frequently. The UK edition of Vogue featured a new ‘fabric’ that is derived from industrial fruit waste that is turned into something resembling leather. Made by Spanish company Polybion, this product is said to be carbon neutral, or even carbon negative. The wide range of abundant raw material sources means that scaling up the manufacturing process to produce large volume will be possible.
6, Biochar from animal manure. Cow waste is a major source of methane across the world. A farm in New York state uses an anaerobic digester to break down the manure. As with other digesters on farms, the methane that is produced is then combusted to generate electricity. The solid matter that remains, which is usually spread on fields at other locations, is heated at this innovative farm to a very high temperature in the absence of air, producing more combustible gases and biochar. Biochar is a form of charcoal that persists for centuries, permanently adding to the carbon in the soil. It also helps retain fertility and improve soil structure. This is an important early demonstration project, intending to show whether creating biochar in this way will reduce emissions and improve the farm’s finances. The trial is helped by the active interest of Johannes Lehmann, a professor at nearby Cornell University and among the world’s most authoritative researchers on biochar.
7, Offshore wind and hydrogen. The investment arm of IKEA’s owner teamed up with a major wind developer to begin the application process for a 3 gigawatt wind farm off southern Sweden intended for completion in 2030. (This farm will be over twice the size of the world’s largest existing offshore site). The intention is to use the electricity to produce about a third of a million tonnes of hydrogen offshore each year. A unique feature of the application is that the electrolyser producing the hydrogen is planned also to collect the oxygen arising from the process, rather than releasing it to the atmosphere. The oxygen will then be added to nearby parts of the Baltic Sea that are currently anoxic and unable to support any marine life. The intention is to regenerate this part of the Baltic and allow the rebuilding of the marine ecology.
8, Global transition. Among a wide variety of other products, Chinese company Mingyang Smart Energy produces turbines and announced a contract for a 240 megawatt wind farm in Brazil last month, its first major project in the country. This week, the company’s hydrogen arm signed a deal in Thailand to provide 25 megawatts of electrolysers and to construct the first infrastructure in Thailand for the generation, storage and use of hydrogen. The continuing rise of Chinese manufacturing and its growing domination of all aspects of the energy transition is becoming more evident each week.
9, Green steel. All the attention is focused on H2 Green Steel in Sweden but a large Spanish project is also moving forward. Aided by grants from the state, Hydnum Steel proposes to build a new electric arc furnace and a hydrogen direct reduction plant at Puertollano in southern Spain. The intended capacity is said to be over 2 million tonnes of steel a year (about 40% of H2 Green Steel’s 2030 planned output) and it will probably be the first hydrogen steelmaking plant in southern Europe. Why in Puertollano, an inland town with no nearby iron ore? Puertollano is Spain’s hydrogen hub, with Iberdrola and Fertiberia already making green fertiliser in the area. Other hydrogen businesses and a research centre are also close and a suitable 1.3 sq.km site is available. The town is also on the proposed hydrogen pipeline network to be established by the Spanish gas distributor and has very good solar resources. Major energy using businesses, such as steel manufacture, will shift to where that energy is abundant and cheap.
10, Shipping fuels. Taiwan container shipping giant Evergreen said it was working with a smaller Singapore-based company to operate a feeder network in the Baltic and Scandinavia regions operating out of the port of Rotterdam. The 14 feeder ships will use methanol dual fuel engines to collect the containers for Evergreen to ship over long distances. The deal envisages the two companies working together to develop the port infrastructure to guarantee green methanol supply. The fuel itself will be supplied by OCI, the world’s largest current producer of methanol made from biomass wastes. In the longer run, green methanol will be made from CO2 and hydrogen as the available sources of biomass are used up. Separately, the French container shipper CMA CGM announced that it is intending to convert at least one of its existing ships to methanol duel fuel as a trial in 2025. This is one of the first conversions of an in-service ship and strengthens the argument that green methanol will be the low carbon fuel of choice for the shipping industry.
Apologies but no newsletter next week because of other commitments. Back on February 18.
Re "Offshore wind and hydrogen ... oxygen will then be added to nearby parts of the Baltic Sea ... allow the rebuilding of the marine ecology": What is the carbon sequestration potential of restoring the marine ecology?
Not clear what advantage there is in using pure oxygen to aerate oceans rather than air. Pure oxygen has many other commercial uses.