Replacing fossil fuels with hydrogen: Fuse, Reuse, Recycle

Climate-friendly hydrogen is one of the proven pathways to help achieve climate neutrality by 2050. How? Hydrogen produced from renewable energy, can function as a carbon-free fuel for industry and transportation, and as a key raw material for the chemical industry. Using renewable hydrogen as feedstock is an option for the chemical industry to reduce its own CO₂ emissions further, as well as help other industries do the same.

Producing renewable hydrogen is a collaborative exercise. To allow chemical companies in Limburg, the Netherlands, to transition from fossil fuels to renewable hydrogen, the energy company RWE intends to deliver hydrogen to the companies. To make the process even more sustainable, household waste will be used as feedstock to produce the hydrogen.

How does that work? An installation will sort the waste that arrives at the chemical plants. The recyclable materials will be removed and the remaining waste will be fused into pellets. These pellets are then turned into hydrogen, leaving no waste unused.

As a result, the use of fossil fuels will be reduced annually by 200 million m³. This equals the energy use of around 140 thousand households. CO₂ emissions will also be reduced by 380.000 tonnes per year. CO₂ released during the production of hydrogen will in future be captured and re-used again as feedstock.

Associated SDG targets