Aspen Technology, Inc (AspenTech), an asset optimization software company, has called on industry players in Malaysia to utilize new digital technologies in embracing hydrogen economy as a sustainable energy transition towards a lower carbon future.
Hydrogen economy is an economy that relies on hydrogen as commercial fuel to meet the world’s energy needs. Hydrogen could replace conventional fuels such as diesel and petrol which cause environmental pollution.
Under theParis Agreement 2015, Malaysia aims to reduce 45% of its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030.
Many parts of Asia are challenged by limited access to locations that can generate enough solar or wind power to meet energy requirements. Hydrogen can potentially fill a significant fraction of the world’s need for energy and yet be generated carbon-free.
Despite the challenges, the hydrogen economy is seeing strong momentum as a significant zero-carbon alternative in several regions. As the world’s fourth largest exporter of natural gas, Malaysia plays a significant role in the conversion of natural gas to Blue Hydrogen.
From 340 global companies surveyed by AspenTech in June 2021, about 65% said they were planning to invest in hydrogen in the next five years, as a solution to greenhouse gas emissions. Two-thirds of companies intend to move into hydrogen.
The sustainable investment community is pushing for the Green approach, which is largely hydrogen synthesis with electrolysis fuelled exclusively by renewable energy. According to Princeton University’s carbon mitigation expert Robert Socolow, 56% of companies are planning a move into Green Hydrogen, 49% are into Blue Hydrogen, while 25% are in the established Gray Hydrogen approach.
Petronas in Malaysia and Reliance Natural Resources in Asia are pursuing both Green and Blue Hydrogen initiatives. China has announced its intention to vigorously invest in Green Hydrogen. Regulators in Europe are pushing for a Blue approach, which is hydrogen from known reforming processes with retrofitted carbon capture of flue gases, which is being pursued in countries such as Australia and Korea.
“Digital technology can value-add through time-to-market, cost of production and risk mitigation in hydrogen production. In time-to-market, it is necessary to accelerate innovation; optioneering, concept selection, and capital investment decision-making by up to 50% or 6 to 12 months.
“Companies in Malaysia can improve the cost of production by reducing capital cost through visual estimating; reducing operating costs by saving energy and water through optimized designs; as well as incorporating new technology to integrate new and existing facilities more effectively,” explained Ron Beck, Senior Director Industry Marketing of AspenTech.
To maximise hydrogen investments, companies are advised consider the following digital technology adoption:
- De-risk the hydrogen economy as a system –Invest in building a system-wide, end-to-end risk modelling which includes producing Green or Blue Hydrogen powering hydrogen production through renewables; carbon capture; hydrogen storage and transport; as well as hydrogen end use.
- Develop rigorous and AI-assisted models combined with economic models to accelerate the efforts of technology innovators in reaching new levels in economic and technical breakthrough. This requires viewing renewables, power storage and hydrogen synthesis as one system that can be optimized, subject to the stochastic variabilities of wind and solar.
- Improve efficiency and economics of reforming processes in carbon capture – Predictive rigorous models and optimization technology are key digital elements to accelerate progress and Blue Hydrogen outcomes, which involves further integration of known hydrogen synthesis processes with less mature carbon capture processes.
- Improve safe handling and transport of hydrogen – Simpler and safer approaches to cryogenic hydrogen and streamlining the use of ammonia as a carrier is required. It is also mission-critical to accelerate and scale in the deployment of hybrid models combining AI with engineering domain expertise.
- Improve economics in fuel cells – Leverage advanced data analytics and hybrid models online to learn from generations of fuel cell design and accelerate economic progress.
“Achieving energy transition leadership in industrial scale hydrogen production and carbon capture technologies require unmatched levels of innovation, creativity, agility, and execution. Due to the complexity in energy transition, it is necessary to balance a myriad of objectives across a company’s assets, while taking a data-based and quantitative approach. Digitalization and Industrial AI will be critical to this balancing act to help reduce risk, while improving uptime, safety and reliability,” said Beck.
