Enchanted Rock, a Texas-based company that offers microgrid solutions for energy resiliency, has been awarded a $2.1 million research grant by the California Energy Commission to focus on hydrogen blending. 

Together with the University of California Riverside, the company strives to find a solution to a complex issue that using hydrogen blending for generators poses: an increase in nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions that could have health consequences.

The Scope of the Challenge

Hydrogen blending makes it easier for natural gas generators to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions, but so far, it trades off lower Co2 levels for higher NOx emissions. One of the reasons this occurs is that hydrogen burns much hotter than natural gas. 

“When you combust hydrogen, you end up with potentially higher local emissions and specifically NOx emissions, which can cause respiratory issues,” says Ian Blakely, Enchanted Rock’s chief strategy officer. 

The new grant would look at this challenge. By working with the university, Enchanted Rock is focused on finding out how to blend higher levels of hydrogen while controlling NOx emissions and bringing them to a more acceptable range. 

With the grant, the company will also look at the most effective hydrogen blend levels. People often assume that using only hydrogen to power field generators would mean overall better efficiency, but that’s not the case. With hydrogen, you can have too much of a good thing. 

Higher hydrogen levels in a generator can actually start limiting the energy output. This results in less efficiency and higher costs. The research that the grant allowed aims to pinpoint the sweet spot for hydrogen blending energy efficiency.

How Enchanted Rock Is Tackling the Challenges

To better manage hydrogen, Enchanted Rock is modifying its generators. The first modification is geared toward reducing the engine’s combustion temperature, which can be done by introducing an exhaust gas circulation system. The second modification involves using better and varied secondary emission controls and catalysts. 

Enchanted Rock is also looking at ways to improve the ratio of hydrogen infusion to carbon reduction. As it stands, a 30% infusion of hydrogen reduces carbon emissions by 30%. 

Why the Grant Matters

The study that Enchanted Rock and the University of California Riverside have pursued will reveal ways of making generators more efficient. Hydrogen blending can manage this while at the same time reducing carbon output — but only with the right blending levels. 

Enchanted Rock has long been a proponent of clean energy solutions, and it has managed to achieve its goals with the use of renewable natural gas for its generators. Renewable natural gas doesn’t directly fuel the generators but is injected upstream into natural gas lines. Hydrogen, however, would directly power generators. 

By studying the ways of blending hydrogen so that generators work as efficiently as possible, Enchanted Rock can start the country down the path of better and more affordable energy without putting more strain on an already stressed environment. 

Read more in the original article at Energy Changemakers.