Aurora Hydrogen, OHI Collaborate on Hydrogen-Carbon Intensity Lifecycle Toolkit

Aurora Hydrogen is using its methane pyrolysis method to produce clean hydrogen and work with others across the industry to develop a low-carbon hydrogen market in Canada. The company is a technical sponsor of the OHI—a consortium led by GTI Energy, S&P Global Commodity Insights, and the National Energy Technology Laboratory. OHI recently released an open-source emissions toolkit and Aurora Hydrogen provided input on the toolkit to ensure that all viable production methods are factored into the carbon coproduct.

“At Aurora, we believe that low-cost, low-carbon hydrogen is necessary to bring the market to its full potential scale, and the first step to recognize low-carbon hydrogen is to drive consistency on how we are calculating carbon intensity,” said Dr. Andrew Gillis, Co-Founder and CEO of Aurora Hydrogen. “The OHI toolkit will support the adoption of hydrogen as an economically attractive decarbonization pathway. We hope to see governments and companies alike lean on the expertise of those involved with OHI and implement this toolkit to measure the carbon emissions of hydrogen at any given facility, regardless of location or production method.”

Aurora Hydrogen’s methane pyrolysis generates clean hydrogen at the point of use, cutting out the need for CO₂ storage and hydrogen transportation. The method uses natural gas and microwaves to produce hydrogen and solid carbon while eliminating CO₂ emissions. It was first developed and tested by scientists from the University of Toronto and University of Alberta.

There are many ways to decarbonize the energy industry with hydrogen and Dr. Jeff Goldmeer, Global Hydrogen Value Chain Leader at GE Vernova, offered his insight on other areas where hydrogen can be implemented in the coming years. “Maybe hydrogen doesn’t go into power, maybe hydrogen goes into mobility applications such as fuel-cell vehicles. Hydrogen isn’t the answer for just gas turbines. There are so many other places where it makes sense to use it. I’d like to see it here on the Gulf Coast as we start producing more and more hydrogen that’s at a lower carbon intensity to put into fertilizer production. Let’s take a real bite out of carbon intensity and some of these industries that use hydrogen today.”

The consistent development of new hydrogen technologies and infrastructure is a driving force behind advancing the market and decarbonization. At the Baker Hughes Annual Meeting earlier this year, an increase in hydrogen-capable equipment and project development showcased the growing market.

A new Baker Hughes hydrogen testing facility in Florence supports the deployment of hydrogen-ready technologies. It is being used to validate its NovaLT industrial turbines with the goal of them running on up to 100% hydrogen. The test bench allows full-load testing, with fuel flexibility and features a 300-bar pressure and 2,450 kg of hydrogen storage capacity. Here, the company completed the manufacture and testing of NovaLT16 hydrogen turbines for Air Products’ Net-Zero Hydrogen Energy Complex in Edmonton, Canada.