Green hydrogen – advantages, importance and differentials for the decarbonization and economic future of Brazil. Discover this new alternative

Green hydrogen is a fuel that can change Brazil's energy situation. Learn more about this fuel and its applications!

Green Hydrogen will be one of the most important fuels of the future, especially when it comes to Brazil's economic future. In many aspects, hydrogen has been assuming an important role as one of the energy sources of the future, but there was a point about its production that still needed to be improved: its way of obtaining it.

The fact that hydrogen is not found naturally and the process of electrolysis of water, which for many years was the procedure that many believed to be possible, is not so efficient as to generate the necessary material, this technology was postponed.

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In this sense, the chemical industry created several ways to obtain hydrogen, which is great for the energy and economic aspect of the element as a product, but bad for the environment, because most of these ways ended up using some fossil fuel to happen, which which ends up generating carbon in the atmosphere. Green hydrogen, made from ethanol, however, is different in this sense.

In a scenario in which ethanol becomes of great relevance to the world of green energy, it is important to explain that Brazil has, since the last century, been developing technologies related to the use of fuel ethanol, which is associated with the large production of sugar cane in the country, generates a positive prognosis for the future of Brazil as one of the protagonists in this form of clean energy, which can be used both for vehicles and to obtain electrical energy. 

These are some reasons why it is important pay attention to the production of green hydrogen, what are the advantages that hydrogen offers as a fuel and why several automakers already believe more in the car powered by the hydrogen cell than in the car plug-in.

The science behind green hydrogen

What makes green hydrogen so called, as it should have been clear, is directly related to the fact that this hydrogen is produced in a way that it does not have a “carbon footprint”, that is, that it is produced by a clean source .

As the two most common forms to obtain hydrogen are through burning material (which generates carbon residue, but in some processes this residue is retained) and through electrolysis, green hydrogen needs to be made through this second way, and the energy used in the electrolysis process needs be done with electrical energy also obtained in a clean way, or it ceases to be green.

With an electrical matrix composed mainly of hydroelectric plants, the most extensive production of sugarcane, in addition to the technology available through national research and international participation, Brazil has the potential to become a true power within this process.

How can green hydrogen become an advantage for Brazil?

The answer is simple, but the challenge to turn this concept into reality is a little more complex than that. Green Hydrogen is easy to produce in Brazil, and there are several ways to work its distribution, which is still in dispute between several companies.

So much so that for this very reason there are already vehicles powered by to hydrogen cell for electric propulsion.

This is even an important aspect to emphasize. There are two main ways to use hydrogen as fuel for vehicles:

• The combustion of hydrogen itself: it is not so different energetically speaking from all the other fuels currently used, although it is considerably less polluting, as it does not generate carbon when burned.

• The use of hydrogen in energy cells for electric cars: this method is much more efficient and really makes hydrogen one of the fuels of the future, as in addition to giving electric cars more autonomy and ease of recharging, it still manages to increase fuel efficiency by 50%, on average.

According to Enio Peres da Silva, coordinator of the hydrogen laboratory at Unicamp and researcher at the National Reference Center for Hydrogen Energy “The Hydrogen Economy Association represents the most efficient and least impactful way of using this biofuel, virtually doubling its availability to replace non-renewable fuels worldwide what could it mean for Brazil, besides being the largest producer, it is also the largest exporter of renewable energy in the world”;.

 In short, if Brazil really succeeds in achieving stand out in the transformation of ethanol into hydrogen, there may be a promotion of the country as a protagonist in this new market, since it is very difficult for any competitor to compete with Brazil when it comes to generating green hydrogen.

What is being done for the production of green hydrogen in Brazil?

There is research both within Brazilian universities and in international partnerships for the most efficient application of this potential for transforming ethanol into hydrogen.

In this sense, there are several initiatives, with emphasis on the already mentioned hydrogen laboratory of the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and the various studies focused on this technology by the Federal University of Ceará (UFC), which has been working on solutions for the creation of the Hub of green hydrogen in Ceará, which will have international support for its creation.

The investment of 34 million Euros in the production of Green hydrogen in Brazil announced by the German agency for international cooperation will help promote the Green Hydrogen market in Brazil.

The initiative was called H2 Brasil and will start with the construction of a pilot electrolysis plant that will have the total capacity of 5 MW. Furthermore, one of the German government's goals is to help create a Hydrogen Landmark in Brazil, helping other companies to enter this market.

One of the most interesting aspects about this partnership is that Germany is helping Brazil in the development of this technology and will become one of its partners. biggest buyers of Green Hydrogen.

In this way, Germany ends up helping us not only with technology transfer initiatives, but also helps to create the consumer market for this resource that is being developed in the country.

Logically, Germany's counterpart assumes that it needs help to achieve the decarbonization targets. pointed out in the Treaty of Paris and reinforced in the last COP 26.

Another important issue on top of being remembered is that Brazil is the country that has more German industries outside Germany, and the companies in this partnership have a share of around 12% of the Brazilian GDP.

Initially, works in this sense were announced both in Minas Gerais and Ceará and it is expected that, possibly, similar projects will be announced in the state of São Paulo, a state that has been maintained in recent years as the largest sugarcane producer in the country.

What is the risk of using hydrogen and why can its green “brother” be the solution?

One of the biggest questions about the use of hydrogen as fuel for land vehicles is the fact that they are much more unstable and volatile than other fuels., which would cause many large accidents.

In this sense, the use of hydrogen to supply energy cells for electric vehicles is an interesting alternative. There is also the possibility of the distributed electrolysis of ethanol, which means, for example, that it is not necessary to transport large amounts of hydrogen, in something similar to a tank truck, as is currently done.

That is, the process of transforming ethanol into hydrogen would be done directly at the fuel pump or even inside the vehicle itself.

In addition to allowing green hydrogen to be optimally produced, the use of safe use of hydrogen as a fuel and energy generator are the challenges that experts are currently looking for, being one of the last barriers for green hydrogen to really become a powerhouse in the market.

What would be the impact of using green hydrogen in Brazil and in the world?

It is important to bear in mind that not everything is rosy in this energy matrix modification process.

The planting of sugar cane, which is already a monoculture of great importance for the country's economy (corresponding to about 2% of the Brazilian GDP, on average) can grow even more, with the addition that we are the largest sugarcane producer in the world.

It turns out that with sugarcane becoming more financially interesting, it could happen that farmers of other crops put them aside to start planting sugarcane, which could cause problems with food production and other problems. commodities crops such as soy.

It is important to remember that soy is part of a series of products, both for human consumption and for animal consumption, and the increase in the price of soybeans would trigger a series of other increases, which could negatively affect the basic food basket.

That is, the ideal in this case so that this growing market does not unbalance the production of other foodstuffs would be policies to stimulate the production of other canes other than sugarcane. sugarcane for energy or biofuel production, either through the purchase of parts of the harvest to recreate the public food bank, a reserve of food that the government maintains in order to be able to interfere in the price of food in an indirect but efficient way, either through tax subsidies or credit facilitation.

Another aspect that needs to be highlighted is that being a zero carbon energy matrix and having zero environmental impact are two different things, especially when we talk about agriculture.

With increased demand for sugar cane, a The threat looming over our preservation areas is also growing. It ends up becoming even more indispensable, in a scenario like this, than inspection so that there is no unnecessary destruction of the biome in search of more space for planting sugarcane.

Another way to ensure that this revolution is not so dependent on planting sugarcane is to reinforce investments in the area of ​​processing and technology, which already has a good start with german investment and, with the results it has already been offering, it can offer Brazil the power to become an ethanol processing center.

Therefore, as with so many other countries today, which have many refineries but do not produce so much crude oil, Brazil could start importing sugarcane and make it profitable with the entire processing process.

Already outside the country, it is possible to say that it would be an excellent economic moment for other tropical countries, where sugar cane could be planted. What is known is that, in addition to Brazil, Chile is also attentive to the green hydrogen market, and this could lead to some trade disputes within Mercosur in the coming years. 

Green hydrogen or plug-in cars: which will win?

This is a discussion that has been offering interesting points of view from both sides. Despite being simpler to insert in our current reality, plug-in electric cars can be “fake green”, since, basically, they can consume electricity produced by coal-fired thermoelectric plants, which does not help at all in the decarbonization process.

This no longer happens with cars powered by green hydrogen, although there are all the challenges that have already been mentioned. 

In addition, there is the whole issue of renewing the vehicle fleet and the entire process of removing fossil fuel vehicles from circulation.

This process will depend on policies and also on demand, and one of the reasons why the German international cooperation bank is investing in the hub of green hydrogen is also related to the choice of virtually all major German automakers for the technology. 

Turns out, right now, even these automakers are investing heavily in car design. Plugin, although they also invest in hydrogen fuel cell cars.

This is because these vehicles are more applicable to current reality, such as already commented, and with the change from fossil fuel to electric car being made more quickly, the decarbonization targets can be met with more peace of mind.

There is also the probability that this new fuel will also be the way to replace gas or mineral coal, which are still very important for the energy matrix of many European countries.

In any case, it can be seen that green hydrogen has great potential for the future, and Brazil has enormous potential to become one of the protagonists of this new technology.