Technology firm Johnson Matthey has pledged to invest £1bn ($1.3bn) in clean hydrogen research, development and deployment technologies. The hydrogen spend will consist of capital and R&D investments in blue and green hydrogen as well as hydrogen fuel cell technologies. Here Hydrogen Economist  talks to Sam French, business development director at Johnson Matthey, about how he sees the current landscape for the sector.

Tells us about what the firm is doing across the three sectors of the hydrogen economy it is operating in

French: At Johnson Matthey, the hydrogen market is not new to us—we have been a leader in hydrogen activities for two decades. Our offer today includes components for hydrogen fuel cells, catalyst-coated membranes (CCMs) for green hydrogen production, and new technologies to produce low-carbon hydrogen, or blue hydrogen, as well as market-leading hydrogen production catalysts and processes for grey hydrogen.

“We need regulators and policymakers to drive adoption of hydrogen and hydrogen-powered technology” French, Johnson Matthey

In terms of the low-carbon hydrogen solutions we offer, our blue hydrogen offer involves a tailored technology and catalyst package enabling natural gas to be converted into hydrogen and CO₂ at high pressure and high purity. The CO₂ is captured at a rate of over 95pc and subsequently stored. We provide the blueprint and all the process conditions to the engineering, procurement and construction contractor who builds the plant on behalf of the owner-operator.

We provide guarantees for the process, which helps make it a bankable project, meaning it is far more likely to achieve FID. In addition, we also provide the catalysts required in the various reactors during the multiple steps in order to convert natural gas to hydrogen. We have just finished Feed on the 300MW Hynet North West project, which is among the most advanced blue hydrogen projects in the world.

Hynet has recently been selected by the government to be one of two track-one clusters to develop carbon capture, utilisation and storage infrastructure, which enables blue hydrogen. We are also involved with the Acorn project in Scotland and are working with a number of other projects in the UK, Europe, South Korea, the US and Canada.

Our fuel cells business develops and manufactures tailored CCMs and membrane electrode assemblies at scale for the automotive industry. Our technology is powering vehicles on the road today, including 800 buses and 150 heavy commercial vehicles in China. It is this expertise that means we are also well placed to operate in the green hydrogen space.

In green hydrogen, we produce CCMs for proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers. We recently acquired the assets previously owned by Oxis Energy in the UK, which—with some modifications and expansion—will provide significant development capability and enable us to produce commercial volumes of CCMs in line with market demand.

How is the business growing to meet the ambitious expansion foreseen by national strategies?

French: Johnson Matthey is a global leader in sustainable technologies which will enable us to transition to a net-zero world. We have been in business a long time, with over 200 years of technological breakthroughs and a steadfast commitment to investing in people, resources and assets to further our innovation ambitions.

The investments we are making in all of our clean hydrogen businesses are testament to this commitment. I have mentioned already the blue hydrogen projects we are involved in and the assets we have purchased to enable additional manufacturing capability for our green hydrogen business, while fuel cells have a rapid growth strategy with plans to expand our global footprint into additional geographies— China, the UK, the EU and the US—in line with customer demand.

What roadblocks, if any, do you see ahead for the development of the sector?

French: For me the term 'roadblock' is a little harsh. I would prefer to think of potential issues as hurdles for the industry to overcome. There is a huge amount of literature available describing various scenarios and potential issues—manufacturing and project scale-up are definitely two areas cited as being potential issues, particularly if we want to reduce the levelised cost of hydrogen for consumers but also reduce the cost of fuel cell systems.

For green hydrogen, one area often highlighted as an issue is iridium and its long-term availability, given its use in CCMs for PEM electrolysis. To ensure sufficient material will be available in the future we must optimise its use today and design closed-loop recycling systems to capture and re-use as much of the metal as possible.

300MW – Size of Hynet North West project

At Johnson Matthey we have a strong legacy of recycling platinum group metals, which gives us the confidence that we can and will build effective recycling models. Finally—and I am pleased to say that I see more of this happening—we need regulators and policymakers to drive adoption of hydrogen and hydrogen-powered technology in the right way to generate sustainable consumer demand.

What actions should the UK take now it has published the hydrogen strategy?

French: With the publication of the Hydrogen Strategy, the UK has a window of opportunity to establish a world-leading marketplace for hydrogen. As an early adopter, we can create a new supply chain and workforce across the country. There is an opportunity right now to divert the talent coming out of the shrinking oil and gas industry to the hydrogen production of the future—if we delay too long then that window will be missed.
 
The UK has been here before and succeeded: in offshore wind power. The UK now has the opportunity to do the same with hydrogen, creating a genuine alternative to fossil fuel-based energy. Both low-carbon blue hydrogen and zero-carbon green hydrogen will be needed to reach net zero. The technology for both is ready now, and the UK has several projects ready to proceed which can be world-leading with the right investment. But time is not on our side—we need to act swiftly to combat this climate emergency and learn by doing.

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Author: Tom Young