One of the key findings of our recent Net-Zero Northwest study is that our region has the potential to lead the nation in developing clean fuels, and that hydrogen and hydrogen-derived fuels could play a major role. This blog accompanies a new infographic we created to unpack the various clean fuels pathways and end uses that stem from green electrolytic hydrogen.

Need for Clean Fuels

After achieving aggressive reductions in end-use fuel consumption with energy efficiency, electricity decarbonization, and electrification, there are still uses that are difficult to electrify and therefore must rely on liquid and gaseous fuels. To achieve deep decarbonization, economies must therefore lower the carbon intensity of these fuels by producing alternative clean fuels.  

In the Net-Zero Northwest analysis, clean fuels refer to any net-zero-emissions fuels, which include hydrogen, ammonia, biofuel, and drop-in synthetic hydrocarbon electrofuels.

The need for clean fuels is more acute in the Northwest than other parts of the United States. With a relatively clean grid due to its hydroelectric resources, the Northwest cannot achieve significant emissions reductions by 2030 from cleaning the electricity grid. That fact, combined with Washington State’s aggressive 2030 emissions reduction target, is driving the need to decarbonize fuels earlier than in other regions.

This infographic focuses on hydrogen and hydrogen-derived fuels, which were the dominant sources of clean fuels in the Net-Zero Northwest results. This is in large part due to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)—particularly the tax credits for hydrogen, renewables, and carbon capture—which makes investment in electrolyzers, and the production of hydrogen and derived products, economic by 2030 in this analysis.

Electrolysis Powered by Renewable Energy to Produce Hydrogen

The first step in the green electrolytic hydrogen pathways shown is clean electricity powered by sources such as solar, wind, and hydroelectricity. This clean electricity is used for electrolysis, which is the process of using electricity (in this case carbon-free) to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. Nuclear energy could also be used to power high-temperature electrolysis.

Hydrogen can then be consumed locally in end uses or used in conversion to other fuels.

Hydrogen End-Use Demand

Hydrogen has a high energy content per unit of weight and can be used directly as a source of fuel.

After being produced from renewable-powered electrolysis and transported via pipeline or truck, hydrogen can be used for various applications: power generation, industrial processes, hydrogen boilers, and hydrogen fuel cells. (Note that the Net-Zero Northwest modeling does not show significant economic use of hydrogen for power generation). The hydrogen fuel cells could then be used for various hard-to-decarbonize transportation uses, such as long-haul heavy-duty trucking.

Hydrogen could also be blended with methane in a gas pipeline, though there are considerable material, economic, and operational challenges and costs, and further research is needed.

Hydrogen-Derived Fuels

If not used for these end-use demands, hydrogen could also be used in conversion to other fuels. Two of the main conversion processes—methanation and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis—also require captured carbon as an input.

Methanation combines hydrogen with carbon dioxide to produce methane that can be injected into the gas pipeline as carbon-neutral synthetic gas.

The Fischer-Tropsch synthesis is a series of chemical reactions that change a mixture of carbon dioxide gas and hydrogen gas into liquid hydrocarbons, such as gasoline or kerosene, that can be used as drop-in clean synthetic fuels in existing combustion processes in transportation. These hydrocarbons are labeled "Fischer-Tropsch liquids" in the Net-Zero Northwest results.

Carbon would be captured either through direct air capture powered by carbon-free electricity or from biorefineries, which convert biomass to biogas while capturing the carbon. Due to its use as an input for creating clean fuels, carbon becomes a valuable commodity in a net-zero economy.

Lastly, hydrogen could also be used in the Haber-Bosch process, which is the primary method of producing ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen. Today, ammonia is mainly used to make fertilizer, cleaning products, and plastics, but is also seen as a promising clean fuel for maritime transport.

Early Action Needed

Clean fuels play a critical role in Northwest decarbonization pathways, and early action is needed to support their development. The region should also grow demand for direct hydrogen in heavy-duty transportation and industrial sectors to keep up with the increased supply that the IRA is incentivizing, and direct that supply to productive uses.

By 2040, after IRA incentives have expired, the region should establish an implementation policy to ensure that the clean fuels infrastructure developed under the IRA continues to produce clean fuels and the region remains on a trajectory toward its emissions reduction targets.