(Credit: GE Gas Power)As liquified natural gas demand booms, finding ways to limit its emissions also becomes a priority, and an agreement by Shell and GE Gas Power will seek ways to reduce the carbon intensity and water consumption of the energy source.
The companies will study potential processes to reduce the carbon emissions of Shell’s liquified natural gas (LNG) supply projects. The largest source of emissions in LNG facilities comes from firing natural gas in turbines, and one of the possible paths the companies say they are targeting is to use hydrogen instead in the engines.
The companies say the decarbonization of LNG export facilities possesses technical and economical challenges but finding methods of doing so is necessary to evolve clean energy systems. They will use Shell’s blue hydrogen process, which is produced from natural gas applied with carbon capture and storage technologies.
Natural gas supplies about a third of the energy consumed in the United States, according to the Department of Energy. The US is the world’s largest supplier of natural gas and with an increase in the market worldwide, the use of LNG is becoming more important, the DOE says.
That’s because it is about 600-times smaller in volume than its gaseous state, making it easier to transport, especially where no pipeline is feasible. Shell and GE say the global market for LNG is expected to double by 2040.
The use of hydrogen is also playing a role in low-carbon transitions. When hydrogen is burned it creates energy in the form of heat but generates no carbon. Green hydrogen, which uses electrolysis using renewable power, has especially been a focus of the fuel. Shell is planning the largest green hydrogen facility in Europe as part of its clean energy efforts.
GE’s heavy-duty gas turbines can already operate using hydrogen with the use of water in diffusion combustors. As part of the development agreement, GE is targeting the ability to operate the turbines with hydrogen without using water.
The combustor technology is intended to become the foundation of a new retrofittable system for the low-carbon operation of gas turbines. The dry operation is also estimated to save up to 32,000 liters of water per hour.
The turbines would help reduce emissions in industrial processes and LNG operations, the companies say, especially in areas where water supplies are scarce. The heavy-duty gas turbines can operate in a variety of environments from deserts to the arctic, which means reliability is also a key piece of their systems. The turbines can use more than 50 types of fuel, including hydrogen, and can switch fuels during operation.
GE Gas Power also recently partnered with South Korea’s DL E&C to develop a plan for carbon capture integration with natural gas power plants in Asia. The goal of that deal is treating post-combustion carbon emissions at the facilities, and the projects would be powered by GE’s gas turbines.
