Types of Hydrogen Archives | Hydrogengentech

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As hydrogen gains global traction, businesses across manufacturing, refining, and heavy industries are exploring how best to integrate this fuel into their operations. One of the key decisions lies in choosing between green hydrogen and blue hydrogen—two cleaner alternatives to conventional grey hydrogen. While both offer substantial emission reductions, their production methods, infrastructure needs, and long-term benefits vary. This article helps B2B stakeholders evaluate the best fit based on strategy, sustainability, and scalability.

Quick Definitions

Green Hydrogen: Produced via electrolysis of water using renewable energy (solar, wind, hydropower). Has zero carbon emissions.
Blue Hydrogen: Produced from natural gas through steam methane reforming (SMR) but paired with carbon capture and storage (CCS) to reduce emissions.

Key Comparison Table

Criteria	Green Hydrogen	Blue Hydrogen
Carbon Footprint	Zero emissions	Low (80–90% CO₂ captured)
Feedstock	Water + Renewable Energy	Natural Gas + CCS
Tech Maturity	Emerging, scaling fast	Mature, commercially proven
Long-Term Cost	Falling rapidly with RE & electrolyzer scale	Potentially high due to gas & CCS upkeep
Public Perception	Very positive	Mixed – considered transitional

Factors B2B Businesses Must Consider

1. Regulatory Landscape & Incentives

Governments are aggressively promoting green hydrogen through subsidies, mandates, and tax breaks. India’s National Green Hydrogen Mission, the EU’s Hydrogen Strategy, and the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act all provide policy tailwinds.
Carbon taxation and stricter emission norms could reduce blue hydrogen’s cost competitiveness over time.

2. Use Case Fit & Deployment Timeline

Blue hydrogen offers near-term scalability using existing gas infrastructure and SMR technology.
Green hydrogen is ideal for long-term ESG goals, especially for industries looking to fully decarbonize supply chains.
Energy-intensive users (like ammonia, refineries, steel) may use blue hydrogen as a stopgap but should chart a green transition path.

3. Infrastructure Compatibility

Blue hydrogen benefits from repurposing natural gas pipelines, compressors, and SMR facilities.
Green hydrogen may require new investments in electrolyzer capacity, RE integration, and hydrogen logistics (storage, trailers, pipelines).
However, on-site green hydrogen generation using modular skids bypasses the need for hydrogen transport altogether.

4. Cost Dynamics & ROI Potential

Green hydrogen costs are dropping sharply due to falling solar/wind tariffs and electrolyzer CAPEX reductions.
Blue hydrogen may face rising costs due to natural gas volatility, methane leakage concerns, and CCS complexity.
For manufacturers in renewable-rich zones (e.g., Rajasthan, Gujarat), green hydrogen offers superior ROI over the long term.

Strategic Insights for EPCs and Industrial Operators

EPC & Engineering Firms

EPC players can develop Balance of Plant (BoP) solutions around green hydrogen, bundling electrolyzers, purification units, and power integration.
Adding modularity and remote monitoring enhances scalability and operational safety.

Industrial Manufacturers

Businesses located in RE-surplus areas can explore on-site green hydrogen generation to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions.
Industries with high hydrogen demand (e.g., chemical, fertilizer, steel) can create hybrid models—blue for baseload, green for ramp-up.

Public Procurement & Global Perception

Green hydrogen projects are often prioritized in public-sector tenders, joint ventures, and international supply chains.
From a brand equity standpoint, green hydrogen enhances climate leadership and investor confidence.

Conclusion

There’s no universal winner in the green vs. blue hydrogen debate. Both have roles to play in the near term. However, from a futureproofing and ESG-alignment perspective, green hydrogen stands out. Its cost parity with grey/blue hydrogen is nearing faster than predicted, making it a sustainable and strategic choice.

For B2B decision-makers, choosing green hydrogen means:

Staying ahead of carbon regulations
Tapping into international green funding
Enhancing long-term competitiveness

Investing early in green hydrogen is not just a sustainability move—it’s a business advantage in the making.

Hydrogen Roundtable was organized on 15^th April 2021 in virtual mode by The Energy Forum and FIPI under the aegis of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

The title given to roundtable was “Hydrogen Economy – the Indian Dialogue- 2021”.
Main purpose of the roundtable was to discuss emerging hydrogen ecosystem by tracking down the road map for exploring opportunities for cooperation, collaboration and coalition.
The hydrogen roundtable was the first of its kind that compromised a High-level Ministerial session.
Green hydrogen also holds an important role in the growth of hydrogen economy because green hydrogen is produced through renewable resources like solar or winds, however the presence of these renewable resources very all around the world which can become a challenge for its systematic development.
The objective of this roundtable was to understand the progress of hydrogen ecosystem across continents and contribute to creating synchrony.

Hydrogen and its types:

It is the first and lightest element of periodic table.
Its pure form is H2 but it’s rarely found in this form.
It is a diatomic and highly combustible gas.
It is a clean fuel with zero emission when burned in oxygen.
There are 3 types of hydrogen:
Grey Hydrogen – It is extracted from hydrocarbons such as fossil fuels, natural gas etc. It constitutes India’s bulk production and it’s by product is CO2.
Blue Hydrogen – It is sourced form fossil fuels and its by products are CO and CO2 that are captured and stored making it a better option than Grey Hydrogen.
Green Hydrogen – It is generated from renewable energy like solar and wind energy. Electricity splits water into hydrogen and oxygen. Its by products are water and water vapours, making it the best option among grey and blue hydrogen.

Why should we choose hydrogen?

India’s production of electricity is heavily coal dependent and it is not good for our environment.
Green hydrogen has many uses in industry and it can be stored in gas pipelines. It can be used to transport the renewable energy when it is converted into ammonia or a zero-carbon fuel.
Hydrogen will replace fossil fuels so that pollution can be reduces and will address oil-price rise.
Hydrogen is most abundant element in universe and it is lighter, energy dense and two three times more efficient than burning petrol.
Transportation sector alone contributes in 1/3^rd of India’s green-house emission.
Hydrogen will benefit transportation, iron and steel and chemical sectors.

What is Hydrogen Economy?

“Hydrogen Economy”, this term was coined by John Bockris for the first time in 1970.
Hydrogen Economy is an envisioned future where hydrogen is used for energy storage, as a clean fuel for vehicles, and long-distance transport of energy because of excellent qualities of hydrogen.
Consequences of hydrogen economy will be hydrogen production, storage, transport and utilization.
It is estimated that green hydrogen will play a big part in the hydrogen economy in future specially in Europe and Japan in next 10 years.

National Hydrogen Mission

It was announced by the Finance-minister in the budget of 2021-22.
Focus of this mission is to link India’s growing renewable capacity with hydrogen economy and generation of hydrogen using green power resources.
Dharmendra Pradhan who is the petroleum and natural gas minister said that they are mainly focusing on the development of infrastructure for increasing the production of green hydrogen.
Significances
India wants to scale up the gas pipeline infrastructure.
Due to its favourable geographic conditions and abundance of natural elements, India has a huge edge in green hydrogen production.
Producing green hydrogen in India can be cost effective.

Other Country’s Hydrogen Plan

Japan – has announced its Basic Hydrogen Policy in 2017. Under which Japan wants to have an international supply chain of Hydrogen and Japan has signed its first hydrogen cooperation deal with UAE to consider supply chain.
South Korea – is also moving in the same direction as Japan and under its policy it wants transparency in hydrogen pricing and want to create an infrastructure for hydrogen driven vehicles.
China – established Z-park Hydrogen and fuel cell industry alliance and is set to be handed a huge boost to hydrogen technology advancement and networking.
Spain – Cummins, the global energy leader has planned to invest in spain specifically in Castilla-La Mancha and wants to build one of the largest green hydrogen production plant there.

Challenges in the way of hydrogen economy

Cost of maintenance for post-completion of fuel cell of a plant can be high.
Economic sustainability of extracting green and blue hydrogen.
Huge investment in Research and Development of such technology and infrastructure.
Green hydrogen production needs optimising plant designs and enhanced infrastructure but with the limited market data and low maturity it can be costly for the government.
Other challenge faced by green hydrogen production is the high energy lose. In the production of green energy losses of energy is quite high in its intermediate processes.

CONCLUSION

Due to the immense benefits of green hydrogen, everyone e=wants to increase its production. More than 10 countries right now are thinking of installing infrastructure for green hydrogen production. Green hydrogen offers solution to many problems whether related to environment or industry. As an alternative to fossil fuels and to make our environment much cleaner and pollution free government all over the world should launch schemes or projects for more green hydrogen production. With the increase in use of green hydrogen we can see a maintainable future.