Hydrogen color confuse me big time. There’s grey, blue, pink, all these labels! I finally sat down to sort it out, and here’s what I’ve got so far. Maybe this’ll help you too if you’re curious.
Why Colors Anyway?
Okay, hydrogen itself doesn’t have color, it’s invisible. The “colors” are just names we slap on to show how it’s made and whether it’s good or bad for the planet. Simple as that.
Green Hydrogen: Renewable Kind
You make it by splitting water with electricity from renewable energy (wind or solar). No dirty fuels, no carbon mess, it’s clean. I’ve been looking at how cheap solar power or government rules could make it a real option. To me, it’s the way to go if we want things to stay green.
Blue Hydrogen: Half and Half
Blue hydrogen’s a little weird to me. It comes from natural gas. They mix it with steam in this thing called steam methane reforming (SMR) and that gives you hydrogen plus CO2. The “blue” part is because they try to grab the CO2 and stash it underground, by the process called carbon capture and storage (CCS), instead of letting it loose. So, it’s still tied to fossil fuels, but less messy? People argue about it, does it really trap enough CO2? I’m not sold yet, but it might be handy for now.
Grey Hydrogen: The Usual Stuff
Grey hydrogen is what we use most these days. It’s made the same way as blue, from natural gas and SMR, but they don’t bother catching the CO2. It all just floats up into the air. It’s cheap, and places like oil refineries use it a ton, but it’s rough on the environment. Gotta ditch this one eventually, I think.
Black and Brown Hydrogen: The Worst
Black and brown hydrogen are nasty. They come from coal-black from the regular kind, brown from this crummy type called lignite. You heat it up in a process called gasification, and it spits out hydrogen and a pile of CO2. It’s way dirtier than grey. Honestly, it feels outdated, I can’t see it sticking around.
Pink Hydrogen: Nuclear Twist
Pink hydrogen’s kind of cool. It’s like green hydrogen, splitting water with electricity, but the power comes from nuclear plants. No CO2, so some say it’s clean. I see their point, but nuclear’s got its own headaches, like waste and accidents. I’m still on the fence about this one.
Turquoise Hydrogen: Something Fresh
I just heard about turquoise hydrogen, and it’s got me curious. You heat natural gas until it breaks into hydrogen and solid carbon. The process is called methane pyrolysis Not CO2 gas-solid stuff you can store or use. No air pollution sounds great, but it’s new, and I don’t know if it’ll take off. I’m watching it, though.
White Hydrogen: Crazy Idea
White hydrogen sounds wild. It’s hydrogen that’s just sitting underground naturally. If we could dig it up cheap, it’d be awesome, no emissions at all! Problem is, I don’t know how much is out there or if we can even get it. It’s a fun thought, but I’m not counting on it yet.
In summary,
- Green: Made with wind or solar.
- Blue: Natural gas with CO2 trapping - okay for now, maybe.
- Grey: Natural gas, no trapping - needs to go away.
- Black/Brown: Coal - too dirty, no thanks.
- Pink: Nuclear - clean-ish, but tricky.
- Turquoise: Natural gas, solid carbon - neat, but untested.
- White: Natural stuff - awesome if it’s real.
I figure green’s the future, especially as solar and wind get cheaper. Blue or turquoise might help out for a bit where renewables aren’t big yet. Depends on what’s around and how fast we move.