Letters: February 2023

Pure pyrolysis

Regarding the article ‘Heating homes with hydrogen is neither cheap nor environmentally friendly’, many discussions of hydrogen assume it can only be made cleanly and greenly by electrolysis of water. But pyrolysis of most organic matter produces hydrogen. A 2021 article by several scientists at two Max Planck institutes in Germany has a detailed analysis of the methods of producing hydrogen, including energetic and economic considerations. The authors conclude that pyrolysis of methane/natural gas is the best method. Hydrogen produced by this method can be very pure and there is useful byproduct. It was written before the German natural gas crisis, but for us with good supplies it is relevant.

Further I received a statement via my local MP that the UK government is backing methane reforming, which produces large amounts of carbon dioxide. Of course, this assumes that used oil wells can be filled with that gas! I suppose the government advisers are either ignorant of the aforementioned paper or that they know better. I personally would trust the Max Planck research. What do readers think?