Thursday, 13 February 2020

Towards a Hydrogen-based Economy

On the evening of 11 February 2020 a large audience of RSC Belgium members and friends gathered at the British School of Brussels to hear Prof Joris Proost from the Universite Catholique de Louvain deliver a talk entitled 'Towards the Hydrogen Economy: Challenges and Pitfalls'. This lecture followed on from our Cafe Chimique event in November 2019 where Prof Proost was originally hoping to contribute but had to withdraw.

Prof Proost took the audience through the issues around a transition towards a hydrogen-based economy and society. The global energy system requires a profound transformation to achieve the targets of the Paris Agreement and in this context, low-carbon electricity from renewable energy sources may become the preferred energy carrier. The share of electricity in all of the energy consumed by end users worldwide would need to increase to 40% in 2050 to achieve the decarbonised energy world envisaged by the Paris Agreement.


However, Prof Proost pointed out that the total decarbonisation of certain sectors, such as transport, industry and uses that require high-grade heat, may be difficult purely by means of electrification. This challenge could be addressed by hydrogen from renewables, allowing large amounts of renewable energy to be channeled from the power sector into the end-use sectors. Hydrogen could therefore be the missing link in the energy transition with renewable electricity used to produce green hydrogen (via water electrolysis), which can in turn provide energy to sectors otherwise difficult to decarbonise through electrification.


Prof Proost emphasised three characteristics of the use of hydrogen that as an energy vector compared to fossil fuels: 1/ it embodied a zero tolerance for carbon (vital to reach climate change targets); 2/ it represented a potential doubling of efficiency; and 3/ it was fully reversible.

Hydrogen sectors
Hydrogen is widely used in several industry sectors (refineries, ammonia production, bulk chemicals, etc.), with the vast majority of it currently being produced from natural gas by steam-methane reforming (SMR). Green hydrogen from renewables could replace such fossil fuel-based feedstocks in high-emission applications.

In the transport sector, fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) provide a low-carbon mobility option when the hydrogen is produced from renewable energy sources, and offer driving performances comparable to conventional vehicles. FCEVs are complementary to battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and can overcome some of the current limitations of batteries (weight, driving range and refuelling time) in the medium to high duty cycle segments. But in the longer run, electrofuels (e-fuels - liquid fuels produced from renewable power) can replace fossil fuels without the need to change end-use technologies.


The talk stimulated a lively question and answer session. Useful report for further reading on the subject is the IRENA report 'Hydrogen from renewable power: Technology outlook for the energy transition' that was published in 2018 and the IEA Report 'The Future of Hydrogen', published in 2019.

Hydrogen expert
Prof. dr. ir. Joris Proost holds a Master and PhD in Materials and Process Engineering from Louvain University (KUL) and after spending three years at Harvard University, he joined the Faculty of Louvain University at Louvain-la-Neuve (UCLouvain) in 2003, where he has been a tenured Full Professor since 2009. His current research interests focus on electrochemical process intensification, with a particular interest on developing new reactor and electrode technologies for renewable hydrogen production. Prof. Proost is currently the Belgian representative at the Hydrogen Technology Collaboration Program (TCP) of the International Energy Agency (IEA), for which he is involved as one of the sub-task leaders on Power-to-Hydrogen. He was also invited as a participant of the high-level strategic IEA H2 workshop in February 2019 in Paris, and acted as a Peer Reviewer of the resulting report that was launched mid-June 2019 at the meeting of the G20 energy ministers in Tokyo.

Wednesday, 12 February 2020

RSC Belgium 2020 AGM and Annual Dinner

The 2020 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the RSC Belgium International section took place on the evening of 17 January 2020 at Les Amis Dinent restaurant in Wezembeek-Oppem from 19h30. This was followed by the section's Annual Dinner.

The meeting kicked off with the approval of the Minutes of 2019 AGM which were moved (Matt Andrews), seconded (David Terrell) and unanimously adopted. The meeting then recieved the secretary's report on the section's activities in 2019.

2019 activities
Tim Reynolds presented the report saying that 2019 was another very good year for the section with seven public lectures organised, including a Café Chimique, plus a major schools’ tour, a fund raising social and our two annual school outreach events: the Chemistry Challenge and annual Top of the Bench Eliminator. In addition, we supported a Memorial Symposium for our good friend Prof Istvan Marko. To complete the year RSC Belgium was represented once again at RSC Kent’s curling day. According to HQ, section membership currently stands at 115, a decrease of some 15 over the year.

The report was unanimously approved (proposed by David Terrell and seconded by Julie Tuppeny).

2019 finances
Julie Tuppeny presented the 2019 financial report and accounts. On 1 January 2019, the net assets of RSC Belgium Section were €10 311.51. The Annual Grant for 2019 received in June 2019 from RSC UK was €1 900.00 with an additional instalment for the Outreach Grant received on 25 October of €210, somewhat less than the requested €7 668.

Major items of expenditure are listed below. 
  • € 1 906.70 hotel cost for the Istvan Marko Symposium
  • € 905.00 to organise the Chemistry Challenge of which € 400 was prize money
  • € 1 578.00 to organise and run the Kitchen Chemistry tour
  • € 1 051.00 for the Café Chimique
For the Year ending 31 December 2019, the net assets of RSC Belgium International Section amount to €5 929.46.

The meeting moved (Tim Reynolds), seconded (Bob Crichton) and unanimously adopted the presented accounts and the Treasurer’s report.

Chairman’s Remarks (Bob Crichton)
The Chairman thanked the committee for their hard work and support during a very successful year. He gave specific thanks to Tim Reynolds for his work in making the Kitchen Chemistry tour a particular success.

Bob looked forward to working with the new committee in 2020.

Committee election
Two ordinary members were elected to the committee: David Terrell and Jane Downing.

Election to the committee is for a two-year term. Bob Crichton (Chair), Tim Reynolds (Secretary), Julie Tuppeny (Treasurer) and committee members Rita Woodward and Matt Andrews are mid-way through their current term on the committee.

At the first committee meeting of 2020 Bo Dahlqvist and Fabio Lucaccioni will be co-opted onto the committee. The membership of the 2020 committee can be found here.

Auditor 
Having reviewed the section rules (which state the section auditor could be any member of the section who was not a current member of the committee) and the financial audit requirements for the section reports to RSC HQ (no formal audit required) it was decided to review the need to appoint an auditor to the section at the first committee meeting of 2020.

With no further business to discuss the meeting adjourned at 19h55. The first meeting of the 2020 committee took place on 4 February 2020.


Annual dinner


The AGM was followed by the 2020 Annual Diner of the section, which was a resounding success.