Romania has been producing hydrogen for over 100 years, but this industry has been neglected and only after Green Deal the discussions on this topic have been resumed, said Ioan Iordache, president of the Romanian Hydrogen Energy Association (AEHR), at the conference “Hydrogen Project – what we have in Romania”, organized by Energynomics with the support of our partners Aplind, Delgaz Grid, Horváth, Photomate and Transgaz.
“If it wasn’t for the Green Deal, there would be no talk of hydrogen production in Romania, I’m sorry to say,” said Iordache.
Romania was the first country in the world to produce hydrogen through both chemical and electro-chemical processes, and a large part of the national hydrogen production is used in the chemical industry. Some of the companies that produce hydrogen are Azomureș, Chimcomplex, Erdemir, Hoeganaes, Interagro, Liberty Galați, Lukoil-Petrotel Ploiesti, OMV Petrom, Petromidia or Saint Gobain.
According to Iordache, national hydrogen production is estimated at 200,000 tons per year, but a few years ago this amount was around 300,000 tons per year. “Unfortunately, from year to year, many (of these companies – e.n.) remain with only the installations. If you don’t have well-trained people, all technologies are worthless,” said Iordache.
A vehicle can travel with one kilogram of hydrogen over 100 kilometers, and on average, with one ton of hydrogen, 10 vehicles can be fueled. Given Romania’s production level, approximately 2 million vehicles could be fueled with hydrogen, but the infrastructure is still lacking.
During the presentation, Ioan Iordache also referred to another fact that has been substantiated and proven by calculations. “Sources and expert studies show that the evaluation of the entire life cycle of the technology for the production, use and recycling of solar panels results in higher CO2 emissions for solar energy than for nuclear energy per unit of electricity produced”, said the expert.
DOWNLOAD THE PRESENTATION OF IOAN IORDACHE+
Hydrogen is currently produced in Romania using methane gas and hydrocarbons, but in the future, it is hoped to be obtained through water electrolysis. According to international commitments, only energy derived from renewable sources should be used in this process.
The conference “Hydrogen Project – what we have in Romania” was organized by Energynomics with the support of our partners Aplind, Delgaz Grid, Horváth, Photomate and Transgaz.