Green Hydrogen Coalition Report Highlights Benefits of Waste Biomass to Hydrogen
The Green Hydrogen Coalition (GHC) released a white paper that shows that converting waste biomass – organic waste that would otherwise go to landfill – into hydrogen can provide enormous benefits for the environment and the economy. The GHC paper focuses primarily on the opportunity and benefits in Los Angeles County, but most of the take-aways apply statewide as well.
According to GHC, LA County produces enough organic waste annually to generate 90,000 tons of pure hydrogen per year, enough to replace 90 million gallons of diesel fuel. Producing clean hydrogen from LA’s waste biomass and biosolids will provide immediate air quality improvements by displacing diesel, which is the largest source of smog and toxic air contaminants in the South Coast Air District. The climate benefits would also be enormous, cutting about 790,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year from diesel trucks and another 520,000 tons of CO2 emissions from landfills. And, converting biosolids (sewage sludge) to hydrogen will also destroy harmful PFAS chemicals, further protecting public health.
GHC also found that hydrogen from waste biomass – known as biogenic hydrogen – can be generated at about the same cost as other forms of green hydrogen like green electrolytic hydrogen.