Startup Green Hydrogen International has just announced a massive green hydrogen production project. The facility, called Hydrogen City, will run entirely on renewable energy (solar and wind) and is expected to produce more than 2.5 million tons of hydrogen per year.
The hydrogen will be used to produce green ammonia, jet fuel, and even SpaceX rocket fuel. The production center is expected to be partially operational by 2026.
Hydrogen produced by electrolysis of water can be physically stored in salt caverns, artificial cavities dug into geological salt deposits. This is because salt has extremely low permeability and porosity, which ensures a perfect seal. The Hydrogen City project will be located near the Piedras Pintas salt dome in South Texas, an ideal location for hydrogen storage and distribution. Pipelines will be used to deliver hydrogen to various subcontractors, including hydrogen power plants, ammonia plants, and rocket fuel plants.
The facility is expected to have the equivalent of 2 GW of capacity by 2026, using two salt caverns for storage. Green Hydrogen International has announced that it will produce more than 2.5 million tons of green hydrogen per year, about 3.5% of the world’s current grey hydrogen production. More than 50 caverns could eventually be created in the Piedras Pintas salt dome, storing up to 6 TWh of energy and turning the dome into a major green hydrogen storage hub, according to the project’s website.
The site will be connected by pipelines to the port cities of Corpus Christi and Brownsville on the Mexican border, near the SpaceX launch site. Green Hydrogen International plans to combine hydrogen and carbon dioxide at the Port of Brownsville to create a clean methane rocket fuel that will be managed directly by Elon Musk’s company. The company’s Raptor rocket engine, developed for the Starship super-heavy launch vehicle, runs on a mixture of liquid methane and oxygen, which is a more environmentally friendly alternative to the jet fuel that is still widely used.