I came across an online article about e-methane the other day and would like to share it here. I haven't ever known about "e-methane" before, but it is said the methane is environmentally-friendly fuel. It is made by reaction of carbon dioxide[CO2], which generates in the factories, with hydrogen produced by electricity from surplus solar power. That's why it can achieve zero CO2 gas emission and it also has almost same main components as city gas. So, it has benefits that it can use conventional equipment like pipes. The methane is said to be a promising asset for decarbonization in city gas business. Many makers proceed with verification tests as they plans to deal with 1% of gas demands in total with e-methane.
However, the spreading of e-methane has some issues beside technology. One of them is an international rule. When we utilize e-methane, which maker contributes to reduction of CO2 emission, markers or users? The rule is still up in the air. So, gas makers need to work on this issue immediately. Another is a cost and they estimated that the unit price would be 2.5 to 3 times higher than one of conventional liquid natural gas[LNG] in the beginning when we will apply the methane.
I hope the methane will contribute to making the decarbonized society a reality.