The End-use Crisis in Hydrogen- Why the world Needs CRT!

 CEWT – Clean Energy & Water Technologies Pty Ltd

The End-Use Crisis in Hydrogen — Why the World Needs CRT

1. The Global Hydrogen Paradox

Governments and industries worldwide are investing billions into hydrogen

production—electrolysers, hubs, export terminals, and pipelines. Yet a fundamental question

remains unanswered:

What is the final, scalable end-use of hydrogen?

Despite massive investment, no universal, commercially viable, large-scale end-use pathway exists

today. The world is producing hydrogen without a plan for how to use it.

2. Why Current Hydrogen Carriers Are Only Detours

Ammonia

- Requires energy-intensive nitrogen separation.

- Cracking back to hydrogen is costly and inefficient (40–50% energy loss).

- Produces NOx on combustion.

- Toxicity and safety concerns limit wide adoption.

- Converting ammonia to urea requires adding carbon—defeating the purpose.

Methanol & Liquid Organic Carriers

- Methanol fuel cells remain niche and cannot scale to grid-level energy.

- Liquid carriers (MCH, others) are complex, catalyst-dependent, and inefficient.

Liquid or Compressed Hydrogen

- Extreme cryogenic temperatures (−253°C) or very high pressures are required.

- Boil-off losses, material embrittlement, and major safety risks.

- Not economical at the industrial or national scale.

Conclusion: All existing hydrogen carriers add cost, energy loss, and complexity. They solve none of

the long-term stability, storage, or combustion challenges.

3. The Missing Piece: A Practical, Scalable Hydrogen End-Use

Industry wants a fuel that:

- Burns stably.

- Works in existing turbines and infrastructure.

- Stores easily.

- Transports safely.

- Scales to baseload power.

Hydrogen alone does not meet these requirements. Methane does. But methane only becomes

climate-compatible if the carbon is kept in a closed loop.

4. CRT: The Only Complete End-Use Pathway for Hydrogen

Carbon Recycling Technology (CRT) solves the end-use crisis by providing hydrogen with its

natural and universal carrier: carbon.

CRT Converts Renewable Hydrogen into Renewable Methane (RNG)

- Perfect combustion properties.

- Fully compatible with all existing gas turbines.

- Uses global gas infrastructure without modification.

- Enables true 24/7 renewable baseload power.

- Stores and transports easily and safely.

- Eliminates reliance on ammonia, methanol, cryogenic hydrogen, or detours.

Most importantly:

CRT keeps carbon permanently inside a closed loop.

No CO2 escapes. No atmospheric accumulation. No external emissions.

This transforms methane into a renewable, perpetual, zero-emission energy carrier.

5. Solar Energy: The Ultimate Fuel, Delivered Through CRT

Solar energy is the ultimate, universally accepted renewable fuel. But the world lacks a scalable,

practical pathway to deliver solar energy directly to industries, businesses, and homes.

CRT provides the simplest, most established, and technically proven pathway to convert solar

power into a usable, dispatchable fuel.

By converting solar-derived hydrogen into renewable methane and recycling carbon indefinitely,

CRT transforms intermittent sunlight into a continuous, stable, transportable energy source.

6. Why the World Needs CRT Now

The hydrogen industry faces a structural bottleneck: massive production with no viable end-use

pathway. CRT resolves this crisis by providing:

- A stable hydrogen end-use.

- A fully scalable renewable fuel.

- Immediate grid and industrial compatibility.

- A true zero-emission closed-carbon cycle.

- A practical alternative to all detour carriers.

CRT is not another hydrogen technology—it is the missing system that makes the entire hydrogen

economy viable.

CEWT – Clean Energy & Water Technologies Pty Ltd

Advancing true zero-emission energy through Carbon Recycling Technology (CRT)

 Why Hydrogen Cannot Be Used as a Practical Fuel: A Thermodynamic

Explanation

(CEWT – Carbon Recycling Technology Insight Series)

1. Introduction

Hydrogen is frequently promoted as a “clean fuel,” yet the laws of thermodynamics show that

hydrogen can never function as a practical primary fuel source. Hydrogen is not an energy

source at all — it is only an energy carrier, and a very inefficient one.

CEWT’s Carbon Recycling Technology (CRT) is built firmly on thermodynamic reality.

This article explains, with scientific clarity, why hydrogen cannot be used as a fuel and why

renewable methane (RNG) from CRT is the correct pathway for energy storage and baseload

power.

2. Thermodynamic Foundations

2.1 Water Splitting: An Endothermic Reaction

Electrolysis breaks water into hydrogen and oxygen:

H2O (l) => H2 (g) + 1/2O2 (g)

This reaction requires external energy because of water’s stable molecular structure.

• ΔH (liquid water) = +285.83 kJ/mol

• ΔH (water vapour) = +241.83 kJ/mol

This is strongly endothermic.

It consumes energy — you must put energy in to obtain hydrogen

2.2 Hydrogen Combustion or Fuel-Cell Reaction: Exothermic

When hydrogen is used (in a turbine or fuel cell), it recombines with oxygen:

H2 (g) + 1/2}O2 (g) +> H2O

This releases heat:

• ΔH = –285.83 kJ/mol (forming liquid water)

• ΔH = –241.83 kJ/mol (forming vapour)

This is exothermic.

However — and this is the critical point — the amount of energy released is always exactly

equal to the amount of energy originally used to split the water, if ideal and reversible.

Thus:

Hydrogen offers no net energy gain. It only returns what was already invested.

And this is the best-case scenario. In practice, the losses are severe.

3. Real-World Thermodynamics: Where Hydrogen Fails

Even if electrolysis and fuel cells were 100% efficient (they are not), hydrogen would still not

be a fuel — it is simply a temporary storage medium.

But in real systems:

Electrolyser efficiencies:

65–75%

Fuel cell efficiencies:

40–60%

Compression/liquefaction losses:

10–35%

Transport & storage losses:

5–10%

Putting this together:

Overall efficiency = approx 20–25%

This means 75–80% of renewable electricity is permanently lost when routed through

hydrogen.

This is thermodynamically unavoidable.

4. Why Hydrogen Cannot Be a Fuel — Thermodynamic

Interpretation

4.1 Fuel Definition (Thermodynamic)

A true fuel must provide net positive available work (Gibbs free energy).

But for hydrogen:

G electrolysis = -G fuelcell

• Electrolysis demands free energy

• Fuel cells return the same free energy

• Net → zero, minus losses

Thus hydrogen does not satisfy the definition of a fuel.

4.2 Exergy Losses

Hydrogen suffers extremely high exergy destruction because:

• Storage (especially compression) increases entropy

• Leakage increases entropy

• Transport and boil-off add irreversible losses

• Fuel cells produce water vapour → latent heat losses

Thermodynamically:

s (total )> 0

Irreversibility is large → system cannot approach ideal efficiency.

Thus, hydrogen becomes a severely degraded energy carrier.

4.3 Chemical Potential Argument

The chemical potential of hydrogen as a fuel is fundamentally tied to the stability of water:

• Water is one of the lowest free-energy states in nature

• Hydrogen is one of the highest

Therefore:

Hydrogen cannot be a “fuel” while water is the thermodynamic sink.

Hydrogen must always be forced uphill using external energy.

5. CRT’s Solution: Using Hydrogen Properly

Hydrogen is valuable — but not as a fuel.

Its correct use is:

Renewable H2 + Captured CO2 => Renewable Methane (Renewable Synthetic Methane Gas)

Methane (CH4) has:

• Higher chemical exergy

• Lower storage entropy

• 3–6× better volumetric energy density

• Stable molecular structure

• 100-year established infrastructure

• Perfect compatibility with gas turbines

• Much lower lifecycle energy losses

In short:

Hydrogen should never be burned.

It should be converted into renewable methane.

This is what CEWT’s Carbon Recycling Technology achieves.

6. Conclusion

Hydrogen cannot be used as a practical fuel because thermodynamics forbids it:

• Electrolysis is endothermic

• Fuel cells are exothermic but return less than what was invested

• Inefficiencies are irreversible

• Net energy chain loses 75–80%

• Hydrogen provides no net usable energy

• It fails the thermodynamic definition of a fuel

Renewable methane (RNG) created from renewable hydrogen + captured CO2 in CEWT’s

Carbon Recycling Technology solves this fundamental limitation.

It delivers a true fuel, with high exergy, stable storage, and zero net emissions.