Globally there’s about 7.5 billion tonnes per annum of coal...

Globally there’s about 7.5 billion tonnes per annum of coal extraction, having peaked at 8 billion in 2013 and expected to hit 7.4 billion by 2025 (IEA). To equal that weight in graphite, Hazer would have to pump out 1.9 billion tonnes of H2 per year, meaning roughly 100,000 Hazer plants producing 20,000 tonnes H2 each.

At this capacity, excess graphite can be shovelled into coal mines if there’s no benefit elsewhere. Being combustible carbon, it’s almost like putting the coal back again (perhaps handy in the next ice age?).

One of our biggest opportunities is in CO2-neutral (or -negative) steel. I hadn’t done the sums before, and my jaw dropped to see that it might require only 90kg of hydrogen to produce a tonne of steel via direct reduction vs 0.77 tonnes of coal, such is the potential efficiency gain (link at end). What a difference. In turn, Hazer ought to produce less than half the coal weight in graphite, something like 350kg. The “mountains” are already much smaller.

In any case, the idea that the tiny 100tpa CDP could fuel 1,100 tonnes of CO2-negative steel production seems impressive.

Global new steel production is apparently around 1.35 billion tonnes per year. To cover it, we’d need slightly north of 6,000 Hazer plants with a 20,000 tonne H2 capacity each. Obviously that’s a wild prospect now, but it’s possible to imagine where this could go.

All the numbers are from this blog post about steelmaking with H2. (I hope his sums are right.)