The decarbonisation of petroleum and fossil hydrocarbon fuels for the production and storage of hydrogen

The importance of petroleum and extracted and refined fossil carbonaceous fuels (petrol, diesel etc.) to human society cannot be overestimated. These natural resources have improved billions of lives, worldwide, in providing accessible energy at nearly every scale. Notwithstanding the credible advances in renewable energy production over the past decade or so, the aerial combustion of coal, natural gas and liquid fossil fuels will, given humankinds insatiable demand for power, continue to be the ready source of more than 85% of the world’s energy in the foreseeable and possibly the distant future. This combustion of fossil fuels, however, leads to significant anthropogenic emissions of CO2 to the atmosphere responsible for over 90% of global CO2 emissions, now seen as the major contributor to global warming and climate change. Slowing and ultimately stopping global warming may depend on the ultimate transformation of the global energy system to one that does not introduce aerial CO2 into the atmosphere. Here we report the production of high volumes of high-purity hydrogen through the catalytic dehydrogenation of petroleum, crude and heavy crude oil and the fossil fuels, petrol, diesel and methane through microwave initiated catalysis of these natural hydrocarbons using microwave-receptive fine and inexpensive iron particles. The co-product of this dehydrogenation process, solid carbon, may be stored in perputuity or converted to valuable products such as hydrocarbons and other organic materials. Through their catalytic dehydrogenation to yield hydrogen rather than their aerial combustionpetroleum and fossil fuels can serve as a ‘bridge’ towards a more distant future when totally carbon-free renewable energy technologies may become more effective and widespread.