Environmental

Seeing the whole environmental picture

Hydrogen and alternative fuels can reduce emissions at the point of use while creating impacts elsewhere. The Environmental theme assesses performance across the full life cycle, including energy and feedstocks, materials, infrastructure, operation and end of life. It considers greenhouse-gas emissions alongside water use, resource demand, land use, pollution and other relevant impacts, helping identify genuine benefits, unintended trade-offs and the technical improvements that could make the greatest difference.

0 1

Comparing the full environmental impact of electrolysers

PC2.1 – Environmental assessment of electrolyser configurations

Project lead: Prof Rachael Rothman, University of Sheffield

Supports: Production; Economic

This project assesses the environmental performance of different electrolyser configurations, including systems located close to the point of use and options that integrate heat and energy flows. It considers greenhouse-gas emissions alongside wider life-cycle impacts, helping identify where particular technologies and configurations offer genuine environmental benefit. The work is coordinated with the Economic theme so that cost and environmental performance can be considered together.

What this helps us decide: Whether apparent carbon benefits remain credible across the full life cycle, and how environmental and economic findings interact.

0 2

Testing whether green ammonia is genuinely greener

PC2.2 – Environmental assessment of green ammonia synthesis

Project lead: Prof Rachael Rothman, University of Sheffield

Supports: Alternative Liquid Fuels; Production; Economic

This project compares the life-cycle environmental impacts of conventional ammonia production, Haber-Bosch synthesis using green hydrogen and emerging electrochemical routes. It will use available project data, expert estimates and secondary evidence to identify environmental hotspots and the improvements that could make the greatest difference. The work helps prevent lower-carbon claims at one stage of the pathway from masking impacts elsewhere.

What this helps us decide: Where environmental burdens occur across competing ammonia pathways and which improvements deliver genuine benefit.

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Assessing hydrogen’s role in lower-carbon cement

PC2.3 – Environmental assessment of hydrogen use in cement production

Project lead: Prof Rachael Rothman, University of Sheffield

Supports: End Use; Alternative Liquid Fuels; Safety

This project assesses the potential environmental value of using hydrogen or ammonia in cement production. It considers their use as fuels for industrial heat as well as pathways that combine captured carbon dioxide with hydrogen to produce synthetic fuels. By examining the full process rather than the point of use alone, the research helps clarify how much decarbonisation may be achievable and what new impacts or trade-offs could arise.

What this helps us decide: Whether hydrogen and ammonia create meaningful life-cycle benefits in cement, and what trade-offs accompany different pathways.