Plug Power Inc (PLUG)

[Jack_Bolander]

WTM - Once hydrogen is injected and comingled in a natural gas pipeline it can only be used as natural gas. In this case, expensive hydrogen gets sold and used as cheap natural gas, not very smart.

The problem is that higher concentrations of hydrogen have safety and process risks. Think of a residential water heater or furnace flanged for natural gas getting too much H-2 .... BOOM !

The US DOE, The EIA and Linde have all done extensive gas separation studies which you can find on the web. Jens probably has a few himself. Besides the aforementioned safety and engineering issues, hydrogen separation from a methane stream is expensive $7.00/kg, and you don't get pure, useable hydrogen. Fuel cells require 99+% pure hydrogen, and current technologies can't get above 90% purity.