Energie & Klimaat

Soorten waterstof

Overzicht van soorten waterstof en kleurnamen per productieroute.

Terminologie waterstof

De kleur van waterstof is niet een fysische eigenschap, maar een productiekader

Waterstof is kleurloos. green/blue/grey zijn branchecodes die grondstof, energiebron en koolstofcondities samenvatten.

Deze bron koppelt kleurlabels aan productieroute en CO2-behandelingsvoorwaarden zodat beoordeling niet alleen op labelnamen berust.

Hetzelfde label kan verschillende koolstofintensiteiten hebben afhankelijk van aandeel hernieuwbare energie, mate van carbon capture en controle op lekken.

Het is bedoeld als kort woordenboek om waterstofformuleringen snel te interpreteren.

Kleurnamen interpreteren

Green, blue, grey, turquoise, pink, yellow, white, orange zijn routecodes, niet de fysieke kleur van het waterstofmolecuul.

Route is bepalend

Elektrolyse, reforming, vergassing, pyrolyse, nucleaire warmte en methaanroutes hebben andere energie-input, waardoor dezelfde kleur anders kan uitpakken.

Controleer koolstofintensiteit

Bij emissies eerst systeemgrenzen, levenscyclusreikwijdte en maatregelen voor capture, opslag en lekcontrole controleren.

Woordenlijst

Definities kunnen per bron verschillen; beschouw kleurlabels niet als vaste wereldwijde standaarden.

Kleurnamen zijn geen zuiverheidsrangorde; vergelijk eerst route en koolstofverwerkingscondities.

Typen 15

Categorieën 7

Definitievarianten 5

Bronnen 12

TABEL

Gegevensvoorbeeld

15 rijen

Zoeken


Green hydrogen	Electrolysis	Early commercial	Water electrolysis. Some references also include renewable bio-based low-emission pathways.	Near-zero direct CO2 during operation, but lifecycle emissions from equipment, electricity matching, and water supply still matter.	The core question is whether the electricity is truly additional renewable power.
Blue hydrogen	Fossil-based	Pilot	Natural gas reforming (SMR/ATR), and in some taxonomies coal gasification, combined with CCS or CCUS.	Lower than grey when capture rates are high, but upstream methane leakage and uncaptured CO2 remain.	Actual capture rate, methane leakage, and kgCO2e/kgH2 matter more than the color label.
Grey hydrogen	Fossil-based	Commercial	Mostly steam methane reforming (SMR) or autothermal reforming (ATR).	CO2 from production is emitted to the atmosphere.	No emissions at the point of use does not mean low emissions at production.
Brown and black hydrogen	Fossil-based	Commercial	Lignite or hard-coal gasification	Very high CO2 and air-pollutant emissions.	Some references split brown and black; others group them under fossil grey hydrogen.
Turquoise hydrogen	Fossil-based	Pilot	Methane pyrolysis	Produces solid carbon instead of CO2; emissions depend on energy input, methane leakage, and carbon handling.	Climate benefit drops if solid carbon is oxidized later or used in short-lived products.
Pink, purple, and red hydrogen	Nuclear-based	Research	Nuclear-powered electrolysis, nuclear electricity plus heat for high-temperature electrolysis, or nuclear heat-driven water splitting.	Low direct emissions, but nuclear lifecycle, waste, and safety considerations remain separate questions.	Definitions overlap across sources, so grouping them as nuclear-based hydrogen is often clearer.
Yellow hydrogen (solar)	Electrolysis	Pilot	Water electrolysis using solar power	Low direct emissions, with lifecycle solar equipment, storage, and grid balancing to consider.	Some references instead define yellow hydrogen as grid-powered electrolysis.
Yellow hydrogen (grid)	Electrolysis	Early commercial	Water electrolysis using grid electricity	Can be low or high depending on the grid emissions factor.	Actual emissions depend on grid carbon intensity and hourly power mix.
White or gold hydrogen	Geologic hydrogen	Early exploration	Exploration, drilling, extraction, or capture of naturally occurring hydrogen.	Manufacturing energy can be small, but exploration, drilling, leakage, and purification require lifecycle assessment.	Academic and institutional sources often prefer natural or geologic hydrogen over white/gold labels.
Orange hydrogen (geologic)	Geologic hydrogen	Research	Injecting water into iron-rich formations to stimulate mineral reactions.	Potentially low-emission, but drilling, pumping, purification, and leakage must be assessed.	Orange hydrogen can also mean waste-derived hydrogen in other references.
Orange hydrogen (waste)	Bio and waste	Pilot	Waste or biomass pyrolysis, gasification, or reforming.	Biomass carbon can be biogenic, but plastic waste can still emit fossil carbon.	CCS and the fossil-carbon share of feedstock must be checked together.
Biohydrogen	Bio and waste	Pilot	Biomass gasification, biogas reforming, fermentation, and microbial or photobiological routes.	Can be low or even negative with sustainable feedstock and CCS, but land-use change matters.	References classify it differently: green, orange, or a separate biohydrogen category.
By-product hydrogen	By-product	Commercial	Recovery from primary-product processes such as brine electrolysis.	Emissions depend on electricity emissions factors and allocation method.	No stable color label; allocation rules matter.
Low-carbon or clean hydrogen	Policy and certification	Policy standard	Eligible pathways can include renewables, nuclear, fossil plus CCS, and bio plus CCS.	DOE targets 4.0 kgCO2e/kgH2, while the EU uses a framework based on at least 70% GHG savings versus a fossil comparator.	Check system boundary, kgCO2e/kgH2, and certification conditions before trusting the label.
Renewable hydrogen	Policy and certification	Policy standard	Usually renewable-powered electrolysis, with requirements such as additionality, temporal correlation, and geographic correlation under EU RFNBO rules.	EU rules include GHG accounting requirements such as at least 70% savings.	Often overlaps with green hydrogen, but legal renewable hydrogen can be stricter.