Production & Supply Chain

Supercritical water gasification is a promising technology for wet biomass utilization. In this paper Ni and other metal catalysts were synthesized by wet impregnation. The stability and catalytic activities of Ni catalysts were evaluated. Firstly catalytic activities of Ni Fe Cu catalysts supported on MgO were tested using wheat straw as raw material in a batch reactor at 723 K and water density of 0.07 cm³/g. Experimental results showed that the order of metal catalyst activity for hydrogen generation was Ni/MgO > Fe/MgO > Cu/MgO. Secondly the influence of different supports on Ni catalysts performance was investigated. The results showed that the order of the Ni catalysts’ activity with different supports was Ni/MgO > Ni/ZnO > Ni/Al2O3 > Ni/ZrO2. Finally the effects of Ni loading and the amount of Ni catalyst addition on hydrogen production and the stability of Ni/MgO catalyst were studied. It was found that serious deactivation of Ni catalyst in the process of supercritical water gasification took place. Even if carbon deposited on the catalyst surface was removed by high temperature calcination and the catalyst was reduced with hydrogen the activity of used catalyst was only partially restored.

Biogas is one of the most important sources of renewable energy and hydrogen production which needs upgrading to be functional. In this study two methods of biogas upgrading from organic parts of municipal waste were investigated. For biogas upgrading this article used a 3E analysis and simulated cryogenic separation and chemical scrubbing. The primary goal was to compare thermoeconomic indices and create hydrogen by reforming biomethane. The exergy analysis revealed that the compressor of the refrigerant and recovery column of MEA contributed the most exergy loss in the cryogenic separation and chemical scrubbing. The total exergy efficiency of cryogenic separation and chemical scrubbing was 85% and 84%. The energy analysis revealed a 2.07% lower energy efficiency for chemical scrubbing. The capital energy and total annual costs of chemical absorption were 56.51 26.33 and 54.44 percent lower than those of cryogenic separation respectively indicating that this technology is more economically feasible. Moreover because the thermodynamic efficiencies of the two methods were comparable the chemical absorption method was adopted for hydrogen production. The biomethane steam reforming was simulated and the results indicated that this method required an energy consumption of 90.48 MJ kgH2 . The hydrogen production intensity equaled 1.98 kmoleH2 kmolebiogas via a 79.92% methane conversion.

In this paper a new gasification system is developed for the three useful outputs of electricity heat and hydrogen and reported for practical energy applications. The study also investigates the composition of syngas leaving biomass gasifier. The composition of syngas is represented by the fractions of hydrogen carbon dioxide carbon monoxide and water. The integrated energy system comprises of an entrained flow gasifier a Cryogenic Air Separation (CAS) unit a double-stage Rankine cycle Water Gas Shift Reactor (WGSR) a combined gas–steam power cycle and a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolyzer. The whole integrated system is modeled in the Aspen plus 9.0 excluding the PEM electrolyzer which is modeled in Engineering Equation Solver (EES). A comprehensive parametric investigation is conducted by varying numerous parameters like biomass flow rate steam flow rate air input flow rate combustion reactor temperature and power supplied to the electrolyzer. The system is designed in a way to supply the power produced by the steam Rankine cycle to the PEM electrolyzer for hydrogen production. The overall energy efficiency is obtained to be 53.7% where the exergy efficiency is found to be 45.5%. Furthermore the effect of the biomass flow rate is investigated on the various system operational parameters.

Dry reforming of hydrocarbons alcohols and biological compounds is one of the most promising and effective avenues to increase hydrogen (H2 ) production. Catalytic dry reforming is used to facilitate the reforming process. The most popular catalysts for dry reforming are Ni-based catalysts. Due to their inactivation at high temperatures these catalysts need to use metal supports which have received special attention from researchers in recent years. Due to the existence of a wide range of metal supports and the need for accurate detection of higher H2 production in this study a systematic review and meta-analysis using ANNs were conducted to assess the hydrogen production by various catalysts in the dry reforming process. The Scopus Embase and Web of Science databases were investigated to retrieve the related articles from 1 January 2000 until 20 January 2021. Forty-seven articles containing 100 studies were included. To determine optimal models for three target factors (hydrocarbon conversion hydrogen yield and stability test time) artificial neural networks (ANNs) combined with differential evolution (DE) were applied. The best models obtained had an average relative error for the testing data of 0.52% for conversion 3.36% for stability and 0.03% for yield. These small differences between experimental results and predictions indicate a good generalization capability.

This paper describes a generic and systematic method to calculate the efficiency and the annual performance for Power-to-Gas (PtG) systems. This approach gives the basis to analytically compare different PtG systems using different technologies under different boundary conditions. To have a comparable basis for efficiency calculations a structured break down of the PtG system is done. Until now there has not been a universal approach for efficiency calculations. This has resulted in a wide variety of efficiency calculations used in feasibility studies and for business-case calculations. For this the PtG system is divided in two sub-systems: the electrolysis and the methanation. Each of the two sub-systems consists of several subsystem boundary levels. Staring from the main unit i.e. the electrolysis stack and/or methanation reactor further units that are required to operate complete PtG system are considered with their respective subsystem boundary conditions. The paper provides formulas how the efficiency of each level can be calculated and how efficiency deviations can be integrated which are caused by the extended energy flow calculations to and from energy users and thermal losses. By this a sensitivity analysis of the sub-systems can be gained and comprehensive goal functions for optimizations can be defined. In a second step the annual performance of the system is calculated as the ratio of useable output and energetic input over one year. The input is the integral of the annual need of electrical and thermal energy of a PtG system depending on the different operation states of the plant. The output is the higher heating value of the produced gas and – if applicable – heat flows that are used externally. The annual performance not only evaluates the steady-state operating efficiency under full load but also other states of the system such as cold standby or service intervals. It is shown that for a full system operation assessment and further system concept development the annual performance is of much higher importance than the steady-state system efficiency which is usually referred to. In a final step load profiles are defined and the annual performance is calculated for a specific system configuration. Using this example different operation strategies are compared.

The catalytic steam reforming of biodiesel was examined over Ni-alumina and Ni–ceria–zirconia catalysts at atmospheric pressure. Effects of temperatures of biodiesel preheating/vaporising (190–365 ◦C) and reforming (600–800 ◦C) molar steam to carbon ratio (S/C = 2–3) and residence time in the reformer represented by the weight hourly space velocity ‘WHSV’ of around 3 were examined for 2 h. Ni supported on calcium aluminate and on ceria–zirconia supports achieved steady state hydrogen product stream within 90% of the equilibrium yields although 4% and 1% of the carbon feed had deposited on the catalysts respectively during the combined conditions of start-up and steady state. Addition of dopants to ceria–zirconia supported catalyst decreased the performance of the catalyst. Increase in S/C ratio had the expected positive effects of higher H2 yield and lower carbon deposition.

Due to its characteristics hydrogen is considered the energy carrier of the future. Its use as a fuel generates reduced pollution as if burned it almost exclusively produces water vapor. Hydrogen can be produced from numerous sources both of fossil and renewable origin and with as many production processes which can use renewable or non-renewable energy sources. To achieve carbon neutrality the sources must necessarily be renewable and the production processes themselves must use renewable energy sources. In this review article the main characteristics of the most used hydrogen production methods are summarized mainly focusing on renewable feedstocks furthermore a series of relevant articles published in the last year are reviewed. The production methods are grouped according to the type of energy they use; and at the end of each section the strengths and limitations of the processes are highlighted. The conclusions compare the main characteristics of the production processes studied and contextualize their possible use.

Hydrogen as a strategy clean fuel is receiving more and more attention recently in China in addition to the policy emphasis on H2. In this work we conceive of a hydrogen production process based on a chemical regenerative coal gasification. Instead of using a lumped coal gasification as is traditional in the H2 production process herein we used a two-step gasification process that included coking and char-steam gasification. The sensible heat of syngas accounted for 15–20% of the total energy of coal and was recovered and converted into chemical energy of syngas through thermochemical reactions. Moreover the air separation unit was eliminated due to the adoption of steam as oxidant. As a result the efficiency of coal to H2 was enhanced from 58.9% in traditional plant to 71.6% in the novel process. Further the energy consumption decreased from 183.8 MJ/kg in the traditional plant to 151.2 MJ/kg in the novel process. The components of syngas H2 and efficiency of gasification are herein investigated through experiments in fixed bed reactors. Thermodynamic performance is presented for both traditional and novel coal to hydrogen plants.

Recent years have seen a growing interest in water electrolysis as a way to store renewable electric energy into chemical energy through hydrogen production. However today the share of renewable energy is still limited and there is the need to have a continuous use of H2 for industrial chemicals applications. Firstly the paper discusses the use of electrolysis - connected to a conventional grid - for a continuous H2 production in terms of associated CO2 emissions and compares such emissions with conventional methane steam reforming (MSR). Therefore it explores the possibility to use electrical methane steam reforming (eMSR) as a way to reduce the CO2 emissions. As a way to have zero emissions carbon mineralization of CO2 is coupled - instead of in-situ carbon capture and storage technology (CCS) - to eMSR; associated relevant cost of production is evaluated for different scenarios. It appears that to minimize such production cost carbonate minerals must be reused in the making of other industrial products since the amount of carbonates generated by the process is quite significant.

Hydrogen will become a dominant energy carrier in the future and the efficiency and lifetime cost of its production through water electrolysis is a major research focus. Alongside efforts to offer optimum solutions through plant design and sizing it is also necessary to develop a flexible virtualised replica of renewable hydrogen plants that not only models compatibility with the “plug-and-play” nature of many facilities but that also identifies key elements for optimisation of system operation. This study presents a model for a renewable hydrogen production plant based on real-time historical and present-day datasets of PV connected to a virtualised grid-connected AC microgrid comprising different technologies of batteries electrolysers and fuel cells. Mathematical models for each technology were developed from chemical and physical metrics of the plant. The virtualised replica is the first step toward the implementation of a digital twin of the system and accurate validation of the system behaviour when updated with real-time data. As a case study a solar hydrogen pilot plant consisting of a 60 kW Solar PV a 40 kW PEM electrolyser a 15 kW LIB battery and a 5 kW PEM fuel cell were simulated and analysed. Two effective operational factors on the plant's performance are defined: (i) electrolyser power settings to determine appropriate hydrogen production over twilight periods and/or overnight and (ii) a user-defined minimum threshold for battery state of charge to prevent charge depletion overnight if the electrolyser load is higher than its capacity. The objective of this modelling is to maximise hydrogen yield while both loss of power supply probability (LPSP) and microgrid excess power are minimised. This analysis determined: (i) a hydrogen yield of 38e39% from solar DC energy to hydrogen energy produced (ii) an LPSP <2.6 104 and (iii) < 2% renewable energy lost to the grid as excess electricity for the case study.

This work reports a detailed chemical looping investigation of strontium ferrite (SrFeO_3−δ) a material with the perovskite structure type able to donate oxygen and stay in a nonstoichiometric form over a broad range of oxygen partial pressures starting at temperatures as low as 250°C (reduction in CO measured in TGA). SrFeO_3−δ is an economically attractive simple but remarkably stable material that can withstand repeated phase transitions during redox cycling. Mechanical mixing and calcination of iron oxide and strontium carbonate was evaluated as an effective way to obtain pure SrFeO_3−δ. In–situ XRD was performed to analyse structure transformations during reduction and reoxidation. Our work reports that much deeper reduction from SrFeO_3−δ to SrO and Fe is reversible and results in oxygen release at a chemical potential suitable for hydrogen production. Thermogravimetric experiments with different gas compositions were applied to characterize the material and evaluate its available oxygen capacity. In both TGA and in-situ XRD experiments the material was reduced below δ=0.5 followed by reoxidation either with CO₂ or air to study phase segregation and reversibility of crystal structure transitions. As revealed by in-situ XRD even deeply reduced material regenerates at 900°C to SrFeO_3−δ with a cubic structure. To investigate the catalytic behaviour of SrFeO_3−δ in methane combustion experiments were performed in a fluidized bed rig. These showed SrFeO_3−δ donates O₂ into the gas phase but also assists with CH4 combustion by supplying lattice oxygen. To test the material for combustion and hydrogen production long cycling experiments in a fluidized bed rig were also performed. SrFeO3−δ showed stability over 30 redox cycles both in experiments with a 2-step oxidation performed in CO₂ followed by air as well as a single step oxidation in CO₂ alone. Finally the influence of CO/CO₂ mixtures on material performance was tested; a fast and deep reduction in elevated pCO₂ makes the material susceptible to carbonation but the process can be reversed by increasing the temperature or lowering pCO₂.

This study investigates the decomposition of methane using solar thermal energy as a heat source. Instead of the direct thermal decomposition of the methane at a temperature of 1200 ◦C or higher a catalyst coated with carbon black on a metal foam was used to lower the temperature and activation energy required for the reaction and to increase the yield. To supply solar heat during the reaction a reactor suitable for a solar concentrating system was developed. In this process a direct heating type reactor with quartz was initially applied and a number of problems were identified. An indirect heating type reactor with an insulated cavity and a rotating part was subsequently developed followed by a thermal barrier coating application. Methane decomposition experiments were conducted in a 40 kW solar furnace at the Korea Institute of Energy Research. Conversion rates of 96.7% and 82.6% were achieved when the methane flow rate was 20 L/min and 40 L/min respectively.

The study of the viability of hydrogen production as a sustainable energy source is a current challenge to satisfy the great world energy demand. There are several techniques to produce hydrogen either mature or under development. The election of the hydrogen production method will have a high impact on practical sustainability of the hydrogen economy. An important profile for the viability of a process is the calculation of energy and exergy efficiencies as well as their overall integration into the circular economy. To carry out theoretical energy and exergy analyses we have estimated proposed hydrogen production using different software (DWSIM and MATLAB) and reference conditions. The analysis consolidates methane reforming or auto-thermal reforming as the viable technologies at the present state of the art with reasonable energy and exergy efficiencies but pending on the impact of environmental constraints as CO2 emission countermeasures. However natural gas or electrolysis show very promising results and should be advanced in their technological and maturity scaling. Electrolysis shows a very good exergy efficiency due to the fact that electricity itself is a high exergy source. Pyrolysis exergy loses are mostly in the form of solid carbon material which has a very high integration potential into the hydrogen economy.

A rigorous heterogeneous mathematical model is used to simulate a cascade of multi-stage fixed bed membrane reactors (MSFBMR) with inter-stage heating and fresh sweep gas for the decomposition of ammonia to produce high purity hydrogen suitable for the PEM fuel cells. Different reactor configurations are compared. The comparison between a single fixed bed reactor (FBR) and a single fixed bed membrane reactor (FBMR) shows that the FBMR is superior to the FBR and gives 60.48% ammonia conversion higher than the FBR. However 20.91% exit ammonia conversion obtained by the FBMR is considered to be poor. The FBMR is limited by the kinetics at low temperatures. The numerical results show that the MSFBMR of four beds achieve 100.0% ammonia conversion. It was found that the membrane plays the prime role in the displacement of the thermodynamic equilibrium. The results also show that a linear relationship exists between the number of beds and the feed temperature and a correlation has been developed. A critical point for an effective hydrogen permeation zone has been identified. It is observed that the diffusion limitation is confined to a slim region at the entrance of the reactor. It is also observed that the heat load assumes a maximum inflection point and explanations offered. The results show that the multi-stage configuration has a promising potential to be applied successfully on-site for ultra-clean hydrogen production.

The analysis here presented investigates the influence of electrical load on the operational performances of a plant for hydrogen production from solar energy and its conversion in electricity via a fuel cell. The plant is an actual one currently under construction in Reggio Calabria (Italy) at the site of the Mediterranean university campus; it is composed of a Renewable Energy Source (RES) section (photovoltaic panels) a hydrogen production section and a fuel cell power section feeding the electrical energy demand of the load. Two different load configurations have been analysed and simulations have been carried out through HomerTM simulation code. Results allow interesting conclusions regarding the plant operation to be drawn. The study could have a remarkable role in supporting further research activities aimed at the assessment of the optimal configuration of this type of pioneering plants designed for feeding electrical loads possibly in a self-sufficient way.

Hydrogen (H2) is currently used mainly in the chemical industry for the production of ammonia and methanol. Nevertheless in the near future hydrogen is expected to become a significant fuel that will largely contribute to the quality of atmospheric air. Hydrogen as a chemical element (H) is the most widespread one on the earth and as molecular dihydrogen (H2) can be obtained from a number of sources both renewable and nonrenewable by various processes. Hydrogen global production has so far been dominated by fossil fuels with the most significant contemporary technologies being the steam reforming of hydrocarbons (e.g. natural gas). Pure hydrogen is also produced by electrolysis of water an energy demanding process. This work reviews the current technologies used for hydrogen (H2) production from both fossil and renewable biomass resources including reforming (steam partial oxidation autothermal plasma and aqueous phase) and pyrolysis. In addition other methods for generating hydrogen (e.g. electrolysis of water) and purification methods such as desulfurization and water-gas shift reactions are discussed.

As transitioning away from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources comes on the agenda for a range of energy systems energy modelling tools can provide useful insights. If large parts of the energy system turns out to be based on variable renewables an accurate representation of their short-term variability in such models is crucial. In this paper we have developed a stochastic long-term energy model and applied it to an isolated Arctic settlement as a challenging and realistic test case. Our findings suggest that the stochastic modelling approach is critical in particular for studies of remote Arctic energy systems. Furthermore the results from a case study of the Norwegian settlement of Longyearbyen suggest that transitioning to a system based on renewable energy sources is feasible. We recommend that a solution based mainly on renewable power generation but also including energy storage import of hydrogen and adequate back-up capacity is taken into consideration when planning the future of remote Arctic settlements.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the potential of hydrogen obtained from renewable sources for energy generation and storage systems. The first part of analysis will address such issues as various methods of green hydrogen production storage and transportation. The review of hydrogen generation methods will be followed by the critical analysis and the selection of production method. This selection is justified by the results of the comparative research on alternative green hydrogen generation technologies with focus on their environmental impacts and costs. The comparative analysis includes the biomass-based methods as well as water splitting and photo-catalysis methods while water electrolysis is taken as a benchmark. Hydrogen storage and transportation issues will be further discussed in purpose to form the list of recommended solutions. In the second part of the paper the technology readiness and technical feasibility for joint hydrogen applications will be analysed. This will include the energy storage and production systems based on renewable hydrogen in combination with hydrogen usage in mobility systems as well as the stationary applications in buildings such as combined heat and power (CHP) plants or fuel cell electric generators. Based on the analysis of the selected case studies the author will discuss the role of hydrogen for the carbon emission reduction with the stress on the real value of carbon footprint of hydrogen depending on the gas source storage transportation and applications.

In this perspective on hydrogen carriers we focus on the needs for the development of robust active catalysts for the release of H₂ from aqueous formate solutions which are non-flammable non-toxic thermally stable and readily available at large scales at reasonable cost. Formate salts can be stockpiled in the solid state or dissolved in water for long term storage and transport using existing infrastructure. Furthermore formate salts are readily regenerated at moderate pressures using the same catalyst as for the H₂ release. There have been several studies focused on increasing the activity of catalysts to release H₂ at moderate temperatures i.e. < 80 °C below the operating temperature of a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell. One significant challenge to enable the use of aqueous formate salts as hydrogen carriers is the deactivation of the catalyst under operating conditions. In this work we provide a review of the most efficient heterogeneous catalysts that have been described in the literature their proposed modes of deactivation and the strategies reported to reactivate them. We discuss potential pathways that may lead to deactivation and strategies to mitigate it in a variety of H₂ carrier applications. We also provide an example of a potential use case employing formate salts solutions using a fixed bed reactor for seasonal storage of energy for a microgrid application.

In view of the continuous debates on the environmental impact of blockchain technologies in particular crypto currency mining accompanied by severe carbon dioxide emissions a technical solution has been considered assuming direct monetization of associated petroleum gas currently being flared. The proposed approach is based on the technology of low-temperature steam reforming of hydrocarbons which allows flare gas conditioning towards the requirements for fuel for gas piston and gas turbine power plants. The generation of electricity directly at the oil field and its use for on-site crypto currency mining transforms the process of wasteful flaring of valuable hydrocarbons into an economically attractive integrated processing of natural resources. The process is not carbon neutral and is not intended to compete zero-emission technologies but its combination with technologies for carbon dioxide capture and re-injection into the oil reservoir can both enhance the oil recovery and reduce carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. The produced gas can be used for local transport needs while the generated heat and electricity can be utilized for on-site food production and biological carbon dioxide capture in vertical greenhouse farms. The suggested approach allows significant decrease in the carbon dioxide emissions at oil fields and although it may seem paradoxically on-site cryptocurrency mining actually may lead to a decrease in the carbon footprint. The amount of captured CO2 could be transformed into CO2 emission quotas which can be spent for the production of virtually “blue” hydrogen by steam reforming of natural gas in locations where the CO2 capture is technically impossible and/or unprofitable.

Water electrolysis powered by renewables provides a green approach to hydrogen production to support the ‘‘hydrogen economy.’’ However the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are tightly coupled in both time and space in traditional water electrolysis which brings inherent operational challenges such as the mixture of H2/O2 and the limited HER rate caused by the sluggish kinetics of OER. Against this background decoupling H2 and O2 production in water electrolysis by using the auxiliary redox mediator was first proposed in 2013 in which O2 and H2 are produced at different times rates and/or locations. The decoupling strategy offers not only a new way to facilitate renewables to H2 but it can also be applied in other chemical or electrochemical processes. This review describes recent efforts to develop high-performance redox mediators optimized strategies in decoupled water electrolysis the design of electrolyzer configuration the challenges faced and the prospective directions.

The urgency of reaching net-zero emissions requires a rapid acceleration in the deployment of all emissions reducing technologies. Near-zero emissions hydrogen (clean hydrogen) has the potential to make a significant contribution to emissions reduction in the power generation transportation and industrial sectors.

As part of the Circular Carbon Economy: Keystone to Global Sustainability series with the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA this report explores the potential contribution of blue hydrogen to climate mitigation.

The report looks at:

• Cost drivers for renewable hydrogen and hydrogen produced with fossil fuels and CCS;
• Resource requirements and cost reduction opportunities for clean hydrogen; and
• Policy recommendations to drive investment in clean hydrogen production.
• Blue hydrogen is well placed to kickstart the rapid increase in the utilisation of clean hydrogen for climate mitigation purposes but requires strong and sustained policy to incentivise investment at the rate necessary to meet global climate goals.

Read the full report on the Global CSS Institute Website at this link

The production of hydrogen through water splitting in a photoelectrochemical cell suffers from an overpotential that limits the efficiencies. In addition hydrogen-peroxide formation is identified as a competing process affecting the oxidative stability of photoelectrodes. We impose spin-selectivity by coating the anode with chiral organic semiconductors from helically aggregated dyes as sensitizers; Zn-porphyrins and triarylamines. Hydrogen peroxide formation is dramatically suppressed while the overall current through the cell correlating with the water splitting process is enhanced. Evidence for a strong spin-selection in the chiral semiconductors is presented by magnetic conducting (mc-)AFM measurements in which chiral and achiral Zn-porphyrins are compared. These findings contribute to our understanding of the underlying mechanism of spin selectivity in multiple electron-transfer reactions and pave the way toward better chiral dye-sensitized photoelectrochemical cells.

In our previous studies of a plasma reformer system the effects of temperature of the reactants and input voltage have not been considered. In the present investigation the plasma reformer system has been modified to study the influence of the reactants’ temperature and input voltage on hydrogen production experimentally. The plasma reformer system includes a supersonic atomizer a plasma generator and a controlling device. In the experiment the operating parameters include the temperature of the reactants and the input voltage. The temperature of the reactants varies from 25 °C to 50 °C and the input voltage ranges from 12.5 V to 14.5 V. Results show that the increase in temperature of the reactants and input voltage will improve the production of hydrogen. In addition the improvement of heating on the reactants shows significant influence on hydrogen production.

A radical decarbonization pathway for the Norwegian society towards 2050 is presented. The paper focuses on the role of hydrogen in the transition when present Norwegian petroleum export is gradually phased out. The study is in line with EU initiatives to secure cooperation opportunities with neighbouring countries to establish an international hydrogen market. Three analytical perspectives are combined. The first uses energy models to investigate the role of hydrogen in an energy and power market perspective without considering hydrogen export. The second uses an economic equilibrium model to examine the potential role of hydrogen export in value creation. The third analysis is a socio-technical case study on the drivers and barriers for hydrogen production in Norway. Main conclusions are that access to renewable power and hydrogen are prerequisites for decarbonization of transport and industrial sectors in Norway and that hydrogen is a key to maintain a high level of economic activity. Structural changes in the economy impacts of new technologies and key enablers and barriers in this transition are discussed.