H2Tech - Q2 2021 - 5

TECHNOLOGY SPOTLIGHT
PRODUCTION
TECHNOLOGY
C-Zero gets boost for turquoise
H2 technology
C-Zero Inc. has raised $11.5 MM
in funding to accelerate the first
commercial-scale deployment of its
drop-in decarbonization technology.
The technology allows industrial natural
gas consumers to avoid producing
CO2 in applications like electrical
generation, process heating and the
production of commodity chemicals
like H2 and ammonia.
C-Zero's technology uses
thermocatalysis to split methane into H2
and solid carbon via methane pyrolysis.
The H2 can be used to help decarbonize
a wide array of existing applications,
including H2 production for FCEVs,
while the carbon can be permanently
sequestered. When renewable natural
gas is used as the feedstock, C-Zero's
technology can even be carbon negative,
effectively extracting CO2 from the
atmosphere and permanently storing it
in the form of high-density solid carbon.

Proton Technologies targets
1,000 tpd of white H2
Proton Technologies began
separating H2 in late February at its
project in Saskatchewan, Canada.
The company's new separation unit is
for multi-year H2 filter longevity and
iteration testing, with H2 truck loading
expected later this year. Liquid O2 is
scheduled to be trucked in for injection
at modest but still commercial scale.
At the demonstration site, production
is expected to reach 1,000 tpd of H2
after the construction of a large air
separation unit.
Proton's technology is said to
produce " white " H2 at an anticipated
production cost of less than $0.30/
kg, with a lower carbon intensity than
renewable energy. Proton's process
involves injecting O2 into spent oilfields.
This triggers reactions that produce H2.
A proprietary downhole filter allows
only H2 to come into the production
well and up to the surface, leaving the
carbon in the ground. The cost structure
is low because late-life oilfields, which
already contain decades of fuel, serve as
the reaction vessel.

UEDC technology to produce
low-cost green H2 in Arizona
United Energies Development Corp.
(UEDC) is constructing a patented
photovoltaic (PV) and electrolyzer
hybrid facility in Arizona, using classified
technology originally designed for NASA.
The patented process uses ultra-pure
groundwater to produce 99.9998%
pure H2 and O2 gas, using specialized
equipment and a large PV array.
At present, all H2 comes into Arizona
by tanker or rail from California. The
new facility will eliminate this transport
cost, bringing H2 production costs to
$1.33 kg/H2 at an electricity cost of
$0.05/kWh. UEDC's equipment uses only
1.2 MW/hr to make 1,077 kg/H2 per day.
UEDC will store both solar and off-peak
electricity at night, and sell it back to the
utility when it is required by regulatory
agencies or when utilities are at capacity.

Catalyst improves
H2 production efﬁciency
from SMR
Magma Catalysts' Magcat Textured
catalyst allows for CO2 reductions from
the steam methane reforming (SMR)
process on the order of 10%-15%, mainly
due to improvements to heat transfer in
the reaction zone, which helps produce
H2 more efficiently and sustainably.
The heat transfer improvement
provides high intrinsic strength and
lower pressure drop across the process.
These properties deliver performance
benefits at a constant plant rate, including
lower pressure drop, lower tube skin
temperatures and reduced reformer firing.
The catalyst is commercialized and is
being used at two top refineries in the
U.S. and a major industrial gas company,
among others, as the early adopters of
the technology.

H2Pro wins $22 MM
in funding for alternative
electrolysis technology
The Israeli company has secured
$22 MM in funding for its water-splitting
technology that could produce green H2
at a cost of $1/kg by the second half
of the decade-an ambitious price level
that is not expected to be achieved
until mid-century.

A. BLUME, Editor-in-Chief

The company's technology is claimed
to operate at 95% efficiency and higher
pressure, and cost significantly less
than existing electrolysis technologies.
The funding will help H2Pro take its
technology from lab scale to larger scale,
at a production rate of 1 kgd.
The technology is similar to alkaline
electrolysis, although it uses renewable
electricity to break apart H2 and O2
atoms, as well as to pair two H2 atoms
and two O2 atoms, respectively, to make
separate gases. Energy use is reduced
by splitting the step in two. First, H2 is
created at the electrolyzer cathode. The
reaction also changes the composition of
the anode (Ni). The cell is then flooded
with hot liquid, and the anode releases
O2 gas via thermal energy, before the
first step is performed again.

TRANSPORTATION/
MOBILITY
Toyota develops fuel cell
system for H2 FCEVs

Toyota Motor Corp. has developed
a product that packages a fuel cell
system into a compact module. The new
module can be utilized by companies
that are developing and manufacturing
fuel cell products for a wide variety of
applications, including mobility such as
trucks, buses, trains and ships, as well as
stationary generators.
In addition to its effort to popularize
FCEVs, Toyota will continue to
strengthen its initiatives as a fuel cell
system supplier to promote H2 utilization,
with the aim of reducing CO2 emissions.
The company has been taking various
initiatives toward the creation of an H2
society, such as selling the Mirai FCEV
and the Sora FCEV bus, selling fuel cell
systems to fuel cell product companies,
and allowing royalty-free use of its
FCEV-related patent licenses.
Toyota has developed a product
that packages individual fuel cell
system-related products of the
second-generation Mirai with enhanced
H2Tech | Q2 2021

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H2Tech - Q2 2021

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