Turquoise hydrogen – an emerging variety in the colour spectrum

So-called ‘turquoise hydrogen’ produced out of methane is gaining growing attention as a low carbon alternative to grey, blue, brown or green hydrogen.

While turquoise hydrogen production technology is still very much in its infancy, new initiatives emerging across the globe bear evidence to its potential.

One of a few companies working on turquoise hydrogen is the British, Hull-based company HiiROC, which has developed a thermal plasma electrolysis process as a potentially cheaper alternative to the current steam methane reforming and water electrolysis methods.

HiiROC claims its technology converts biomethane, flare gas or natural gas into clean hydrogen at a cost comparable to steam methane reforming but without the associated emissions and using only one fifth of the energy required by water electrolysis.

An additional solid byproduct is carbon black, which has uses in areas from tyre manufacturing to building blocks and as a pigment or soil enhancer. Similarly its production avoids the emissions inherent in the traditional processes.

HiiROC has just completed a £26 million (US$34.4 million) funding round with investors including capital providers Melrose Industries and HydrogenOne, energy company Centrica and auto manufacturers Hyundai and Kia.

The funding will advance the company’s technical development, broadening its application into areas such as low carbon synthetic fuels and mitigating gas flaring/venting, as well as expanding the deployment of pilot units into more customer segments.

The HiiROC technology can be placed where hydrogen is needed, thereby using existing infrastructure and avoiding storage and transport costs. Initial projects include a 400kg/day pilot facility being developed in Germany by gas companies Wintershall Dea and VNG and at EPi’s biomethane pilot plant in Chelmsford, UK, as well as with Northern Gas Networks as part of its hydrogen programme.

“Our technology will produce low cost, zero emission hydrogen, delivered to customers on a modular, scalable basis at the point of demand,” promises CEO Tim Davies.

“We are now very well positioned to move to commercialisation and look forward to contributing to the transition to the hydrogen economy and its role in achieving net zero.”

New technology from Canada

Another company, the Canadian plasma development specialist PyroGenesis, has launched an alternative thermal plasma hydrogen production process, following the filing of provisional patents.

PyroGenesis claims for its technology, which is in the testing phase, a similar capital cost to that of steam methane reforming – similarly to HiiROC – as well as a theoretical electricity cost three times lower than that of water electrolysis.

“Filing our US provisional patent application, along with the international PCT [patent pending] application is an important milestone as we move forward with launching a new method for producing zero carbon emission hydrogen through an energy efficient and reliable plasma process,” said Pierre Carabin, Chief Technology Officer and Chief Strategist of PyroGenesis.

“We believe our new proprietary hydrogen production process will be much more energy efficient, cost effective and scalable than other forms of hydrogen production.”

While Pyrogenesis does not specify, the likely initial target for its technology is industry customers such as iron and steel seeking a hydrogen alternative for heating in the manufacturing process.

With both HiiROC’s and PyroGenesis’s technologies being proprietary, time will tell of similarities and differences in terms of costs and performance.

Meanwhile the German gas lobby group Zukunft Gas has called on the country’s new government to make available €800 million (US$900 million) for research on methane pyrolysis to kickstart turquoise hydrogen production.

“With methane pyrolysis, a pioneering technology is in the starting blocks that will meet the large future demand for hydrogen,” says Timm Kehler, chairman of Zukunft Gas.