Thermochemical Production of Green Hydrogen or Syngas

Meeting growing domestic energy demands while reducing our nation’s carbon footprint requires the development of technologies that not only harness the abundant renewable resources of the United States (e.g., concentrated solar radiation and renewable electricity) but also allow for such energy to be dispatched on demand to the end user, regardless of the time of day or geographic location. One particularly attractive approach is the production of syngas via thermochemical water and carbon dioxide splitting, as such pathway – unlike alternative electrolysis-based technologies – relies entirely on the conversion of process heat which better complements traditional economies of scale. Importantly, syngas, when integrated with well-established catalytic processes like Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, can be converted into stable, transportable hydrocarbons that are compatible with existing infrastructure.

In this talk, we will present an innovative thermochemical process using a novel metal oxide that enables breakthrough energy efficiencies in the production of syngas or green hydrogen. This process operates isothermally, eliminating more than 60% of the losses faced by current state of the art thermochemical water or carbon dioxide splitting technologies that incorporate wide temperature swings. If operating solely from electrical heat, even higher efficiencies can be realized as re-radiative losses associated with concentrated solar thermal heat sources would be eliminated. The opportunity to provide process heat via low-cost and low-carbon sources of electricity also unlocks the potential for a reactor system that can be co-sited with other industrial processes, potentially scavenging waste heat to comprise some of the process heat requirements and thus further lowering OPEX.