Accidental discovery fuels clean hydrogen breakthrough in Mexico
The accidental reaction was quietly reported within the company and then forgotten for nearly two decades.
Back in the early 2000s, engineers working for the Techint Group, a multinational conglomerate based in Italy and Argentina, were trying to fine-tune a new electric arc furnace at a steel plant. But something strange happened. The carbon electrodes in the furnace weren’t breaking down as expected. Instead, they were getting bigger.
What the engineers had unknowingly triggered was a chemical process called pyrolysis, burning a material in the absence of oxygen.
In this case, the furnace was splitting methane into two valuable byproducts: hydrogen gas and solid carbon. This accidental reaction was quietly reported within the company and then forgotten for nearly two decades.
Massimiliano Pieri, now CEO of Tulum Energy, said:
Back then, nobody cared because nobody cared about methane pyrolysis, about hydrogen,
That changed recently when Techint’s venture capital arm, TechEnergy Ventures, began looking for cleaner ways to make hydrogen. It didn’t take long for someone at the company to remember that forgotten internal report.
Pieri, explained:
Someone in the company realized, ‘But we already have that. We have this discovery,
The result was Tulum Energy—a new startup formed to revive the two-decade-old discovery and turn it into a real business. And so far, it’s working.
Tulum just raised $27 million in seed funding from big names like TDK Ventures and CDP Venture Capital, with support from Doral Energy-Tech Ventures, MITO Tech Ventures, and TechEnergy Ventures, as reported by TechCrunch.
Hydrogen without the CO₂
Methane pyrolysis is now attracting interest from multiple startups as a cleaner way to produce hydrogen. The usual method—called steam methane reforming—releases a lot of carbon dioxide. But pyrolysis avoids that by operating without oxygen, leaving behind only hydrogen gas and solid carbon.
Several companies are now chasing this low-emission method, including Modern Hydrogen, Molten Industries, and Monolith. But Tulum claims it has a unique advantage.
Unlike some competitors, Tulum doesn’t need expensive catalysts to drive the chemical reaction. Instead, it relies on its modified electric arc furnace—a common industrial tool. That makes the process simpler and potentially cheaper.
Pieri, said:
This gives you a big head start,
Now, Tulum is building a pilot plant in Mexico right next to one of Techint Group’s existing steel mills. If the pilot goes smoothly, the steel plant could start buying both the hydrogen and the solid carbon directly from Tulum for use in its daily operations.
At full-scale operation, a commercial Tulum plant could produce two tons of hydrogen and 600 tons of carbon each day. Those numbers are meaningful, especially when you consider how much industry is shifting toward lower-emission energy options.
$1.50 hydrogen could disrupt the market
One of the biggest advantages of Tulum’s approach is cost. The company believes it can eventually produce hydrogen for around $1.50 per kilogram in the U.S. That’s just 50 cents more than today’s hydrogen made from natural gas, and significantly cheaper than so-called “green hydrogen” made from electrolysis using renewable power.
And that estimate doesn’t even include revenue from selling the solid carbon. Depending on how the carbon is used—whether in materials, construction, or even electronics—it could become an added revenue stream, helping to further lower the cost of hydrogen production.
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By keeping costs low and emissions even lower, Tulum hopes to offer a solution that works for both industry and the planet. And while competitors are racing to improve their own versions of the technology, Tulum’s early lead with a proven electric arc setup could make all the difference.
What started as a curious accident in a steel mill furnace may now be a real breakthrough in clean hydrogen technology.
READ the latest news shaping the hydrogen market at Hydrogen Central
Accidental discovery fuels clean hydrogen breakthrough in Mexico, source
