FlexiH targets its first hydrogen manufacturing in Guthrie, Oklahoma.
Hydrogen is a future energy fuel that is carbon free and essential to help reach state and federal emissions reduction goals. Due to high gravimetric and volumetric density, Hydrogen fuel is applicable to all modes of transportation (i.e., land, air and sea).
Unfortunately, technologies to produce clean hydrogen still rely on conventional steam methane reforming (SMR) with carbon capture and storage (CCS) and electrolysis. SMR with CCS is complex and capital intensive, while electrolysis requires extensive energy. Recent technologies using plasma technologies are emerging to tackles these issues, however, further research and development is still needed to reduce their energy consumption while maintaining their efficiency to be more economically attractive.
One of the technologies that could be considered breaktrough while resolving the aforementioned issues is Plasma Steam Methane Reforming (PSMR), the one that FlexiH has introduced since last year.
The technology will be suited for distributed applications including hydrogen refueling station at the scale of 100 to 1,000 kg/day, more than sufficient to fuel up to 200 hydrogen passenger vehicles. The process will use natural gas and steam via four different reactions that occur simultaneously under microwave plasma environment, resulting in clean hydrogen as the main product and graphene as the byproduct, without the the use of catalyst. Graphene is well known for being tough, flexible, light, and with a high resistance, also considered 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum. With these properties, graphene has applications in the energy, construction, health, and electronics sectors.
With its strategic partner, Green Science Inc., FlexiH focuses on advancing the technology in a containerized system, offering an energy requirement of less than 25 kWh/kg of hydrogen at 1,000 kg/day capacity, offering a production cost of less than $5.5/kg without production tax credit (PTC). Microwave plasma generates torch flames that are nearly 50 times larger than typical arc plasma technologies, resulting in higher throughput and lower energy costs (i.e., 80% less energy). As the plasma system is electrodeless, the process offers reliable operation without the necessity to replace the electrodes after certain hours of operation.
The core component, the microwave plasma system, has been used commercially to produce 3 MW electricity (including hydrogen) from local wood biomass in the city of Tae Baek, South Korea.
With a containerized system, the solutions will offer numerous benefits including easy access to the end users, diminishing issues related to transportation and storage, two major hurdles in the current emerging hydrogen economy. The technology also offers carbon negative emission when coupled with renewable natural gas (aka syngas).
Dr. Natarianto Indrawan, FlexiH’s Founder said:
FlexiH target to build the first hydrogen manufacturing facility with fully integrated hydrogen separation system in Guthrie, OK, will be a remarkable milestone for the development of hydrogen economy in the central region.
“This facility will not only create green jobs, it will also demonstrate to industry leaders the opportunities to decarbonize their organisations and sectors while leading the way on innovation, in addition to making positive impacts on net zero aspirations through carbon reduction, new technology deployment and more sustainable materials. The facility will also support the development of two clean cities coalitions (Central Oklahoma City and Tulsa) to promote clean energy deployment in the region”.
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FlexiH targets its first hydrogen manufacturing in Guthrie, Oklahoma.
