CSIRO partnership to commercialise hydrogen production tech

CSIRO and RFC Ambrian have co-founded Hadean Energy to commercialise technology that can produce hydrogen with 30% less electricity, helping to decarbonise heavy industry.

The technology will be trialled at BlueScope’s Port Kembla Steelworks to demonstrate the equipment at pilot scale in an industrial environment.

CSIRO’s tubular solid oxide electrolysis (SOE) technology produces hydrogen by electrolysing water using a combination of heat and electricity, reducing hydrogen production costs and industry emissions.

Demand for hydrogen is expected to increase 138% by 2030, but high production costs and energy inputs are key challenges in producing green hydrogen.

Sarb Giddey, CSIRO hydrogen research scientist, said developing a tubular SOE technology at CSIRO is a key project aimed at producing more affordable and efficient hydrogen to help industry reduce emissions.

By integrating hydrogen into industrial processes onsite, storage and transport costs will decrease, helping eliminate storage and transport costs while reducing the use of fossil fuels in the industrial process.

The hydrogen product can be used as a feedstock for producing chemicals such as ammonia, petrochemical, methanol, dimethyl ether and sustainable fuels. It also has applications in low-emission steelmaking and heavy transport. Being free of platinum group metals and nickel also reduces reliance on international supply chains.

Hadean Energy will have exclusive rights over CSIRO’s SOE technology, with the BlueScope trial set to commence in April 2024. Integration aspects and other findings from the trial will help demonstrate the technology at a higher scale and confirm the technical robustness of the equipment.

RFC Ambrian CIO Stefan Skorut said the technology can help address the existing industrial hydrogen market, which is currently majorly derived from fossil fuels. SOE is the most efficient method of electrolysis, but green hydrogen and synthetic fuels will remain uneconomic unless the scalability and cost of electrolysers is addressed.

RFC Ambrian has previously partnered with CSIRO to co-found other ventures including Chrysos Corporation, Nextore and MRead.