Direct Solar Conversion of Biogas to Hydrogen and Solid Carbon: A Novel, Zero-Carbon Process
Green hydrogen production through solar heating
The Regents of the University of California on behalf of the Los Angeles Campus
Recipient
Los Angeles, CA
Recipient Location
24th
Senate District
51st
Assembly District
$79,059
Amount Spent
Active
Project Status
Project Update
The project team has finished the engineering design and is currently assembling equipment to build a field-scale demo of a photo-thermal reactor and testing its performance in laboratory experiments. The project team is discussing site plans and requirements with project partners and stakeholders to plan and scope the field demonstration.
The Issue
Hydrogen is overwhelmingly produced through steam methane reforming (SMR), a process that converts methane to hydrogen while yielding significant carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. While electrolysis of water using renewable electricity is currently the leading research technology for producing low-carbon hydrogen and is commercially available, this process cannot cost-effectively convert biogas or other sources of biogenic fuel into hydrogen.
Project Innovation
This project advances a novel technology that uses solar energy directly to convert hydrocarbon gas from any source, including biogas, into clean hydrogen and a high-value form of solid graphitic carbon, resulting in zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. When deployed with renewably sourced methane, the technology can produce hydrogen that is strongly carbon negative. The technology represents a game-changing breakthrough that, when commercialized, will in and of itself drive state and national leadership in zero-carbon technology development, domestic jobs growth, and the production of clean hydrogen at a very low cost.
Project Goals
Project Benefits
This project has the potential to lower costs for renewable hydrogen production by developing a new, low-carbon, low-cost hydrogen production technology capable of converting renewable biogas to hydrogen while further offsetting production costs through co-product sales of graphitic carbon. Hydrogen generated by the system can be subsequently used for a variety of end uses, including transportation, high-temperature heating for industrial processes, and electricity generation in fuel cells or otherwise to support high-efficiency and reduced-cost electricity production based on stored renewable energy.
Affordability
The project is developing a low-cost hydrogen production technology that converts renewable biogas to hydrogen and offsets production costs through graphitic carbon co-production.
Environmental Sustainability
UCLA has developed a system that replaces methane-derived heat with concentrated solar energy to increase the reactor's temperature above 1000°C. When fully demonstrated, UCLA's technology can enable renewable biogas to be converted directly to zero-emission hydrogen.
Key Project Members
