BIOGAS TO HYDROGEN

Unlocking the Use of Biogas to Make Clean, Economically Viable Hydrogen

Biogas-to-Hydrogen: A Key Decarbonization Pathway

Traditional methods of hydrogen production from natural gas rely on the CO₂-intensive Steam Methane Reforming (SMR) process, which carries high carbon emissions and capital cost. In contrast, Utility’s innovative H2Gen™ industrial decarbonization solution uses biogas to produce high-purity hydrogen from water in a single step, making it a more efficient and scalable choice for the energy transition.

 

Biogas Can Play a Major Role in the Energy Transition

Biogas, a renewable energy source derived from organic waste in landfills, wastewater treatment facilities and agricultural operations, has become a significant topic of interest in the energy transition. As industries and governments prioritize decarbonization, biogas offers a sustainable, versatile feedstock and energy that can be used to produce valuable fuels, including hydrogen.

Why Biogas Matters for Decarbonization

For biogas-related business, hydrogen represents the cleanest use of this gas, while the heavy mobility sector is searching for hydrogen to power their vehicles sustainably. Beyond its clean energy potential, biogas-to-hydrogen reduces methane emissions from waste sources, supporting a circular economy by transforming waste into renewable fuel. This transformation not only lowers reliance on fossil fuels, but also decreases greenhouse gas emissions across multiple sectors. By converting water into hydrogen by harvesting the potential electrochemical energy in biogas, industries gain access to an energy source that’s both renewable and critical to decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors, like heavy mobility and industrial processes. It is also local, eliminating the need for regional, national or even international transport.

SMR Challenges in Biogas-to-Hydrogen Conversion

SMR presents a range of challenges that hinders its cost-effectiveness and environmental impact.

1. High Costs

Biogas-to-hydrogen via SMR process is a capital-intensive process that requires a larger onsite footprint. High upfront costs often make SMRs financially impractical for smaller-scale distributed biogas facilities, limiting hydrogen production options for these producers.

2. Methane Slip

Methane slip (an amount of methane that is vented off since it was not converted to hydrogen in the SMR process) is another major issue for SMR hydrogen production. As a potent greenhouse gas, methane has a much higher global warming potential than CO₂, contributing substantially to climate change. Reducing methane slip is critical to lowering the carbon footprint of biogas-to-hydrogen production, yet traditional SMR systems struggle to contain it effectively.

3. CO₂ Separation

Biogas is typically a mixture of methane and CO₂. The SMR process can only take methane from the biogas, therefore CO₂ in the biogas has to be separated before methane can go into an SMR system. Furthermore, the SMR process produces CO₂ mixed in with hydrogen and typically nitrogen as well. This requires additional steps and equipment in order to separate hydrogen from CO_2, nitrogen and other process gases before the hydrogen can be used. This added complexity not only raises costs and substantially increases the footprint but also raises the carbon intensity of the process, undermining its potential as a decarbonization solution.