US clean tech company eyes wood waste to hydrogen process
California-based climate tech company Mote said December 15 it was working to set up a facility that would gasify wood waste to produce hydrogen while at the same time sequestering CO2 emissions from the gasification process.
Mote said engineering work at a facility in California was already underway. It expects the facility could produce as much as 7,000 metric tons/year of carbon-negative hydrogen, while at the same time capturing an estimated 150,000 mt/yr of CO2. It is also discussing with CarbonCure Technologies the potential for injecting the CO2 permanently in concrete.
The company is working alongside engineering firm Fluor and SunGas Renewables, a subsidiary of GTI International, to develop the new facility. Fluor will work to integrate equipment already proven for similar processes into the facility, while SunGas will provide its wood waste gasification system.
Mote estimates that more than 500mn mt/yr of wood and agricultural waste are landfilled, burned or left to decay naturally in the US. Its facility in California aims to recycle as much as 54mn mt/yr of wood waste during the hydrogen production process.
Operations could begin as early as 2024.