ETCH Hydrogen (ETCH, Inc.), an American cleantech company founded in 2015, has developed an innovative process for clean hydrogen production. The process converts natural gas, or methane, into hydrogen and solid carbon without emitting carbon dioxide. This process is efficient, scalable, and cost-effective, making it a promising technology for reducing carbon footprints in hydrogen production.
Challenges: hydrogen fuel
Hydrogen (H₂), the most abundant element in the universe, is not just a fundamental building block of stars—it’s also a vital ingredient in the synthesis of ammonia. Production of ammonia plays a crucial role in producing a wide range of products we use on a daily basis, including fertilizers for crop nourishment and plastics for modern life.
Traditionally, the world has relied heavily on steam methane reforming (SMR) to produce over 60 million tons of hydrogen annually. However, this method comes with a significant environmental cost. It’s an energy-intensive process that contributes approximately 2% to global carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, releasing between 5 and 9 tons of CO₂ for every ton of hydrogen it generates.
ETCH Hydrogen Technology
ETCH Hydrogen has developed a system that converts methane into hydrogen and carbon solids using nickel chloride (NiCl₂) salts. The system has a pyrolysis reactor where methane reacts with gaseous NiCl₂ at a high temperature to yield elemental carbon, hydrogen chloride (HCl), and nickel metal (Ni). Ni metal and carbon catalyze the pyrolysis of methane, resulting in additional elemental carbon and hydrogen gas. NiCl₂ is regenerated in the system by reacting recycled metal nickel with hydrogen chloride.
How ETCH Hydrogen converts methane into hydrogen
The diagram below illustrates ETCH Hydrogen’s methane pyrolysis reactor, which is used to convert methane into hydrogen.
Methane (CH₄) is fed to the pyrolysis reactor through an inlet and passes through a distributor. Before entering the pyrolysis reactor anhydrous nickel chloride (NiCl₂) powder is heated to a high temperature and becomes gaseous NiCl₂. The gas phases of CH₄ and NiCl₂ are mixed in the mixing zone of the reactor. The molar ratio of CH₄:NiCl₂ is between 14:1 and 16:1.
The mixture enters the reaction zone of the reactor. The reactor zone has a fluidized bed. This zone is heated with an electric furnace or radio frequency induction heating and can be maintained at a temperature of about 1100 ºC with an appropriate corresponding pressure (between 0.1 bar and 50 bar) selected for the completion of the reactions of:
CH₄ + 2NiCl₂ (g) → 2Ni + C + 4HCl
CH₄ → C + 2H₂
The stream of Ni, carbon (C), HCl, H₂, and unreacted methane enters the exit zone of the reactor. This zone further converts unreacted methane into hydrogen and carbon:
CH₄ → C + 2H₂
This reaction is endothermic and cools the product stream from 1100 ºC to 850 ºC. The reaction products exit the reactor at about 850 ºC.
ETCH Hydrogen methane pyrolysis system
The diagram below depicts ETCH Hydrogen’s system that converts methane into hydrogen and carbon using a recyclable catalyst of NiCl₂.
The mixture of recycled NiCl₂ powder and carbon solids products is sent to a heater, where NiCl₂ powder is evaporated to form NiCl₂ gas. Carbon solids exit the heater. Heat from the hot carbon solids is used to preheat methane gas fed via a heat exchanger. The preheated methane and hot NiCl₂ gas are introduced to the methane pyrolysis reactor for a complete methane pyrolysis reaction as described previously.
The mixture product stream of H₂, C, HCl, and Ni exits the pyrolysis reactor at 850 ºC and passes through a heat exchanger, where the mixture product stream is cooled to about 200 ºC by recycled HCl. The cooled stream of H₂, C, HCl, and Ni passes through a candle filter, where the gaseous products (H₂, HCl) are separated from the solid products (C, Ni). The carbon and Ni solids typically have a particle diameter between 0.1 μm and 1 μm.
The gaseous products (H₂, HCl) are sent to a sprayer, where HCl is captured by aqueous HCl (e.g., 20 wt% HCl at 25 ºC). Substantially pure H₂ exits the sprayer and is collected as a product. Aqueous HCl can be distilled by pressure swing distillation to produce anhydrous HCl. The recycled HCl is returned to the heat exchanger to cool the product stream of H₂, C, HCl, and Ni as mentioned above. The preheated HCl gas passes through a heater and enters a NiCl₂ regeneration reactor at a temperature of 1100 ºC.
The solid products (C, Ni) and hot HCl gas are co-fed to the NiCl₂ regeneration reactor. The molar ratio of HCl:Ni is between 5:1 and 50:1. The hot HCl gas heats the solids and reacts with Ni at a high temperature of 1100 ºC to drive the formation of NiCl₂ (gas):
Ni + 2HCl → NiCl₂ (gas) + H₂
A residence time in the reactor is typically about 10 seconds.
The mixture product stream of NiCl₂ (gas), C, H₂, and HCl enters a cooler, where gaseous NiCl₂ is condensed to solid NiCl₂. Heat from the cooler can be used to generate steam to power H2 separation. The cooled mixture product stream enters a ceramic candle filter, where the solid products (NiCl₂, C) are separated from the gaseous products (H₂, HCl). The gaseous products (H₂, HCl) are sent to the sprayer to separate H₂ from HCl as described previously.
The solid products (NiCl₂, C) are recycled to the heater, where solid NiCl₂ evaporates to yield gaseous NiCl₂. Carbon exits the heater as carbon solids. Heat from hot carbon solids is used to preheat methane fed, as mentioned previously. Cooled carbon solids products are obtained.
ETCH Hydrogen Patent
- US20240059560A1 Production of hydrogen from hydrocarbons
- US11746008B2 Method of carbon dioxide-free hydrogen production from hydrocarbon decomposition over metal salts
ETCH Hydrogen Technology Applications
- Hydrogen production
The ETCH Hydrogen system can be integrated into existing natural gas infrastructure to produce clean hydrogen and decarbonize the supply chain. This allows for the continued use of natural gas while significantly reducing its carbon footprint.
- Carbon materials
The solid carbon produced as a byproduct can be used in various industrial applications, such as in the production of carbon black, which is used in tires, inks, and coatings.
ETCH Hydrogen Products
- ETCH Process™
ETCH’s primary hydrogen product is the clean hydrogen produced through their ETCH Process™, which converts natural gas into hydrogen and solid carbon without generating greenhouse gasses. This technology is designed to be efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly, with potential applications across various scales and industries.
ETCH Hydrogen Funding
ETCH has raised a total of $7.5M in funding over a Seed round on July 25, 2023.
ETCH Hydrogen Investor
ETCH is funded by 2 investors:
Emerald Development Managers and CIG Spectrum Capital are the most recent investors.
ETCH Hydrogen Founder
Jonah Erlebacher and John N. Fini are Co-Founder.
ETCH Hydrogen CEO
Jonah Erlebacher is CEO.