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.
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