Hazer Group (Thermal pyrolysis of natural gas for producing clean hydrogen)

Hazer Group, an Australian cleantech company founded in 2010, develops HAZER Process that converts natural gas into hydrogen and high-quality graphite using iron ore catalyst. The hydrogen produced is considered "clean" as it has significantly lower carbon dioxide emissions compared to alternative fossil fuel-based hydrogen production methods like Steam Methane Reforming (SMR).

Challenges: hydrogen fuel

The majority of the world's hydrogen (over 60 million tons) is currently produced via steam methane (CH₄) reforming (SMR) process. This process requires a significant amount of energy input and emits a substantial amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂). The SMR process emits between 5 and 9 tons of CO₂ per ton of hydrogen (H₂) produced.

Thermo-catalytic methane decomposition (TCMD) converts methane into hydrogen gas and solid carbon without emitting CO₂. The catalyst considerably reduces the activation energy of the pyrolysis reaction and lowers the temperature from over 1,200 ºC to below 1,000 ºC. Additionally, the catalyst promotes the production of graphite, which is in greater demand on the market than amorphous carbon. The high cost of recovering the solid catalyst from the solid carbon product is, however, the primary disadvantage of using a catalyst in this process.

Hazer Group Technology

Hazer Group develops systems of thermo-catalytic methane decomposition that convert methane into hydrogen gas and solid graphitic carbon without requiring catalyst recovery, thereby enhancing the economics of the process. At a temperature between  600 ºC and 1,000 ºC, a low-cost iron oxide catalyst catalyzes the pyrolysis of methane, producing cost-competitive hydrogen gas and pure graphite material.

Hazer process

The schematic diagram below depicts a fundamental thermo-catalytic methane decomposition system, which converts natural gas feedstock into hydrogen gas and graphitic carbon without the need for catalyst recovery.