Hydrogen from waste

29.11.2023


Source: Energie & Management Powernews

From 2025, "ETG Entsorgungs+Transport GmbH" will produce up to 100 tons of orange hydrogen per year. The technology for this is to come from Augsburg start-up Green Hydrogen Technology.

Green Hydrogen Technology (GHT) and ETG Entsorgung und Transport want to produce climate-neutral energy from waste together. To this end, they have agreed a strategic partnership, as announced in a joint press release on November 28. "With this partnership, we are transferring our technology to continuous operation and laying the foundation for our commercial market entry. To this end, we are in advanced talks with companies and investors from the recycling, industrial and transportation sectors," announced Robert Nave, Managing Director of GHT.

ETG is a full-service waste management company with concepts for commercial waste, hazardous waste, food waste and recyclable materials of all kinds. With the help of GHT's technology, the Göppingen-based company aims to produce up to 100 tons of hydrogen per year from 2025. According to the partners, the production plant is to be built at an ETG site in Baden-Württemberg next year.

Founded in 2020, the technology start-up GHT has developed a patented process to produce climate-neutral hydrogen (also known as orange hydrogen), methanol or methane from non-recyclable plastic waste and biomass. The production process is based on a new type of entrained-flow gasification at temperatures of up to 1,600 degrees Celsius and uses locally available raw materials as feedstock to produce hydrogen at a cost of up to 1.5 euros per kilogram. The company operates a pilot plant in Leoben, Austria, which is testing the technology on an industrial scale (we reported).

Optimization in continuous operation

Together with recycling specialist ETG, the technology is now to be continuously developed in continuous operation. Some of the CO2 generated during hydrogen production is to be fed back into the process. The remaining CO2 will be used as a technical gas for various industrial applications such as the beverage and chemical industries.

GHT says it produces the hydrogen at a price of up to 1.5 euros per kilogram. This means the price is lower than the cost of hydrogen produced using electrolysis. The aim is to replace the current waste incineration process without releasing CO2. According to Robert Nave, the aim of the project is to provide a model for the circular economy.

GHT sees municipal companies in particular as an attractive field of application for its process. They could fulfill their waste disposal mandate and at the same time produce green hydrogen without the need for expensive infrastructure, for example for CO2-neutral operation of local public transport.

Author: Davina Spohn