What is H2SITE?
H2SITE is an industrial hydrogen tech start-up that manufactures equipment to extract hydrogen from energy carriers like ammonia, methanol, or their blends. Enabling Hydrogen Transportation for a Sustainable Future, the company offers the most advanced technology to make high-purity hydrogen available. H2SITE manufactures advanced membrane reactors with palladium membranes to extract high purity hydrogen from different feedstocks. The reactor integrates catalysts to crack or reform feedstocks such as ammonia, methanol, or biomethane while simultaneously separating hydrogen from the flow. This innovative approach displaces chemical equilibrium and reduces the temperature required to crack 100% of the molecules, ensuring that only hydrogen – and only hydrogen – is extracted. It’s a smart solution that works even when dealing with mixed streams of hydrogen and other gases… Truly, it is technology designed for the future.
Main Benefit
The benefits of H2SITE’s technology are encapsulated in a few remarkable points:
- Higher Efficiency: Advanced membrane reactors allow extracting more hydrogen at lower working temperatures.
- Recovery Factor: Integrated membrane solutions maximize feedstock conversion and hydrogen extraction.
- Purity: Palladium-alloy membranes are selective to only hydrogen, guaranteeing purity levels of 99.97% suitable for fuel cells or industrial applications.
- Flexibility: Systems are designed to be easy to operate and robust enough to process multiple feedstocks while adapting to customer needs.
Hydrogen Separation Technology
A core part of H2SITE’s solution is its membrane reactor technology. The process is quite straightforward, almost like envisioning a box filled with rods – these rods being the membranes. When a molecule containing hydrogen enters this ‘box’, it is split. The first thing that the hydrogen encounters is the highly selective membrane, which absorbs the hydrogen with over 99% purity. With no moving parts and a very high conversion efficiency, it can filter hydrogen from other molecules mixed in pipelines, salt caverns, aquifers, or other storage infrastructures. It is fascinating to see how the hydrogen is isolated, bridling the potential of feedstocks like ammonia, methanol, syngas, and even mixed streams effortlessly.
Versatile Applications in Gas Infrastructure
H2SITE’s membrane separators find a wide range of applications. For instance, one of the best methods to transport hydrogen as gas is through the use of gas pipelines. These pipelines can handle pure hydrogen or mixtures with natural gas, making the transport more efficient. Not only that, but the technology also caters to gas infrastructure management where hydrogen recovery is essential regardless if it is sourced from natural deposits or stored in salt caverns, depleted natural gas deposits, or aquifers. This technology also excels in processing natural hydrogen which is often mixed with elements like CO2, CO, He, or CH4. In almost every scenario, the reactor only extracts the hydrogen at very low temperatures, ensuring high quality and purity throughout the process.
Advanced Membrane Reactors
At the heart of H2SITE’s offering are the advanced membrane reactors that come fitted with palladium-alloy membranes. These reactors are designed with integrated systems that recover up to 98% of the hydrogen. The palladium-alloy membranes are renowned for their selectivity, ensuring that nearly pure hydrogen is produced in a single step – more than 99.97% purity, in fact. Such precision reduces the footprint of the equipment and negates the need for additional purification systems. It is as if the reactors work in sync with nature, filtering and refining hydrogen whenever it is required, whether it is for fuel cells in mobility applications or various industrial processes.
Project Impact
- SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy – By enabling the production of low-carbon, high-purity hydrogen, H2SITE is playing a role in advancing clean energy solutions.
- SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure – The innovative membrane reactor technology contributes to a future with smarter industrial processes and improved infrastructure.
- SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities – Integrating hydrogen systems into gas infrastructure supports cleaner, more sustainable urban environments.
- SDG 13: Climate Action – By offering solutions that lower the carbon footprint within hard-to-abate sectors, the project pushes forward the fight against climate change.
Investor Support and Future Prospects
Support for H2SITE comes from major industry players. Investors like ENGIE, Equinor, and Breakthrough Energy Ventures have recognized the potential of this innovative technology. Their participation in the series A funding round, signed in summer 2022, has further propelled H2SITE’s mission to address a critical problem: the rising shortage and high costs of low-carbon hydrogen in regions such as Europe and East Asia. The efficient separation of hydrogen from energy carriers not only reduces production costs by avoiding the extra 80-300% markup seen with other long-distance transport solutions, but also opens new doors for the sustainable transportation and storage of hydrogen. With its ability to work with an array of feedstocks and storage infrastructures, H2SITE’s technology is poised to make a lasting impact on the energy market – one that is cleaner, more flexible, and highly efficient.
