SoCalGas gets $750K grant to develop renewable hydrogen from biogas

In California, the California Energy Commission awarded SoCalGas a $750,000 grant to pursue development of a novel hydrogen production system using biogas to create affordable, scalable, renewable hydrogen.

The project will build upon innovations in modular hydrogen production technology to create a system powered by renewable electricity that can use renewable gas such as biogas from landfills, wastewater treatment plants or dairy farms as a feedstock to produce low cost clean hydrogen. Additionally, the system will produce hydrogen at a lower temperature, without needing combustion, thereby eliminating nitrogen oxide emissions. The project expects to develop a bench-scale demonstration that is both modular and scalable, offering a flexible means of creating renewable hydrogen.

This project aims to lower costs of producing renewable hydrogen to $1.39 per kilogram, comparable to the cost of producing hydrogen via more conventional means, while also reducing emissions up to 95%. When powered by renewable electricity, the system will produce low-carbon or carbon-negative hydrogen and capture all the carbon dioxide co-product for use in feedstock, CO2-based fuels, microalgae fuels and products and concrete building materials. The demonstration system will be designed to produce 5 kilograms of hydrogen per day.