The UK government has awarded grants totalling £5mn ($6.1mn) to 22 organisations to support the development of technology to produce hydrogen from bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (Beccs).

Selected organisations will use the funding to scope and develop prototype demonstration projects. They will also be eligible to apply for second-phase funding to support the implementation of the demonstration projects.

The funding forms part of the government’s £1bn Net Zero Innovation Portfolio scheme, which aims to accelerate the commercialisation of innovative clean energy technologies.

Beccs is designed to achieve negative emissions by capturing the CO₂ released by bioenergy feedstocks that are already deemed to be carbon neutral.

The Hydrogen Beccs funding is aimed at three main areas of development: processes to optimise biogenic feedstock—including biomass and waste—for use in advanced gasification technologies; advanced gasification technology components for the generation of hydrogen; and the development of new biohydrogen technologies that can be combined with carbon capture—such as dark fermentation, anaerobic digestion and wastewater treatment.

Projects receiving funding include one demonstrating high-purity hydrogen production using modified gasification technology, led by technology firm Kew Projects.  

“Beccs systems producing hydrogen have huge potential for delivering commercially viable greenhouse gas removal, while supporting the development of the hydrogen economy with low-cost hydrogen supply,” says Kevin Chown, COO at Kew Technology.

“Kew have identified innovative approaches for the separation of the hydrogen product from the CO₂ for sequestration, and the [Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy] funding will be instrumental in enabling a more efficient and cost-effective process to be demonstrated.”

Other projects awarded funding include the biohydrogen demonstrator led by Scotland-based engineering company Wood. The project is based on Wood’s steam methane reformer technology but uses renewable biological liquid feedstocks instead of natural gas.

Funding has also gone to Northumbria University, which is leading a consortium developing a project to demonstrate biohydrogen production from waste wood gasification.

Funding has also been awarded to the BIG-H2 project, led by the University of Sheffield, which is exploring the integration of biomass and biowaste gasification with gas cleaning and membrane-based separation to produce high-purity hydrogen.

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Author: Stuart Penson