Advanced BioFuels USA

(Hydrogen Digest)  … In 2015, we reported that the Defense Logistics Agency awarded Sierra Energy a $100,000 Small Business Innovation Research grant $100,000 grant to further explore the production of hydrogen fuel from waste. Sierra Energy’s patented FastOx gasifier converts waste into an energy-dense gas with high hydrogen content. The system’s operational efficiency will be able to produce hydrogen at a comparatively low cost. 

As Sierra Energy CEO Mike Hike Hart told the Digest, “The market I find the most interesting, especially here in California, is renewable hydrogen. I understand the hesitation around the vehicles, but part of the reason that hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles haven’t taken off is that hydrogen sells $6/kg in the best set of subsidized circumstances, and the reality for many people is $10-$12 per kilogram.”

Now, fuel-cell vehicles under development by Honda and Toyota can hold roughly 5 kilos of hydrogen and they get a range of around 300 miles. So, you can do the math at $10-$12 per kilo, and rapidly you get to a cost of $0.16 – $0.20 per mile. Compare that to a Toyota Camry (roughly same size) getting 300 miles on roughly 12 gallons of gasoline, costing $0.14 per mile even at $3.50 per gallon.

And you gotta pay $50,000 for what is, essentially, a $23,000 Camry. And you have to fill up at one of something like 100 stations around the country that cost $1 million each. (As opposed to an ethanol blender pump costing $50,000).

But renewable hydrogen, says Hart, offers radically different economics.

“We can take a ton of MSW and get 98 kilograms of renewable hydrogen at a cost of $0.86 per KG. It’s a game changer compared to using black hydrogen, which is sold at a high-price and trucked to expensively-built stations. Our technology offers a massively distributed option, well below the competitive cost of gasoline. Since one kilo of hydrogen gives you about as much range as two gallons of gasoline, it’s like the equivalent of $0.43 per gallon of gasoline.”

How does the distribution work, exactly?

“You’d integrate the fueling station with the gasification,” says Hart. “Transporting hydrogen is expensive, but most towns have transfer stations where they consolidate garbage before moving it to regional landfills. At a transfer station or MRF, you put one of the small scale portable gasifiers there and set it up as a station. It’s not as convenient as a gas station on every corner, but early adopters are used to inconveniences. Look at how far people drive to use the Tesla rapid power stations, when there’s like one per state.

“If even just a city converted over to fuel-cell vehicles, or some other fleets, you could start making the transition without some giant government subsidy, and with $0.25 per gallon fuel you can make the economics work.” 

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As we reported in 2017. Sierra Energy has teamed with the Army to trial its FastOx Gasifier technology that turns MSW into hydrogen for use in vehicles, carbon monoxide for electricity production and liquid metal as well as slag for reuse in other industries. The commercial-scale demo is being built at the Army’s Fort Hunter Liggit in Monterey County, California, following initial testing at the Army’s Renewable Energy Testing Center at McClellan Park. The gasifier burns at 4,000 degrees F, hotter than the inside of a volcano, allowing it to process anything that is put in it.

Back in 2016, we reported that In SteelRiver Infrastructure Fund North America took a minority stake in Davis-based Sierra Energy. Using steam and oxygen, FastOx gasifiers break down trash into an energy-dense fuel, without burning. This fuel can then be used to generate electricity or upgraded to renewable transportation fuels such as gasoline, diesel, and hydrogen.

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The FastOx competitive edge

One of FastOx gasification handles nearly any type of waste, including municipal solid waste, plastics, medical waste, e-waste, tires, batteries, railroad ties, and even hazardous wastes.

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As Mike Hart says, the world is drowning in trash. The solution to trash is value, and there’s value in syngas. The finding of maximum value begins with two steps. First, maximizing the amount of trash you can take. Second, delivering a technology with the scale, reliability and cost to be deployed effectively around the world.  Those two steps have taken big leaps with this investment. We’ll keep a close eye on Sierra as it moves from development to deployment.   READ MORE