Stark Raven Mad about Hydrogen: Raven SR Greenlit for World’s First Organic Waste to H2 Project in Richmond, CA

November 19, 2025

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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... Like Doc Brown feeding banana peels into a DeLorean, Raven’s tech feeds waste into a reformer and pulls hydrogen from the trash society leaves behind. And as if stolen from a climate-themed rewrite of National Treasure, the secret does not “lie in Charlotte”—it may very well lie in the Charlotte landfill.

Hydrogen, we now realize, wasn’t hard to find.
It was just hard to see.

From Coffee Grounds to Commercial-Grade Hydrogen

Raven SR doesn’t chase hydrogen.
It coaxes it—out of coffee grounds, yard waste, grass clippings, food scraps, even sewage material—using a patented non-combustion Steam/CO₂ Reforming technology that never burns the waste, never boils the water, and never needs a drop of fresh water to produce fuel.

This process is not pyrolysis. It’s not gasification. It’s not electrolysis.
It’s something closer to molecular diplomacy. It’s something closer to molecular diplomacy—specifically, a non-combustion, non-catalytic thermal, chemical reductive process that converts diverse feedstocks into a hydrogen-rich syngas, requiring no fresh water and producing low to negative carbon intensity fuel.

Instead of scorching or torching waste at 1,200°C, Raven SR uses precise thermal-chemical persuasion, managing feedstock at the molecular level to release hydrogen-rich syngas while preserving nearly all the original energy. No flame. No combustion. No nitrogen oxides. No dioxins.

Hydrogen produced this way is not just cleaner.
In methane-rich settings like retired landfills, it’s potentially carbon-negative.

And it works where hydrogen usually fails:

No need for fresh water
No need for grid-power electrolysis
No need to transport hydrogen from distant hubs
It produces hydrogen where it’s needed—next to trucks, ports, airports, and fueling depots.

...

Where methane used to leak into the sky, By converting up to 99 wet tons per day into 2,400 metric tons of transportation-grade hydrogen per year, the facility is projected to avoid up to 7,200 metric tons of CO₂ emissions annually, simply by intercepting waste before it decomposes into methane.

...

Chevron is not just invested—it’s integrating the fuel into its retail hydrogen network. Hyzon is not just buying fuel—it’s placing trucks onsite to consume it.

...

The first export of this idea is already in motion—in Zaragoza, Spain, where Raven SR secured funding to build an organic waste-to-hydrogen facility under the Spanish Climate Innovation program (MITECO). The waste streams are different, the chemistry is the same. READ MORE

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Raven SR Awarded Authority to Construct World’s First Organic Waste-to-Hydrogen Facility in Richmond, CA (Raven SR)

Excerpt from Raven SR:

Bay Area Air District awards Air Permit & Authority To Construct
First facility in California permitted to convert diverted organic waste into renewable hydrogen using non-combustion technology
Facility will deploy proprietary non-combustion Steam/CO2 Reforming technology
Facility will produce approximately 2,400 MT of transportation-grade hydrogen annually

Pinedale, Wyo. – November 18, 2025 – Raven SR Inc. (Raven SR), a renewable fuels company specializing in producing clean hydrogen from waste, announced today that it has received its final Air Permit and Authority to Construct (ATC) from the Bay Area Air District (BAAD), authorizing construction of the first facility in California to convert diverted organic waste into renewable hydrogen through a non-combustion Steam/CO₂ Reforming process.

Located at Republic Services’ closed West Contra Costa Sanitary Landfill, the facility will process up to 99 wet tons of organic waste per day, producing approximately 2,400 metric tons of renewable hydrogen annually. The diverted organic waste will help California meet SB1383 diversion mandates and potentially avoid up to 7,200 metric tons per year of CO2 emissions from the landfill.

Hydrogen will be collected daily by offtake partners and supplied to regional fueling stations serving both passenger and commercial fuel cell vehicles, supporting California’s decarbonization and zero-emission transportation goals. Hydrogen will not be stored on-site.

“Receiving the ATC marks a major milestone for Raven SR, the City of Richmond, and the broader hydrogen economy,” said Matt Murdock, CEO of Raven SR. “This facility will commercially demonstrate that we can convert waste that would otherwise emit methane and turn it into clean hydrogen without combustion or toxic emissions. At a time when many hydrogen projects have stalled or been cancelled, Raven SR’s Richmond facility will stand as proof that innovation and persistence still win. We believe it will set a new benchmark for waste-to-hydrogen projects globally, and positions Raven years ahead of other developers in bringing clean hydrogen from waste to market.”

“Raven SR’s Richmond facility represents a critical step toward cutting California’s most damaging climate pollutants—methane and black carbon—by turning landfill-bound organic waste into clean hydrogen,” said Julia Levin, Executive Director of the Bioenergy Association of California. “Reducing these short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) provides immediate climate and public-health benefits while advancing the state’s clean-fuel transition.”

“California and the City of Richmond are leading the transition to a clean hydrogen economy, and projects like Raven SR’s demonstrate how innovation can turn waste challenges into clean-energy and workforce opportunities,” said Richmond, CA Mayor Eduardo Martinez. “This project reflects the type of investment and perseverance needed to achieve Richmond’s and the state’s clean-air and decarbonization goals.”

“This project demonstrates how innovation and environmental protection can go hand in hand,” said Gabe Quinto, President, California League of Cities, Board Member of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, Mayor Pro Tem for the City of El Cerrito, and Vice Chair of MCE Clean Energy. “By converting organic waste into clean hydrogen fuel, Raven SR is helping reduce methane emissions and improve local air quality for communities long impacted by pollution.”

The permitting process spanned more than five years, including three and a half years of BAAD review. Raven SR expressed appreciation for the decisive leadership of BAAD’s Executive Officer Dr. Philip Fine and Principal Deputy Executive Officer Dr. Meredith Bauer, who advanced the permit to completion after administrative delays.

With the Authority to Construct (ATC) now issued, Raven SR is completing final engineering revisions required by the permit conditions and preparing building permit packages for submission to the City of Richmond. Given the late timing of the year, the company anticipates holding a groundbreaking in early 2026, followed by full construction once project financing is finalized.

With this air permit, Raven SR becomes the first company in California to achieve full environmental and air-quality approvals for a waste-to-hydrogen facility – well ahead of other biomass or gasification projects still awaiting permits or financing. Due to the extended permitting timeline and inflation, project costs have risen to approximately $75 million, financed primarily through private equity partnerships. The company will leverage the Inflation Reduction Act 45V credit, but has used no federal grant funding.

The Richmond project is owned by Raven SR S1 LLC, a Raven SR subsidiary. Chevron New Energies is collaborating on the project, which Raven SR will operate. Chevron, ITOCHU, Ascent Funds, Samsung Ventures, and RockCreek are strategic investors in Raven SR.

The Raven SR technology is a non-combustion, non-catalytic thermal, chemical reductive process that converts organic waste and landfill gas to hydrogen and Fischer-Tropsch synthetic fuels. Unlike other hydrogen production technologies, its Steam/CO2 Reformation does not require fresh water as a feedstock and uses less than half the energy of electrolysis. The process is more efficient than conventional hydrogen production and can deliver fuel with low to negative carbon intensity. Additionally, Raven SR’s goal is to generate as much of its own power onsite as possible to reduce reliance on and/or be independent of the grid. Its modular design provides a scalable means to locally produce renewable hydrogen and synthetic liquid fuels from local waste.

About Raven SR

Raven SR, headquartered in Wyoming, converts biomass, mixed municipal solid waste, bio-solids, sewage, medical waste, and natural or biogas into renewable fuels. Using its proprietary, non-combustion, non-catalytic Steam/CO2 Reformation technology, Raven SR dependably produces a hydrogen-rich syngas regardless of feedstock utilized. That same core process can also be configured to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), renewable diesel, or renewable power, depending on project design and market need. Raven SR, led by co-founders Matt Murdock and Matt Scanlon, is committed to adding value to local resources and communities while responsibly reducing greenhouse gases and achieving a low carbon economy. By using modular systems and producing low air emissions, their systems can be located closer to customers and feedstock, creating local fuel from local waste for local mobility. READ MORE