The project will develop and demonstrate a novel pulse methane pyrolysis (PMP) system for low-cost, clean, industrial H2 production. The project will also demonstrate a direct carbon fuel cell (DCFC), which converts solid by-product carbon from the PMP process to electrical power and enhances the economics of hydrogen production. The resulting tri-generation pyrolysis (TGP) platform produces clean hydrogen at costs lower than conventional steam methane reforming (SMR) with up to 90% fewer greenhouse gas emissions.
In Phase 1, a prototype PMP reactor and DCFC button cell will be built and tested to verify performance against technical requirements. In Phase 2, a PMP brass-board system will be built and tested to verify balance of plant integration. In addition, a DCFC unit cell will be built to demonstrate a scalable and repeatable building block for subsequent fuel cell stack development. In Phase 3, a field deployable PMP system will be tested in Alberta to evaluate performance against customer requirements. The field trial unit will generate clean H2 (200 kg/day) and solid carbon from natural gas for applications including industrial H2 production and natural gas decarbonization. The total budget for this 3-year project is $13.8 (CAD).