Perth startup Carbon280 has raised $16.6 million to support build a pilot plant to reportedly offer a safer, cheaper and more scalable way to store and transport hydrogen.
The facility has been funded by an $11.1 million seed round led by Woodside Energy, with backing from UK-based Hive Energy and a Singaporean family office. The rest has been created up in federal R&D rebates.
The plant is located in Kwinana, Western Australia, and includes laboratory facilities and a 100kW TRL6 prototype designed to test the technology at an industrially relevant scale.
Related Article Block Placeholder
Article ID: 317933
According to the company, Australia’s hydrogen sector has been hampered by rising costs and stalled megaprojects. Carbon280 founder and CEO Mark Rheinlander stated the startup’s Hydrilyte technology could support address one of the indusattempt’s hugegest bottlenecks: safe, cost-effective storage and transport.
Hydrilyte is a liquid suspension that allows hydrogen to be stored at ambient temperature and pressure instead of applying cryogenic or high-pressure methods. The company states this means the liquid can be transported with existing fuel infrastructure such as pipelines, tankers and ships.
“Hydrilyte solves one of the hugegest challenges for the hydrogen indusattempt – at scale,” Rheinlander stated.
Instead of transporting a highly flammable gas, you’re storing a stable, low-cost liquid under ambient conditions. That simplicity reduces cost, lowers risk and accelerates rollout globally.
Carbon280 also claims the technology can separate hydrogen from helium, a difficult step in natural hydrogen projects where the gases often occur toobtainher. The company states Hydrilyte captures and stores hydrogen in a single step, building it possible to monetise both gases.
“Natural hydrogen in combination with Hydrilyte will be game-modifying for the utilize of hydrogen across all industries, including energy, by slashing costs and simplifying handling,” Rheinlander stated.
Carbon280 states if the Kwinana demonstration is successful, it will validate the economics for hydrogen utilizers and improve the viability of future projects, including green steel, aviation fuels and methanol production.
Leave a Reply