ust over 12 months ago, billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates was all smiles as he visited the head office of Modern Hydrogen in Seattle, Wash., one his more successful environmental technology startups. Although looking a bit awkward wielding a shovel and wheelbarrow, Gates managed to pack a load of asphalt into a test pothole.
The asphalt mix was made from a solid material that Modern Technology captures from natural gas and permanently embeds into carbon-sequestering asphalt. They call it Modern Carbon.
“One year later, the pothole patch is holding up perfectly,” says Michael Baba, senior product development manager at Modern Hydrogen. “It’s been taking daily traffic with no issues — and frankly, it just looks like a regular part of the road. It’s dirty, it’s unremarkable, and that’s exactly what you want from good asphalt.”
As reported by the Daily Commercial News, Modern Hydrogen was created in 2015 with the help of Gates. Their proprietary technology involves a methane pyrolysis reactor that strips carbon from natural gas (methane) right at the meter or from fossil fuels or biogas from sources like manure and produces pure hydrogen fuel that releases only water vapour as a byproduct.
One key component that can be produced from this is a solid carbon that, without extra processing, can be incorporated as an ingredient in asphalt, replacing the typical bitumen used to bind the sand and gravel. This results in reduced GHGs, locked-in carbon and what Modern Hydrogen claims are up to 20 per cent in cost savings.
