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PORTLAND, Ore. — Northwest Natural, which delivers natural gas to around two million people across Oregon and Southwest Washington, is taking steps to curb carbon emissions by stripping it our of their gas feed. They’ve partnered with Modern Hydrogen, a clean energy company based in Seattle, which has perfected a form of methane pyrolysis that breaks down natural gas into its principle elements of carbon and hydrogen.

Modern Hydrogen has created on-site methane pyrolysis technology, which can take natural gas, LNG, or biogas and turn them into usable hydrogen and solid carbon anywhere where there is existing gas infrastructure. The technology is powered by a portion of the hydrogen it generates. So, in this process, CO2 is never created and no harmful emissions are released into the atmosphere. Rather, the carbon is reused. Methods like these could be a pivotal component in solving the many challenges we know exist to create a viable hydrogen infrastructure (i.e., the ability to store and transport hydrogen). Hydrogen can be incorporated into the existing energy ecosystem, minimizing the need for new installations and avoiding the complexities associated with scaling up renewable power generation and storage, to completely revolutionize the future. Natural gas can be converted into hydrogen fuel, and in the future, hydrogen fuel cells will power electric vehicles. However, the potential of hydrogen is such that futurists and researchers believe hydrogen power will be the future. Even for electric vehicles, they will probably ultimately be powered by hydrogen.

“We are proud to stand at the forefront of this transformative journey, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in energy production and environmental stewardship,” said Modern Hydrogen Co-Founder and CEO Tony Pan. “Together, we are not just witnessing, but actively participating in history with the launch of innovative systems that revolutionize hydrogen production, leverage existing infrastructure for a cleaner future, capture and repurpose carbon, and significantly reduce the carbon footprint of gas utilities.” Modern Hydrogen’s Tony Pan cited several landmark firsts being achieved through this utility partnership, including the first utility distributed pyrolysis system, the first pipeline injection of pyrolytic hydrogen, and the first solid carbon capture project for both companies. NW Natural’s David Anderson credited the Modern Hydrogen and NW Natural project teams as well workers represented by local unions and contractors in getting the project up-and-running. This three-year pilot project is the latest effort by NW Natural to explore potential hydrogen applications. This includes extensive testing at our Sherwood Operations and Training facility, demonstrating the safety and performance of hydrogen blends ranging from 5 to 20 percent in natural gas systems and equipment. 

“Waiting for renewables, exclusively, to give us the decarbonisation lift that we need to deliver is really going to shoot us in the foot.” Those were the words of Mothusi Pahl, Vice-President of Business Development and Government Affairs at Modern Hydrogen, when he spoke on gasworld’s Circular Economies webinar, sponsored by Nippon Gases.

Panelist Tony Pan, CEO and co-founder of Modern Hydrogen, a startup building devices that produce hydrogen from methane gas, said that federal climate policies such as the Inflation Reduction Act have funded numerous energy projects in red states and will be unpopular to halt. He also noted that, in his particular situation, most of his customers are utilities that are guided more by state than by national rules. If federal climate support disappears, “as long as states keep up their good work, I still think decarbonization will make progress in the United States, although maybe we’ll lose the race to Europe,” Pan said. “But it’s OK. Competition is good. No matter what, the planet wins.”

“It can go anywhere on our distribution system,” Anderson said, gesturing back to the Modern Hydrogen installation. “So as we prove this out, Tony and his team are going to start going into commercial mode, you can do more and more of this on the system.” The broad process heading for Modern Hydrogen’s technology is methane pyrolysis, where high heat (800 degrees Celsius and up) is used to split the CH4 methane molecule into 2H2 and a solid form of carbon. A recent published review of the process concluded that “the safety, reliability and durability of pyrolysis technologies remain open to improvements.” Yielding high grade carbon is one challenge for methane pyrolysis. Pan, who was at the Portland event, touted the value of the carbon the process the Modern Hydrogen process leaves behind. He and Anderson triumphantly held up a jar of the black material at the lectern at the NW Natural ceremony.

Modern Hydrogen got its start back in 2015. Gates and former Microsoft researcher Nathan Myhrvold put money into the firm at a time when it was focused on capturing waste heat from furnaces and hot water heaters and turning it into electricity. The 60-employee company has raised $100 million in total venture capital from Gates, Myhrvold and others. Modern Hydrogen later developed 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. It can also produce a solid carbon that can be a key ingredient in asphalt.

Bill Gates grabbed a wheelbarrow and shovel on Wednesday to fill a parking lot pothole with a new carbon trapping asphalt. Gates was visiting Modern Hydrogen, a Seattle-area climate tech startup that has developed a device for cracking natural gas molecules, producing hydrogen for fuel and a product known as solid carbon that has a variety of industrial applications — including as a key ingredient in asphalt. “Bill was great,” said Tony Pan, Modern Hydrogen’s CEO, of the Microsoft co-founder’s visit. “He was super engaged, hands-on.” Gates had the chance to check out a demo version of the company’s methane pyrolysis reactor, which takes natural gas from fossil fuels or biogas from sources like manure to make pure hydrogen. The hydrogen fuel burns cleanly, producing water vapor as a byproduct. It can be used for energy production, in industrial processes like steel manufacturing, and in fuel cells.

Washington-based climate tech startup Modern Hydrogen, which has attracted seed funding from the likes of Bill Gates, has focused its efforts on this novel approach, which creates a longer-lasting form of asphalt. The clean-tech company’s primary line of business is pulling solid carbon from natural gas to create clean hydrogen. But as part of that process, solid carbon is created, which as it turns out, can serve as a key material in creating asphalt that holds up better in the face of climate change. “Our material makes asphalt stronger and more durable,” Modern Hydrogen CEO Tony Pan tells the BBC. “We increase stiffness by 34%. That means the roads are stronger, more durable and asphalt is able to withstand higher temperatures.” The strengthened roads are just one of the benefits of Modern Hydrogen’s innovation, which is currently in use in five US states and Canada. Traditional asphalt is made of dirt, pebbles, stone and sand. But the most expensive part of the asphalt is the material used to bind it, which is traditionally bitumen. And bitumen is made from oil, Pan explains.

Modern Hydrogen CTO Max Mankin Elected to Hertz Foundation Board of Directors. The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering the nation’s most promising innovators in science and technology, today announced the election of Max Mankin to its board of directors. Mankin is co-founder and chief technology officer at Modern Hydrogen, a clean energy company decarbonizing some of the most challenging sectors of industry—including gas utilities, process heat and steam users, heavy equipment and fleet operators, and building materials producers. In 2016, Mankin and Modern Hydrogen co-founder Tony Pan, also a Hertz Fellow, won the Hertz Foundation Strauss Award for their exceptional leadership in their entrepreneurial endeavors. Their partnership is a perfect example of the power of the Hertz community.

In relation to your story “Big Oil calls for realism on green transition” (Report, March 25), I would like to highlight one critical point preventing the US from reaching this more sustainable future. Currently the US Department of Energy artificially puts the transport of hydrogen over pipelines and onsite production of hydrogen at a competitive disadvantage to road transport by not accounting for the CO₂ impact of the so-called vehicle miles travelled (VMT) in the delivery of hydrogen. Every hydrogen delivery truck travels one way loaded and returns home empty. All of these delivery miles travelled today are fuelled by diesel, and DoE’s hydrogen CO₂ intensity methodology accounts for none of the emissions. As a result, hydrogen producers and potential hydrogen users do not demand pipelines or onsite production, because truck delivery is perfectly acceptable. The end results are taxpayer-funded hydrogen projects that in the near term have CO₂ footprints (from diesel-fuelled delivery) greater than the hydrocarbon-fuelled applications they were originally meant to displace. In the medium term, this effectively eliminates consideration of pipelines and onsite co-located production. Longer term, it negatively affects the economics, availability and market readiness for hydrogen.

Award winners have been chosen based on their technological contribution to a cleaner, greener, and more sustainable future. A distinguished panel of judges have evaluated each entry to identify and recognize the breakthrough innovators in the global clean technology industry. “In a world that desperately needs sustainable solutions, the CleanTech Breakthrough Awards offer a unique opportunity to be part of the solution. We are passionate about what technology can do in the field and we want to celebrate advancements in energy, climate and clean technologies,” said Bryan Vaughn, Managing Director of CleanTech Breakthrough Awards. “Our first cohort of winners are truly redefining the future of our planet and making the Earth a cleaner, safer and more sustainable place for all. We’re thrilled to announce our inaugural list of CleanTech Breakthrough Award winners.” The 2024 CleanTech Breakthrough Award Winners include: Decarbonization Solution of the Year: Modern Hydrogen