InnoTech Alberta, working with 9 participating organizations, is advancing the Elemental Carbon Market Assessment Joint Industry Project (JIP) to identify and evaluate economic opportunities for the solid carbon products of methane pyrolysis (a clean hydrogen production method). Alberta Innovates (Hydrogen Centre of Excellence) and Natural Resources Canada (Energy Innovation Program) are funding the project. Sky Point Resources is consulting on the project.
Did you know? The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) is forecasting Alberta’s hydrogen production from natural gas to grow by 30% between 2024 and 2033, from 3.0 million tonnes per year to 3.9 million tonnes per year.
Did you know? Methane pyrolysis is an emerging technology that:
- Produces hydrogen and elemental carbon from natural gas with no CO2 produced in the reaction aside from the energy supplied to power the process.
- Can achieve a carbon intensity as low as 2.3 kg CO2e / kg H2, depending on the process, which is well below an accepted “low carbon” or “clean hydrogen” threshold of 4.4 kg CO2e / kg H2 (B.C. Centre for Innovation & Clean Energy, 2023: “Carbon Intensity of Hydrogen Production Methods Report”)
- Is suited to a wide range of production scales (small to large) and can be either centralized or decentralized.
- Can supply hydrogen fuel at demand locations, like fuel stations or remote, distributed, and difficult-to-abate greenhouse gas (GHG) point emission sources.
- Produces a wide range of elemental carbon forms like carbon black, graphitic carbon, and possibly even nanotubes and nanofibers.
Did you know? Several Canadian and global technology developers are making strides in commercializing methane pyrolysis processes to produce clean hydrogen and solid carbon. The JIP participants, including the County of Grande Prairie, Ekona Power, FortisBC, and others, are exploring opportunities to pilot and deploy this exciting technology to produce low-carbon hydrogen and add value to the solid carbon product.
The Elemental Carbon Market Assessment JIP is running from October 2024 – September 2025. To date, we’ve collected market data for more than 50 potential carbon applications. We’re evaluating the technoeconomic feasibility of up to 20 of these applications in the following sectors:
- Construction (cement, asphalt)
- Manufacturing (steelmaking, rubber products, automotive tires, plastics, carbides, electrical components)
- Environmental (wastewater treatment, contaminant immobilization, fugitive methane emissions mitigation)
- Energy (storage)
The results generated on this project are expected to provide the following environmental, economic, and social benefits:
- Stimulate new markets, job creation, and revenue generating streams for methane pyrolysis carbon products
- Create opportunities to offset the cost of hydrogen produced by methane pyrolysis
- Inform business decisions on methane pyrolysis process deployment
- Lay groundwork for future proof-of-concept testing and carbon product development
- Provide supporting evidence and data for new GHG emission quantification protocols
- Support decarbonization of difficult-to-abate GHG emission sources
The JIP is open to new members as the project advances. Want to know more? Contact Martin Huard or Victor Bachmann.