Technological projects portfolio

Hydrogen is presented as the best alternative to oil for heavy transport (trains, trucks and buses). It is a fuel that produces no NOx or CO2 emissions in use and, unlike batteries, offers very fast refuelling times.

However, as of 2020, 94% of hydrogen is still produced by reforming fossil gas, which ultimately generates more CO2 emissions than using oil directly. In addition, the transport industry requires fuel to be used locally across the territory, but reforming plants are centralised installations and hydrogen is difficult to transport.

The only current alternative that is both low-carbon and decentralised is to produce hydrogen from water via electrolysis. This is a reaction that requires major inputs of electrical energy (50–70 kWh/kg H2) and the use of catalysts, resulting in a high cost price for hydrogen.

SPARK (www.spark-cleantech.eu) is an alternative process that emits no carbon and is both decentralised and competitive. The process produces hydrogen from biomethane or raw biogas generated by the household and/or agricultural waste sector, wastewater treatment etc.

The solution uses a specific cold plasma technology to separate CO2/CH4 mixtures into added-value products (CO and H2). Cold plasmas enable fine control of the temperature and electron energy, improving energy efficiency: the electrical energy input is reduced to 20 kWh/kg H2.

In addition, the technology does not require catalysts, reducing costs and dependence on precious metals. It also enables short response times and a high level of robustness in terms of inputs (impurities, variable stoichiometry). Finally, its modular design enables low-cost deployment for installations of varying sizes.

The goal of maturation is to design the plasma reactor that will be used as the base module for industrial installations and confirm its technical and economic viability. The module, with a capacity of 0.1 Nm3 H2/h, is designed to be mass-produced and used in parallel, making it possible to offer a custom solution that can adapt easily in terms of capacity to users’ needs, with production capacities of 100–1000 kg/day.

Ultimately, these modules will be deployed to enable the distributed production of hydrogen for transport and for low-carbon industrial hydrogen, on-site.