Hadean wins AUD $15 million to scale hydrogen tech

Hadean Energy has secured AUD $15 million from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency to scale its hydrogen production technology. The funding will support a larger industrial demonstration of a system developed from CSIRO research.

The Melbourne-based company is commercialising a tubular solid oxide electrolyser that uses waste heat from industrial plants to cut electricity use in hydrogen production. Hadean says the system can reduce electricity requirements by up to 30 per cent compared with conventional methods.

ARENA is providing AUD $15 million towards the AUD $30 million project, which is intended to take the technology to a 200-300kW industrial demonstration. The work is also aimed at advancing the system from Technology Readiness Level 6 to 9.

The first phase will cover further technology development, engineering and design, manufacturing development, procurement, safety work, and preparation for integration into an industrial site. It will be followed by construction, commissioning and operation of the larger electrolyser system.

Hydrogen is already widely used in steelmaking, fertiliser production, chemicals and fuel refining, but much of the current supply is made using fossil fuels. Hadean is targeting those existing industrial users as its initial market, arguing that plants already generating large amounts of waste heat offer a practical route to deployment.

Its system can also produce syngas, used in fuels and chemicals including sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel. Hadean says this broadens the technology's potential beyond hydrogen supply alone.

Steelworks trial

The technology has already been tested in an operating industrial environment at BlueScope's Port Kembla Steelworks. In a 1,000-hour pilot, the system used steam generated by the steelmaking process to produce hydrogen.

According to Hadean, the trial produced hydrogen using less than 36kWh of electricity per kilogram, compared with about 50-55kWh typically required by other electrolyser technologies. The result supports the case for a larger demonstration, the company says.

Unlike high-temperature electrolysers based on flat ceramic cells, Hadean's system uses a tubular design intended to simplify manufacturing, improve durability and reduce points of failure, while avoiding the use of rare and expensive metals.

"Ultimately this is about finding a cheaper and more efficient way to make the products we all rely on while significantly reducing the associated emissions," said Liz Boylan, chief executive officer of Hadean Energy. "There is already a large industrial market for hydrogen in Australia and internationally. Hadean wants to give existing users a cleaner, more efficient way to produce it, using the heat they are already generating. If we can prove that at commercial scale, it has the potential to change the economics of clean hydrogen for some of the hardest industries to decarbonise. Our technology also has a pathway to produce synthesis gas for the rapidly expanding renewable fuels market, including for the aviation, mining, transport and shipping sectors."

Research roots

Hadean was co-founded by CSIRO and RFC Ambrian to commercialise work developed by Australian scientists over about eight years. The project is one of several efforts to improve the economics of hydrogen production by lowering power demand, which remains one of the main cost pressures for electrolyser projects.

"Hydrogen is not a new commodity. It is already an essential feedstock for industries including fertilisers, fuels and chemicals, yet most of it is still produced using natural gas and coal. What sets the Hadean technology apart is its ability to harness steam and waste heat to significantly reduce the electricity required to produce hydrogen. Combined with materials and cell designs developed to deliver high performance and durability under industrial operating conditions, these attributes are critical to translating high-temperature electrolysis from promising research into an industry-viable technology capable of operating at scale," said Gurpreet Kaur, senior research scientist at CSIRO.

CSIRO also highlighted the technology's potential to convert steam and carbon dioxide into syngas through co-electrolysis. The process produces hydrogen and carbon monoxide in a single electrochemical step and can be adjusted to suit downstream fuel and chemical production.

"The Hadean technology can also convert steam and carbon dioxide directly into synthesis gas, or syngas, one of the most important building blocks in the chemical industry. Through co-electrolysis, steam and carbon dioxide are converted into hydrogen and carbon monoxide in a single electrochemical step, enabling the syngas composition to be tailored to downstream production requirements. This provides a more direct pathway to fuels, chemicals and materials while creating an opportunity to utilise carbon dioxide as a valuable industrial feedstock rather than treating it solely as waste emissions," said Sarb Giddey, senior principal research scientist at CSIRO.

Investor support

Alongside the ARENA grant, Hadean has raised investment to cover its share of the project costs and allow early engineering and development work to begin. Investors in the round include RFC Ambrian Funds Management, engineering partner Amarna Energy and private backers.

Amarna Energy is responsible for the balance-of-plant design for the demonstration and also invested in the company during the round. The earlier Port Kembla pilot helped validate the technology under conditions that matter to industrial operators, the group said.

"We don't often put our own money into the projects we work on, but Hadean was an easy decision. The Port Kembla results showed this technology works in a real industrial environment, and that's what gets engineers interested. Our job now is to design the plant around the electrolyser so it sits properly inside an operating industrial site, safely and reliably, and gives the technology a fair test at a scale that means something to future customers.

"Hadean is going after industries that already use a lot of hydrogen and already produce a lot of waste heat. That's a practical way to commercialise, and it's why we wanted to be part of it from the start. Taking CSIRO science and turning it into something that can be built, operated and eventually rolled out across Australian industry is exactly the kind of work we want to be doing," said Andrew Lelliott, director of Amarna Energy.

RFC Ambrian says the company's progress stands out at a time when investors are demanding firmer evidence from hydrogen ventures.

"Investors want evidence that technologies work, that they solve a genuine economic problem and that there are customers who need them," said Rob Adamson, executive chairman of RFC Ambrian. "Hadean has spent the past several years building that evidence. Australia produces exceptional science and Hadean is an opportunity to build a globally significant Australian company around it."

ARENA chief executive officer Darren Miller said the project would test an Australian-developed system in an industrial setting and provide more evidence about its performance.

"Green hydrogen has an important role to play in reducing emissions from industries like steelmaking, chemicals and fuel production, but lowering production costs remains one of the sector's biggest challenges. Hadean's technology has the potential to produce hydrogen using significantly less electricity than conventional electrolysers, helping improve efficiency and reduce costs for industrial users. This project will demonstrate Australian-developed technology in a real industrial environment, providing valuable evidence of its performance and helping take it another step towards commercial deployment. If successful, it could support lower-emissions steelmaking, strengthen Australia's manufacturing capability and create new opportunities for Australian hydrogen technologies both here and overseas."