Catalyx uses landfill gas to make green hydrogen and nanofibers
Catalyx Nanotech has announced that they have successfully used landfill gas (LFG) obtained from a closed southern California landfill to produce 0.5 Kg of high-value Platelet Graphite Nanofibers and 2,000 liters of "green" hydrogen. Catalyx previously used natural gas at their Canadian plant to obtain these products, but wants to earn green credentials from using landfill gas despite the more expensive cost. One of the side benefits of using LFG is that it eliminates the extra cost expense of separating nanofibers from byproducts, such as amorphous carbon and soot. Catalyx says that their hydrogen production process proves that H2 can be produced locally, at competitive prices, while eliminating the hydrogen production carbon footprint.[Source: Domestic Fuel]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Matt 12:25PM (7/02/2009)
Burning trash, even greener than before :)
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Chris 12:59PM (7/02/2009)
Great to see different technologies being created out of necessity
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TomW 3:42PM (7/02/2009)
I agree, keep those innovations coming.
Noz 3:41PM (7/02/2009)
BUT BUT BUT.....progress in hydrogen technology simply doesn't happen!!!!
I mean how this be?
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Thunderbuck 4:21PM (7/02/2009)
I love seeing companies innovate like this, and I hope their work progresses.
Two questions:
1) What volume of recovered Hydrogen are we talking about here? And at what cost?
2) Would this technology be adaptable to compost? My city has a curbside composting program, and if Hydrogen could be extracted from the methane generated by the pile, I'm betting they'd see even better results.
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Chris M 5:52PM (7/02/2009)
This process only produces half as much H2 as the standard steam reforming process, but on the plus side it does produce a potentially valuable carbon product and very little CO2. If the carbon products subsidizes the H2 production, it could be competitive or even cheaper than H2 from steam reforming, but if the carbon production doesn't subsidize the H2 production, then the H2 would be more expensive than steam reforming of the same landfill gas.
Chris M 5:58PM (7/02/2009)
As for compost, "landfill gas" is formed by anaerobic bacteria, with no free oxygen present. Composting is an aerobic process, with plenty of air to encourage the growth of fungi and bacteria that rapidly break down plant wastes. Those plant wastes could be put in an anaerobic digester to produce that "natural gas", but you wouldn't end up with regular garden compost as the "other" product, the waste would be like manure.