| 1 | Catalyst | Undisclosed proprietary solid catalyst. Used to catalyze CH₄ cracking and burn H₂ for heat; not consumed in bulk (circulates in system)cen.acs.org. No catalyst contamination of product carbon. |
Low-grade iron ore (Fe₂O₃) as catalystchemengonline.com. In-situ reduced to metallic iron, which catalyzes CH₄ decompositionchemengonline.com. Iron participates in reaction (forms iron carbides, etc.); continuous addition of fresh ore and handling of spent catalyst required. |
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| 2 | Operating Temp. | < 800 °C (catalytic regime)graphitic.com. Lower temps enabled by catalyst and H₂-burning; easier materials of construction. |
~850 °C (800–900 °C typical)luxresearchinc.com. Iron catalyst lowers required temperature vs thermal; still need high temp but manageable with standard alloys. |
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| 3 | Operating Pressure | Not publicly specified; likely ~1 atm (pilot). Design could allow elevated pressure if needed for kinetics. |
Not explicitly stated; possibly near atmospheric in demo. Patent suggests higher pressures in later stages could boost yieldpatents.google.com.
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| 4 | Hydrogen Production | Turquoise H₂ gas with no direct CO₂. After carbon removal, H₂ ~99% purity (small CH₄/H₂O impurities removed via drying and PSA). Uses a fraction of H₂ as fuel for process heatgraphitic.com, but net H₂ output is high. Pilot: few hundred kg H₂/daycen.acs.org. Commercial design: up to ~100,000 t/yr H₂ in one trainglobenewswire.com. | Turquoise H₂ gas, also CO₂-free. Product gas (H₂ with some CH₄, H₂O) is cleaned by condensation and (likely) PSA to high purity. A portion of H₂ can be used in a fuel cell or burned for energy. Demo scale: ~100 t H₂/yr (~0.27 t/day)research.csiro.au. Future plants expected in the thousands of t/yr H₂ (FortisBC project, etc.) . |
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| 5 | Carbon Product | Solid graphitic carbon (“graphite”) with high crystallinitycen.acs.org. Formed as fine particles; continuously separated via cycloneschemengonline.com. High purity – no metal contamination, usable without further processinggraphitic.com. Marketed as synthetic graphite for batteries, additives, etc. | Solid graphite (graphitic carbon) precipitated on iron particleschemengonline.com. Collected as graphite powder mixed with iron. Needs separation from iron for high purity. Targeting high-purity graphite (demonstrated in CDP runs) for use in steelmaking, batteries, etc.chemengonline.com. Some post-processing (e.g. magnetic or chemical separation) may be required to achieve battery-grade purity.
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| 6 | Heat/Energy Input | Endothermic heat supplied by burning H₂ in-situ (catalytic combustion in reactor)cen.acs.org. Minimizes external energy input. Very low electricity requirement (only for auxiliaries) graphitic.com. Efficient heat integration due to direct coupling; less than 1/5th the energy per H₂ vs electrolysis neededchemengonline.com. |
Endothermic heat supplied externally, e.g. via a fired heater using feed gas or product gas. In demo, biogas is burned in a heat exchanger vesselresearch.csiro.au. Incorporates a hydrogen fuel cell to generate on-site power from some H₂research.csiro.au. Overall energy use still far lower than electrolysis (CH₄ splitting << H₂O splitting)chemengonline.com. Heat recovery and integration (feed preheat, etc.) employed to boost efficiency. |
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| 7 | Emissions/By-products | No direct CO₂ emissions from processglobenewswire.com. Only by-product is water (from H₂ combustion). Carbon is captured as solid. If renewable electricity/O₂ used, process is essentially zero-carbon. Solid carbon can be stored or sold, avoiding CO₂ release. |
No direct CO₂ from reactor. Minor CO₂ only if fossil fuel is burned for heat (which can be mitigated by using a portion of biogas or H₂). Using biogas feedstock can make the process carbon-neutral or even carbon-negative (solid carbon sequesters biogenic CO₂)research.csiro.au. No other emissions; the only gas outputs are H₂ (product) and some H₂O/unused CH₄ which are managed. |
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| 8 | Current Deployment |
Pilot plant (2024) at SWRI, Texas – 1 ton C/day + few hundred kg H₂/daycen.acs.org. Thousands of hours operated with no carbon foulinggraphitic.com. Planning FOAK commercial plant by ~2026 (FID)graphitic.com. Partnered with Technip Energies for engineering scale-upglobenewswire.com. Backed by venture funding ($65M raised)globenewswire.com. |
Commercial Demonstration Plant (2023) in Perth – 100 t/yr H₂, 380 t/yr graphiteresearch.csiro.au. Achieved first H₂/graphite production Jan 2024globenewswire.com; demonstrated 10+ days continuous operation in 2024hydrogen-central.com. Supported by ARENA (grant) and strategic investors. Moving to first commercial projects: e.g. licensed plant with FortisBC in Canada (in development) **promotion blocked**.com.au, and MOUs with partners in Europe/Asia. Scaling likely via partnerships; ~70 patents protecting technology**promotion blocked**.com.au. |
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