Finnish developer Hycamite has begun construction of a turquoise hydrogen demonstration plant that can produce 2,000 tons of hydrogen per year through methane pyrolysis.

The process heats natural gas in a pyrolysis furnace without air, producing hydrogen and solid carbon instead of carbon dioxide. The resulting powdered form of solid carbon, known as carbon black, is a key ingredient in many products and can be used in tires and dark plastics to be sold as another source of revenue. The current price in Europe is less than $2 per kilogram.

Hycamite expects the turquoise hydrogen plant to produce 6,000 tons of solid carbon per year, but did not say whether any customers buy either product.

The demonstration plant is located in an industrial park in Kokkola, central Finland, which claims to be the largest cluster of inorganic chemicals in Northern Europe.

Hycamite calculates that the project will reduce CO2 emissions by up to 18,000 tonnes per year compared to grey hydrogen if it is transported to the gas terminal in Kokora using Norwegian liquefied natural gas (LNG), as well as the potential for carbon removal if biogas is used instead.

The developer also claims that its methane pyrolysis technology uses only 13% of the electrolyzer's energy requirements.

The Cocora project is estimated to cost 28 million euros ($30 million). Finland's state-owned Climate Fund, the Climate Fund, provided a €10 million capital loan for the facility in February 2023 and €25 million in financing for Hycamite in July 2023. Business Finland, a government agency, is supporting the development and pilot project with €2.4 million.

The capital loan from the Climate Fund also includes sustainability-related incentives that will reward Hycamite for "achieving emissions reductions in excess of the expected baseline" of about 200,000 tonnes of CO2 over 10 years. Editor/Xu Shengpeng