BPH Energy and investee Advent to acquire stake in Clean Hydrogen Technologies for US$1m

In collaboration with 36%-owned investee Advent, BPH Energy (ASX: BPH) has unveiled an agreement to acquire 10% of US-based Clean Hydrogen Technologies for US$1 million.

The acquisition follows BPH’s review of new investment opportunities which offer energy solutions that protect against carbon dioxide emissions.

BPH will purchase US$800,000 worth of Clean Hydrogen shares to give it an 8% stake, while Advent will own 2% of the company for US$200,000.

BPH and Advent also have the right to acquire a further US$1 million-worth of Clean Hydrogen shares by the end of December, which would then give BPH a 16% ownership and Advent 4%.

Clean Hydrogen will use the investment to design, build, produce and test a reactor that can produce up to 15kg per hour of hydrogen and submit at least two new patents in an agreed location relating to this proprietary hydrogen technology.

Current hydrogen production

According to BPH, the majority of the world’s hydrogen is currently produced using a processed called steam methane reforming (SMR). In this method, for every 1 tonne of hydrogen generated up to 12t of carbon dioxide emissions can be created, while more than 20t of water is required.

Electrolysis is a growing alternative process for producing hydrogen without carbon dioxide emissions.

However, BPH says it requires new infrastructure, more electricity and does not operate within existing supply chains.

Clean Hydrogen Technologies proprietary process

Clean Hydrogen has developed its own process technology to generate hydrogen, which has been tested at a proof-of-concept scale.

Currently, the company uses methane as its feedstock and plans to also use natural gas in the future.

Clean Hydrogen processes (or cracks) the methane using its own patented catalyst and custom fluidised bed reactor to create a turquoise hydrogen with no carbon dioxide emissions.

“The process uses is called pyrolysis, which is not new and has been used by the oil industry for many years,” BPH noted.

This process also produces a second product called conductive carbon, which can be used in battery manufacturing.

Some carbon nanotubes are also generated – with these materials also able to be sold commercially.

BPH says the Clean Hydrogen’s process has similar energy needs to SMR and can generate hydrogen at a similar price and scale.

It also does not require water.

Rationale behind Clean Hydrogen’s process

While BPH says other solutions such as electrolysis will be necessary in the future, Clean Hydrogen’s technology can deployed at scale and within existing supply chains.

The technology is being developed to work downstream at heavy transport fuelling hubs, mid-stream at steel plants by replacing coking coal, and upstream where natural gas is processed into hydrogen, and can be piped for all uses.

“The technology being developed by Clean Hydrogen’s solution requires very little change and impact to existing infrastructures and supply chains unlike other solutions.”

In advancing its proprietary technology, Clean Hydrogen will finalise the design and build a proof of scale reactor to produce up to 15kg of hydrogen and 45kg of commercially-viable conductive carbon an hour.

Cortical Dynamics

This investment in Clean Hydrogen follows BPH’s announcement its 17.5%-owned investee Cortical Dynamics has been awarded $137,000 to further develop its brain anaesthesia response monitor (BARM) to optimise patient experience under anaesthesia and implement brain data monitoring and feedback.

The funding is from the fourth round of the BioMedTech Horizons (BMTH) program, which is delivered by Australian not-for-profit organisation MTPConnect’s Medical Research Future Fund.

MTPConnect chief executive officer Stuart Dignam says the BMTH program addresses gaps in early biomedical and medical technology product development to fast-track precommercial prototypes entering human clinical trials.

Cortical’s BARM device has approval from Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration, Europe’s CE Mark and Korean MFDS.

The device better detects the effects of anaesthetic agents on brain activity, to assist in keeping patients optimally anaesthetised and pain free.