Chart Industries Inc., a leading global manufacturer of liquefaction and cryogenic equipment serving multiple applications in the clean energy and industrial gas end markets, including hydrogen, has invested $25 million in Transform Materials for 5% of its equity.

Transform Materials is a sustainable chemical technology company that uses microwave plasma to convert natural gas into acetylene and hydrogen. Its highly selective, cost-effective, net-carbon-negative process converts the methane in natural gas into high-value products suitable for direct use or downstream reactions.

Using only methane and electricity as inputs, this highly selective process (single-pass conversion rate of > 90% with >95% selectivity), achieved at high throughput, with efficient plant operation and low production cost.avoids effluent impurities that require complex purification systems, instead yielding high-purity products with a small equipment footprint. In addition, it uses 50% less electricity for producing hydrogen than competing technologies.

We transform methane into acetylene and hydrogen, critical precursors for the synthesis of high-value chemical end products, without using traditional techniques that form carbon dioxide. That means we can meet important future needs of the petrochemical industry without creating harmful greenhouse gases. An important benefit of our technology is that it repurposes the carbon that methane—a potent greenhouse gas—contains, so that it doesn’t enter the atmosphere. We saw immediately how Chart’s process chemicals and hydrogen technologies can help us deliver clean, high-purity hydrogen and acetylene to our customers at scale.

—David Soane Ph.D., Chairman of Transform Materials

In conjunction with this strategic investment, Chart and Transform also executed a binding commercial Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The MOU establishes the commercial collaboration and equipment supply arrangements for Chart to supply Transform projects.

Transform Materials’ process has already been adopted via a global licensing agreement with DSM Nutritional Products Ltd. (DSM), which plans to utilize the patented Transform technology to produce certain vitamins, carotenoids, and nutritional ingredients.

In addition to DSM, Transform has multiple other commercial pipeline opportunities this year in both North America and Europe. Given this level of interest, Transform expects to begin construction of two or three plants in the next 12 months. The investment and commercial supply agreement with Transform will help facilitate opportunities to expand Chart’s equipment presence both geographically and across global customers, with per-plant potential content in the multi-million dollar range.