H2 Green Mining and Ohmium partner on green hydrogen in Chile for sustainable mining operations
21 April 2024
Ohmium International, a company that designs, manufactures, and deploys advanced Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolyzers, is collaborating with Chilean company H2 Green Mining to develop green hydrogen projects to help decarbonize mining operations in the country.
H2 Green Mining is a joint venture between Susterra, a subsidiary of the engineering firm Pares&Alvarez, and Star Energy Partners, a service consulting firm specializing in energy and sustainable growth. The company develops green hydrogen projects to advance sustainable mining practices throughout Chile.
H2 Green Mining and Ohmium will collaborate on developing a 20 MW green hydrogen pilot project, with a potential to scale to 200 MW. The project is strategically located 15 km S-W of the city of Calama in Northern Chile, close to 7 major mining operations, which represent 29% of the total production of the national Cu. The region is well suited for renewable energy production from solar and wind power.
Ohmium’s electrolyzers will be used to generate hydrogen for the copper smelting process as well as other thermal processes within the mines. They may also be used to fuel trucks transporting minerals to the nearby port in Mejillones.
Headquartered in the United States, with manufacturing facilities in India and operations worldwide, Ohmium has a global green hydrogen project pipeline of more than 2 GW across three continents. In 2023, Ohmium raised $250 million in Series C financing, led by TPG Rise Climate.
Ohmium manufactures modular interlocking PEM electrolyzers that integrate advanced power electronics, delivering added value for a wide range of commercial and industrial applications in terms of safety, installation cost and speed, energy density, scalability, and ramp rate. Individual, compact electrolyzers can be easily stacked to reduce installation and maintenance costs and the standardized design enables rapid scaling from megawatts to gigawatts. Ohmium’s patented electrolyzer technology features dynamic ramping capabilities, making it suitable to pair with renewable electricity.
Here is one of many initiatives and pathways seeking to reduce the costs of electrolysis for hydrogen production:
https://phys.org/news/2024-04-hydrocarbon-molecule-supplier-energy-storage.html
' This research uncovers the properties of cost-effective MoVN/MoNi4-MoO2 nanorods that are synthesized using a two-step facile hydrothermal method.
The electrodes having high specific electrochemical surface area, low overpotential for both half-cell reactions (HER and OER), and negligible degradation, performed exceptionally well providing a competitive path to the fabrication of low-cost and highly effective electrodes, as a potential replacement for Pt-based electrodes, for application in commercial electrolyzers.'
Precious metal costs and availability presently represent a constraint and increase costs of some forms of electrolysis, although it should be noted that SOEC's as for instance in Topsoe Haldor's installations don't need them.
Posted by: Davemart | 21 April 2024 at 02:50 AM