Monolith Materials wins investment from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to support clean hydrogen production

LONDON (ICIS)–Clean energy company Monolith Materials on Sunday said it has received an investment from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Americas to support its commercial-scale, emissions-free hydrogen manufacturing technology.

Monolith Materials is the first US manufacturer to produce turquoise hydrogen on a commercial scale, with the announcement the latest in a series of recent investments by MHI in support of achieving a decarbonised world.

“Successfully scaling Monolith’s technology to serve a global marketplace will benefit from the kind of investment that we have from MHI,” stated Rob Hanson, co-founder and CEO of Monolith Materials.

“This relationship will be a model for evaluating future investment opportunities to make emissions-free hydrogen the standard around the world.”

Through a commercial-scale methane pyrolysis, Monolith is manufacturing emissions-free, economically sustainable hydrogen using 100% renewable energy.

“By solving the century-old problem of scaling methane pyrolysis to a commercial level, Monolith Materials has emerged as a leader in the manufacture of emissions-free hydrogen,” commented Yoshihiro Shiraiwa, president and CEO, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America.

“While we’re evaluating a number of clean-energy development options, Monolith offers great promise.

“We’re excited to be the first in a new wave of strategic investors supporting the development of their technology.”

Founded in 2012, Monolith Materials has developed a process technology that converts natural gas into clean hydrogen and a solid carbon material called carbon black, a key raw material in the automotive and industrial sectors.

The Nebraska-based firm is in the operating stage of Olive Creek 1 (OC1), its first commercial-scale emissions-free production facility designed to produce approximately 14,000 tonnes of carbon black annually along with clean hydrogen.

In addition, the company recently announced plans to produce emissions-free ammonia at a second phase production facility known as Olive Creek 2 (OC2) in Hallam, Nebraska .

Combined, Monolith Materials’ production of hydrogen, emissions-free ammonia and carbon black are expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 1m tonnes/year compared to traditional manufacturing processes, the firm noted.