Capturing carbon while producing hydrogen – Hazer’s innovative technology

Although hydrogen itself is a clean fuel, current production technologies are significant producers of carbon pollution.

The Hazer Group was founded in 2010 to commercialise the HAZER® Process, which captures carbon pollution from hydrogen production in the form of graphite. This graphite is a valuable by-product in its own right.

The underlying research was supported by an ARC Linkage grant, Wesfarmers and XLTG Inc. It required extensive electron microscopy by Prof. Martin Saunders at Microscopy Australia (formerly AMMRF) at the University of Western Australia. This data enabled the development of the HAZER® Process for cracking methane (natural gas) into hydrogen and carbon nanomaterials, with no carbon-dioxide emissions. The patented process delivers cost-effective hydrogen and graphitic carbon through the thermocatalytic decomposition of methane. Self-encapsulating carbon spheres called carbon nano-onions are a by-product that can be used in the manufacture of hydrogen fuel cells and many other potential applications.

In December 2015 Hazer Group Ltd launched on the ASX and has since created a pilot plant in Sydney. In 2017 Chris Ellison’s Mineral Resources agreed to fund the development of a large-scale plant to produce ultra-high-purity graphite in Kwinana, WA. The technology gives a clean route to two valuable industrial commodities from an abundant natural resource.