Republic Services to Convert Waste to Green Hydrogen in Collaboration with Raven SR
U.S. recycling and waste disposal company Republic Services and renewable fuels company Raven SR, announced today a new partnership aimed at converting organic waste to produce green hydrogen at a site in California.
Hydrogen is viewed as one of the key building blocks of the transition to a cleaner energy future, given its ability to act both as a clean energy carrier and fuel, as well as a CO2-neutral feedstock for the production of green chemicals. Despite being the most abundant element in the universe, however, there are no pure hydrogen deposits on earth, and it must be extracted from other materials. The extraction process often creates pollutants and GHG emissions.
Most green hydrogen production processes use electrolysis to extract hydrogen from water, using a renewable source of energy such as wind or solar, with oxygen released as a byproduct. Raven SR’s proprietary Steam/CO2 Reformation process uses waste instead of water, providing one of the only non-combustion, waste-to-hydrogen processes in the world.
Under the collaboration, Raven SR will initially process up to 99.9 tons of organic waste per day at Republic Services’ West Contra Costa Sanitary Landfill and produce up to 2,000 metric-tons per year of renewable hydrogen, as well as power for its operations.
Matt Murdock, Raven SR CEO, said:
“Republic Services gives us a foundation to produce green hydrogen for commercial use in the transportation sector in Northern California. As we bring this system online under very strict environmental regulatory controls, we will demonstrate we can convert waste anywhere. We’re excited to be working in the city of Richmond to provide green hydrogen with the aim of also improving air quality.”
According to Republic Services, the new project directly supports the company’s existing long-term goal to increase the recovery and circularity of key materials by 40% by 2030, while also advancing California’s goal of reducing emissions from organic waste.
Pete Keller, Republic Services Vice President of recycling and sustainability, said:
“We are excited about this innovative partnership with Raven SR and the opportunity to produce green hydrogen from organic waste. This project not only creates additional clean energy resources in the region, but also allows us to help customers meet their sustainability goals. We believe it’s imperative to achieve greater circularity with the materials we handle to help preserve the environment now and for future generations.”