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.