Australia-based Hazer Group on July 31 announced its board has made a final investment decision to proceed with the development of a commercial demonstration plant (CDP) that will convert biogas to hydrogen and graphite.
Hazer said the CDP will be the first fully integrated deployment of the Hazer process. The facility will have the capacity to produce 100 tons per year of fuel cell grade hydrogen, which can be used as a transportation fuel, for power generation, or in clean industrial applications.
The CDP will be located at Water Corp.’s Woodman Point Wastewater Treatment Plant at Munster in Western Australia. Hazer said the project will utilize approximately 2 million standard cubic meters of biogas that is currently being flared.
The capex budget for the project is $17 million. Hazer said the project scope has been expected to include a stationary hydrogen fuel cell power generation system, which will allow the company to use some of the hydrogen produced by the CDP to generate its own renewable power.
Hazer has appointed Perth, Australia-based Primero Group as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the project. The CDP is expected to commence pre-commissioning activities during the second quarter of 2021 and achieve practical completion in mid-2021. The project is expected to operate for three years or until the end of 2023, depending on the future operational plans of the Woodman Point facility.
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency is supporting development of the project with a grant of up to $9.41 million.
