Renewable firm aims to be Hamilton’s first ‘green hydrogen’ maker on the bayfront
Gary Grahn, chief operating officer at GH Power Inc., with the hydrogen reactor the company has built in one of Stelco’s former mechanical shops.Cathie Coward / The Hamilton Spectator
Article By Matthew Van Dongen Spectator Reporter originally in The Hamilton Spectator
A renewable energy firm plans to turn scrap aluminum into “green hydrogen” in a former Stelco building that would become Hamilton’s first commercial producer of the climate-friendly fuel.
Some critics, however, argue it would be better for the environment to recycle the versatile metal instead because the process of making new aluminum has a huge carbon footprint.
GH Power Inc. set up shop in January in a cavernous former Stelco maintenance building at the end of Gage Avenue North that is part of an 800-acre bayfront industrial redevelopment by Slate Asset Management.
The company is testing a $7-million reactor that it says uses aluminum and water to create hydrogen — as well as heat that can generate electricity and aluminum oxides used in everything from smartphones to sandpaper to LED lights.
The company hopes to “flip the switch” on commercial production of up to 600 annual tonnes of hydrogen in the near future, said chief operating officer Gary Grahn at an open house for industry neighbours, politicians and investors.
But the technology is also designed to be “modular,” meaning industries eyeing hydrogen as a climate-friendly fuel could make it in their own reactor, rather than arranging for tricky transportation of the highly reactive gas.
“This could solve a lot of problems for a lot of people and we intend to market it globally,” said Grahn. “But for now, we’re focused on birthing this technology right here in Hamilton.”
Hydrogen is perceived as a climate change game-changer because it does not create carbon dioxide emissions when burned as fuel. Advocates hope it could replace fossil fuels and “decarbonize” some of the biggest greenhouse gas polluters in the steel, energy and shipping industries.
In Hamilton, ArcelorMittal Dofasco — Ontario’s largest industrial carbon polluter — has vowed to transition to “green” steelmaking that will eventually require huge quantities of hydrogen. The Hamilton Oshawa Port Authority also expects to buy clean hydrogen from a water-powered plant in Niagara Falls by 2024.
Right now, though, most of the world’s hydrogen is not “green” — meaning it is made using fossil fuels that emit carbon dioxide. Grahn says he believes GH Power is the only green hydrogen maker in the Hamilton area so far.
But some experts are skeptical about the proposal.
Chemical engineer Paul Martin, a co-founder of the Hydrogen Science Coalition, agreed there is “an absolute need to clean up hydrogen production” if the gas is to play a role in decarbonizing major manufacturing processes like steel.
But Martin questioned the climate-friendly credentials of using valuable aluminum to make energy.
He argued recycling the scrap into new aluminum is “by far the best thing you could do for the environment” because the mining and smelting of ore into virgin aluminum has a “huge” carbon footprint. The global industry emits close to 1-billion tonnes of greenhouse gases a year.
Mark Winfield, a professor of urban and environmental change at York University, also suggested recycling old aluminum is easy and makes more sense. “The energy investment in making aluminum is enormous and recycling it conserves a high portion of that energy.”
Grahn agreed recycling aluminum is important, but argued his technology is still filling an important climate need that will also yield marketable “green alumina” — the metallic ingredients needed by a host of high-tech manufacturers.
The company is also experimenting with reacting iron to produce hydrogen, he added. So far, GH Power is buying much of the scrap it needs from local sources like Triple M and AIM Recycling.
The company is still seeking investors and in talks with potential customers. But it has government support via a grant from the National Research Council of Canada and a partnership with researchers at Carleton University who helped test an early reactor about the size of a soccer ball.
The city — which aims to build a regional “decarbonization hub” — is also curious about the technology, said climate change initiatives director Lynda Lukasik, who toured the plant.
Lukasik said she has more to learn about the reactor, but is generally excited to see “emerging technologies” dedicated to decarbonization. “Industry is Hamilton’s No. 1 source for (greenhouse gas) emissions, so I think there is going to be local demand for the type of energy they are generating.”