Hydrogen on Demand, Anywhere!
Dark Matter Materials Revolutionizes
Hydrogen Production
Hydrogen Production Through Catalytic Water Gasification
Dark Matter Materials has developed a more sustainable and low-cost path to hydrogen production through its thermal catalytic water gasification process.
The heart of the innovation is our proprietary nanocomposite catalyst made from low-cost earth-abundant metals that, when reacted with water, produces 99.9% pure hydrogen under exceptionally mild conditions without the release of greenhouse gases.
The water does not need to be fresh; most any type of water can be used including greywater, seawater, agricultural wastewater, and bitumen tailings water.
Dark Matter Materials Featured on Hydrogen Expert Panel Session
Electrolysis Eliminated
Up to 30% of resulting energy is lost to the electricity required to make green hydrogen. This is why it can take 50 kWh to produce just 1 kg of Hâ‚‚. Without the need for electrolysis, our catalyst technology requires only a small amount of low-grade heat, resulting in only a fraction of energy inputs compared to traditional production methods.
Fresh Water Not Needed
The 2030 hydrogen demand predicted by the International Energy Agency would require 21 billion cubic meters of freshwater.* Our catalyst does not require freshwater. In fact, almost any water will react with it with no need for additional treatment processes.
Strategically Placed Production and Delivery
The value and mass adoption of hydrogen as a fuel source are dependent upon its ability to be available anywhere it's needed at low cost.
Today, just 15% of hydrogen's total costs are allocated to production. The remaining 85% is attributed to station infrastructure, storage and delivery.**
We eliminate much of these high non-production costs because our process is mobile enough to be placed on-site at any location where hydrogen can be used for vehicle, commercial, industrial or agricultural use.
Thermal Catalytic Nanomaterials
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DMM eliminates the rainbow of colors for hydrogen production’s environmental footprint.
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No light, no electricity, some heat, just add the catalyst to water.
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The process is water agnostic and can be tap, grey, salty or produced.
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Production rates can be as high as ~310 mL/min/g.
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Earth abundant, accessible and scalable catalyst.
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Catalyst can be easily regenerated.
The Real Hydrogen Economy
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Molecular Hâ‚‚ can be naturally occurring but normally must be synthesized.
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Large-scale Hâ‚‚ production is currently limited to energy-intensive thermal cracking of natural gas with carbon capture, utilization and storage - CCUS (blue), methane pyrolysis (turquoise), and coal (grey).
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The electrolysis of water (green) is an electrochemical process that consumes electricity to split water into Hâ‚‚ and Oâ‚‚. In 2020, this process accounted for ~0.03% of global production.
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In the marketplace, Hâ‚‚ production competes with its own energy source, i.e., with "green" electricity from the grid. Hâ‚‚ is a carrier of energy, not a source.
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Hydrogen is the right fuel, but the wrong energy carrier. Water does that for free.
The catalysts are composed of earth-abundant, non-strategic metal elements
Hydrogen Powered Fuel Cell
On demand, off-grid, thermal catalytic water-to-water hydrogen fuel cell engine.
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Low energy consumption – ambient temperature and pressure
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Readily scaled, inherently continuous
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Hydrogen on demand, anywhere
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Works with any type of water
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Production cost estimate ~$6.50/kg of Hâ‚‚ delivered
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No hydrogen storage, no transportation, no distribution grid, no membrane deoxygenation, required.
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The catalyst can be recycled, reused and repurposed.
Methane Carbonization to Hydrogen
Methane pyrolysis has recently emerged as a promising technology, producing Hâ‚‚ and amorphous carbon, instead of CO and COâ‚‚, from purified natural gas during steam methane reforming. However, the process still suffers from incomplete conversion and unmitigated release of fugitive methane, a more potent greenhouse gas than COâ‚‚. Further, the process is energy intensive; more energy is required to generate the hydrogen than produced when used as a fuel source (e.g., fuel cells, combustion). Our family of metal-oxide catalysts activate methane at temperatures of ~300 °C, far lower than existing technologies, paving the way for economically viable methane carbonization.
Our family of metal-oxide catalysts activate methane at temperatures of ~300 °C, far lower than existing technologies
*International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2024
**Argonne National Laboratory, 2019