This technology is a carbon-neutral chemical reaction system that converts biomass into high-purity hydrogen gas while simultaneously capturing carbon dioxide byproducts as solid carbonates, enabling clean and renewable energy generation.
Current hydrogen production relies heavily on fossil fuel reforming, which emits large amounts of carbon dioxide and undermines its use as a clean energy source. While biomass offers a renewable and carbon-neutral alternative, existing biomass-to-hydrogen methods such as gasification and pyrolysis require high temperatures, expensive catalysts, and extensive input pretreatment, resulting in high costs and low hydrogen purity. There is a critical need for an efficient, low-emission, and economically viable process that can convert diverse biomass resources into clean hydrogen while minimizing carbon release.
This technology is a system that converts biomass into hydrogen through a combined alkaline thermal treatment and molten salt electrolysis process. In the first stage, biomass is thermochemically decomposed at moderate temperatures, enhancing the release of hydrogen while preventing carbon buildup. Simultaneously, carbon dioxide generated during conversion reacts with alkaline salts to form carbonate compounds, which are then reduced to solid carbon, capturing carbon dioxide within the reactor. The process operates at lower temperatures and pressures than conventional gasification or pyrolysis, and does not require costly catalysts or extensive pretreatment.
Preliminary prototyping and bench-scale validation have demonstrated efficient hydrogen generation with minimal emissions and successful regeneration of hydroxide salts for reuse in subsequent cycles.
Ah-Hyung Alissa Park, Ph.D.
Patent Pending (WO/2020/023452)
IR CU24233, CU12042
Licensing Contact: Dovina Qu
