Protonic Membrane Reformer (PMR) technology extracts hydrogen from natural gas with superior energy efficiency and integrates CO₂ capture into the process.

Tested in a pilot

This project is a continuation of CLIMIT-backed project 618191 – ‘PROTONIC Phase I’ – with the main objective of phase II being to scale up the technology through pilot testing.

Project activities focused on three work packages:

• Performance and lifetime testing of membrane modules;
• Engineering, building and testing of pilot;

• Multiphysics and techno-economic modelling and assessment of technology and manufacturing maturity.

The result of the project confirm high performance in terms of producing high purity hydrogen and pressurised CO₂ ready for direct liquification. Lifetime testing of membrane modules reached 3,100 hours, and the project has developed and manufactured two pilot installations, each offering a capacity of 2 kg hydrogen per day. These were installed on site with SINTEF and an energy company respectively, where these installations underwent testing

Dissemination of results

Calculation models and techno-economic assessments have been disseminated together with the laboratory test results through an article published in Science titled ‘Single-step hydrogen production from NH₃, CH₄, and biogas in stacked proton ceramic reactors’ which was published in April 2022. The article has garnered attention in both Norwegian and international media, and has been the subject of widespread discussion on blogs and social media platforms.  This response can be tracked online via https://science.altmetric.com/details/127097079.

• Hydrogen production and carbon capture – in a single step, Norwegianscitechnews.com, https://norwegianscitechnews.com/2022/07/hydrogen-production-and-carbon-capture-in-a-single-step/
• Dette røret kan være et stort skritt fremover for blått hydrogen [This pipeline may be a major step forward for blue hydrogen], Titan.uni.no (in Norwegian). https://titan.uio.no/kjemi/2022/dette-roret-kan-vaere-et-stort-skritt-fremover-blatt-hydrogen
• Clark et al, Single-step hydrogen production from NH3, CH4, and biogas in stacked proton ceramic reactors, Science (2022). 
• Malerød-Fjeld et al, Thermo-electrochemical production of compressed hydrogen from methane with near-zero energy loss, Nature Energy (2017). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-017-0029-4
• Project page for PROTONIC phase II: https://climit.no/prosjekt/conversion-of-natural-gas-to-hydrogen-and-compressed-co2-using-protonic-membrane-reformer-technology-protonic-phase-ii/
• Project page for PROTONIC phase I: https://climit.no/project/protonic-membrane-reformer-technology-for-conversion-of-natural-gas-to-hydrogen-and-co2/