The facility, at West Contra Costa Sanitary Landfill in Richmond, California, will convert organic green waste into transportation-grade hydrogen for local customers.
The Wyoming-based renewable fuels company said it converted methane to transportation-grade hydrogen at a rate exceeding other commercially available technologies for producing hydrogen from methane.
The trial, held at Raven SR’s Benicia Fabrication & Machine facility in Benicia, California, demonstrated how technology for waste-to-hydrogen and gas-to-hydrogen processes is commercially ready.
Over 95% of the hydrogen currently produced in the United States uses Steam Methane Reformation (SMR), which has an average first-pass conversion efficiency of only 75-80%.
It comes on the eve of Raven SR opening its Round C financing, which is expected to close this autumn, with Raven SR advised by Barclays and BofA Securities.
Raven’s roster of strategic investors prior to its Round C launch includes Chevron, Ascent Hydrogen Fund, ITOCHU, Samsung and Hyzon Motors.
Matt Murdock, CEO of Raven SR, said it is now able to rapidly scale up production and project deployment.
He said, “This was a monumental day to showcase how our technology is highly productive and efficient in creating a hydrogen-rich syngas for downstream conversion into renewable fuels. We now have the means to deliver advanced fuels with low to negative carbon intensity to markets around the world.”
Its upcoming capital raise will be used to deploy multiple systems around the globe, positioning Raven SR as a leading company in carbon negative hydrogen and synthetic fuels.
“We are ready to put our modular and scalable units on the ground to produce local fuel from local waste, contributing to energy independence and security,” he added.
The Raven SR technology can produce emissions-free hydrogen fuel and lower-carbon synthetic fuels from a variety of feedstock sources, including landfills, methane, fugitive gas wells, wastewater treatment plants, agricultural and other sites.
Jim Hays, Business Unit Director at Power Engineers, said Raven SR’s vision of a non-combustion, non-catalytic reactor was “seemingly impossible”, but they’ve achieved it.
Hays said, “Raven SR’s technology is not only a major improvement upon existing technologies like SMR, but a significant step toward the future of clean hydrogen energy.”
The patented Raven SR Steam/CO2 Reforming process was originally created by the late Professor Terry Galloway, whose earlier commercial systems were smaller until large scale commercialisation by Raven SR.
Terry Mazanec, Chief Operating Officer of Lee Enterprises Consulting, said Raven SR’s technology could significantly change the hydrogen production arena.
Mazanec said, “The Raven SR process allows under-utilised mountains of waste to be diverted from landfills and converted into the renewable fuels needed for the transition away from fossil resources.”
Raven SR’s technology is designed to produce hydrogen-rich syngas, the essential building block for clean fuels, efficiently and economically.
Raven SR’s renewable energy products, such as hydrogen, sustainable aviation fuels, synthetic liquid fuels (diesel, Jet A, mil-spec, JP-8), additives and solvents (such as methanol, butanol, and naphtha), will further promote local and regional energy independence and security.