The reactors, which use high-efficiency LED light to replace heat from combustion to power chemical reactions, can produce clean-burning hydrogen fuel from ammonia.

The catalysts were created by a joint team of scientists from Rice University for Nanophotonics, Syzygy Plasmonics and Princeton University’s Andlinger Centre for Energy and the Environment.

Suman Khatiwada, Syzygy co-founder and CTO, said, Photo driven chemistry represents a new frontier that is changing chemical engineering and manufacturing.”

The company’s ammonia-splitting reactors not only reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but low-temperature, low-pressure reactions enable the reactors to be built of affordable materials like aluminium and glass.

Combining Syzygy reactors and inexpensive catalysts has the potential to reduce production costs of lower-carbon hydrogen to the point where importing ammonia as an energy carrier is a competitive option.

“With the recent closing of our Series-C fundraise, we are taking Syzygy reactors to market to produce zero-emissions hydrogen from ammonia,” Khatiwada added

Read more: Syzygy Plasmonics boosted by $76 million funding

In liquid form, ammonia is a carbon-free molecule that is more easily compressed, transported and stored than hydrogen.

Certain energy importing countries face challenges in achieving decarbonisation goals, so rather than continuing to import liquid natural gas contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, some are considering transitioning to green ammonia, which can be converted to hydrogen as a clean fuel source.

Syzygy Lead Scientist, Hossein Robatjazi, said, “The thought of using earth-abundant catalysts with inexpensive, all electric reactors wasn’t even a concept a decade ago with commercialisation agreements already in place, we are accelerating our efforts to help decarbonise the chemical industry.”