Hydrogen from photosynthesis

Photosynthesis uses sunlight and CO2 to 'crack' water and produce the oxygen we breathe. The ‘leftover’ hydrocarbons are stored in the plants – making up biomass and in the end most of our non-recyclable waste. Boson unlocks these 'stranded' hydrocarbons to produce local Circular Hydrogen and industrial-quality CO2 that are sustainable and cost-competitive.

Gasification is highly efficient for Hydrogen production because it benefits from work already done by photosynthesis. Photosynthesis uses CO2 and sunlight to separate Hydrogen from water and store it in the hydrocarbons that make up biomass and ultimately also most non-recyclable waste. The reactivity of these hydrocarbons allows us to produce local renewable Hydrogen from waste or biomass cheaper than diesel. This is very different from Electrolysis, which has to use large amounts of electricity to do one of the toughest jobs in chemistry – break Hydrogen loose from water.

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Goodbye combustion. Hello Hydrogen from waste!

Combustion instantly burns all Hydrogen and Carbon in the fuel to produce heat. To produce steam. To produce power. All the time. This is incompatible with intermittent power generation – which is a growing problem. Producing Hydrogen with that power instead, and use it in a bus, will however emit more NOx and more CO2 per kilometer than even a diesel bus. With the shift to a Hydrogen economy, incineration is reaching its ‘Kodak moment’.

Gasification, on the other hand, is a flexible next-generation technology that produces Hydrogen natively in a thermochemical recycling process. Boson has applied 40 years of research in a careful scale-up to commercial size. The result is a carbon-negative Hydrogen and radically reduced emissions of NOx and Particulate Matter.

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Clean and efficient gasification of non-recyclable waste

Boson’s Hydrogen-capable Plasma Assisted Gasification technology (HPAG) produces Hydrogen for direct local use from a wide range of non-recyclable solid wastes by applying high-temperature thermochemical recycling. At a yield of some 100kg of Hydrogen per ton of waste, the process is safe, sustainable and financially attractive for all stakeholders in the waste value chain.

Standard unit treatment capacity starts at 32k tons of waste per year for mixed non-recyclable waste and 8k tons per year for medical and hazardous wastes. Site capacity can be scaled up by adding standard units.

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Clean and efficient low-tar gasification of biomass

Boson has developed a High-Temperature Time Turbulence Agent Gasification (H3TAG) process for biomass. The process produces a syngas with high content of fuel-bound Hydrogen, carbon, and small amounts of tars. With a fuel input of 3.5 MW, some 80-120kg/h of Hydrogen can be realized per ton of biomass.

Standard unit treatment capacity is 5.5k tons per year. Site capacity can be scaled up by adding standard units.

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Realising the full Hydrogen potential

Boson’s thermochemical recycling process is able to produce up to three times more Hydrogen than originally present in the waste or biomass – by further processing the carbon fraction of the syngas through a combination of Steam Methane Reforming (SMR) and Water-Gas-Shift (WGS).

The upgraded syngas is then separated into dispense-ready Hydrogen in fuel-cell quality and industrial-grade CO2 for further use or storage. There is also a small fraction of rest-gas that is cycled back into the system to produce heat for the process. All gas conditioning steps are commercially available systems delivered and integrated into the plant by our global partners.

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Technology with a strong business case

Boson’s integrated system radically improves environmental and financial performance compared to incineration – for the very same waste streams.

  • Some 3x higher revenue and more than 10x higher profitability per ton treated to distribute across the value chain, compared to conventional incineration.
  • Carbon negative at much lower cost than any other technology.
  • Zero ash and radically reduced NOx and PM emissions.
  • Water footprint cut so deep that we can even produce water.
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Developed for global execution

Boson has developed close cooperation with world leading partners to secure scale, standardisation, quality, and financing in rollout and project execution. Our strategic partners include Siemens Energy, RHI Magnesita, PyroGenesis, IMUBIT, TU Freiberg, among others.

With our partners, we have built a project execution model for end-to-end delivery of distributed solutions. The model allows for speed and high efficiencies of scale in development, execution and plant operation.

It includes full turn-key project responsibility from reactor manufacturing, Balance of Plant and project execution; to Hydrogen dispensing, storage, fuel cells, grid technology, and maintenance over full plant lifetime.