Cemex announced that will initially deploy HiiROC’s plasma-based hydrogen production unit at its Rugby cement facility as it looks to cut its CO2 emissions.
The company’s investment arm, Cemex Ventures, has made two key investments into the UK hydrogen technology start-up as it looks to expand its use of hydrogen.
In 2021, the cement major said it had introduced hydrogen technology to all of its European plants as part of a $40m investment programme.
Although Cemex has not confirmed how hydrogen produced by HiiROC’s novel technology will be used, it previously used the energy carrier to enhance its cement kilns’ combustion processes.
HiiROC claims its Thermal Plasma Electrolysis (TPE) uses just one-fifth of the electricity energy used in water electrolysis and can deliver solid carbon black for use in other applications.
The process uses 50kW “plasma torches” to split hydrogen and carbon from high-pressure feedstocks such as methane and flare gas. The gases are then “quenched” in a reaction chamber before separation and refinement in a third chamber.
“This deployment with Cemex marks a significant development in the use of HiiROC’s technology and another milestone in the rollout and production of affordable, clean and scalable production units for a hard-to-decarbonise industry,” said Tim Davies, co-founder and CEO of HiiROC.
Earlier this month, HiiROC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Siemens to use its control technology and automation capacity to boost hydrogen production from its TPE technology.
