News

● MoU builds on successful collaboration through WhiskHy project and commits partners to continue technical and commercial validation Supercritical’s technology across Suntory Global Spirits-owned distilleries in Scotland‍

● Milestone marked with casking of hydrogen direct-fired spirit distilled at the Yamazaki Distillery’s pilot distillery in Japan, casked in Japan and Scotland‍

● Celebrated with representatives from the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero, this milestone  marks major advancement in finding innovative solutions to decarbonise distilling 

27 November, Scotland: Suntory Global Spirits, a world leader in premium spirits, and Supercritical  Solutions Ltd., are proud to mark a milestone moment in sustainable whisky production with the  official casking of the world's first direct-fired hydrogen-distilled spirit for whisky production¹ at Glen  Garioch Distillery with representatives from the UK Department for Energy Security & Net Zero  (DESNZ). 

Following the innovative use of 100% hydrogen to directly heat the stills at Yamazaki Distillery’s pilot  distillery in Japan², a portion of the resulting distilled spirit has been transferred to Glen Garioch  Distillery in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, to be closely monitored and quality assessed under Scottish  maturation conditions. With a sister portion being monitored in Japan, results are to be analysed  and compared as part of Suntory Global Spirits’ research into the results of hydrogen-fuelled  distilling. As well as achieving net zero emissions by 2040, Suntory Global Spirits is wholly committed  to ensuring that any evolution of its production processes maintain the highest level of quality at  every stage.  

In 2021, the WhiskHy project received innovation project funding from DESNZ through the ‘Green  Distilleries’ competition to carry out feasibility studies for green hydrogen-based decarbonisation  technology at Suntory Global Spirits-owned distilleries, as part of the government’s Net Zero  Innovation Portfolio (NZIP). The milestone moment at the Yamazaki Distillery’s pilot distillery proved  that direct-fired distillation using 100% hydrogen is feasible.  

Suntory Global Spirits and Supercritical Solutions reinforced their commitment to decarbonisation  with green hydrogen with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding at Glen Garioch.  Leveraging Supercritical's novel, high-efficiency electrolysis technology for low-cost green hydrogen  production, the partnership will focus on commercialising hydrogen direct firing across Suntory  Global Spirit’s Scotch portfolio. The two will pursue increased scale through deployment of  Supercritical’s technology on a Suntory Global Spirits-owned distilleries in Scotland whilst continuing  to monitor the quality of the hydrogen direct-fired spirit as it matures. 

The Glen Garioch Distillery underwent a £6 million renovation project in recent years to reinstate  traditional malting floors and install its own direct-fired still. Suntory Global Spirits holds an ambition  to maintain direct-fire distilling at Glen Garioch in the future through introducing innovative, zero  emission fuel sources, like hydrogen, while maintaining traditional whisky production processes. 

On Monday, November 25th, representatives from Suntory Global Spirits, Supercritical Solutions,  and the UK Department for Energy Security & Net Zero gathered at the distillery to witness the  ceremonial cask filling of the hydrogen-distilled spirit. The event also included presentations on the  project's progress and a tour of the restored distillery. 

¹ Direct-fired distillation on a scale of pot still over 1KL for whisky production (based on its own research). ² For safety reasons, conventional natural gas was used to start and end the burning.

Alistair Longwell, Head of Distilling and Environment at Suntory Global Spirits, said: "As a company,  we are committed to taking bold steps to advance green solutions and decarbonise our distilleries,  while always ensuring that the quality of our spirits reach the highest possible standard. It is through  unique collaborative projects such as WhiskHy that we are making significant steps towards our  ambition of net-zero emissions across our entire value chain by 2040 while closely monitoring how  our spirits age and mature under more sustainable distilling processes.” 

Matt Bird, CEO of Supercritical Solutions, commented: “At Supercritical, we’re proving that even  centuries-old traditions like whisky distilling can embrace cutting-edge, zero-emission hydrogen  technology. Our electrolyser’s unique ability to deliver high-purity hydrogen at 220 bar is rewriting  the rules of sustainability – preserving the art of whisky-making while powering a net zero future.  This partnership is a toast to innovation and the possibilities of a net-zero world.” 

Kerry McCarthy MP, Climate Minister, added: “It’s innovations like these that will secure the future  of our unique British industrial heritage – putting Scottish distilleries on the map with greener  production and cutting-edge technology. This celebration marks a significant step towards  decarbonising one of the UK’s largest and most important export sectors and highlights what’s  possible when we invest in the clean energy transition.” 

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About Suntory Global Spirits 

As a world leader in premium spirits, Suntory Global Spirits inspires the brilliance of life, by creating  rich experiences for people, in harmony with nature. Known for its craftsmanship of premium  whiskies, including Jim Beam® and Maker’s Mark®; Japanese whiskies, including Yamazaki®,  Hakushu®, Hibiki® and Toki™; and leading Scotch brands including Laphroaig® and Bowmore®,  Suntory Global Spirits also produces leading brands such as Tres Generaciones® and El Tesoro®  tequila, Roku™ and Sipsmith® gin, and is a world leader in Ready-To-Drink cocktails, with brands like  -196 and On The Rocks™ Premium Cocktails. 

A global company with approximately 6,000 employees in nearly 30 countries, Suntory Global Spirits  is driven by its core values of Growing for Good, Yatte Minahare and Giving Back to Society. The  company’s Proof Positive sustainability strategy includes ambitious goals and investments to drive  sustainable change and have a positive impact on the planet, consumers and communities.  Headquartered in New York City, Suntory Global Spirits is a subsidiary of Suntory Holdings Limited of  Japan. For more information, visit www.suntoryglobalspirits.com and www.drinksmart.com 

About Supercritical Solutions Ltd 

Supercritical is at the forefront of the clean energy revolution, with a mission to dramatically reduce  the cost of green hydrogen and address the most challenging 20% of global emissions. Established in  2020 in London, our vision is to catalyse a sustainable future where renewable energy solutions, like  our pioneering electrolyser technology, are mainstream and financially viable without subsidies. As  

the creators of the world’s first high-pressure, ultra-efficient electrolyser, we deliver hydrogen and  oxygen at pressures exceeding 220 bar, achieving full system efficiencies up to 42kWh/kgH2 with  99% purity. Our innovative approach not only curtails operational costs but also surmounts  formidable industry challenges, forging a path towards a zero-emission future. By offering scalable,  PFAS-free, membrane-free, and iridium-free solutions, Supercritical aims to lower hydrogen 

production costs to under £1/kgH2 within this decade, driving the shift from grey to green energy  across industries. Find out more about how we’re shaping the future of clean energy:  

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LinkedIn 

[email protected]  

www.supercritical.solutions 

About the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero 

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero provides dedicated leadership focused on  delivering security of energy supply, ensuring properly functioning markets, greater energy efficiency  and seizing the opportunities of net zero to lead the world in new green industries. 

The Green Distillery Competition is part of the Department’s £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio  which provides funding for low-carbon technologies and systems and aims to decrease the costs of  decarbonisation helping enable the UK to end its contribution to climate change.

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A Pivotal Moment in Hydrogen’s Evolution

July 2024 has marked a significant milestone for the hydrogen industry, with seven major projects around the world achieving Final Investment Decision (FID) status. These projects underscore a growing confidence in hydrogen as a critical component of the global energy transition. However, as we celebrate these developments, it’s also crucial to address the broader conversation about hydrogen’s role. Hydrogen is a powerful tool—but like any tool, it’s not the answer to every problem.

The Power of Seven: Projects Reaching FID in July 2024

These seven projects represent a critical step forward, each contributing to the global hydrogen economy’s growth. Yet, they also remind us of the importance of strategic deployment—focusing on areas where hydrogen can deliver the most impact.

Sector-Specific Insights: Where Hydrogen Truly Shines

1. Chemical Industrysome text
   • Shell, Germany: Shell’s investment in integrating hydrogen technology at its new chemicals facility highlights hydrogen’s irreplaceable role in decarbonising the chemical sector. In processes where hydrogen is fundamental—such as ammonia and methanol production—there’s simply no substitute. The industry’s reliance on approximately 97 million tonnes of fossil hydrogen annually makes it a prime candidate for green hydrogen solutions.
   • BP, Castellon Refinery, Spain: BP’s decision to implement a green hydrogen production facility at its Castellon refinery in Spain underscores the growing shift towards cleaner chemical processes. This project is a clear example of hydrogen’s potential in reducing the carbon footprint of heavy industries.
   • Yara, Paraguay: Yara’s commitment to offtake 100% of the green hydrogen-based fertilisers from ATOME’s 145 MW project in Paraguay further demonstrates the essential role hydrogen plays in agriculture and chemical manufacturing. These sectors cannot achieve deep decarbonisation without green hydrogen.
2. Industrial Applicationssome text
   • Siemens Energy and EWE, Germany: The installation of a 280 MW electrolysis system by Siemens Energy for EWE in Germany highlights how hydrogen is transforming industrial processes. While hydrogen’s application in industries is crucial, it’s important to recognise that it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. Strategic application is key, particularly where electrification isn’t feasible or sufficient.
3. Transportsome text
   • bp Aberdeen Hydrogen Energy Limited, UK: In the transportation sector, hydrogen has a clear role, especially in hard-to-electrify segments like heavy-duty vehicles. The establishment of a renewable hydrogen facility in Aberdeen by bp is a step in the right direction, targeting the specific needs of the transport sector in Scotland and beyond.
   • Virya Energy, HyoffGreen, and Messer Group, Belgium: The 25 MW renewable hydrogen production plant set to be developed in Zeebrugge, Belgium, is another example of hydrogen’s versatile applications. While hydrogen can play a crucial role in transport, it’s essential to focus on sectors where it offers distinct advantages over other energy sources.
4. Energy Integration and Renewable Linkagessome text
   • TotalEnergies and RWE, Netherlands: The collaboration between TotalEnergies and RWE in the Netherlands, which links a wind farm with a 350 MW electrolyser project, showcases an ideal use of hydrogen. By directly connecting renewable energy sources to hydrogen production, this project illustrates a sustainable approach that maximises efficiency and impact.

A Global Perspective on Hydrogen’s Growth

The geographic spread of these projects—from Europe to South America (with the USA conspicuously absent)—illustrates hydrogen’s global appeal. Yet, it also highlights the need for a focused approach:

• Europe: Leading the way with projects in Germany, Spain, the UK, the Netherlands, and Belgium, Europe is demonstrating how hydrogen can be integrated into existing industrial and energy frameworks. However, this integration must be strategic, targeting sectors where hydrogen provides the greatest value.
• South America: The Paraguay project emphasises the potential for hydrogen to support agricultural and chemical sectors in emerging markets, reinforcing the idea that hydrogen’s role should be tailored to specific regional needs.

Rationalising the Hydrogen Hype: Focused Applications for Maximum Impact

While the seven FID projects in July are a cause for celebration, they also serve as a reminder that hydrogen’s potential is maximised when applied thoughtfully. The industry must move beyond the hype and focus on where hydrogen can be most effective.

Hydrogen is not the answer for everything, everywhere. The industry’s challenge is to concentrate efforts on sectors where hydrogen is not just useful but indispensable. The chemical industry, heavy industry, and certain segments of transportation are prime examples. In these areas, hydrogen can provide solutions that no other technology currently offers.

Supercritical’s Role: Innovating for a Targeted Hydrogen Future

At Supercritical, we recognise the need for a focused approach. Our technology is designed to make green hydrogen economically viable in the sectors that need it most. By reducing production costs by upto 40%, we are helping to bridge the gap to price parity, ensuring that hydrogen can compete where it matters.

Our mission is clear: to drive innovation in hydrogen technology where it can have the greatest impact, supporting a sustainable and economically sensible energy transition.

A Clear Path Forward

The FID announcements of July 2024 mark a significant step forward in the hydrogen journey. But as we move forward, it’s essential to keep our focus sharp. Hydrogen’s future lies in targeted, impactful applications. By concentrating on sectors where hydrogen can deliver the most value, we can ensure that it plays a pivotal role in the global energy transition.

At Supercritical, we are committed to leading this charge, ensuring that hydrogen’s role in our energy future is both economical and strategically sound. As we continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible with hydrogen, let’s remember that ambition must be balanced with pragmatism. The July 2024 projects provide a blueprint for how hydrogen can be successfully integrated into the global energy mix—when used wisely and where it’s needed most. Together, let’s build a hydrogen economy that is sustainable and profit-making.

Listen to Luke Tan, Chief Product Officer & Co-Founder at Supercritical Solutions, discuss how Innovate UK is supporting his emission free fuel business to grow rapidly. Supercritical Solutions is on track to double the size of its team with Innovate UK support through: InnovateUK helps UK businesses grow at pace 💪. With this support, Supercritical Solutions is on track to facilitate the UK’s transition to net zero.

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InnovateUK: We are the UK's innovation agency. We help UK businesses to grow through the development and commercialisation of new products, processes and services, supported by an outstanding innovation ecosystem that is agile, inclusive and easy to navigate.

• Consortium embarks on AUD 1.5million (GBP 800,000) project that will demonstrate that renewable methanol costs can be reduced by up to 20% with ultra-high efficiency, high pressure green hydrogen production.
• The partnership aims to commercialise the concept and drive commercial world scale systems to market by 2030, enabling a global methanol opportunity worth a potential AUD 370 billion.

Melbourne and London, 23 May 2024: HAMR Energy (HAMR) and Supercritical Solutions (Supercritical) have been awarded close to AUD 1 million (GBP 480,000) in funding from the Australia-UK Renewable Hydrogen Innovation Partnership.

The project brings together game-changing innovation in electrolysis from the UK and a burgeoning market opportunity for renewable methanol in Australia.  

The first phase will deliver a comprehensive techno-economic feasibility study evaluating the integration of high-pressure hydrogen from Supercritical’s electrolysers into HAMR’s hybrid methanol plant design. The project will include empirical testing of Supercritical’s advanced catalysts and a full lifecycle analysis evaluating the environmental impact of the electrolysers’ novel membraneless design. The pioneering consortium will de-risk the concept for progression to pilot stage, with deployment of Supercritical’s technology in Australia as part of a renewable methanol production facility from 2026.

With potential to reduce the cost of renewable methanol by up to 20% relative to incumbent electrolysis technologies, Supercritical’s technology offers a world-leading system efficiency of 42 kWh/kgH2 (95% HHV) whilst delivering hydrogen over 200 bara. The delivery significantly simplifies compression and storage infrastructure for methanol facilities offering a transformative advantage in capital and operational expenditures.  Matt Bird, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder announced

“At Supercritical, we are not just engineering electrolysers; we are crafting the keystones for the next generation of clean energy infrastructure. Our collaboration with HAMR Energy signifies a leap towards making zero-emission renewable fuels a mainstream reality. This venture underpins our commitment to innovation and our belief that the right technology can indeed turn the tide on global energy challenges."

The methanol industry, the third largest user of hydrogen today, is responsible for 38.8M tonnes CO2e. This methanol is used today as a feedstock for products from plastics to fuels and to achieve net zero, these markets must trend to renewable methanol.  

The vast potential of renewable methanol as a substitute for heavy fuel oil is recognised through the growing commitment within the shipping industry, led by stakeholders like Maersk and supported by the International Maritime Organisation’s net-zero ambitions to reduce global GHG emissions.  Alex Smith, co-Founder, HAMR Energy said

"We have the opportunity for Australia to be a leader in the production of renewable methanol (an alternate shipping fuel). HAMR has some of the leading production projects in the region, however, we need to continue to pursue cost reduction opportunities and efficiencies. Collaboration with Supercritical is exciting as it has the be potential to reduce the costs of renewable fuel production. “

In collaboration with UK partners Astrimar Ltd and the Manufacturing Technology Centre, the initiative will develop a containerised product concept and outline a comprehensive certification and compliance roadmap for markets in the UK and Australia.

Monash University in Melbourne is also participating in the Project. Supplying access to leading academic expertise and engineering resources of the university’s Faculty of Engineering to support the project, including through the Industry Innovation Program.  

The Australian Minister for Climate Change and Energy announced the successful applicants on 7 May 2024 in a speech to the Australian British Energy Transition & Investment Summit held through the Australian British Chamber of Commerce.

This award builds on the Australia–UK Clean Technology Partnership, signed in 2021 (which had clean hydrogen as a key technology) and the Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement that entered into force in 2023. The Australian government has just announced their new Hydrogen Production Tax Incentive (HTPI), offering AUD 2 per kg of hydrogen over a ten-year period, starting from 2027. Such incentives are perfectly timed to facilitate the commercialisation of this green hydrogen to methanol concept.

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Press Release in PDF format

Image of Alex Smith (HAMR Energy co-founder) and Luke Tan (Supercritical co-founder)

Image of Headline image - Green Shipping -Supercritical

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Additional Quotes

Luke Tan, Chief Product Officer and Co-founder

“Given that I started my career designing methanol plants, it’s exciting to finally be able to reveal that Supercritical’s pioneering innovation in green hydrogen is here to ensure tomorrow’s renewable methanol facilities are cost effective and zero emission. This project is a return to my roots but also a leap into the future of sustainable energy.”  

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Richard Owen OAM, Chairman of the Board, HAMR Energy

"Decarbonisation requires global solutions. HAMR and Supercritical have some of the brightest science and engineering minds working to solve real decarbonisation challenges and the Government support of these young companies is most welcome and necessary to address the pace of energy transition.”

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About the Australia-UK Renewable Hydrogen Innovation Partnerships Program:

The UK and Australian Grant programs work together to facilitate a collaborative project.  The program provides support to Australian companies in funding for hydrogen research, development and demonstration projects in partnership with UK companies, as part of the Government’s Strategic International Partnerships measure.

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About HAMR Energy:

HAMR Energy is a young renewable fuels company with a mission to accelerate the global energy transition by developing projects and technology to displace fossil fuels. Since 2021 HAMR has established a position as a leading project proponent of renewable methanol projects in Australia. As a pioneer HAMR has focused on developing projects that build on local industries and use existing infrastructure. Renewable methanol reduces the carbon intensity of shipping by up to 90% and will create a new manufacturing sector in the Australian economy as well as generating regional jobs and adding fuel production capacity to the economy.  

• LinkedIn
• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.hamrenergy.com/

About Supercritical:

Supercritical is at the forefront of the clean energy revolution, with a mission to dramatically reduce the cost of green hydrogen and address the most challenging 20% of global emissions. Established in 2020 in London, our vision is to catalyse a sustainable future where renewable energy solutions, like our pioneering electrolyser technology, are mainstream and financially viable without subsidies. As the creators of the world’s first high-pressure, ultra-efficient electrolyser, we deliver hydrogen and oxygen at pressures exceeding 220 bar, achieving full system efficiencies up to 42kWh/kgH2 with 99% purity. Our innovative approach not only curtails operational costs but also surmounts formidable industry challenges, forging a path towards a zero-emission future. By offering scalable, PFAS-free, membrane-free, and iridium-free solutions, Supercritical aims to lower hydrogen production costs to under £1/kgH2 within this decade, driving the shift from grey to green energy across industries.

• LinkedIn
• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.supercritical.solutions

About The Manufacturing Technology Centre:  

Established in 2010, The Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) is an independent Research & Technology Organisation with the objective of bridging the gap between university-based research and the development of innovative manufacturing solutions, in line with the Government’s manufacturing strategy. The MTC is part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, supported by Innovate UK, and its expertise is applicable across a wide variety of industry sectors, including the Built Environment. For more information visit: https://www.the-mtc.org/  

About Astrimar:

Astrimar is an independent specialist engineering consultancy delivering excellence in Reliability, Integrity and Technical Risk Management, Technology Qualification, Innovative Engineering Design and Advanced Analysis.  Established in 2020, our highly trained team are experts in developing innovative solutions through advanced approaches to Engineering design & analysis, Reliability & Data analysis, Technical risk, Integrity management, and Technology qualification best practice, supporting clients in subsea oil & gas, offshore renewables, Hydrogen, energy storage, CCUS and the wider net zero energy & utilities sectors.

• LinkedIn  
• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.astrimar.com

In a landmark collaboration that marries tradition with innovation, our recent partnership with Beam Suntory has marked a significant milestone in the whisky industry. At the heart of this achievement is the successful trial at Suntory's Yamazaki distillery in Japan, where 100% hydrogen was used in direct-fired distillation for the first time in whisky production.

This triumph is part of the 'WhiskHy' project, a visionary endeavour that we at Supercritical Solutions are proud to lead. Supported by the UK government's Green Distilleries Competition, this project not only aligns with our mission to revolutionise green technology within industry but also showcases our commitment to a sustainable future.

The innovative trial demonstrates the potential of green hydrogen as a viable fuel source, reducing carbon emissions to zero in the distillation process. This approach not only preserves the cherished method of direct-fired distillation, known for its ability to enhance the depth and quality of the spirit, but also sets a new standard for environmental responsibility in whisky production.

Central to this initiative is our proprietary technology, an ultra-efficient, high-pressure electrolyser designed for on-site hydrogen production and storage, utilising renewable energy sources. This breakthrough is a pivotal step towards our goal of making green hydrogen both accessible and economical.

Our partnership with Beam Suntory, a company committed to its own sustainability goals through its Proof Positive strategy, illustrates the power of collaboration in driving forward the green agenda. Beam Suntory's ambition to achieve net-zero carbon emissions across its value chain by 2040 complements our innovative efforts, showcasing a unified front in the pursuit of sustainability.

As we celebrate this milestone, we recognise that this journey is a collective effort, supported by visionary partners, the UK government, and the wider spirits community. Together, we are not only crafting exceptional whisky but also forging a legacy of innovation, sustainability, and shared commitment to a greener, more sustainable industry.

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Katsunori Kurihara, COO of Spirits, Wine Development & Production Division at Suntory Spirits Ltd: “Ever since we began whisky making at the Yamazaki Distillery in 1923, we have been striving to craft with a relentless pursuit of perfection and persistent innovation. The whisky business embodies Suntory’s philosophy ‘to inspire the brilliance of life by creating rich experiences for people, in harmony with nature’. To coexist with people and nature, and to aspire to produce Suntory Whisky beloved by all, we will work towards a net zero goal while maintaining the quality craftsmanship of our whiskies.”

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Lord Callanan, Minister for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance, comments: “After visiting Supercritical last year and seeing their exciting technologies first-hand, I am thrilled they have reached this new milestone alongside Beam Suntory – with the potential to kickstart a new clean green whisky industry. By backing the project with £2.9 million in government support, we are helping businesses seize the opportunities of hydrogen and cut their emissions on the journey to net zero.”

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Alistair Longwell, Head of Distilling and Environment, Beam Suntory, adds: “As a company, we are intent on pushing the boundaries of green innovation. We have an ambition to achieve net zero emissions across our entire value chain by 2040, and it is through unique collaborative projects such as WhiskHy that we will get there. We are thrilled to have achieved this new milestone and look forward to continuing our progress with Supercritical as we pursue a more sustainable, resilient future for our industry.”

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Matt Bird, CEO, Supercritical comments: “The WhiskHy project at Beam Suntory's renowned Yamazaki distillery has been a testament to the engineering prowess and dedication to net zero innovation within the group. This landmark trial not only marks a significant stride in hydrogen fuel advancement but also sets the stage for ongoing progress and collaboration. Our partnership with Beam Suntory is poised to remove the premium of green hydrogen, leveraging our cutting-edge technology for a sustainable future.”

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About Beam Suntory

As a world leader in premium spirits, Beam Suntory inspires the brilliance of life by delivering great consumer experiences through its world-class portfolio of brands. Known for its craftsmanship of premium whiskies, including Jim Beam®, Maker's Mark®, Basil Hayden® and Knob Creek® bourbons; Japanese whiskies, including Yamazaki®, Hakushu®, Hibiki® andToki™; and leading Scotch brands including Teacher's, Laphroaig® and Bowmore®, Beam Suntory also produces leading brands such as Courvoisier® cognac, Tres Generaciones®, El Tesoro® and Hornitos® tequila, Roku™ and Sipsmith® gin, Canadian Club® whisky, and is a world leader in ready-to-drink cocktails, with brands like -196 and On The Rocks™ Premium Cocktails. A global company with approximately 6,000 employees in more than 30 countries, one of Beam Suntory's core values is Growing for Good and through its Proof Positive sustainability strategy, the company has committed to ambitious goals and investments to promote environmental sustainability in its operations, ensure the company has a positive impact on the communities where employees live and work, and programs to educate and inform consumers to make the right personal choices about drinking. Headquartered in New York City, Beam Suntory is a subsidiary of Suntory Holdings Limited of Japan. For more information on Beam Suntory, its brands, and its commitment to social responsibility, please visit www.beamsuntory.com and www.drinksmart.com.

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‍About the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero provides dedicated leadership focused on delivering security of energy supply, ensuring properly functioning markets, greater energy efficiency and seizing the opportunities of net zero to lead the world in new green industries.

The Green Distillery Competition is part of the Department’s £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio which provides funding for low-carbon technologies and systems and aims to decrease the costs of decarbonisation helping enable the UK to end its contribution to climate change.

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Co-Authored: Supercritical and HLK

The collaborative relationship between Supercritical Solutions and HLK demonstrates how valuable it can be for an early stage company and its advisor to form a genuine partnership, enabling a company to build an IP strategy that directly supports its business strategy, maximising the potential for IP to support commercial goals. 

Commercial focus

Established in 2020 during the height of the pandemic, Supercritical Solutions is a deep tech scale-up company spun out of Deep Science Ventures with a vision to make green hydrogen production at a lower cost than fossil hydrogen. Supercritical’s ultra-efficient electrolysis technology is designed to produce green hydrogen at high pressure, removing any need for downstream pressurisation while enabling a continuous and membrane-less design, circumventing many of the problems and inefficiencies associated with electrolysis of water. 

Co-founder and CTO Mike Russ explains that the company has always had a commercial focus instilled into it. “Deep Science Ventures creates companies to solve problems. A lot of companies that spin out of university research have innovative ideas but are looking for a problem to solve. We knew from day one there would be demand for our technology.”

The Supercritical team was formed by Gaël Gobaille-Shaw of Deep Science Ventures, who had spotted the market opportunity and built a team of co-founders, including CTO Mike Russ, CEO Matt Bird and CPO Luke Tan. 

Putting together the right team and blend of expertise is essential for a start-up looking to grow and attract investment. Russ’ advice to other start-ups is to look at the management team as representing three sides of a triangle: “You need your management team to have governance, commercial and technical expertise. If you don’t have all three, you have an incomplete triangle and an incomplete management team”.  Supercritical also recognised that they would need to bring in external expertise at an early stage too, and as a deep tech innovator, recognised that Intellectual Property (IP) advice would be key to support the business strategy. 

Building an IP strategy to reflect the commercial focus

Supercritical evaluated a number of IP advisors early on, and selected HLK, based on its experience of protecting IP and deep technical expertise.  George Tebbutt is a Partner at HLK, working closely with colleague Michael Ford to support Supercritical.  “We’ve worked with Supercritical from the outset. We’ve been able to get to know the business in-depth, and help them with an IP strategy that matches both the technical and commercial trajectories for the company.” 

Deep tech scale-ups like Supercritical are often conducting cutting edge research and development while simultaneously navigating an evolving roadmap to commercialisation.   This means that a good IP strategy looks beyond a current research focus or snapshot of the technology, and instead takes a more complete view of the projected technical roadmap, helping to identify and protect the developments which are going to underpin the USP of the company and protect its value. The close relationship between HLK and Supercritical has been a great example of this working in practice.  Tebbutt explains: “We’ve worked alongside the business as different iterations of product designs and processes have been tested and improved upon, helping us to spot the innovations which really enable and underpin the technology, and adapt the IP strategy accordingly.”  Specialist attorneys at HLK – from engineering to electrochemistry and materials – have been closely involved with Supercritical’s trials and simulations, leveraging data to support IP protection.   Supercritical now has a growing portfolio of patent applications (some unpublished), with new families capturing significant advances in the underlying technology.

From Mike Russ’ perspective, the commercial strategy was reflected in the IP strategy from the first meeting with HLK.  “The discussion went beyond how our technology works, focussing on our objectives, and how IP could support Supercritical’s commercial position and value.   Was the company going to manufacture electrolysis equipment or operate installations, licence its technology to others, or seek an acquisition?  How do Supercritical’s investors view IP? Where will Supercritical fit in amongst the hydrogen market and related industries?”.  

Knowing the possible directions of the business helps to determine a suitable IP strategy.  The focus has been on developing and protecting the core enabling technology which is applicable independent of the particular industrial use case - so the company remains open to opportunities and growth throughout the sector. 

Leveraging IP to expand and diversify

Supercritical’s technology is already being evaluated for markets from whisky production to producing green ammonia for fertilisers and shipping. Russ explains that these diverse end uses leverage the same core technology.  “Our USP is improving the efficiency of chemical production. It’s not about what the chemicals are used for, but making the underlying production more environmentally friendly. When we started the business, the hydrogen industry produced as much carbon dioxide as the entire aviation industry – and only 4% of the hydrogen produced was green. There’s massive potential for us to improve that market. We’ve always focused on established markets like this, despite our technology also being applicable to emerging markets in the hydrogen economy, such as heavy transportation and industrial heating.” 

As the company grows and matures, new adaptations and uses of the core technology are being identified, and the IP strategy is evolving to reflect this.

From HLK’s perspective, the engagement with Supercritical has been a fantastic opportunity to support an IP-rich business working on hard science for positive change.  George Tebbutt summarises: “The highly collaborative approach with the team at Supercritical has been very rewarding – whether we’re diving deep into the technical research, pushing forward the IP strategy or joining investor meetings – our aim is to become an extension of their team, helping their IP become a huge asset that supports commercial goals and value”.

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Teesside, UK - Supercritical, a UK-based clean-tech startup, has achieved a significant milestone in the sustainable energy industry with the completion of its innovative green hydrogen demonstrator at their Teesside facility in North East England. 

The advanced testing unit became the week’s epicentre of green innovation following a visit from Minister for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance, Lord Callanan.

The demonstrator is part of the WhiskHy project, a collaboration led by Supercritical with Beam Suntory, a global leader in premium spirits, and the Manufacturing Technology Centre, part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult. Funded by the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio under the Green Distilleries Competition, the project innovates by combining traditional whisky production methods with zero emission technology.

This novel approach to water electrolysis, functioning at elevated pressures and temperatures, has set a new global benchmark in efficiency. The breakthrough is pivotal in reducing green hydrogen costs, fast-tracking its accessibility. 

Supercritical's innovative approach, featuring a membraneless, iridium-free, and compressor-free solution, elegantly solves critical supply chain challenges and presents a scalable and efficient alternative to conventional methods.

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Minister for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance Lord Callanan said: “Innovation is central to delivering the new technologies we need to cut our carbon emissions and reach net zero.  Backed by £2.9 million in government funding, this new milestone will forge the way to using hydrogen in whisky production, helping to decarbonise our industrial heartlands.”

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With the partnership, Beam Suntory hopes to apply direct hydrogen flames to copper stills, respecting traditional distillation techniques while reducing its carbon footprint. The objective is to revolutionise the whisky industry, crafting products of the highest quality with net-zero emissions. 

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Alistair Leckenby, Environmental and Sustainability Manager, Beam Suntory, said: “At Beam Suntory, we are committed to supporting industry and government targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with our own ambitious goal to achieve net-zero emissions across our value chain by 2040. Innovative projects like WhiskHy are really moving the needle on how we can revive traditional distilling methods in a sustainable and responsible way, and we’re excited to see this new technology come to life.” 

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Matt Bird, CEO and co-founder of Supercritical, shared his vision: "As we unveil our green hydrogen demonstrator in Teesside, it's not just a showcase of technology, but a testament to our commitment at Supercritical to revolutionise sustainable energy. This cutting-edge facility represents our innovative approach to electrolysis, offering a glimpse into a future where green hydrogen is both economically and environmentally viable. We're not just engineering a product; we're crafting the future of energy, proving that sustainability and efficiency can go hand in hand."

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The facility is a global novelty in high-pressure green hydrogen production at 220bara, and serves as a crucial testing ground for optimising Supercritical's innovative electrolyser technology. With continued support, the company is poised to deliver green hydrogen below £1/kg before 2030, marking a transformative era in the energy landscape.

The hub for chemical processing and hydrogen production, Teesside offers an ideal setting for this demonstrator. With a rich legacy in chemical innovation, Teesside continues to lead the UK in hydrogen advancements, with potential to boost economic development, jobs and growth in the region. 

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About Supercritical: 

Supercritical is a leading global green-hydrogen innovator. Based in the UK the clean-tech startup company produces the highest pressure hydrogen in the world, delivering a cost-effective, carbon-free and supply chain safe solution. It does so by applying its exclusive and proprietary high-efficiency electrolyser technology. 

The business was founded by Matt Bird, Mike Russ & Luke Tan, veterans of the hydrogen industry. The company is a spin off from Deep Science Ventures, a London based impact oriented venture builder, and has Lower Carbon Capital - Chris Sacca’s fund - among its investors. 

The company has developed multiple partnerships to progress with industrial applications, with highlights to Beam Suntory, a leading global spirits company with ambitious goals to achieve net-zero distilling through the WhiskHy project.

www.supercritical.solutions

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About Beam Suntory
As a world leader in premium spirits, Beam Suntory inspires the brilliance of life by delivering great consumer experiences through its world-class portfolio of brands.  Known for its craftsmanship of premium whiskies, including Jim Beam®, Maker’s Mark®, Basil Hayden® and Knob Creek® bourbons; Japanese whiskies, including Yamazaki®, Hakushu®, Hibiki® and Toki™; and leading Scotch brands including Teacher’s, Laphroaig® and Bowmore®, Beam Suntory also produces leading brands such as Courvoisier® cognac, Tres Generaciones®, El Tesoro® and Hornitos® tequila, Roku™ and Sipsmith® gin, Canadian Club® whisky, and is a world leader in ready-to-drink cocktails, with brands like -196 and On The Rocks™ Premium Cocktails.

A global company with approximately 6,000 employees in more than 30 countries, one of Beam Suntory’s core values is Growing for Good and through its Proof Positive sustainability strategy, the company has committed to ambitious goals and investments to promote environmental sustainability in its operations, ensure the company has a positive impact on the communities where employees live and work, and programs to educate and inform consumers to make the right personal choices about drinking. Headquartered in New York City, Beam Suntory is a subsidiary of Suntory Holdings Limited of Japan. For more information on Beam Suntory, its brands, and its commitment to social responsibility, please visit www.beamsuntory.com and www.drinksmart.com.

About the Manufacturing Technology Centre

Established in 2010, The Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) is an independent Research & Technology Organisation with the objective of bridging the gap between university-based research and the development of innovative manufacturing solutions, in line with the Government’s manufacturing strategy. The MTC is part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, supported by Innovate UK.

Home to some of the most advanced manufacturing equipment in the world, the MTC works in partnership with industry, academia, and its members to prove innovative manufacturing processes and technologies. The MTC’s areas of expertise are applicable across a wide variety of industry sectors, including Aerospace, Defence and Security, Power and Energy, Built Environments, Space, Food and Drink and Healthcare.

In addition, MTC Training is creating the next generation of engineering talent while upskilling and reskilling existing workforces to support the industry and accelerate technological adoption.

For more information visit: https://www.the-mtc.org/

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Media Contacts:

Luke Tan (Chief Product Officer, Supercritical)

[email protected]

07512420219

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Luke laid down the challenge to the team to run the Ealing Half Marathon early in 2023, naturally it felt like a long time in the future. Being keen and new to running, the opportunity to take on my first half marathon was too tempting to pass up. There were no other takers at the time, and it was down to myself and Luke to carry the banner for the Supercritical team in our local borough of London.

Several months passed and I had barely trained, I had been doing my usual 5 to 10k runs in the evenings and weekends, but nothing more substantial. Safe to say my ‘training’ had not gone to plan. As we closed in on race day, Taza joined the team and it was now a three person race!

Taza and Luke were both aiming to finish the race in under two hours, and I had committed to simply just getting over the finish line. 

Race day was upon us, it was an early start to reach Ealing in time for 9am. The crowds were huge, and needless to say the nerves had set in.

The weather held out as we lined up on the start line, myself somewhere after the 2 hour pacers, Luke and Taza around the 1:50 marker. The race began with a loud shout of ‘have you got the Ealing feeling?’, and I for one was finding it hard to feel it due to my lack of preparation! 

The first 10k seemed to pass by with relative ease, some hill climbs but nothing too strenuous. This was comfortably within my prior experience, and from this point onward I was into the unknown.

A few km into the unknown, things were still good, my legs were working, I had had a gel and was soaking up the energy from the crowd. The route contained a few switch back areas and around km 13 I spotted Luke running towards me on the other side of the barrier, confirming he was indeed in front of me. The steep hill climbs in the following kms took their toll and by 16km, I had slowed down to a walking pace.

A cycle of walking and slow running continued until around 20 km, when it was clear I was on the home straight. 

At this point, I didn't care that the 2:20 pacers had passed me, I wasn’t bothered by my legs aching and the fact that I clearly had a blister on my toe was of no concern. All I wanted to do was finish.

The final corner was a turn into the park for the finish line, by this time I had closed in on the 2:20 pacers and had them in my sights. I wasn't going to let them defeat me, and used every last molecule of energy to burn them on the finish line, 2:19.

We met up, Taza at 1:50 and Luke at 1:55, it felt to me like a monumental achievement. 

A couple of hours of literal & psychological ups and downs akin to the rollercoaster that is innovation! Monday morning’s walk to the tube was a little sore, but hey, same again next year? 20% discount, go on then… I better get training.

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Titi Oliyide, Chartered Engineer, Member of the IET and Senior Process Safety Engineer at Supercritical, has been listed as a finalist for the prestigious Institute for Engineering and Technology’s (IET) Mike Sargeant Medal.

The Mike Sargeant Medal is awarded to an early career professional who has been judged to have made the most significant progress in their career over more than three years.

By being listed as a finalist, Titi has demonstrated technological excellence when undertaking an engineering project & excelled in leadership. She has been an outstanding role model & demonstrated exceptional commitment and has been particularly active in promoting the engineering and technology professions. 

Without a doubt, Titi is hugely inspirational and committed to improving access and removing barriers for young engineers. She has been instrumental in Supercritical’s STEM outreach to date and is a driving force for upcoming programmes that we’ll be opening up soon! As a young, female, black engineer, Titi has demonstrated that in an industry still disproportionately dominated by white men, you can excel and you can make a significant impact on the profession. She is a role model and a fantastic to have as part of the team.

IET summarised EngineeringUK’s report – ‘Engineering in higher education’ – which shows that just 18.5 per cent of engineering undergraduates are female students. The report describes this as an “exceptionally low” figure compared to the 56.5 per cent representation seen across all subjects. The issue is mirrored across the engineering and technology workforce.

The Royal Academy of Engineering reports that “Only 9% of engineers in the UK are from Black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds despite 27% of first degree qualifiers in engineering being from these groups. Black engineering graduates are more than twice as likely to be unemployed six months after graduation than their white counterparts. For those that do secure engineering roles, our research has shown that Black engineers experience the workplace differently, reporting that assumptions are more likely to be made about them based on their ethnicity or nationality and that they are less likely to speak up about inappropriate behaviour in the workplace when compared to white counterparts.”

Proactively pursuing opportunities to reach out to minority groups such as Supercritical’s visit to Ellen Wilkinson School for Girls in Ealing as part of Hydrogen Week UK earlier this year, she continues to lead by example as a long serving STEM Ambassador and member of the Association for Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers (AFBE-UK).

Titi will join other shortlisted finalists later this year at the IET in London to hear the final outcome. The whole team at Supercritical wish Titi the best of luck!

Learn more about the finalists here: https://www.theiet.org/impact-society/awards-scholarships/achievement-awards/achievement-medals/iet-achievement-medals-shortlists/?utm_source=shortlist_toolkit&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=achievement_awards

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About the IET

• We inspire, inform and influence the global engineering community to engineer a better world.
• We are a diverse home for engineering and technology intelligence throughout the world. This breadth and depth means we are uniquely placed to help the sector progress society.
• We want to build the profile of engineering and technology to change outdated perceptions and tackle the skills gap. This includes encouraging more women to become engineers and growing the number of engineering apprentices.
• Interview opportunities are available with our spokespeople from a range of engineering and technology disciplines including cyber-security, energy, engineering skills, innovation, manufacturing, technology, transport and diversity in engineering.
• For more information, visit theiet.org

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As Supercritical surpassed its 3rd anniversary of its incorporation, with our technology and team having taken huge leaps forward, we figured it was time for a fresh new look for our website!

If you’re a regular visitor, you may have noticed the upgrade from the Founder-designed first version of our shopfront (it’s the best website I’ve ever made! … but that doesn’t say much!). This time, we decided to stick to what we know; designing and scaling hydrogen technology, and left the web design to our trusted partners.

We’ve come a long way since that first website and that first video. What’s amazing, is the video stayed true. We produced it during the TechX accelerator with the support of the Net Zero Technology Centre within the first 3 months of Supercritical’s existence, and now it will remain a memento for the Supercritical Archives (and the Science Museum in 100 years! 😜). 

The product, the vision, the value that we saw for the sector in 2020, when the Supercritical was little more than a great idea and a group of 4 determined founders, remains the same today. The difference between then and now lies in the technical progress, the commercial validation and the additional benefits that we’ve curated throughout the development process, whilst working with our customers.

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Technical progress

In 2020, the world had never seen a continuous water electrolyser capable of operating at pressures and temperatures of supercritical water conditions. Only snippets of literature pointed to the potential. Since then, Supercritical has validated the potential of high pressure, ultra-efficient water electrolysis in the lab and has built its first out of lab demonstrator in one of largest hydrogen hubs of the UK, Teesside. 

Market leading efficiencies at never before seen pressures are paving the way for a new class of green hydrogen technology, offering a step-change in levelised cost! With patents pending and feedback positive, we’re really confident in the foundation of engineering and we’re poised and prepared to commercialise the technology.

‍Commercial validation

There has been no shortage of opportunities to present the value of Supercritical’s technology. With efficiency and high pressure delivery being essential to over 90% of today’s existing hydrogen demand and pivotal to almost all future demand, we’ve forged partnerships with some the world largest organisations and proven through our case studies that the technology will be a major enabler in achieving their net zero goals.

To add to these public studies, we’ve got a number of really exciting confidential collaborations bubbling under the surface. Continue to watch this space as we’re able to bring these to the fore!

Additional Benefits

We set out to increase efficiency and increase delivery pressures versus today’s incumbent technology. By doing this, by completely re-inventing the electrolyser, we’ve also given ourselves a platform to de-risk some of the biggest issues in existing hydrogen value chains.

Iridium - One of rarest metals in earth’s crust. It has chemical properties that enable the performance of technologies like Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolysers. With the scale of demand forecast for electrolysers, the cost and availability of iridium is a major risk to these supply chains. Supercritical does not require iridium to achieve its high efficiencies.

PFAS - Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) have unique and in many cases, very desirable characteristics and properties. In PEM and anion exchange membrane (AEM) electrolysers, they’re used in the membranes to enable conductivity in the system. However, one property of PFAS chemicals is that they do not naturally degrade in the environment. This means that quantities of these chemicals build up in undesirable places like water. For this reason, they’ve been nicknamed ‘Forever’ chemicals. Many of these chemicals have been identified as being hazardous to humans and the environment and as a result of this, their use in products is being debated, with a risk that they may be banned entirely. Supercritical does not use PFAS chemicals in its stack architecture.

End of Life - Green technology products are often put under the spotlight, and rightly so. Technologies often aim to do good, but bring side effects with them. Managing products at the end of their useful life is essential. Supercritical aims to be a planet first technology developer. This means decarbonising without any unnecessary harm done to the environment in other ways. By designing a technology able to operate at intermediate temperatures and high pressures, we’ve done away with nasty polymers and challenging chemicals or materials to deal with at end of life. In fact, Supercritical’s technology is almost entirely recyclable at end of life. That means sustainable green hydrogen production forever.

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Reminiscing on the past always leaves me with a nice warm feeling, and I’m immensely proud of what the team at Supercritical has achieved. Looking forward on the other hand excites me, and it should excite you! The opportunity to deliver change is within our grasp and I can’t wait to report back again after we deliver our 3 year roadmap from now.

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Join us on our journey - https://www.supercritical.solutions/careers

Sign up for our newsletter - https://www.supercritical.solutions/news

Celebrating International Women in Engineering Day! 🎉

Today marks the 10th year of this incredible event, brought to you by the Women's Engineering Society (WES). This year's theme is #MakeSafetySeen, highlighting the remarkable contributions of women engineers worldwide who work tirelessly to support lives and livelihoods. Let's celebrate their achievements and shine a light on the underrepresented presence of women in the engineering industry. Together, we can inspire more young women and girls to pursue engineering careers and champion diversity and inclusion.

🌟 We are thrilled to announce that one of our own has been recognised in the prestigious Top 50 Women in Engineering Awards! 🏆 Congratulations to Titi Oliyide CEng MIET, who has been honoured for her exceptional contributions in the field of engineering. Her dedication to safety and security, along with her commitment to empowering and supporting other women in the industry, truly sets her apart. We are incredibly proud to have such an inspiring role model within our company. Let's applaud Titi Oliyide CEng MIET and all the remarkable women engineers making a difference in our world! 👏🎉

We interviewed Titi to find out more...

Can you tell us about your journey as a woman in process safety engineering?

I got into engineering due to my passion for mathematics and science subjects in high school. I obtained an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering in Nigeria. Thereafter, I moved to the UK to complete a master’s degree in advanced chemical engineering at Imperial College in London. My journey into process safety engineering began at my first role after my master’s degree, where I worked on safety, risk and reliability assessments for oil and gas facilities.

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As a successful woman in process safety engineering, what advice do you have for young women who are considering a career in this field? What are some key skills or qualities that you believe are important for women to excel in process safety engineering?

My advice for young women considering a career in process safety engineering would be to develop a wide range of skills, particularly in communication, analysis and problem solving skills. This is important because safety engineers have to adopt a systems thinking approach and a breadth of knowledge in order to mitigate any hazards within an engineering process/system. Communication and a structured analytical approach are required to implement hazard identification and risk analysis techniques. It is also important to be curious and keepabreast of various safety incidents that occur across industries, in order to apply the lessons learned to current/future engineering systems and processes.

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In your experience, what are some of the biggest misconceptions or stereotypes about women in engineering, and how have you personally overcome them? How do you think we can work towards breaking down these barriers?

The biggest misconception is that women are not suited for some (or any!) areas of engineering. This is mainly due to the depiction of engineering in the media and society. When we think of engineering, we think of hard hats and oil-stained overalls. While this is part of engineering, other engineering areas exist. I believe better representation of women in all aspects of engineering will pave the way for a more gender balanced engineering workforce. Engineering is generally about solving societal challenges. As women make up roughly half of the human population, we should be adequately represented in the solutions to these challenges.

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Can you share an example of a project or accomplishment related to process safety that you're particularly proud of in your career? How did you approach any obstacles or setbacks that you encountered during this project, and what lessons did you learn from that experience?

I am particularly proud of achieving professional registration as a Chartered Engineer (CEng). It was a goal I set my sights on after I completed my master’s degree and I was very pleased to achieve it in September 2022. I learnt from my journey to professional registration the power of determination and focus, resilience, community and mentorship.

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As a woman in process safety engineering, how have you contributed to fostering diversity and inclusion within the industry? What initiatives or actions do you believe are necessary to create a more inclusive and equitable environment for women and underrepresented groups in process safety engineering?

I believe strongly in the power of representation, which is why I am passionate about sharing my career journey to inspire others to consider a career in engineering. When you get a glimpse into someone’s journey, it unlocks possibilities in your mind. We saw this first hand when the Supercritical team went out to an all girls school in Ealing to speak about careers in hydrogen; more students were open to an engineering career after we shared our career journeys  and provided answers to the questions they had. It is also important to mentor and offer advice/guidance to younger engineers. First, it reveals that everyone goes through challenges. We can learn lessons from how others have overcome their challenges. Companies need to continuously review their policies and culture to ensure that it does not exclude female engineers.

Green hydrogen and green ammonia will play a huge role in achieving net zero by 2050. Supercritical is pleased to share the findings of our feasibility study, GreeNH3, performed with partners ScottishPower and Proton Ventures that showed huge potential for Supercritical’s technology in this burgeoning market!

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🤯 Up to a 35% drop in cost of LCOH200 [levelised cost of hydrogen delivered greater than 200bar]

⚡️ 21% drop in LCOA [levelised cost of ammonia]

🚢 Huge export opportunities for UK renewables

👷🏻100s of direct job opportunities development and scale up of green hydrogen technology

🏭 An order of magnitude more UK jobs in the supply chain and project development

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Today, over 94 million tonnes [1] of hydrogen are produced annually used in many industrial applications from refineries to producing ammonia needed for fertiliser. The effect; this 112.5 billion-dollar industry [2] is responsible for more than 900 million tonnes [1] of carbon dioxide emissions each year. It is predicted it will be a 1 trillion dollar industry by 2050 [2] so it is of utmost importance to begin decarbonising the production process to help the 70 countries [3], with carbon net-zero pledges, reach their goals. Two countries who have made recent financial commitments to decarbonising hydrogen production are the United States and the United Kingdom.

Snapshot of the US

In recent years, specifically under the Biden Administration, large efforts and investments have been made towards low and no carbon hydrogen production and consumption in the U.S. Two federal bills have been passed addressing hydrogen and its potential in their future energy landscape, the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.

2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act [4]

This act approved 1.2 trillion dollars [4] of spending in the U.S. with the intention of funding infrastructure investments in transportation, broadband and the electrical grid. In respect to hydrogen the bill funds the following aspects.

• $8 billion for the development of at least 4 hydrogen hubs, one of which must specifically focus on producing clean hydrogen from renewable energy sources. These hubs will be large geographic regions that receive funding to create a network of clean hydrogen producers and consumers[4].
  - 11 potential US hubs are under preliminary development and approval[4].
  - 8 of these potential hubs are in stage 1 of development where memorandums of understanding are being signed and feasibility studies are underway[4].
  - 2 hubs are in stage 2 and are acquiring permits and planning infrastructure. These hubs are the Great Lakes Hydrogen Hub in Ohio and the Cavendish NextGen Hydrogen Hub in Florida [4].

• Clean Hydrogen Manufacturing and Recycling - An allocation of $500 million for fiscal year 2022 - 2026 to fund research, development and demonstration projects for all levels of the hydrogen supply chain (production, processing, delivery, storage, hydrogen using equipment manufacturing) [4].
• Clean Hydrogen Electrolysis Program - $1 billion from 2022 - 2026 allocated to “establishing a research development, demonstration, commercialisation, and deployment program for purposes of commercialisation to improve the efficiency, increase the durability, and reduce the cost of producing clean hydrogen using electrolysers.” Within this budget is money for competitive grant competitions, contracts and cooperative agreements.The goal of the program is to reduce the cost of hydrogen production using electrolysers to less than $2 per kilogram of hydrogen by 2026 (compared to over $5/kg today). Recently it was announced how this money will be used and the largest sum, $300 million of it, will be going towards R&D for electrolyser manufacturing [4].
• Lastly, a roadmap was proposed to better understand and solidify the future of hydrogen in the US economy [4-5].
  

2022 Inflation Reduction Act [6]

This act approved $738 billion of spending in the U.S. with the intention of reducing inflation, reducing prescription drug prices and promoting clean energy production. In respect to hydrogen the bill states the following:

• A tax credit for the production of clean hydrogen, at qualified clean hydrogen production facilities, that are established before 1/1/33, for their first 10 years of service, in the US [6]. The allocated credit ranges from $0.12 to $3.00 per kilogram based on calculations rooted in the producer's ability to meet specific requirements and their lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions calculation [7].
• Rural Energy for America (REAP)
• A 1.7 billion dollar fund that provides guaranteed loan financing and grant funding to agricultural producers and rural, small businesses for renewable energy systems or to make energy efficiency improvements6.
• Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refuelling Property Credit
• Provides a tax credit for alternative fuel vehicles and refuelling and charging property, in low income and rural areas. Fuels include electricity, ethanol, hydrogen etc [6].
• Domestic Manufacturing Conversion Grant
• A 2 billion dollar fund that provides cost-shared grants for domestic production of efficient hybrid, plug-in electric, hydrogen fuel cell… electric vehicles [6].
  

Lastly, the US has the following renewable energy goals

• Reduce the cost of clean hydrogen by 80% to $1 per kilogram by 2031 [8]
• 100% carbon-pollution-free electric sector by 2035 [8]
• Net zero emissions economy by 2050 [8]
  

Snapshot of the UK

In 2020, the UK Government announced the £12 billion Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution[9] with the goal of accelerating the path to net zero. One of the points focuses on hydrogen. In 2021, the government released its first hydrogen Strategy document10 and most recently, the UK published an Energy Security Strategy [11].

Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution [9]

Within this plan, point 2 focused on “Driving the Growth of Low Carbon Hydrogen.” This established the goal of producing 5GW of low carbon hydrogen by 2030. To support this mission the government created a £240 million Net Zero Hydrogen Fund for private sector investments. Furthermore hydrogen was listed as a key priority area in the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, which provides 1 billion pounds of funding to grow the commercialisation of low carbon technology and innovation9.

UK Hydrogen Strategy [10]

In 2021, the UK released its first hydrogen Strategy document. It highlights the importance green hydrogen will play in supporting the UK’s goal of reaching net -zero by 2050. Furthermore, it establishes a roadmap for hydrogen and addresses the economic impact associated with growing clean hydrogen production [10].

This document allocated and highlights several sources of funding that will support the growth of green hydrogen directly and indirectly.

• The Hydrogen Strategy established a series of competitions, incentivising innovation in hydrogen. This includes the £60 million, Low Carbon Hydrogen Supply 2 Competition, the £68 million Longer Duration Energy Storage Demonstration Competition, the £55 million Industrial Fuel Switching Competition, and the £40 million Red Diesel Replacement Competition [10].
• Commitment to deliver phase 2 of the £315 Industrial Energy Transformation fund that is intended to help businesses reduce their energy demand and carbon emissions [10].
• A £23 million Hydrogen for Transport Programme [10].
• Highlights the existence of the National Bus Strategy which pledges to end the sale of diesel buses and creates Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA). This program provided £120 million in 2021/2022 to begin the delivery of 4,000 zero emission buses using battery and hydrogen electric power [10].
• The strategy document also emphasises the importance of working with the private sector to achieve their goals. This includes both nationally and internationally. It states they are working with the UK’s export credit agency to finance £2 billion to grow clean energy projects overseas and create export opportunities for British businesses [10].
  

Energy Security Strategy [11]

This publication provided some further clarity on the Hydrogen Strategy as well as increased ambition. It doubled the ambition for hydrogen production from 5 to 10 GW by 2030, half of which must come from electrolysis. Furthermore, it established £100 million to be awarded to electrolytic hydrogen production contracts through 2023 and further allocation in 2024. This funding stemmed from the Hydrogen Business Model consultation package from April 2022 [11].

Lastly, the UK has the following renewable energy goals

• Implementation of 20% hydrogen blending in natural gas pipelines supplying heating to a large village by 2025 [10]
• 10GW of low carbon hydrogen by 2030 [10]
• Net zero greenhouse gas emission by 2050 [10]
  

So Who’s Winning?

First, context is important.

Annually the US emits 5 billion metric tonnes of CO2. The UK emits around 350 million [12]. The US emits 14.86 tonnes of CO2 per capita and the UK emits 5.15 [12]. Furthermore, it should be noted that in the US, clean hydrogen is defined as hydrogen that produces less than 2 kgCO2e/kgH2 and in the UK it is defined as hydrogen production where there’s less than 2.4kgCO2e/kgH2.

Comparatively, the US has much more funding declared towards green hydrogen but this is not surprising considering the US’ GDP is 8 times larger than the UK’s [13]. Yet, the UK seems to be more currently focused, with explicit programs and competitions spurring innovation in green hydrogen. Both countries have a long way to go, and only within the last 3 years has there been a significant growth in green hydrogen legislation and funding. This must rapidly increase if both countries wish to meet their goal of being net zero by 2050.

References

1. https://www.iea.org/reports/hydrogen September 2022
2. https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/pages/gs-research/carbonomics-the-clean-hydrogen-revolution/carbonomics-the-clean-hydrogen-revolution.pdf February 2022
3. https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/net-zero-coalition November 2022
4. https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3684/text November 2021
5. https://www.hydrogen.energy.gov/pdfs/clean-hydrogen-strategy-roadmap.pdf September 2022
6. https://www.democrats.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/inflation_reduction_act_of_2022.pdf August 2022
7. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-22-58.pdf 2022
8. https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/hydrogen-shot September 2021
9. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/936567/10_POINT_PLAN_BOOKLET.pdfNovember 2020
10. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1011283/UK-Hydrogen-Strategy_web.pdf August 2021
11. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/british-energy-security-strategy/british-energy-security-strategyApril 2022
12. https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions 2021
13. https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDPD@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD/USA 2023
    

By Chris Hewgley, April 2023

Green hydrogen has gained a lot of attention in the past few years as a zero-carbon alternative to fossil fuels, necessary to achieve the 2050 targets. This is largely due to its high energy content and the carbon free products of combustion (water). The production of green hydrogen via electrolysis using renewable electricity is an increasingly popular way of smoothing out the variable outputs from renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind energy.

Hydrogen has been identified as a viable alternative to decarbonise certain industries such as chemicals (especially ammonia), iron and steel and cement.

Although hydrogen has been in production in various chemical processes such as refining, its use in new applications as a replacement for energy and the well understood fossil fuels such as methane requires a systematic safety approach. This begins with a good understanding and identification of the hazards associated with the properties of each fuel.

Hydrogen is colourless, odourless and not easily detected by human senses. It is not easily odourised (as is done with natural gas) due to the contaminant effects of odorizers on fuel cells and other end uses of hydrogen. In addition, hydrogen has a wide flammability range (4%-75% volume % in air) compared to methane (~5% - 15% in air). The electrolysis of water produces oxygen as a by-product in addition to hydrogen; hence it is important to note the wide flammability range of hydrogen in oxygen (4%-94%). Hydrogen has a low minimum ignition of 0.017mJ (that is one order of magnitude lower than that of methane). It is also a very light gas (about 14 times lighter than air and about 57 times lighter than gasoline vapour). This means that, when released, it usually flows and disperses quickly upwards. The buoyancy property enables the quick dilution of hydrogen concentrations with air to levels below the flammable limits in outdoor locations. Hydrogen is non-toxic to the environment compared with conventional fuels which contaminate the environment during a loss of containment event. Hydrogen has a lower radiant heat (about 1/10th) than conventional gasoline, meaning the air around a hydrogen flame is not as hot as that around a gasoline flame. Therefore, there is a lower risk of hydrogen secondary fires.

The awareness of the unique properties of hydrogen that make it more or less hazardous than methane/natural gas feeds into the approach to safety. For example, the colourless and odourless properties of hydrogen necessitates the use of specialised hydrogen leak detection systems, limitation of release sources by welding piping components together as much as possible. The low density of hydrogen means that the use of ventilation systems is a preferable way to avoid the build up of levels of hydrogen above the lower flammable limit (LFL). This is also considered in the venting systems design, as well as the positioning of the gas detectors. The low minimum ignition energy of hydrogen means the application of a little energy is sufficient to trigger an explosion. This necessitates the requirements for hazardous area classifications and the use of ATEX rated equipment in addition to proper ventilation in order to ensure that at least 1 of the fire/explosion triangle elements are absent at all times. The high propensity for leakage of hydrogen and hydrogen embrittlement require a rigorous material selection, welding design strategy and adequate maintenance and inspection schedules to guard against material failure and ultimately loss of containment. Hydrogen burns with a flame that is usually invisible under bright light (compared with the visible blue flame colour for the complete combustion

of methane), this requires the use of specialised flame detectors that detect the ultraviolet and thermal radiation that is given off during combustion. The production of oxygen as a by-product of electrolysis requires considerations around oxygen enrichment, and material compatibility and cleanliness associated with oxygen service.

The hazards identified as a result of hydrogen properties can lead to various accidents such as asphyxiation, fires or explosions with grave consequences such as fatalities as well as damage to assets and business reputation. Supercritical takes these hazards very seriously and starts with safety. In order to avoid these accidents, a rigorous and systematic safety approach must be in place. This includes risk assessments and identification, selection and verification of appropriate mitigation measures to reduce risks to the lowest practicable levels. In the design stage, preference is given to the inherently safer strategies where we seek to eliminate or reduce hazards, rather than controlling them.  For example, we minimise leaks in our hydrogen production process by using materials that are resistant to corrosion and hydrogen embrittlement. We have also simplified our process through the removal of the requirement of compressors, which have reliability and efficiency challenges.

To further mitigate risks, we employ passive strategies to reduce the consequence effects, for example carrying out our operations within enclosures that isolates personnel from potential explosion effects. We have also used  active protection systems such as control systems and shutdown systems, which are activated to protect against unsafe conditions; for example the design of the control system to ensure that the hydrogen inventory is limited in all conditions (including failure scenarios). In addition, we use rigorously developed operating procedures, training and use of appropriate personal protective equipment to ensure safe operations at all times.

The assessment of risks at each phase and scale of operation of green hydrogen production processes is necessary to ensure the appropriate mitigation measures are in place. This should be carried out along with the application of appropriate safety standards and regulations, and learning from industry experience to avoid the re-occurrence of accidents. In this way, we can enable the energy transition in a safe and sustainable manner.

Written by: Titilola Oliyide, Supercritical Senior Safety Engineer

Want to learn more about Supercritical’s green hydrogen solution?

Reach out to us at [email protected]

In support of Hydrogen Week UK, Supercritical has left the lab and entered the classroom to provide some insights into work in the hydrogen industry, the clean tech sector and a startup!

In just two and a half years, Supercritical has grown from 4 founders to 15 full time employees. In that time, we’ve had hundreds applicants for various roles across the business! Finding the right people has been a momentous challenge, but we have successfully built a highly capable and diverse team. Together we’re making great progress towards taking Supercritical’s green hydrogen technology to market. Each member of the team has had their own unique career path to where they are today, but they all started with the decisions that they made at school!

As 2023 took off, Supercritical reached out to schools to support students in Year 9 and Year 11 in making more informed decisions about their GCSEs and A Levels respectively. Science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects are crucial in saving our planet from the effects of climate change! At Supercritical, we want to be the catalyst for sustainable life on earth. We want to help ensure that the next generation knows just how pivotal they can be in helping the world tackle its biggest ever challenge! We believe that sharing the stories of our career journeys till date would inspire the younger generation as they make their career choices.

A team of Supercritical’s passionate engineers went out to Ellen Wilkinson School for Girls and Berkhamsted School to talk to students about the choices in education that got them to where they are today and what they’re doing on a daily basis to help enable green hydrogen at scale.

The visits were a hit! Ms. Nihal Ferchichi, Head of Chemistry at Ellen Wilkinson School for Girls, said “'Our students found the talk eye-opening, the Supercritical staff were passionate about their roles and the students were interested in their experiences and career journeys. Many of our (female) students loved that two female engineers came to talk about their experiences and it really got them thinking about all the different possibilities with a career in engineering". Ellen Wilkinson School for Girls is in Ealing, the same borough in London as the Supercritical laboratory/office. One of the students commented; “I found the talk really useful, as I would love to help the environment using science; the session with the engineers allowed me to think of many other careers around this”.

According to Engineering UK, in 2022 only 16.5% of engineers were women. As of 1st Feb 2023, Supercritical’s team includes 4 women (27%); a number we are actively trying to increase! The more girls who choose STEM subjects, the more women that will end up in STEM jobs.

Dr. Steve Redman, Head of Physics at Berkhamsted School in Hertfordshire said, “Many talented female scientists do not take academic paths that lead to STEM careers paths because they have not been well enough informed, have not been convinced about the relevance of such paths or, most worryingly, because of a lack in self-confidence in some STEM subjects. Changing the conversation everywhere – at home, at school, in the workplace – is all of our responsibilities. The only thing that should determine whether or not a female student chooses a STEM subject should be her own choice, not ignorance or under-confidence.”

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At Berkhamsted, we spoke to a slightly younger group of students, in Year 9. It was really encouraging to see so many who were enthusiastic about finding careers in helping to fight climate change and who were already aware of hydrogen. This awareness is fantastic, the message that the status quo is unacceptable is so reaching those who need to hear it.

We hope that our support will help these students make more informed decisions as they take on their next big milestone!

Are you considering a career in science, engineering, technology or maths? Take a look at the profiles of our outreach team:

‍Supercritical

Supercritical is developing the world’s first high pressure, ultra-efficient electrolyser, for the production of hydrogen and oxygen from water, with zero emissions. By using heat and pressure Supercritical's proprietary design allows it to exploit the benefits of supercritical water and deliver gases at over 200 bar of pressure, without the expense or challenges of hydrogen compressors. With this, Supercritical will deliver the lowest cost of pressurised green hydrogen.

Hydrogen Week UK

The UK’s first official Hydrogen Week will take place on 13 -19 February 2023. Bringing together stakeholders across the UK, it will celebrate and promote the role of hydrogen in reaching net zero.

With growing momentum around hydrogen, it will bring together partners from industry, to academia, to government to celebrate hydrogen with a week-long awareness raising campaign.

Spearheaded by the North West Hydrogen Alliance (NWHA) it aims to bring all regions of the UK together to cement the nation’s role as a world leader in hydrogen and capitalise on the huge opportunity the sector offers for both reducing carbon emissions and driving green economic growth.

Professor Joe Howe, Chair of the NWHA and Executive Director, Energy Research Institute at the University of Chester, said: “The last few years have seen hydrogen rising in prominence in the net zero agenda. It’s now recognised as critical to delivering on our decarbonisation targets. While there are a number of regions that are already delivering on hydrogen projects, if we really want to capitalise on this huge opportunity the UK needs to collaborate.

“Hydrogen Week will bring everyone together to raise awareness of the role that hydrogen can play in tackling climate change. I’d urge anyone who’s got an interest in hydrogen, whether that’s a big business, community group or school, to get involved.”

www.hydrogenweek.co.uk provides a hub for all activity taking place and provide a platform to share opinions and best practice on hydrogen.

To get involved visit the website or contact [email protected].

You can follow Hydrogen Week on social channels @H2WeekUK and using the hashtag #H2Week.

• World’s first high-efficiency, supercritical electrolyser to green ammonia production process to be developed in the UK.
• Supercritical, with partners ScottishPower and Proton Ventures, has secured around £146,000 funding from the Department for Business Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) for Phase 1 of their GreeNH3 project as part of the UK Government’s Net Zero Innovation Portfolio Low Carbon Hydrogen Supply 2 competition with up to £6 million available in Phase 2 subject to a competitive tender process.
• The GreeNH3 project will deliver a highly optimised power to ammonia facility, offering both operational benefits in energy utilisation and capital cost improvements.
  

Ammonia, which is produced using hydrogen and nitrogen, is critically important in the production of fertiliser and as a fuel or energy carrier for hydrogen. However, the world’s largest ammonia production technologies use hydrogen from fossil fuel sources, with the majority of the carbon emissions generated in the hydrogen production method.

The GreeNH3 project will revolutionise that process and usher in a new era of green hydrogen storage and distribution.

It will use Supercritical’s proprietary high-pressure electrolyser – powered by renewable energy – to deliver hydrogen without the need for gas compressors. This will then be used in Proton Ventures’ NFuel unit where the green hydrogen, under extremely high pressures, is combined with nitrogen from the air to produce ammonia.

Moving ammonia production to a greener process powered by renewable energy will not only help reduce the country’s reliance on fossil fuels, it could also help stabilise future energy costs for industry by breaking the link with the volatile gas market, which has seen prices reach unprecedented levels in recent months.

ScottishPower, one of the UK’s leading renewables developers, will operate the pilot facility, providing valuable operator and market feedback. ScottishPower is already exploring the export of green hydrogen or ammonia from the UK to countries like Germany through the Scot2Ger initiative.

Luke Tan, Chief Product Officer at Supercritical, said “Supercritical’s electrolyser is a hand in glove fit with the Haber-Bosch process. This demonstration opportunity will prove that, enabling a new market for green ammonia.”

Nitish Gadgil, Project Manager at Proton Ventures, said “Proton Ventures is proud and excited to partner up with Supercritical and ScottishPower for this innovative GreeNH3 project. Our modular NFuel unit produces green ammonia, which is the most promising green hydrogen carrier and we strongly believe that this study contributes in kickstarting the green hydrogen economy.”

Barry Carruthers, Hydrogen Director at ScottishPower, said: “Innovative solutions like this are driving forward the clean fuels revolution, bringing green hydrogen and ammonia to markets that may not have realised there is a greener alternative, giving them a chance to do their bit for Net Zero. We’re looking forward to working with our partners on this study and hopefully demonstrating a more sustainable, cost efficient way of producing ammonia.”

Energy Minister Greg Hands said: “The UK is truly leading the world in hydrogen innovation thanks to the exciting efforts of companies like Supercritical Solutions.

“The government support which they have received today will help to boost the development of hydrogen as the clean, affordable, homegrown superfuel of the future.”

The funding from the UK Government, supplied under the Low Carbon Hydrogen Supply 2 Competition, aims to support innovation in the supply of hydrogen, reduce the costs of supplying hydrogen, bring new solutions to the market, and ensure that the UK continues to develop world-leading technologies for a future hydrogen economy. It follows on from the first Low Carbon Hydrogen Supply Competition. The competition forms part of the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP).

About Supercritical

Supercritical is developing the world’s first high pressure, ultra-efficient electrolyser, for the production of hydrogen and oxygen from water, with zero emissions. By using heat and pressure Supercritical's proprietary design allows them to exploit the benefits of supercritical water and deliver gases at over 200 bar of pressure, without the expense or challenges of hydrogen compressors. With this, Supercritical will deliver the lowest cost of pressurised green hydrogen.

www.supercritical.solutions

www.linkedin.com/company/supercritical-solutions

Media Contact: Luke Tan - [email protected], +44 (0)7512420219

About Proton Ventures

Proton Ventures is an independent engineering company operating in the chemical industry. We provide innovative engineering and turnkey solutions for world-scale storage terminals, decentralized ammonia production units and other related process applications. We strive to be a key player in decentralized chemical energy storage, making renewable energy accessible to everyone. As a technological innovator, we enable our global partners to benefit from our safe, reliable, efficient and environmentally responsible solutions. We offer innovative applications in terminal concepts, NFuel and Utilities, as well as consulting and services in the field of engineering, procurement and cost calculation for turnkey projects.

https://protonventures.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/proton-ventures

Media Contact: Rianne Vriend-Vrijenhoef - [email protected], +31 (0)6-10544501

About ScottishPower

ScottishPower is a major energy company with renewable generation, retail supply and network interests; a leading developer of wind power in the UK, and part of the Iberdrola Group, the world’s leading renewables developer. ScottishPower generates 100% green electricity and our parent company, Iberdrola, is a global leader in tackling climate change, with a commitment to reaching carbon neutrality by 2050. At the end of 2020, we launched our Green Hydrogen Business Division and are working with parties in ‘hard-to-decarbonise’ sectors such as heavy transport and heavy industry to help them take forward opportunities to decarbonise through the use of zero-carbon, green hydrogen produced using renewable generation.

www.scottishpower.co.uk/green-hydrogen

Media contact: Denise Robertson – [email protected], +44 (0)7585 961708

Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy

This funding has been made available from the government’s £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, which aims to support innovation in the supply of hydrogen. This competition looks to provide funding for projects that can help develop a wide range of innovative low-carbon hydrogen supply solutions.

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The planet is broken and we broke it.

‍We need to halve carbon emissions by 2030 and reach net-zero by 2050.

Let's not pretend anymore, business as usual isn’t going to get us there nor is changing light bulbs or any amount of sorting your recycling. We need significant, direct action.

I’m going to share a dirty secret with you…. The production of hydrogen today is made from fossil fuels and emits more CO₂ into the atmosphere than the combined total emissions of Canada and Australia. That's the same as the global airline industry.

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Companies with fossil fuels are planning to ‘just’ capture the emitted carbon but that's not working, live versions are still emitting more carbon than they are capturing (Blue Hydrogen).

So forget the flying hydrogen cars and the hydrogen coffee makers, just who is using all of that 90million tonnes of Hydrogen each year, worth £140billion? It’s the chemicals sector! With the biggest consumer being the ammonia process, which is mainly used for fertiliser and therefore the food on your table.

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We don’t have to use non-renewable fossil hydrogen, there is a better way.

Electrolysers split water (H₂O) into Oxygen (0₂) and Hydrogen (H₂) using electricity.

All other electrolysers deliver gases at low pressure (20-40bar), requiring further compression to be useful, whether that’s to be stored, transported or used directly in a chemical plant like an ammonia production facility. The compression process adds more cost to the final delivered hydrogen. The reality of purchasing and operating compressors is conveniently ignored by most electrolyser companies today.

We saw the opportunity to create a step-change in real-world green hydrogen efficiency by building an electrolyser that outputs gas at a useful 200 bar pressure. i.e. the same pressure the biggest existing user of hydrogen requires.

You can’t just turn up the pressure dial on existing electrolysers, membranes would disintegrate and ceramic blocks would crack. We had to invent a new class of electrolyser, something completely new; something without a fragile membrane, which is the first point of failure on existing electrolysers. So that’s what we did!

Our unique technology can be used for the ultra-efficient production of high-pressure hydrogen. It also has other applications in waste processing, plastics recycling and even the production of carbon-neutral synthetic fuels. But our focus right now is the scaling of the technology with a demonstrator available in early 2023.

We are scaling our proprietary technology to serve the existing market of hydrogen. Today that is principally the chemicals sector. We can also transform medium to high heat industrial applications that are looking to switch from fossil fuels but cannot electrify feasibly or practically. Additionally, we can serve the heavy and long-haul transportation sector, where cargo weight and distances challenge battery solutions as alternatives to diesel. These markets combine to trillions in market cap and are responsible for 10 gigatonnes of CO₂ each year; approximately one-fifth of the world's total greenhouse gas emissions.

Do YOU want to have a role that can have a direct impact on fixing the planet? Or are you content in a role doing nothing about it? We know we can’t do this on our own, we need talented and passionate people to join us.

If you would like to discuss how our technology can help you achieve your net-zero goals, get in contact, maybe you would like to be selected to be one of the first to pilot our technology in 2023.

Follow us on Linkedin and Subscribe to our newsletter.

WhiskHy, a consortium led by Supercritical in collaboration with partners Beam Suntory and the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) has been awarded £2.94 million as part of Phase 2 of the Green Distilleries Competition funded through the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s (BEIS) Net Zero Innovation Portfolio. This follows the successful completion of a three-month feasibility study for its green hydrogen-based decarbonisation technology at Beam Suntory’s Ardmore distillery. This additional funding will enable the consortium to scale up this technology and conduct an industrial hydrogen trial at Beam Suntory’s Glen Garioch distillery in Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire.

Supercritical, the UK based clean-tech startup developing the world’s first high pressure, ultra-efficient electrolyser has partnered with Beam Suntory, a world leader in premium spirits, exploring the potential for zero emission hydrogen use in whisky distilling.  Zero emission hydrogen, produced by splitting water powered with renewable energy, can completely replace fossil fuels used in the distilling industry. Hydrogen’s ability to be stored for long periods of time and to combust without carbon dioxide emissions at comparable temperatures to fossil fuels make it an ideal solution to transition the whisky industry to net zero.  In the UK alone, switching to green hydrogen would reduce emissions by 530,000 tCO₂e per year.

Over the course of the 21-month project, Supercritical will advance its technology and complete an industrial hydrogen trial at Beam Suntory’s Glen Garioch distillery to produce circa 57,000 bottles of hydrogen-distilled whisky. It is believed that these bottles will represent the first hydrogen fired bottles of whisky ever created at industrial scale. The quality of the spirit will be assessed by Beam Suntory’s experts over the course of the project and beyond as the unique spirit matures, with finished product ready to be responsibly enjoyed sometime after 2025.

Supercritical was incorporated in June 2020, with a novel approach to water electrolysis and an experienced team to make it happen.  Now, with the technology demonstrated in the lab, Supercritical uses the WhiskHy platform to scale up module capacity and build out the system.  The core technology being developed under WhiskHy also has huge potential in other hard-to-decarbonise sectors, such as chemicals, heavy industry and transport. Investment in this project will see long term transferable decarbonisation benefits to the wider energy system.

Beam Suntory, whose premium portfolio of globally renowned brands, including Scotch whiskies, Glen Garioch, Teacher’s, The Ardmore, Bowmore, Laphroaig and Auchentoshan, launched its Proof Positive sustainability strategy this year - a set of long-term commitments to contribute to a more sustainable, equitable future, supported by a $1 billion investment. These commitments include an ambition to reduce emissions by 50% by 2030 and to go beyond net zero across its entire value chain by 2040. Beam Suntory sees huge potential in green hydrogen as a fuel for their distilleries and believes that Supercritical’s technology will support their net zero ambitions.

With the funding, Supercritical plans to double the size of its team, providing skilled jobs and developing expertise in the UK’s green hydrogen sector. Valuable supply chain contribution across the UK has been identified and work has either started or will be commencing imminently with multiple product and service providers.  

Partner to the project is the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), part of the UK’s High Value Manufacturing Catapult. The MTC will support Supercritical in developing some of the core processes in the development of their novel technology.  The MTC was established to prove innovative manufacturing processes and technologies in an agile environment in partnership with industry, academia and other institutions and is focused on supporting companies and the UK achieve Net Zero.

Matt Bird, CEO at Supercritical said, “Supercritical is thriving in today’s drive to decarbonise and leading the transition for change in the UK’s clean-tech sector. We welcome this continued support to bring our next generation electrolysis technology to the next level to help decarbonise the whisky sector in the UK, and look forward to the export opportunities that it will facilitate in zero-emission whisky as well as electrolyser technology.”

Alistair Longwell, Senior Manager, Scotch Distillation & Maturation Operations at Beam Suntory, added: “We are very pleased to extend and expand upon our partnership with Supercritical, and we are looking forward to hosting these industrial trials at our Glen Garioch distillery. Innovative technologies like Project WhiskHy will be critical in securing a green future for our industry, and for our planet, and we’re proud to play a role in making this green future a reality, in line with our Proof Positive commitments.”

Huw Sullivan, Sector Lead for Hydrogen said: “The Manufacturing Technology Centre is delighted to be supporting the development of Supercritical’s hydrogen clean energy technology. Supporting the delivery of Net Zero, including hydrogen, is core to our vision for future UK manufacturing. Through our Liverpool, Midlands and South East facilities, we are supporting the next generation of green manufacturing technologies to ensure clean growth, stimulate investment in the UK supply chain and create and safeguard UK jobs, notably in hydrogen.”

To follow the WhiskHy project, go to our Case study page.

For more on Beam Suntory’s sustainability strategy, Proof Positive.

About Supercritical

Supercritical is developing the world’s first high pressure, ultra-efficient electrolyser, for the production of hydrogen and oxygen from water, with zero emissions. By using heat and pressure Supercritical's proprietary design allows them to exploit the benefits of supercritical water and deliver gases at over 200 bar of pressure, without the expense or challenges of hydrogen compressors. With this, Supercritical will deliver the lowest cost of pressurised green hydrogen.

www.supercritical.solutions

www.linkedin.com/company/supercritical-solutions

About the MTC

The Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) was established to prove innovative manufacturing processes and technologies in an agile environment in partnership with industry, academia and other institutions.  

Housing some of the most advanced manufacturing equipment in the world, creating a high quality environment for the development and demonstration of new technologies on an industrial scale, the MTC provides a unique opportunity for manufacturers to develop new and innovative processes and technologies.

The MTC is part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, supported by Innovate UK.

https://www.the-mtc.org/

About the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy

The Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) brings together responsibilities for business, industrial strategy, science, research & innovation, energy & clean growth, and climate change.  

This funding has been made available from the government’s £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, which looks to accelerate the commercialisation of low-carbon technologies and systems, through its Green Distilleries competition.  The Green Distilleries competition is providing funding for developing technologies that enable the use of low carbon fuel in a distillery.

For the first time ever, in addition to the winners, Supercritical were also selected by the jury and have been offered a collaboration with Shell.

“To walk away from the NEC with an offer of collaboration and the ‘Viewer’s Favourite’ award validates that Supercritical is pursuing the right solution! We’re really excited to bring our technology to market faster, with Shell.” says Luke Tan, Chief Product Officer.

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This year’s Shell New Energy Challenge was fiercely competitive, with clean technologies in the start-up stream being hugely diverse representing innovations in: batteries, carbon capture, green hydrogen, iron fuel and sustainable aviation fuel. With over 180 applicants, the top 5 all had something valuable to offer. It was the 3-week programme where Supercritical and Shell had the opportunity to dive deeper into the technology that clinched the deal!

“It’s clear that the finalists came highly prepared – the pitches were of extremely high quality. The innovations are relevant for both the New Energy Challenge and for Shell and it’s actually a pity that we can’t have ten winners,” says Joep Huijsmans, General Manager Power of Shell Global Solutions International.

“This year we have again been deeply impressed by the talent and innovation that the finalists have demonstrated. Every one of them is working on promising solutions for the energy transition. So much so that we have decided to potentially develop a pilot with two scale-up companies” says Geert van de Wouw, Managing Director of Shell Ventures.

Although there was a live audience present at this year’s finals event, all the finalists participated digitally, as the virtual format of the event had proven to be a huge success in 2020. This year, the broadcast also introduced the ‘Viewer’s Favourite’ award, which was won by Supercritical.

Watch Luke Tan, CPO, give his thoughts on grey, blue and green hydrogen during the finals broadcast.

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Supercritical

Supercritical is developing the world’s first high pressure, ultra-efficient electrolyser, for the production of hydrogen and oxygen from water, with zero emissions. By using heat and pressure Supercritical's proprietary design allows them to exploit the benefits of supercritical water and deliver gases at over 200 bar of pressure, without the expense or challenges of hydrogen compressors. With this, Supercritical will deliver the lowest cost of pressurised green hydrogen.

www.supercritical.solutions

www.linkedin.com/company/supercritical-solutions

New Energy Challenge

The New Energy Challenge has been organised for six years in a row by Get in the Ring, Rockstart, Shell and Yes!Delft. The goal of the challenge is to bring together the best European and Israeli start-ups and scale-ups working on game-changing energy solutions to enable the acceleration of the energy transition. In line with the recent opening of the Energy Transition Campus in Amsterdam, the New Energy Challenge aims to promote knowledge-sharing and innovation.

https://newenergychallenge.com/

Supercritical, as a Top 5 start up in Shell's New Energy Challenge, have been working hard over the last 3 weeks to better understand Shell and how Supercritical can create sustainable value for their business.On Friday 28th October, we'll be pitching live to a panel of senior Shell Executives for our chance to win €100,000 and a collaboration with the energy super major!

We created a short video to communicate the benefits of our technology to the world.  Have a watch!  If you'd like to learn more, please email [email protected].

Supercritical, developer of the world’s first high pressure, ultra-efficient electrolyser, is named in CleantechGroup’s New 50 to Watch List, one of only 8 UK based companies selected for the prestigious list.

The 2021 50 to Watch is the third annual list of the top early-stage private companies delivering innovative solutions that take action on the climate crisis. The entrepreneurs on the list are creating new technologies and business models that could support clean hydrogen, increase food availability, eliminate rare earth metalsfrom solar cells and create textiles out of food waste.

“Doing nothing is not an option. Our small but growing team is passionate about making a positive difference to the world we all live in.” said Supercritical Chief Executive Matt Bird

“More than ever, we need ambitious innovators to challenge the status quo, lead us to a more sustainable economy and solve some of the most pressing challenges the world faces,” said Jules Besnainou, Director Cleantech Group.

To arrive at the companies on the list, Cleantech Group put together a diverse panel of more than 25 early-stage investment and innovation experts. The Expert Panel nominated the companies they were most impressed with, focusing on innovative solutions to the climate crisis. Next, those nominations were combined with Cleantech Group nominations and added to research on early-stage public awards. The resulting 500 nominations were put through qualitative and impact filters. All nominations were weighted according to their relevance, keeping a sectoral and geographical balance. A shortlist of 150 companies was agreed. The Expert Panel then reviewed and scored this shortlist to arrive at the final 50.

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• The complete list of 50 companies was revealed on 14 September 2021
• For detailed information on Supercritical's outlook as an innovator, visit Cleantech Group’s market intelligence platform i3 and search for Supercritical.
• Download the report

Supercritical has gone from strength to strength since incorporating in 2020, being acknowledged globally as a frontrunner in clean hydrogen innovation. In addition to being included in 50 to Watch list, Supercritical have been listed as a top 5 startup by Shell in their New Energy Challenge and selected as a finalist from a global search by OZ Minerals in their Hydrogen Hypothesis challenge. Pairing this with continued investor interest and government support, Supercritical is aiming to double its team within the next year, with multiple opportunities about to be announced.

If you’d like to keep track of Supercritical’s success and to hear about upcoming opportunities to invest, a regular newsletter is in the process of being set up. Keep an eye on Supercritical’s website for the opportunity to register!

About Cleantech Group

Cleantech® Group provides research, consulting and events to catalyze opportunities for sustainable growth powered by innovation. At every stage from initial strategy to final deals, we bring corporate change makers, investors, governments and stakeholders from across the ecosystem the access and customized support they need to thrive in a more digitized, de-carbonized and resource-efficient future.

MEDIA CONTACT: Laura Dolby

Cleantech Group Email: [email protected]

Supercritical and their high pressure, ultra-efficient electrolyser, has been selected as one of seven teams to take part in the OZ Minerals Think & Act Differently (TAD) accelerator program.

The focus of the challenge was to identify experiments that can demonstrate the safe and effective use of hydrogen in a mining context, with the aim of providing OZ Minerals insight into how Hydrogen can be used to support zero or low carbon processes.

There were 158 participants in the OZ Minerals and Unearthed Hydrogen Hypothesis challenge, from 35 countries.

Brett Triffett, OZ Minerals’ Transformation Technologist, explained, ‘The mining sector has the opportunity to leverage the progress made in other sectors and explore the use of Hydrogen technology in its operations.

‘The finalist teams were chosen because they have proposed ideas that have the potential to demonstrate the value Hydrogen technologies and applications could create for our industry.  

‘These teams also demonstrated their willingness to work and learn together with each other and OZ Minerals. The OZ Minerals TAD incubator acceleration program is designed to create as much mutual value as we possibly can, rather than just transacting an experiment for funding.

‘The program includes frequent capability uplift sessions on a range of topics so the participants come out with something more than just a funded experiment. Many of the finalist teams are not from the mining industry and are keen to learn more about how the industry works,’ Brett added.

These insights are embedded through regular Insights Panels with members of our broad ecosystem. They also come together with a technical mentor to gain valuable feedback on the technical aspects of their work with one another.

Luke Tan, Chief Product Officer at Supercritical, commented, ‘It’s great to see Supercritical’s technology acknowledged on the other side of the world in Australia.  The mining sector is a really important sector that Supercritical’s been focussing on since incorporation.’

Power heavy mines are often located in remote locations and often have the benefit of strong solar and wind availability. Pair these with land availability and you’ve got an ideal site for decarbonisation with renewables. However, even in renewable rich locations, the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow. Ultra-efficient electrolysis offers this sector a means of storing the renewable energy to enable 24/7 operation whilst also offering fuel for their hard-to-decarbonise heavy goods vehicles as they shift to fuel cells.

‘We’ve worked with OZ Minerals over the last few months to identify multiple integration opportunities. Working with such a forward thinking company is really refreshing and we can’t wait to see what we can achieve together.’ Luke added.

The other teams selected are:

Avid Group – Hydrogen powered lighting towers

Carbon 280 – Hydrilyte storage system - safe hydrogen transport and storage at atmospheric temperature and pressure  

Carnot – Ultra efficient ceramic engine

Fly H2 Aerospace – Hydrogen powered drone

OZ Minerals – Hydrogen highway

Yakum Consulting / Queens University – Produce clean metal products from concentrate using green hydrogen.

Supercritical

Supercritical is developing the world’s first high pressure, ultra-efficient electrolyser, for the production of hydrogen and oxygen from water, with zero emissions. By using heat and pressure Supercritical's proprietary design allows them to exploit the benefits of supercritical water and deliver gases at over 200 bar of pressure, without the expense or challenges of hydrogen compressors.  With this, Supercritical will deliver the lowest cost of pressurised green hydrogen.

www.supercritical.solutions

www.linkedin.com/company/supercritical-solutions

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Supercritical shortlisted as top 10 of 180+ applicants in this year's New Energy Challenge (NEC) where the winner will receive €100,000 towards a proof of concept within the Shell GameChanger programme, giving them a quick and cost-effective way to test the technical and commercial viability of their solution with the energy super major.

With previous winners including the likes of UK based NanoSun and Israel based H2Pro, Supercritical is amongst a rapidly progressing group of hydrogen start-ups.

Supercritical's novel high pressure, ultra-efficient electrolyser solution has been reviewed by Shell's technical experts and going forward, Supercritical will pitch for the opportunity to win €100,000. Supercritical's electrolyser, which produces hydrogen and oxygen from water, by using heat and pressure is the first of its kind. The proprietary design allows them to exploit the benefits of supercritical water and deliver gases at over 200 bar of pressure, without the expense or challenges of hydrogen compressors. With this, Supercritical will deliver the lowest cost of pressurised green hydrogen.

The competition is designed for entrepreneurs in Europe and Israel who are developing advanced technologies and disruptive solutions that could be vital in accelerating the energy transition.

The world will need an increasing amount of energy in the coming decade to ensure a decent standard of living for a growing global population. At the same time, we need to lower our CO2 emissions to tackle climate change.

NEC’s mission to support young, innovative companies is more important than ever. After all, they can help stimulate the economic recovery from the global COVID-19 recession by growing businesses based on affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy. Start-ups and scale-ups have, and will continue to have, a vital role in developing technologies for the energy system of the future.

Since it was launched, dozens of innovative entrepreneurs have received expert coaching and guidance and had the opportunity to bring their ideas to the next level. Winners such as Asperitas in 2018 have successfully attracted large-scale investment, begun building long-term partnerships, and brought us a step closer to making the energy transition a reality.

Supercritical

Supercritical is developing the world’s first high pressure, ultra-efficient electrolyser, for the production of hydrogen and oxygen from water, with zero emissions. By using heat and pressure Supercritical's proprietary design allows them to exploit the benefits of supercritical water and deliver gases at over 200 bar of pressure, without the expense or challenges of hydrogen compressors. With this, Supercritical will deliver the lowest cost of pressurised green hydrogen.

www.supercritical.solutions

www.linkedin.com/company/supercritical-solutions

Supercritical has been selected as a finalist in OZ Minerals’ Hydrogen Hypothesis Challenge. It is a clear demonstration that Supercritical’s technology is not limited by geographical restrictions, even at this early stage. Innovation and collaboration to deliver low cost decarbonising solutions knows no borders, and the team at Supercritical is using their many years of international experience to seek the opportunities that can make the biggest difference.

The winner(s) of the challenge will have an experiment funded by OZ Minerals and will work with OZ Minerals’ internal experts and ecosystem to accelerate the testing and development of the technology in the sector.

The Hydrogen Hypothesis challenge is a Think & Act Differently™ initiative powered by OZ Minerals. OZ Minerals has a strategic aspiration to eliminate Scope 1 emissions and strive to systematically reduce Scope 2 and 3 emissions across the value chain.

The use of hydrogen as a green, low carbon energy source is one of the most widely explored subjects on the planet today. In their journey towards zero carbon emissions, OZ Minerals set this competition to better understand hydrogen’s potential applications.

This challenge invited innovators from inside and outside the mining industry, across the globe to propose safe experiments to demonstrate the role hydrogen could play in the mining value chain and help progress a transition to low carbon emission operations. It was open to companies, teams and individuals from any industry including mining, energy, aerospace, transportation, and others with mature or early-stage hydrogen technologies and concepts that can be applied to mining.

Supercritical’s technology was selected for its low cost, high pressure hydrogen production technology. Considering the remote location of the majority of mines, the environment can often be well suited to electrification with renewables. However, to enable 24/7 operations, and to fuel high heat applications and heavy duty vehicles, direct connection to renewables is insufficient. Hydrogen, produced efficiently, can provide a valuable zero carbon buffer and fuel source for these hard to decarbonise assets.

The high efficiency paired with a high pressure delivery of 230 bar peaked interest within the judging panel. The potential for further operational cost reductions with heat integration also triggered some thinking about potential future technology pairings which could offer OZ Minerals a competitive advantage.

The competition considered a huge range of hydrogen technologies from production to storage to utilisation. The blue sky thinking approach to innovation could help OZ Minerals completely re-imagine what their facilities could look like in a world beyond fossil fuels. It is also bringing together innovators from across the world to learn more about each other’s technologies and consider collaborating to improve the system value proposition.

The finalists will now go through a four week convergence process, where initial hypotheses will be refined before finally pitching to the OZ Minerals funding committee.

Supercritical

Supercritical is developing the world’s first high pressure, ultra-efficient electrolyser, for the production of hydrogen and oxygen from water, with zero emissions. By using heat and pressure Supercritical's proprietary design allows them to exploit the benefits of supercritical water and deliver gases at over 200 bar of pressure, without the expense or challenges of hydrogen compressors. With this, Supercritical will deliver the lowest cost of pressurised green hydrogen.

www.supercritical.solutions

www.linkedin.com/company/supercritical-solutions

Supercritical has been awarded over £320,000 by InnovateUK, the UK’s innovation agency, as part of the Smart Grant competition (Smart). Project AHEAD (Affordable Hydrogen from Electrolysis Accelerating Decarbonisation) sees the project, valued at almost half a million pounds, co-funded to 70% by InnovateUK. Crucially, the funding will support Supercritical in the development and testing of a fully operational multi-cell module.

Smart is InnovateUK’s ‘Open grant funding’ programme, with £25 million made available each quarter to support the best game-changing and commercially viable innovative or disruptive ideas. Smart is extremely competitive, applicants have to score higher than 80% in their application and due to the high number of applicants, with typically only 5% are successful!

Supercritical's founding team at their London lab

Luke Tan, Chief Product Officer, says “ By designing for operating conditions above the critical point of water, Supercritical unlocks the secret to boosting electrical efficiency in water electrolysis, minimising cost and waste. Supercritical’s technology can help accelerate the UK and the world towards net zero. ”

Over the next 18 months, Supercritical will design, build and test the world’s first multi-cell electrolyser module capable of operating above the critical point of water. By operating at these conditions, the electrolyser delivers high pressure hydrogen without any hydrogen gas compressors. State of the art electrolysers on the market today peak at 30 bar delivery pressure meaning that for storage or distribution, expensive hydrogen compressors must be added to the system. In addition, with Supercritical’s proprietary electrolyser design, superior electrical efficiencies can be achieved, enabling a high utilisation of renewable power, reducing waste and minimising capital costs at the hydrogen production stage and upstream in the renewable power generation stage.

Supercritical addresses a number of government initiatives that help support the UK’s Net Zero by 2050 pledge. Initiatives like Build Back Greener and the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan clearly demonstrate a desire to drive jobs through zero emission technologies and hydrogen. Supercritical brings vital innovation to a British hydrogen industry that is lacking compared to its European counterparts. With this Smart grant, Supercritical will double the size of its team, bringing crucial jobs to the UK, building on the strong technical capabilities available in the existing workforce in the UK.

Supercritical

‍Supercritical is developing the world’s first high pressure, ultra-efficient electrolyser, for the production of hydrogen and oxygen from water, with zero emissions. By using heat and pressure Supercritical's proprietary design allows them to exploit the benefits of supercritical water and deliver gases at over 200 bar of pressure, without the expense or challenges of hydrogen compressors. With this, Supercritical will deliver the lowest cost of pressurised green hydrogen.

www.supercritical.solutions

www.linkedin.com/company/supercritical-solutions

Innovate UK

Innovate UK drives productivity and economic growth by supporting businesses to develop and realise the potential of new ideas.

We connect businesses to the partners, customers and investors that can help them turn ideas into commercially successful products and services and business growth.

We fund business and research collaborations to accelerate innovation and drive business investment into R&D. Our support is available to businesses across all economic sectors, value chains and UK regions.

Innovate UK is part of UK Research and Innovation. For more information visit www.innovateuk.ukri.org

Not a week goes by without a news story being published about a record-breaking statistic or observable event occurring that is attributed to climate change.  It's worrying and, at times, it seems dire! However, like all problems, we need to understand the scale of the challenge in order to tackle it.  We have no other choice.

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You'll often hear about measurements taken from Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. The remote location in the Pacific Ocean away from major pollution sources is a prime location for sampling the Earth's background air and providing a baseline concentration of components present. The data collected from this station is best known for its measurements of rising carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentrations in the atmosphere. The graph below shows the trend in carbon dioxide concentration over the last 60 years. It's clear from this trend that not only is the concentration rising but that it is accelerating!

The start of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns and travel restrictions demonstrated the scale of change that would be required to curb carbon emissions and the effect that this had on the global economy.    It is clear that we cannot simply turn off the sources of pollution without causing widespread economic damage and devastating the livelihoods of billions of people.  It is, therefore, imperative that we find a way to transition to a carbon-neutral economy and use more sustainable means of producing energy, fuels, food and so on.

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The next 30 years will see a surge of activity focussing on installing renewable energy capacity to aid in transitioning from fossil fuels to carbon-free energy sources. While this will support direct electrification of many sectors, one of the common shortcomings of renewable energy is the intermittence of its availability. Therefore, as well as the need for renewable energy generation; storage and transmission will be an equally important challenge to overcome.

Hydrogen is strongly considered to be the fuel that will replace fossil fuels to enable the transition to a net zero economy. Hydrogen can be used for heating through combustion with oxygen, electricity generation through electrochemical reactions in fuel cells, long term storage and long-distance transportation.

Today, ~70 million tons of hydrogen is produced annually worldwide, worth ~£144 billion. The hydrogen market is forecasted to grow 8 fold over the next 30 years, driven by a global need to decarbonise. The charts below show the current market size and projections for growth and applications of hydrogen between now and 2050.

A major challenge for the transition to a Hydrogen Economy is that the majority of the 70 million tons of hydrogen produced today (<96%) is still produced from fossil fuels. In order to decarbonise this market let alone the 8 fold increase in hydrogen demand will require an unprecedented rollout of green hydrogen technologies to achieve this.

At Supercritical, we intend to support this transition by targeting some of the industrial users of hydrogen, such as ammonia. Currently, 55% of the 70 million tons of hydrogen produced today is used to produce ammonia via the Haber-Bosch process. Operating in excess of 375°C and 221bar (the critical point of water), the Supercritical electrolyser has a strong synergy with the Haber-Bosch process which operates at 200bar and 500°C. By capturing the waste heat from the exothermic reaction and negating the need for hydrogen compressors by producing pre-pressurised hydrogen this has the potential to replace the steam-methane reformed hydrogen currently used to produce ammonia.

If you would like to find out more about Supercritical's integration opportunities, please contact us at [email protected].

1. https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2606/massive-iceberg-breaks-off-from-antarctica/
2. https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/
3. https://www.iea.org/reports/global-energy-review-2021/co2-emissions
4. https://www.irena.org/publications/2018/Sep/Hydrogen-from-renewable-power

14th May 2021 - Supercritical Solutions Ltd (Supercritical) has successfully completed a three-month feasibility study for their green hydrogen-based decarbonisation technology at Beam Suntory’s Ardmore distillery. Supercritical’s ‘Project WhiskHy’ was one of just 17 green innovation projects to be awarded an initial grant from BEIS in January 2021. Following the feasibility study, Supercritical is now in the running for a second round of funding from BEIS to develop, deploy and scale this technology at Ardmore over the next three years.

With ‘Project WhiskHy’, Supercritical has designed the world’s first supercritical electrolyser, which would enable a distillery like Ardmore to produce and store hydrogen on site, powered only by the distillery’s wastewater and local renewable power sources. The green hydrogen can then be looped back into the distillery's heat or power system to minimise, and ultimately eliminate, its reliance on fossil fuels. Supercritical’s initial feasibility study has demonstrated a clear pathway for the Ardmore distillery to become a zero-carbon distillery, reliant only on its local natural resources, by 2040. This technology would be the first of its kind and could be deployed across distilleries of all sizes, as well as other industries.

Supercritical, in partnership with Beam Suntory, the Centre for Process Innovation, Xodus Group and DNV, has issued a comprehensive report of its findings, which has also been submitted to BEIS. An executive summary of the WhiskHy report can be downloaded from supercritical.solutions/whiskhy. Project WhiskHy is now in the process of bidding for a further grant from BEIS to allow it to build and deploy this technology at scale at the Ardmore distillery.

Matt Bird, CEO at Supercritical added:

“Extracting hydrogen from the distillery wastewater using local renewable energy means we could eliminate carbon emissions from the distilling process at a lower cost than the fossil fuels used today”

Luke Tan, CPO at Supercritical added:

“The WhiskHy feasibility study was a great opportunity to demonstrate the global reach and potential for Supercritical’s technology. With Phase 2 approved, Ardmore distillery will be the first of many to benefit from our UK developed high pressure, ultra-efficient green hydrogen solution.”

Alistair Longwell, Senior Manager, Scotch Distillation & Maturation Operations at Beam Suntory, added:

“Beam Suntory is proud to support the Scotch Whisky sector’s ambitious journey towards full decarbonisation, and we are delighted to support this innovative project aimed at unlocking the potential for a sustainable, renewable and flexible primary energy source.”

Notes to Editors:

• The Green Distilleries Competition, run by BEIS, aims to kickstart the development of new decarbonisation technologies across the distillation industry, by identifying, supporting and then developing credible innovative fuel switching technologies. The winners for Phase 2 funding will be announced in June 2021.
• Green hydrogen offers an alternative to traditional fossil fuels.  It can store renewable power for long periods of time and can be converted back into power or used for heat generation without carbon emissions.  It offers a unique ability to help transition heavy industry to a net zero status.
• It is estimated that there are over 300 distilleries across the UK. The distillery sector is estimated to have a GVA of £8.25bn with Scotch whisky providing £5.5bn, including  £4.7bn through exports, making up 20% of all UK food and drink exports. There are multiple steps required in the production process from maltings through to maturation. Whisky distilleries (of which there are 122 in the UK) consume the most energy within the distillation industry (around 7x more energy intensive than gin distilleries), directly producing around 530,000 tCO2e/y in 2018.[1]
• A 70 cl bottle of whisky could account for anywhere between 370g and 538g of Carbon Dioxide emitted from the distilling process. By connecting Supercritical’s ultra-efficient, high pressure electrolyser to local renewables, Ardmore could become a fully self sufficient distillery, reliant only on the natural resources of its immediate environment.
• The hydrogen produced during the pilot will be injected into Ardmore’s existing boiler, which is currently powered on LPG. The existing boiler can be retrofitted with new burners to enable a full transition to hydrogen as availability of the green fuel increases.

[1] - https://www.scotch-whisky.org.uk/media/1731/swa-net-zero-report-2020-exec-summary.pdf

About Supercritical Solutions LTD

We are developing the world’s first high pressure, ultra-efficient electrolyser, for the production of Hydrogen and Oxygen from water, with zero emissions. By using heat and pressure our proprietary design allows us to exploit the benefits of supercritical water and deliver gases at over 200 bar of pressure, without the expense or challenges of hydrogen compressors.

Supercritical has had great success over their short lifetime. Founded in June 2020 from Deep Science Ventures and supported by Angel Investment and a FTSE-100. In August 2020 they were awarded funding by OGTC for the potential the technology could offer the oil and gas industry, and now recognition in the distilling industry too. Due to the versatility of the technology, conversations are taking place with multiple other hard-to-decarbonise sectors about the use of the technology.

Chief Executive: Matt Bird, has a 23+ year career, accumulating 12 years of extensive experience operating at board level in a wide variety of roles, managing budgets in excess of £100million. Most recently successfully grown and exited a start-up from an empty desk to a multi-million turnover in less than three years.

Chief Technical Officer: Mike Russ, our CTO, has a PhD in Aerospace Engineering from University of Bristol andhas 7 years experience working with supercritical water reactors and fuel cell technology.  He has designed, built and commissioned a new class of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell test stand in his previous role.

Chief Product Officer: Luke Tan, has a Degree in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College and 8 years experience delivering hydrogen solutions at Johnson Matthey. Working across the full rainbow of hydrogen colours, he led Business Development in their Fuel Cell division and was pivotal to the rapid growth of clean hydrogen technologies.

Chief Scientist: Gaël Gobaille-Shaw, has a PhD in catalyst design, water and CO2 electrolysis. He has published papers in CO2 catalysis and reactions in fuel cells, managed industrial research budgets and Supervised commercially funded research with world-leading catalyst manufacturer, Johnson Matthey.

To find out more visit www.supercritical.solutions

About Deep Science Ventures

Deep Science Ventures brings together teams of scientists to seize crucial opportunities and redefine industries. The company was founded to create a better method for launching science companies, one that takes a systems level view of the opportunity from day one. New companies are formed of highly technical founder-type scientists recruited to build “holy grail” ventures with the potential to redesign entire sectors.

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About Beam Suntory Inc.

As a world leader in premium spirits, Beam Suntory inspires human connections. Consumers from all corners of the globe call for the company’s brands, including the iconic Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark bourbon brands, Suntory whisky Kakubin and Courvoisier cognac, as well as world renowned premium brands including Knob Creek, Basil Hayden’s and Legent bourbon; Yamazaki, Hakushu, Hibiki and Toki Japanese whisky; Teacher’s, Ardmore, Laphroaig, Bowmore and Glen Garioch Scotch whisky; Canadian Club whisky; Hornitos and Sauza tequila; EFFEN, Haku and Pinnacle vodka; Sipsmith and Roku gin; and On The Rocks Premium Cocktails.

Beam Suntory was created in 2014 by combining the world leader in bourbon and the pioneer in Japanese whisky to form a new company with a deep heritage, passion for quality, innovative spirit and vision of Growing for Good. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Beam Suntory is a subsidiary of Suntory Holdings Limited of Japan. For more information on Beam Suntory, its brands, and its commitment to social responsibility, please visit www.beamsuntory.com and www.drinksmart.com.

About Centre for Process Innovation

CPI acts as a catalyst bringing together academia, businesses, government and investors to translate bright ideas and research into the marketplace. We do this by giving our customers access to the right experts, equipment, networks, funding and more – connecting the dots for effective innovation.

We are a leading independent technology innovation centre and a founding member of the UK Government’s High Value Manufacturing Catapult. Established in 2004, our teams tirelessly apply their many years of experience to ensure that every great invention gets the best opportunity to become a successfully marketed product or process. We work with our partners across diverse markets in the UK and around the world, driving their innovations forward and helping them to reduce the risk and cost associated with product development.

About Xodus Group

As a leading global energy consultancy, we help clients overcome challenges, add value to opportunities and maximise returns on investments, responsibly. Our values of trust, responsibility and excellence underpin our vision. They are at the heart of decision making and inform our future strategy.

In offering expert advice and solving complex problems, our multi-skilled specialists work across the energy spectrum to address industry problems. By combining technology with our knowledge, we create better business outcomes whether it is advisory, project development or in operational support. Together, we will deliver a responsible energy future - www.xodusgroup.com

Headquartered in Aberdeen, Scotland with a global operations centre in London, Xodus has offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Orkney, Egypt, Perth, Australia and Boston and Houston in the US.

About DNV

We are the world's leading classification society and a recognised advisor for the maritime industry, the technical advisor to the oil and gas industry, and we deliver world-renowned testing, certification and advisory services to the energy value chain including renewables and energy management.

On April 15th, OGTC ran a selective Partner only virtual technology showcase to introduce some of their favourite innovations and offer their Partners the opportunity to meet the talent behind the tech.

Supercritical was selected as one of OGTC's game-changing technologies to look out for on the horizon. All technologies selected fit within OGTC's three clear programmes which are in support of both their technology vision and the industry’s Roadmap 2035; Emission Reduction, Energy System Integration and Offshore Energy 4.0.  

Supercritical is working with the Energy System Integration team on a programme of work that ends with a pilot demonstrator in the North of Scotland in the UK Continental Shelf region.  Traditionally world renowned for its oil and gas production, it is now actively transitioning to a renewable energy hub for onshore and offshore wind.  The ability to store this renewable energy for extended periods of time, or to export this energy in the form of a gas or a liquid is being explored.  Hydrogen production with Supercritical's novel electrolyser technology is an option to be considered either for compressed hydrogen storage, or ammonia liquid fuel production.

Companies in attendance included some of the world's largest operators, like Shell, Total, CNOOC and Repsol Sinopec UK, a number of major energy service providers like Wood PLC, Aker Solutions and Bilfinger as well as many other players in the energy industry.  Supercritical's booth was busy with some great is a clear interest in hydrogen and identifying ever-better solutions for producing it from green methods.

Interested in finding out more about Supercritical's technology and how it could enable your energy transition?  Get in touch at [email protected].

About Supercritical

We are developing the world’s first high pressure, ultra-efficient electrolyser, for the production of hydrogen and oxygen from water, with zero emissions. By using heat and pressure our proprietary design allows us to exploit the benefits of supercritical water and deliver gases at over 200 bar of pressure, without the expense or challenges of hydrogen compressors.  With this, we're able to deliver the lowest cost of pressurised green hydrogen.

www.supercritical.solutions

About OGTC

OGTC invests in partnership with industry, local and national government, and academia to address major energy challenges, working across a range of sectors from renewables to manufacturing. People and technical innovation are at the heart of what we do.

Using our skills, capabilities and commitment to a better future, we believe technical innovation can ensure that the transition to a net zero North Sea is also affordable and competitive. Delivering technology which ensures that hydrocarbon is produced in the North Sea with a net zero footprint - while also unlocking the potential of carbon sequestration, blue and green hydrogen - and supporting the growth of the renewable sector is a goal we all share. This is critical to delivering a net zero UK.

www.ogtc.com

Supercritical has been awarded £53,000 grant funding from BEIS (Dept for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy) to support a feasibility study into their novel water electrolysis technology’s ability to decarbonise the distillery sector. With their design, capable of operating at high temperatures and pressure, Supercritical aims to disrupt the hydrogen market with their high efficiency, low cost product.

The electrolysis system will produce hydrogen on site at unparalleled efficiency and minimal cost with renewable power supported by waste heat from their partner distillery. The green hydrogen will be looped back into the distillery's heat or power system to minimise its reliance on fossil fuels, demonstrating a pathway for the distillery to become a zero-carbon facility reliant only on its local natural resources. The demonstration will bethe first of its kind, paving the way for distilleries and other industries across the UK and beyond to benefit.

Supercritical will lead an esteemed group to produce the feasibility study which will be submitted to BEIS in advance of potential multi-million pound follow-on funding which would see a demonstrator unit built and deployed.  Supercritical will work closely with Beam Suntory as well as the Centre for Process Innovation, Xodus Group, DNV GL and Flex Marine Power to craft an in-depth and well-rounded report that will be published in early Q2 2021 under the project name of WhiskHy. The Green Distillery Competition aims to kick-start the development of decarbonisation technologies across the distillation industry. The aim is to identify, support and then develop credible innovative fuel switching technologies/enabling technologies bringing about a step change in their development. It is to support the development of technologies that are not yet commercial rather than supporting ongoing decarbonisation across the distilleries sector. The ultimate objective is to trial the technologies at pilot scale.

It is estimated that there are over 300 distilleries across the UK. The distillery sector is estimated to have a GVA of £8.25bn with Scotch whisky providing £5.5bn with £4.7bn through exports, making up 20% of all UK food and drink exports. There are multiple steps required in the production process from maltings through to maturation. The most energy intensive part of the distillation industry is the 122 whisky distilleries (around 7x more energy intensive than gin distilleries) which directly produced around 530,000 tCO2e/y in 2018.1

Green hydrogen offers an alternative to traditional fossil fuels. It can store renewable power for long periods of time and can be converted back into power or used for heat generation without any harmful emissions. It offers a unique ability to help transition heavy industry to a net zero status.

Matt Bird (CEO, Supercritical) added:

“For our innovative technology to be recognised to have the potential to decarbonise an entire industry is exciting and to have the opportunity to develop the idea with such esteemed partners is a privilege“

Luke Tan (CPO, Supercritical) added:

“We identified that the biggest opportunity with the production of hydrogen with zero emissions, was to significantly increase the efficiency compared to the traditional technology, our new approach does just that“

Alistair Longwell (Senior Manager – Scotch Distillation & Maturation Operations, Beam Suntory) added:

“As the Scotch Whisky Sector continues on its ambitious journey towards full decarbonisation, Beam Suntory are delighted to support this innovative project aimed at unlocking the potential for a sustainable, renewable and flexible primary energy source“

Slàinte Mhath

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About Supercritical Solutions LTD

UK based clean technology company Supercritical has innovative technology that directly addresses decarbonisation for a better planet, through the ongoing development of the world's most efficient electrolyser, producing low cost hydrogen with zero emissions.

Supercritical has had great success over their short lifetime. Founded in June 2020 from Deep Science Ventures and supported by Angel Investment and a FTSE-100.  In August 2020 they were awarded funding by OGTC for the potential the technology could offer the oil and gas industry, and now recognition in the distilling industry too.  Due to the versatility of the technology, conversations are taking place with multiple other hard-to-decarbonise sectors about the use of the technology.

About Deep Science Ventures

Deep Science Ventures brings together teams of scientists to seize crucial opportunities and redefine industries. The company was founded to create a better method for launching science companies, one that takes a systems level view of the opportunity from day one. New companies are formed of highly technical founder-type scientists recruited to build “holy grail” ventures with the potential to redesign entire sectors.

About Beam Suntory

As a world leader in premium spirits, Beam Suntory is inspiring human connections as consumers from all corners of the globe call for our brands which include: the iconic Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark bourbon brands; Suntory whisky Kakubin; Courvoisier cognac; as well as world renowned premium brands including Knob Creek and Basil Hayden’s bourbon; Yamazaki, Hakushu, Hibiki and Toki Japanese whiskies; Teacher’s, Auchentoshan, Bowmore, Glen Garioch, Laphroaig and The Ardmore Scotch whiskies; Canadian Club whisky; Hornitos and Sauza tequila; EFFEN, Haku and Pinnacle vodka; Sipsmith, Larios and Roku gin; and Midori liqueur.

Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Beam Suntory is a subsidiary of Suntory Holdings Limited of Japan. As a global leader in both the alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages industry, Suntory Group offers a uniquely diverse portfolio of products from premium spirits, beer and wine to brewed teas, bottled water, carbonated soft drinks, ready-to-drink coffee and energy drinks, along with health and wellness products.

Founded as a family-owned business in 1899 in Osaka, Japan, Suntory Group has grown into a global company operating throughout the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania with an annual revenue (excluding excise taxes) of $21.0 billion in 2019. Suntory is driven by Yatte Minahare - the spirit of bold ambition. Good corporate citizenship and social responsibility are central to our business, and fundamental to our culture. We protect water and the environment, support our communities, and promote responsible consumption of our products – every day.

Learn more about Beam Suntory, the Suntory Group, its brands, and its commitment to social responsibility at www.beamsuntory.com, www.suntory.com, and on Facebook

About Centre for Process Innovation

CPI acts as a catalyst bringing together academia, businesses, government and investors to translate bright ideas and research into the marketplace. We do this by giving our customers access to the right experts, equipment, networks, funding and more – connecting the dots for effective innovation.

We are a leading independent technology innovation centre and a founding member of the UK Government’s High Value Manufacturing Catapult. Established in 2004, our teams tirelessly apply their many years of experience to ensure that every great invention gets the best opportunity to become a successfully marketed product or process. We work with our partners across diverse markets in the UK and around the world, driving their innovations forward and helping them to reduce the risk and cost associated with product development.

About DNV GL

We are the world's leading classification society and a recognized advisor for the maritime industry, the technical advisor to the oil and gas industry, and we deliver world-renowned testing, certification and advisory services to the energy value chain including renewables and energy management.

About Xodus Group

We are a leading global energy consultancy. We help our clients overcome challenges, add value to opportunity and maximise their return on investment, responsibly. Our values of trust, responsibility and excellence underpin our vision. They are at the heart of decision making and inform our future strategy.

About Flex Marine Power

At Flex Marine Power we are creating tidal turbine technology which will enable coastal communities to thrive through harnessing the power of the sea. Our approach puts the significant opportunities associated with tidal stream resources within the reach of local people.  Our vision is to enable a global network of Community-Embedded-Tidal energy projects - each generating local value and opportunities in the form of jobs, business opportunities, and green sustainable energy.

Flex Marine Power was awarded “Top 300 UK tech start-up" from GrowthMinds Top 300 UK tech start-ups to watch out for in 2020.

About the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

The Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) brings together responsibilities for business, industrial strategy, science, innovation, energy, and climate change. The Green Distilleries competition supports the government’s approach for a clean, resilient recovery across the UK to support the creation of new jobs in the distillery sector. In the 2020 Budget, £10m was allocated to R&D to help decarbonise UK distilleries.

The funding for the Green Distilleries competition is part of the £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio which aims to accelerate the   commercialisation of innovative low-carbon technologies, systems and processes in the power, buildings and industrial sectors.

1. https://www.scotch-whisky.org.uk/media/1731/swa-net-zero-report-2020-exec-summary.pdf

It's argued that the rapid rate of population growth was down to one key chemical engineering breakthrough: the Haber-Bosch process.  When Fritz Haber invented the process and Carl Bosch scaled it up, one doubts that they could have imagined the impact that the ammonia production technology could have had on our planet. By developing a high pressure, catalysed process, they were able to curate an environment for nitrogen fixation (nitrogen to ammonia). Haber's process remains the accepted best practice and has been engineered around due to its unparalleled efficiencies for since 1908 [1].

Few alive today could imagine a world without ammonia. Ammonia is the base ingredient for synthetic fertilisers and synthetic fertilisers are the reason why the human race has been able to produce crops at the rates capable of almost quadrupling the worlds population in 100 years [2].

In contrast, there is also an argument that the world would not be subject to the environmental crisis that it is today if the population hadn't exploded as it did. Perhaps it isn't natural for the world to sustain this many people. The situation is certainly not made any better when you consider that this mass of people are no longer hunters and gatherers living off the land, but gas guzzlers hell bent on industrialisation and doing things faster and bigger than ever before.

Human-kind is an incredible force driven by desire, creativity and innovation. As a population, we are one that somehow manages to survive regardless of the troubles that we create for ourselves. Or at least it feels that way. Human beings can happily say that we rule the earth, due to our ingenuity, our intellect and of course our wonderful dexterity. It feels as though this has been the case forever. And it has, in the timeframe that we can truly perceive: our lifetime. Outside of this, we have stories, historical literature, studies and fossils to guide us on what went before. Human-kind as we know it only came about approximately 1.9 million years ago but it's predicted that the world has been spinning on its axis and orbiting the sun for 2.4 million times longer! [3] [4]

We are insignificant in time, but hugely significant in the moment.

Where innovation has got us to where we are today, it is innovation that will get us out. I truly believe that there is a majority out there, a force that is going to enable this change. If not for selfless, caring, environmentally conscious reasons, then for selfish reasons. Our inherent desire to survive will drive this change. We are beginning to see natural disasters evermore frequently that are genuinely scaring us. Environmental changes that are bringing horrible discomfort into our otherwise lovely lifestyles.

Where ammonia may have landed us, it may well also get us out. With an ability to be stored as a liquid at -33.4°C at 1 bar or 20°C at 10bar [5], it is one of few zero carbon fuels with the potential to rival our much relied upon oil and natural gas in distribution. What's more, due to its critical role in our agricultural supply chain, means of transport and storage of ammonia are well established. There are vessels the size of 15 olympic sized swimming pools floating on the oceans today capable of delivering 38,000m³ of ammonia in any one journey [6]. Ammonia represents a true opportunity for energy carrying and delivery. Ammonia can be burnt like the fuels we know and love, it can be broken down again in to hydrogen and nitrogen so that the hydrogen can be used in a fuel cell and companies are even looking at using ammonia directly in fuel cells.

Today however, ammonia is produced with the help of natural gas, via a process called steam methane reforming. Some call natural gas a cleaner fossil fuel, but it is one that emits around 10 tonnes of carbon dioxide for every tonne of hydrogen it produces! Stoichiometrically, you need approximately 1.8 tonnes of hydrogen for every 10 tonnes of ammonia. That gives an estimate of approximately 18 tonnes of CO2 produced for every 10 tonnes of ammonia produced using natural gas via steam reforming.

Eek.

Until recently, not many have taken much notice of this fact. Until recently, to be fair to everyone involved, there has not been another feasible way. Today, due to years of effort and investment, we are finally seeing costs of renewable power not just meet but go far beneath the costs of power generated from fossil fuels. It is the turning of the tide! With technology development and legislative policy finally aligning to facilitate innovation that will enable a greener world.

Ammonia can be produced from any form of hydrogen. If the hydrogen comes from water through electrolysis powered by renewables, it will be without any emissions and ammonia can go on feeding the earth, as well as fuelling the earth with zero emissions to its name.

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A great example of progress is in Neom, Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom has taken on the mammoth task of building a zero emission city. Part of this development will see world leading industrial gas producer Air Products, alkaline electrolyser technnology developer ThyssenKrupp and ammonia technology developer Haldor Topsoe joining forces to build the world's first industrial green ammonia facility [7]. The facility will be capable of producing 1.2 million tonnes of ammonia per year! This is an impressive undertaking, but will equate to approximately 0.5% of the worlds production [8]. With all the best intentions in the world, the change will not be swift or without immense financial support.

235 million tonnes of ammonia was produced in 2019 [8]. For the last 100 years, companies like KBR, Linde, Ammonia Casale have progressed the plant efficiency and capital costs with incremental innovations that make a massive difference at such scale. The world scale facilities operating today are hugely complex and heavily integrated. The AIChE wrote a brilliant article about the progression of the ammonia synthesis flowsheet over the years. See here.

Heat produced from the burning of methane to get the steam methane reformer to its operating temperature of ~1000°C also raises steam to supply heat and power for the rest of the system. The exothermic nature of the Haber Bosch process is exploited, capturing that heat to deliver higher efficiencies across the plant.

To continue feeding our planet, one cannot turn these plants off over night. To enable farmers and families to survive, you cannot suddenly and dramatically increase the price of this precious commodity. Technical innovation and economical support are needed to drive us out of this hole that we have dug ourselves.

Existing electrolyser technologies, like PEM, Alkaline and Solid Oxide electrolysers operate at low temperatures or low pressures, or both! Unfortunately for the ammonia producers of the world, this is bad news. This challenges the well established plant wide efficiencies demonstrated above. This will require additional equipment, dramatic plant changes, potentially even plant decommissioning.

Novel approaches will need to be invented and we once again open the door for step-change innovation.

Supercritical has developed an electrolyser with industry leading efficiency which works at just in excess Haber-Bosch pressure and just below Haber-Bosch temperatures. Operating in excess of 375°C and 221bar (the critical point of water), we fit like the proverbial electrolyser hydrogen glove on the Haber-Bosch ammonia hand.

Could this be the beginning of a new age of cost competitive zero emission ammonia? The next step in the history of the Haber-Bosch process?

If you would like to find out more about Supercritical's integration opportunities, please contact us at [email protected].

[1] https://www.thechemicalengineer.com/features/cewctw-fritz-haber-and-carl-bosch-feed-the-world/

[2] https://ourworldindata.org/how-many-people-does-synthetic-fertilizer-feed

[3] https://www.history.com/news/humans-evolution-neanderthals-denisovans

[4] https://www.space.com/24854-how-old-is-earth.html

[5] https://www.ammoniaenergy.org/articles/pilot-project-an-ammonia-tanker-fueled-by-its-own-cargo/

[6] https://www.wartsila.com/marine/build/gas-solutions/gas-cargo-handling-systems/wartsila-cargo-handling-system-for-fully-refrigerated-gas-carriers

[7] https://www.airproducts.com/company/news-center/2020/07/0707-air-products-agreement-for-green-ammonia-production-facility-for-export-to-hydrogen-market

[8] https://www.statista.com/statistics/1065865/ammonia-production-capacity-globally/

With one proton and one electron (no neutrons), hydrogen is the simplest of all elements, taking its rightful place at the start of the periodic table.

Hydrogen atoms that have been stripped of their only electron, become positively charged and form the basis for how fuel cells can use hydrogen without burning it to create electricity (with about 60% efficiency). These positive atoms (protons) are also give things like lemon juice and vinegar their distinctive sharp taste! They float around in these solutions and are the key component of acids.

It's estimated that more than 70% of the visible universe is hydrogen.

So there is plenty of it around but it's a very friendly molecule and joins with others easily. So much that you won't find it naturally in in its pure state on earth. But you do find it in abundance paired with oxygen in the form of water. It's name comes from the Greek 'hydro' and 'genes' meaning water forming.

About 10% of YOU, is made from hydrogen (by weight), mostly in the form of water in your body which is up-to 70% of YOU. Which coincidentally 70% is also the percentage of the earth that is covered in water.

Hydrogen is also the lightest element in the universe. So much lighter than the air around us. If you were to fill a balloon with the stuff, and let it go, it would travel upwards at 45 mph (72 kph).

Hydrogen is incredibly energy dense by weight, containing 33.32 kWh of useful energy for every 1kg. That's more than double that of natural gas, two and a half times more than diesel or gasoline and 137 times that of lithium-ion batteries.

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As hydrogen is a gas, it isn't naturally as dense by volume as liquid based fuels but you can compress hydrogen so it takes less space, typically in transport it is compressed to 700 bar (10,000 psi) but this is still, one sixth of the kWh per litre of volume compared to gasoline/diesel. Storing hydrogen in a non-gaseous form is the topic for another blog.

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1 Litre of water contains 111.11g of hydrogen, which has 3.7kWh of energy!

If you could get all that energy out, that would be enough energy to travel 7 miles in a fuel cell electric vehicle (or half that in your traditional petrol/diesel car). The equivalent water used in a 2 minute shower in the morning, contains enough hydrogen for a whole day's hot water and heating in the average natural gas powered home (80% of UK homes use natural gas for heating and hot water).

However, traditional electrolysers are inefficient. They effectively convert 3.7kWh of electricity into 2.27KWh of hydrogen.

Supercritical can extract more! follow us to find out how much...

So is hydrogen the answer to everything ? Absolutely not.

But for solutions where electricity can't be directly used as an alternative for fossil fuels, or for longer term energy storage and especially where weight is critical, hydrogen can significantly help, as long as you can produce it efficiently that is.

1) - Fuel Cell Efficiency

2) - H2 in the Universe 3) - H2 in a Body

4) - 45mph Balloon

5) - 2min Shower Average UK energy consumption in house

6) - Traditional Electrolyser Efficiency > based on 54.2 kWh required per Kg of H2 produced

In March 2020, Supercritical's Co-Founder and Chief Scientist, Gaël Gobaille-Shaw, presented to the TechX panel at the Oil and Gas Technology Centre (OGTC) in Aberdeen. Demonstrating Supercritical's potential to dramatically improve the economical viability of green hydrogen, Supercritical won an invitation to be one of 12 Pioneers in this year's TechX accelerator.

Supercritical is developing a technology capable of increasing the electrical efficiency of water electrolysis. This will enable to the production of the lowest cost of hydrogen, with zero emissions.

Today, 17th August 2020, the 16-week programme begins, along with the release of £100,000 of non-dilutive funding. With a revised strategy and a strong focus on facilitating the Energy Transition, more than 50% of the Pioneers are clean tech related. This year's programme is being run entirely remotely, due to the pandemic, meaning that it will be home based and heavy on the video-conferencing.

Supercritical will be introduced to major players in the Oil and Gas industry looking for groundbreaking novel technologies and those wanting to decarbonise their futures. Support, mentorship and training will be provided, in addition to the funding, to help bring this technology to market faster.

There is a great track record of previous Pioneers continuing to work with the OGTC beyond TechX, servicing the industry with follow-on projects to solve key challenges; it is hoped there may be scope for further collaboration between the OGTC and Supercritical in 2021 and beyond!

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Notes to editors:

Supercritical Solutions Ltd

A clean technology company focussing on the development of green gas production.  Supercritical's principal focus is on the development of the world's most efficient electrolyser.  This will enable the production of the lowest cost of hydrogen, but with zero emissions.

The Oil & Gas Technology CentreEstablished in October 2016 with £180 million funding as part of the Aberdeen City Region Deal, the Oil & Gas Technology Centre is a not-for-profit, industry-led, technology research and development organisation based in Aberdeen. Please click here for further details about the Oil & Gas Technology Centre.

Supercritical Solutions Ltd (Supercritical) was formally incorporated in Companies House on the 29th June 2020.  Born out of Deep Science Venture's Carbon Neutral Fuels programme, Supercritical vows to deliver process technology that will enable the uptake of green hydrogen.

For further information please contact:

[email protected]

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‍Notes to editors:

Supercritical Solutions Ltd

A clean technology company focussing on the development of green gas production.  Supercritical's principal focus is on the development of the world's most efficient electrolyser.  This will enable the production of the lowest cost of hydrogen, but with zero emissions.About Deep Science Ventures:

Our vision is a systematic, optimised approach to building and backing science companies. The aim is to produce “Holy Grails” – companies that will radically transform their sector. We don’t start with university IP that’s hot or on-trend, but with distilling market and technical hypotheses for high risk ventures. We then recruit the right founding teams and form partnerships with academic institutions, industry and investors to support each of our ventures from day one.