The UAE is getting MENA’s first waste-to-hydrogen plant: Emirati waste management company Bee’ah has signed an MoU with US- and UK-based waste-to-energy focused tech company Chinook Sciences and Japanese gas conglomerate Air Water to form a consortium aimed at setting up a waste-to-hydrogen plant in Sharjah, according to a Bee’ah statement yesterday. The plant will be the first of its kind in MENA, producing 18k kg per day, according to WAM. The proposed timeframe for the project was not disclosed.

The fuel cell grade green hydrogen will be used to power vehicles: The green hydrogen produced by the planned waste-to-hydrogen plant will be produced to specific international standards that will allow it to be used in PEM fuel cells — which are being developed primarily for a fleet of large trucks and buses — the statement notes.

How will it work? The plan is to convert non-recyclable waste wood and plastic to fuel-cell grade green hydrogen using Chinook Sciences’ patented pyrolysis process — where hydrogen is produced through the decomposition of methane — and Air Water’s hydrogen refinement technology, the statement says. Syngas — synthetic gas containing hydrogen, CO2, and carbon monoxide — will be produced by the pyrolysis and gasification process, then funneled into the hydrogen refinement system.

What happens to the carbon? Chinook’s technology produces what it calls “high performance” activated carbon, a solid form of carbon that is used in applications including filtering drinking water, the food and beverage, and pollution abatement.

The plant has been in the works since last year: Bee’ah Group and Chinook Sciences announced plans to establish the Sharjah waste-to-hydrogen plant in May 2021, when senior officials signed an agreement outlining the terms of their partnership. The plant is intended to be “the first of many such facilities,” the May statement noted.

Other waste-to-hydrogen plans are developing in the region: H2 Industries’ plans for a USD 3 bn waste-to-hydrogen facility in Egypt — capable of producing some 300k tons of hydrogen annually — are reportedly moving forward, and H2 is also eyeing a USD 1.4 bn waste-to-hydrogen facility in Oman.