Nov 19, 2005
Project Aims to Make Hydrogen From Waste Gases at
Landfill
The Saskatoon StarPhoenix
A Saskatoon company appears to be on the verge of becoming a partner
in a project that would test its solar energy technology by making
commercial hydrogen from waste gases at the Regina landfill.
A motion is expected at the next Regina city council meeting seeking
to authorize officials to execute an agreement with the
Saskatoon-based Solar Hydrogen Energy Corp. (SHEC).
Several other companies would be involved in the $6-million
demonstration project, along with federal agencies and possibly
SaskEnergy.
The city's involvement would consist of construction of a gas
collection system at the Fleet Street landfill site, at a cost of
$1.9 million.
But Regina would be in a position to share in the revenues generated
from the project and could receive environmental credits toward
meeting its target for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.
Background information in a report released at a Regina works and
utilities committee meeting said the proposal would start off as a
demonstration project, followed by a project to produce hydrogen
for commercial markets.
Ray Fehr, SHEC's vice-president of marketing, said the company is
in the process of putting together a consortium of partners for
the first phase of the landfill project.
He says Ottawa, through its Sustainable Development Technology
Canada agency, has approved more than $2 million to finance the
project.
Fehr says the project will be developed in two stages. In the first
stage, the partners will install a gas cleaning system to produce
synthetic natural gas. By 2007, five solar modules will be
installed to produce hydrogen from that gas.
In the following year, a total of 30 solar modules would be
installed. The project could be running at full capacity in
2008.
SHEC president and CEO Thomas Beck said each of the modules will be
capable of producing 40,000 kilograms of hydrogen per year.
"So with all the modules in place, it will have a capacity to
produce 1.2 million kilograms of hydrogen per year."
Fehr says the company's new technology of producing hydrogen with
the aid of solar power is cost effective and captures carbon
dioxide, preventing that greenhouse gas from going into the
atmosphere.
He says it costs about $1.25 to produce a kilogram of hydrogen for
the fertilizer and petrochemical industries with conventional
methods that use fossil fuel and emit carbon dioxide.
"With our process we anticipate that we will produce hydrogen at 75
cents a kilogram – and that would be a very pure
grade of hydrogen – food grade or even fuel cell
grade," he said.
