Hazer Group (ASX:HZR) has completed the hot commissioning phase at its pre-pilot facility, which has seen successful production of hydrogen and graphite from natural gas feedstock.
This is a significant milestone in the commercialisation of the Hazer Process, a low-emission hydrogen and graphite production process.
The Hazer Process enables the effective conversion of natural gas and similar feedstocks, into hydrogen and high quality graphite, using iron ore as a process catalyst.
This marks the first time the Hazer Process has produced graphite in a pressurised, scalable fluidised bed reactor system.
Further commissioning is ongoing and Hazer expects to be operational and experimentation-ready by the end of April.
Pre-pilot plant (PPP)
Final commissioning of the PPP is ongoing, and the company anticipates it to be fully commissioned and operational by the end of April.
Once fully operational, the PPP will be used to generate validation and optimisation data that will be necessary for the design and construction of larger plants.
This milestone also confirms Hazer’s successful transition from laboratory-based standard equipment to a custom designed and constructed plant, and moves the company closer towards commercialisation of the Hazer Process.
On completion of final commissioning, Hazer intends to initially operate the system in semi-continuous mode; whereby graphite is ejected from the system during operation but the catalyst is inserted prior to operation.
Showcasing the Hazer Process
In conjunction with the on-going work related to the progressive stages of operation, Hazer will use the PPP as a demonstration facility to showcase the Hazer Process to potential commercial and strategic partners in the hydrogen and graphite sectors.
The graphite produced at the PPP will be characterised and used to further complement the ongoing graphite test work currently advancing at Hazer’s facilities at the University of Sydney, as well as being potentially used for supply to third parties for commercial assessment across a range of graphite applications.