Interview by Nadia Howland
Mark Rheinlander tells Energy Source & Distribution about Carbon280’s new Hydrilite Technology Pilot Plant, which will demonstrate safe and cost-effective hydrogen storage and transportation at the industrial scale.
Mark, tell us about yourself and Carbon280:
I’m the CEO and founder of Carbon280—a Perth-based materials science and engineering company committed to building technological solutions that are good for the planet. Our name, Carbon280, nods to the level of CO₂ in the atmosphere before industrialisation (280ppm). Today, levels are at 424ppm and rising. Our team believes that aiming for Net Zero isn’t good enough and that the real goal should be to restore CO₂ to pre-industrial levels.
My career has zig-zagged across technology, product strategy, and energy systems. I studied geology, which laid the foundation for me jumping into energy and materials science more recently. After that, I founded Calytrix Technologies and grew it from concept to cash-flow positive in four years. A real highlight was becoming the first company outside North America to win a Joint Strike Fighter contract from Lockheed Martin. Calytrix is still going strong and has paid dividends to its shareholders every year since 2007.
Since then, I’ve been assisting other technology companies in strategic consulting through my consulting firm Collective Energy. Now, at Carbon280, I lead capital raising and the day to day running of the business but innovation is my passion and I’m very involved in the R&D strategy as well as the business strategy.
Related article: New pilot plant demonstrates hydrogen storage breakthrough
Tell us a bit about Carbon280’s Hydrilyte tech:
At the heart of our work is Hydrilyte, a multi-patented technology. The Hydrilyte advantage is built on a core innovation: suspending a solid-state metal hydride powder in a mineral oil. This transforms a high-density metal hydride, constrained by sluggish kinetics and complex handling into a material that is effectively inert, is pumpable and has outstanding reaction kinetics, while still maintaining a high volumetric density.
Unlike alternative approaches, such as LOHCs and ammonia, which rely on cracking to release hydrogen, the Hydrilyte hydrogenation/dehydrogenation is a simple reversible process that doesn’t involve cracking or require expensive catalysts. As a result, our process doesn’t degrade the carrier liquid and ensures the release of exceptionally pure hydrogen and marking a significant leap forward in efficiency and cost-effectiveness of hydrogen storage.
In summary, this approach enables a remarkably simple, reversible cycle that securely stores hydrogen in a dense, stable, solid form while maintaining the safe handling benefits of a pumpable liquid.
What’s been the journey so far in getting investors behind the technology?
We have secured around $16 million of capital, including $10.6 million raised across two seed rounds, plus $5.5 million in R&D rebates. Woodside Energy led our seed round after a thorough due-diligence on our technology and team. Those funds have been crucial in moving from concept to reality. They’ve allowed us to build out our laboratory and launched the Hydrilyte Technology Pilot Plant—a 100kW TRL6 prototype.
This plant will prove the Hydrilyte technology at an industrially relevant scale, delivering critical performance data for partners and investors. A successful outcome will validate Carbon280’s technology, and its potential to reduce the cost for existing hydrogen users, while improving the economics and speeding the implementation of future projects. Among many potential future uses of hydrogen, our focus is on applications where it has a chemical use, including production of green iron, synthetic aviation fuels and methanol.
With a number of major green hydrogen projects crumbling in recent months, is there extra pressure on startups like Carbon280?
There’s definitely pressure, and I expect over the next year or so we’ll see some thinning out of competition as less competitive technologies or less capable teams disappear. For us, this market consolidation is an opportunity. The primary reason for these failures is cost, and behind that lie two technical challenges: the inefficiency of electrolytic hydrogen production, and technology required to store and transport hydrogen. We are focused on the second of these challenges.
What are the biggest challenges and opportunities in Australian hydrogen at the moment?
A big challenge right now is the cost of producing green hydrogen. It’s still significantly more expensive than fossil fuels or conventional “grey” hydrogen, largely because electrolysis is energy-intensive and renewable electricity prices are high. That makes it harder for large projects to secure funding or find buyers willing to pay a premium. Adding to that, infrastructure costs and regulatory changes add another layer of challenge to securing funding and scaling projects.
The key to the hydrogen economy is the availability of low-carbon hydrogen at a competitive price. When it comes to the production of low-cost, low-carbon hydrogen, we think natural hydrogen could be a game changer, and have partnered with H2EX—a natural hydrogen explorer with acreage on the Eyre Peninsula. Natural hydrogen is usually found mixed with other gasses, including helium, which is itself a high-value product. However, there are no mature technologies for separating and storing both hydrogen and helium.
Hydrilyte can do this. It offers natural hydrogen developers the ability to separate the hydrogen from the mixed gas stream, and then conventional technologies can be used to separate the helium downstream. The hydrogen, now stored in Hydrilyte, is then ready to be trucked, shipped or—in the case of the Eyre Peninsula—pipe it up the coast to Whyalla.
There are also new technologies coming through, such as photo-thermal catalytic hydrogen production, which produce hydrogen directly from water, without electrification, at up to three to four times the efficiency of electrolysis. We think that’s another technology worth keeping a close eye on.
Related article: Fuel tankers could be key to Australia’s hydrogen exports
What’s next for Carbon280?
Our engineering team is currently focused on the operations phase of our HTP project. Later this year they’ll shift focus to the FEED for our capability demonstrator, and we’re exploring a couple of really interesting opportunities there. Our R&D team is working on some promising improvements to efficiency and process that, if successful, will be transformative.
