Current:Home > ScamsAustralian hydrogen company outlines US expansion in New Mexico, touts research -Thrive Money Mindset
Australian hydrogen company outlines US expansion in New Mexico, touts research
View
Date:2025-04-17 17:04:07
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — An Australia-based company plans to build a campus in New Mexico to expand its research into hydrogen fuel as a heat source for industry, touting a proprietary chemical process without greenhouse gas emissions.
Hydrogen-technology research and developer Star Scientific Limited, which has around 20 employees, signed a letter of intent with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham while she was in Sydney attending a summit Thursday on hydrogen and the energy sector.
Andrew Horvath, global group chairman at Star Scientific, said the new facilities in Albuquerque would scale up research and development of its hydrogen technology for generating heat.
“Our system doesn’t burn gas, it reacts the gas,” said Horvath, describing the proprietary technology in general terms only. “It creates an instantaneous reaction whereby you end up with the heat from the excitation energy from those atoms.”
Horvath said the company is developing a chemical catalyst system for use in combining hydrogen and oxygen to produce heat directly, with water as a byproduct. The system is different from hydrogen fuel cells that provide electricity, he said.
Star Scientific is currently sponsoring two hydrogen-energy pilot projects in Australia with a food-production company and a plastics-packaging business. They aim to replace heat systems derived from natural gas, reducing emissions of climate-warming pollution in the process.
The New Mexico governor’s office said in a statement that the company is looking to acquire enough land to place up to 10 buildings for laboratory research, testing and eventual manufacturing, and possibly qualify for public incentives that underwrite infrastructure investments and job training.
Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, has enthusiastically embraced support for hydrogen-energy ventures to create local jobs. But there’s been concern and criticism from environmentalists who say hydrogen presents its own pollution and climate risks depending on production methods and precautions against leaks.
The Biden administration this month selected clean-energy projects from Pennsylvania to California for a $7 billion program to kickstart development and production of hydrogen fuel, a key component of the administration’s agenda to slow climate change. Applications that were passed over include a collaborative pitch by New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.
Some consider hydrogen “clean” only if made through electrolysis — splitting water molecules using renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, which also is carbon free, as well as nuclear power. Hydrogen also can be produced from methane using heat, steam and pressure, but that brings challenges of storing the carbon dioxide that is generated.
Horvath said Star Scientific chose New Mexico for its expansion based on factors including public investments in education, business incentives and relatively inexpensive labor and land costs.
veryGood! (19)
Related
- Federal hiring is about to get the Trump treatment
- After barren shelves and eye-watering price mark-ups, is the Sriracha shortage over?
- Deshaun Watson engineers long-awaited signature performance in Browns' comeback vs. Ravens
- Timothée Chalamet, 'SNL' criticized for Hamas joke amid war: 'Tone-deaf' and 'vile'
- Hackers hit Rhode Island benefits system in major cyberattack. Personal data could be released soon
- Indi Gregory, sick baby at center of legal battle in Britain, dies
- Sophie Turner Appears in First Instagram Video Since Joe Jonas Breakup
- The Pentagon identifies the 5 US troops killed in a military helicopter crash over the Mediterranean
- EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
- Michael Thomas injury update: Saints WR ruled out after suffering knee injury vs. Vikings
Ranking
- Megan Fox's ex Brian Austin Green tells Machine Gun Kelly to 'grow up'
- Patriots LB Ja’Whaun Bentley inactive against Colts in Frankfurt
- Fire closes major highway in Los Angeles
- Newly empowered Virginia Democrats nominate the state’s first Black House speaker, Don Scott
- 'Squid Game' without subtitles? Duolingo, Netflix encourage fans to learn Korean
- Florida-bound passenger saw plane was missing window thousands of feet in the air, U.K. investigators say
- Gordon Ramsay and Wife Tana Welcome Baby No. 6
- Nations gather in Nairobi to hammer out treaty on plastic pollution
Recommendation
From family road trips to travel woes: Americans are navigating skyrocketing holiday costs
Constitutional challenge to Georgia voting machines set for trial early next year
Mac Jones benched after critical late interception in Patriots' loss to Colts
Jim Harbaugh restraining order hearing scheduled for Friday; coach suspended vs. Penn State
Travis Hunter, the 2
A flight expert's hot take on holiday travel: 'Don't do it'
Military training efforts for Ukraine hit major milestones even as attention shifts to Gaza
A flight expert's hot take on holiday travel: 'Don't do it'