- Richmond City Council unanimously approved California
Environmental Quality Act Permit
- Project is the first waste diversion to renewable hydrogen
facility permitted in California
- Hydrogen to be produced from green waste and food waste with
proprietary non-combustion reforming process
- Richmond, Calif., facility to
serve local hydrogen transportation fuel market, providing
alternative to conventional fuels
- Raven SR's non-combustion thermal process is less
energy-intensive than other hydrogen production technologies, such
as electrolysis, and does not use fresh water for feedstock
PINEDALE, Wyo., May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Raven SR Inc. (Raven
SR), a renewable fuels company, announced today the unanimous
approval of its California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) permit
by the Richmond City Council on May
16 for Raven SR's first organic waste-to-hydrogen bioenergy
project, which will be located in Richmond, California. This permit marks a
significant step in approving the world's first
Steam/CO2 Reforming hydrogen production facility using
diverted waste as a feedstock.
"We are honored that the City of
Richmond unanimously approved our waste-to-hydrogen
facility, setting the stage for the community to be a leader in the
global hydrogen transition," said Matt
Murdock, CEO of Raven SR. "By diverting organic waste from
Republic Services' closed West Contra Costa Sanitary Landfill
(WCCLS), this facility will produce clean hydrogen and reduce both
greenhouse gases and cumulative cancer and non-cancer risks in the
community. Moreover, the project will economically benefit the
Richmond community by supplying
local gas stations with clean, zero-carbon hydrogen fuel for fuel
cell vehicles and creating new green jobs, including 100-150
construction positions."
"The City of Richmond is
excited to begin this journey into the future of green technology,
a green economy, a green workforce, and a greener world," said
City of Richmond Mayor
Eduardo Martinez. "The Raven SR
project will contribute to the reduction of waste and
greenhouse emissions, and will employ local residents. The message
that we are sending today is, Richmond is serious about addressing climate
change and serious about providing solutions and alternatives to
dirty jobs."
The project is expected to divert up to 99 wet tons of green and
food waste per day from Republic Services' WCCSL into Raven SR's
non-combustion Steam/CO2 Reforming process, producing up
to 2,400 metric tons of renewable hydrogen per year. Diversion of
the organic waste will help fulfill California's SB 1383 mandates, and will
potentially avoid up to 7,200 metric-tons per year of
CO2 emissions from the landfill. The project is expected
to produce at least 60% of its own electricity by using methane
from the landfill in new state-of-the-art electric generators,
further reducing both the current air emissions and the need for
grid power for its non-combustion process.
"Raven SR is poised to make a significant impact in reducing
short-lived climate pollutants, the most damaging climate
pollutants and the most urgent climate solution," said Julia Levin, Executive Director of the Bioenergy
Association of California.
"Cutting these climate super pollutants benefits the climate
right away and buys us time until fossil fuel reductions, which
take decades to begin to benefit the climate, begin to take
effect. Reducing methane and black carbon also provide
immediate benefits to public health since these are powerful air
pollutants as well."
The Raven SR Richmond project is in the final stages of
obtaining a permit from the Bay Area Air Quality Management
Department (BAAQMD), which previously approved its pilot facility.
Upon receiving authority to construct, the company plans to break
ground this summer, with full commercial operations beginning in Q1
2024.
Off-take agreements for the hydrogen supply are in place with
several companies, including project equity investors Hyzon Motors
and Chevron New Energies, that plan to market the
hydrogen in Bay Area and Northern
California fueling stations, enabling the energy transition
to zero-emission vehicles. Hyzon, a global supplier of fuel cell
electric commercial vehicles, plans to provide refueling for
hydrogen fuel cell trucks at a hydrogen hub in Richmond.
The Raven SR technology is a non-combustion
thermal, chemical reductive process that converts organic waste and
landfill gas to hydrogen and Fischer-Tropsch synthetic fuels.
Unlike other hydrogen production technologies, its
Steam/CO2 Reformation does not require fresh water as a
feedstock and uses less than half the energy of electrolysis. The
process is more efficient than conventional hydrogen production and
can deliver fuel with low to negative carbon intensity.
Additionally, Raven SR's goal is to generate as much of its own
power onsite as possible to reduce reliance on, and/or be
independent of the grid. Its modular design provides a scalable
means to locally produce renewable hydrogen and synthetic liquid
fuels from local waste.
The Richmond facility is owned
by Raven SR S1 LLC (Raven SR S1). Raven SR will operate the
facility. Chevron New Energies, a division of Chevron
U.S.A. Inc., a subsidiary of
Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX), and Hyzon Motors Inc. (NASDAQ:
HYZN), are collaborating with Raven SR to commercialize
operations. Chevron and Hyzon were among Raven SR's initial
strategic investors, along with ITOCHU, Ascent Hydrogen Fund and
Samsung Ventures.
About Raven SR
Raven SR, headquartered in Wyoming, transforms biomass, mixed municipal
solid waste, bio-solids, sewage, medical waste, and natural or
biogas into renewable fuels. Using its proprietary, non-combustion,
non-catalytic "Steam/CO2 Reformation" technology, Raven
SR dependably produces a hydrogen-rich syngas regardless of
feedstock utilized. Raven SR, led by co-founders Matt Murdock and Matt
Scanlon, is committed to adding value to local resources and
communities while responsibly reducing greenhouse gases and
achieving a low carbon economy. By using modular systems and
producing low air emissions, their systems can be located closer to
customers and feedstock, creating local fuel from local waste for
local mobility. Visit https://ravensr.com.
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SOURCE Raven SR