Spark Cleantech: paving the way for low-carbon hydrogen
Spark Cleantech's ambition is to accelerate the decarbonization of industry by producing hydrogen directly on site with zero CO2 emissions and very little electricity. Here's why we support them.
1. In the wake of the energy transition: low-carbon hydrogen, its promises and prospects
Exponential demand for hydrogen worldwide
The hydrogen market has been growing steadily for two decades:
Hydrogen has a wide range of uses, from mobility in heavy transport (trains, buses, ships, airplanes, etc.) to heat and energy production for buildings and industrial applications.
Hydrogen is therefore a promising energy carrier for the ecological transition, but its current production relies essentially on CO2-emitting processes. We arrive at a mixed conclusion: despite its prominence in energy decarbonization plans, hydrogen production today remains one of the most polluting industries:
Hydrogen's potential as a low-carbon energy source
The major challenge of the energy transition is to find ways of producing decarbonized energy on a large scale. And hydrogen holds part of this promise: when used as a fuel, hydrogen emits no CO2. But we still need to produce this hydrogen in a carbon-free way.
Today, there are two ways of producing hydrogen:
The first is methane oxidation by reforming, which produces hydrogen at a competitive price, but emits a huge amount of CO2: with this method, 10 tonnes of CO2 are emitted for every 1 tonne of hydrogen produced.
A problem arises: today, this production method is being accused of greenwashing. And rightly so: it claims to be carbon-neutral when accompanied by capture and storage of the CO2 emitted. But carbon capture and storage has its limits, since we have neither the deposits nor the capacity to store hundreds of millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide underground on a permanent basis.
The second is water electrolysis, using a renewable or nuclear energy source. This production method is as carbon-free as the electricity source chosen to power the reaction process
The problem is that this method requires huge quantities of electricity, since it is estimated that 7% of France's electricity production would be needed to decarbonize this energy source alone. What's more, the cost remains high: around €6 to €10 per kilogram of hydrogen produced.
The necessary third way and its promises
Among the more virtuous alternatives, turquoise hydrogen stands out because of its low electricity consumption and its ability to recover methane from renewable sources. Hydrogen is produced by plasmalysis of methane, i.e. by heating it to high temperature without oxygen, leading to its decomposition into hydrogen and solid carbon black. The latter can be used as a material or stored.
Methane pyrolysis can be made using a variety of technologies, but one of the most effective and innovative ways is through plasma pyrolysis. Plasma is an ionized gas with exceptional electrical and thermal properties. It allows methane to be heated to very high temperatures in just a few milliseconds, thereby promoting the pyrolysis reaction while limiting the formation of undesirable and polluting by-products. Spark Cleantech is currently developing this third approach.
2. Nanopulsed plasma: Spark's technology for mass production of carbon-free hydrogen
Spark Cleantech's technology uses nanopulsed cold plasma to convert methane (CH4) into value-added products.
The process is called plasmalysis:
- Plasma is an ionized gas generated by electrical impulses. Plasma discharges are used to plasmalyze methane: electrons are created, accelerated and collide with methane molecules to dissociate them.
- Plasma discharges are thus placed under thermodynamic imbalance, which means that the electrons are much more energetic than the gas itself: molecules can therefore be dissociated without overheating the gas, thus increasing the energy efficiency of the process.
- The products of plasmalysis are hydrogen (H2) and carbon black. Hydrogen is a clean energy carrier, which can be used for mobility, industry or power grids. Carbon black is a material with remarkable properties, which can be used to manufacture tires, batteries or composite materials.
The competitive advantages of Spark
Spark offers several advantages:
- Electricity consumption: Spark uses nanosecond cold plasma, a unique, patented technology that enables plasma temperature to be controlled to obtain a fast, efficient reaction with low electricity consumption (10 kWh/kg H2), even on a small scale.
- Lowering the price of carbon-free hydrogen: Spark offers decentralized, modular hydrogen production directly at the point of consumption, avoiding the costs and constraints of transporting and storing hydrogen. What's more, by recovering the solid carbon from the reaction, the price of decarbonized hydrogen is lower than that of carbon-based hydrogen.
" Our process will make it possible to produce economical hydrogen, even for small capacities for future hydrogen filling stations, for example, but above all to meet the needs of industrial uses, directly on the consumption sites, therefore freeing ourselves from the constraints of hydrogen transport and storage, which can represent up to 70% of the cost price," sums up Patrick Peters.
- Modularity and decentralization: Spark's solution is modular and decentralizable, allowing it to meet a wide range of use cases, including when on-site hydrogen requirements are in the range of a few hundred kilograms.
- Zero CO2 emissions during the process : the only carbon produced by plasmalysis is pure carbon in solid form, which is 3.7x less massive and 220x less voluminous than CO2, so it's easy to store and there's no risk of leakage.
Behind the project: an ambitious, specialized and highly complementary team
The Spark project began with Erwan, who developed pulsed cold plasma technology for energy applications as part of his doctorate at Paris-Saclay. Patrick then brought to the project his operational knowledge of both large corporations (Suez) and successful deeptech start-ups (Adionics).
A complementary team, but also an ambitious one:
"We aim to reach the market with first units as early as 2025, after an industrial pilot phase in 2024" - says Patrick Peters
Today, Spark is a team of 8 PhD students and entrepreneurs who share the same vision: use technologies developed in their research laboratories to make a significant impact on the environment.
Members of the Spark team at VivaTech, 2023
3. A revolutionary process just entering its industrialization phase
Competitions and winning projects
Right from the start of the project, Spark Cleantech was selected by gas distribution company GRDF (2021) as part of a call for projects dedicated to the decarbonization of industry. Last year, Spark was also awarded the Grand Prix (500k€) in the i-Lab 2022 competition organized by Bpi France and the French Ministry of Higher Education.
Technical advances
The young company is just entering its industrialization phase: Spark has just finalized a 3-year R&D program which led to the production of two elementary cells sized for 1 Kg H2/day. Spark is currently designing its first industrial demonstrator for deployment at the end of 2023, and a pilot project to operate under on-site conditions, scheduled for deployment in 2024.
Next steps and using the lift
For all these reasons, we're very proud to be able to help Spark Cleantech make key additions to their team and accelerate their industrialization.
The Spark project as told by co-founder Erwan Pannier:
Press coverage:
"Hydrogen production: Spark raises 4 million euros", MaddynessMaddyness
"Another way to produce green hydrogen".Les Echos