Development to begin on the region’s first waste-to-hydrogen plant in the UAE

Sharjah-based Beeah Energy, a subsidiary of Beeah Group and UK-based Chinook Sciences, have signed an agreement to commence the development of the region’s first waste-to-hydrogen plant.

The facility will produce low-cost green hydrogen and high-quality activated carbon too.

Non-recyclable waste wood and plastic will be processed using Chinook RODECS gasification and pyrolysis technology, which will produce up to 18,000kg of green hydrogen a day at full operational capacity, according to state news agency WAM.

“The technology breaks down hydrocarbons from waste through advanced thermal treatment to release and recover green hydrogen. Then, when the green hydrogen is used in vehicles, it emits only water as a by-product,” Dr Rifat Chalabi, chairman and co-founder of Chinook Sciences Group said of the RODECS gasification and pyrolysis technology.

BEEAH’s waste-to-hydrogen plant is helping realise a circular economy & a clean-energy, zero-waste future in the UAE. Through patented RODECS technology by Chinook Sciences, the plant will produce enough fuel cell grade hydrogen for a fleet of large trucks and busses. #Hydrogen pic.twitter.com/OpskwVSuAb

— BEEAH Group (@beeahgroup) March 7, 2022

The UAE has previously announced its aim to become a major hydrogen producer, and to reduce carbon emissions by 24 per cent by 2030. At last year’s COP26 UN Climate Change Conference, the UAE set out to achieve a target of 25 per cent global market share of low-carbon hydrogen by 2030.

Production of the green hydrogen is reported to be significantly cheaper than that of fossil fuels. The waste-to-hydrogen plant will be adjacent to the fuelling station, to overcome costly transportation of hydrogen. The station will be equipped to provide enough fuel cell grade hydrogen for several large trucks and buses every day.

Read: Sharjah’s Bee’ah, UK’s Chinook Sciences announce region’s first waste-to-hydrogen project

Chinook’s patented RODECS technology is responsible for the cost-efficiency and delivery of the green hydrogen. The plant’s operational concept allows it to run profitably while the demand for hydrogen is still developing, and this will be achieved by relying entirely on the production of the plant’s secondary revenue stream of activated carbon in the early months of its operations. The high-grade activated carbon produced will be used for environmental purposes as a high-grade filtration media to clean water resources and air, filtering harmful pollutants, including pathogens and viruses.

“Beeahhas always recognised the value of energy recovery from waste, and this new project will not only showcase the potential of waste-to-hydrogen, but it will also support a circular economy across multiple fronts throughout the region,” said Khaled Al Huraimel, group CEO of Beaah.

Apart from the new hydrogen facility, over the coming months, Beeah and Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s state-owned renewables company are also expected to start a waste-to-energy plant that will generate 30 megawatts of power from waste at a land fill in Sharjah.