As the world seeks to rapidly decarbonise transportation and industry, hydrogen demand is predicted to skyrocket, rising from $130B today to $2.5T in 2025, according to the Hydrogen Council. There is an urgent need to create innovative low-cost, low-carbon hydrogen manufacturing technology. Aurora Hydrogen is ramping up their microwave pyrolysis process to generate hydrogen and solid carbon without emitting CO2 or using water.
Now, Aurora Hydrogen has raised a $10M Series A fundraising round headed by Energy Innovation Capital, with the goal of producing zero carbon hydrogen at the point of consumption.
Energy Innovation Capital led the investment, with participation from Williams, Shell Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures, and the George Kaiser Family Foundation. This money complements previous funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) secured by the team earlier this year.
Fund usage
The Canada based company will use the funding to construct and operate a 200 kg/H2/day demonstration plant for field testing in Edmonton, Canada.
Aurora Hydrogen, led by CEO Andrew Gillis, is creating a clean hydrogen manufacturing method that uses efficient microwave radiation without emitting CO2 or consuming water. The system is scalable, with units capable of powering a wide range of applications, including distributed fuelling, hydrogen injection, and industrial processes.
Aurora Hydrogen was founded in 2021 by Andrew Gillis, PhD, MBA, P.Eng, Erin Bobicki, PhD, P.Eng, and Murray Thomson, PhD, P.Eng.
“At Aurora, we are producing low-cost hydrogen at the point of use, at the exact scale required, and without generating any CO2,” said Andrew Gillis, CEO, Aurora Hydrogen. “We use existing energy pipelines and distribution systems to move the energy, then produce hydrogen where it’s needed, eliminating the need for any new costly hydrogen transportation infrastructure.”
Tech at play
Aurora’s technology has the potential to open up a slew of new hydrogen markets and applications by delivering low-cost hydrogen at the point of use, accelerating the route to decarbonization in heavy transportation, residential and commercial heating, and a variety of industrial processes, the press note read.
“Energy Innovation Capital invests in innovative companies commercializing technology for clean, abundant and affordable energy for all,” said Christopher Smith, managing director, Energy Innovation Capital. “Aurora’s novel and thermodynamically sound approach has the opportunity to decarbonize the current carbon intensive hydrogen industry and lead the commercialization of new low-carbon hydrogen applications. The team at Aurora is uniquely positioned to produce hydrogen in one of the fastest, most economical and cleanest ways ever seen on the market.”
“Aurora has assembled an impressive strategic investor syndicate to commercialize and scale emissions-free hydrogen that includes two of the world’s largest energy companies and a leading U.S. energy infrastructure company,” added Smith. “Aurora can be a significant contributor to achieving global net-zero targets and is very well aligned with EIC’s focus on the future of energy, Chevron’s commitment to industrial decarbonization and energy decentralization, Shell’s strategy to invest in low carbon energy and Williams’ hydrogen development program. The syndicate provides Aurora a powerful commercialization platform with global reach.”
