Green Success Stories puts Dave Edlund, Founder and CEO of Element 1 Corp, in the Green Spotlight. Dave describes his sustainability awakening upon realizing that 1/3 of the global population has no steady access to electricity. He details the unique solution Element 1 Corp provides, developing and commercializing machines that convert water with methanol (a simple alcohol) into high-purity, green hydrogen, ultimately providing sustainable, clean, accessible and affordable electrical power.

Tell us a bit about your sustainability journey.

During the mid-1990s, I read in an energy textbook that 1/3 of the global population has no reliable access to electricity, and another 1/3 of the global population has only intermittent access to electricity. That fact shocked me and set me on a pathway to develop sustainable routes to clean and affordable electrical power. Ideally, solutions would be scalable and effective for both stationary power generation as well as on board vehicles and vessels.

Tell us a bit about the product or solution you offer.

Element 1 has developed and commercialized machines (small to large) which efficiently convert a mixture of water with methanol (a simple alcohol) into high-purity hydrogen. Because we use a time-proven thermochemical process, our products consume 500x less electricity (per kg of product hydrogen) compared to water electrolyzers. This means the Element 1 hydrogen generators pair very well with fuel cells or hydrogen combustion engines for generating electrical power. And since liquid methanol is easily transported using existing global infrastructure (the same infrastructure that is used to transport gasoline, diesel, and aviation fuel), the high cost of transporting compressed or liquid hydrogen is completely avoided. The result is that our customers can make hydrogen (from methanol mixed with water) at the point of use for about $3 to $5/kg of high-purity hydrogen, assuming typical methanol pricing. Once you have hydrogen, generating electricity is straightforward using commercially available fuel cells.

Share a green success story with us – how have you helped customers or other businesses in the fight against climate change?

Transitioning from gray hydrogen (or fossil fuels) to green hydrogen is a challenge faced by many of our customers. One particular example is a large international manufacturer of construction equipment. Typically, these earth-moving machines are powered by diesel engines, but recently battery-powered models have been introduced. However, grid-sourced electricity is almost never in abundant supply at civil engineering sites and mining operations, and operating diesel generators to charge BEV earth moving equipment makes no sense. So, Element 1 has co-developed a mobile electric power generator operating on methanol/water feedstock. The resulting hydrogen is converted to electricity with high efficiency in a Ballard fuel cell module. Assuming renewable methanol is used, the GHG footprint is extremely low, and there no associated emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur oxides (SOx) and particulate matter.

What do you envision your industry looking like in ten years?

Today, the hydrogen energy industry is in its infancy, in my opinion largely due to the high cost and poor availability of compressed and liquid hydrogen. The solution offered by Element 1 overcomes this barrier to commercialization. In 10 years, I predict we’ll see large deployments of microgrids–some fixed and many mobile–based on methanol to hydrogen to electricity. I also think that hydrogen fueling stations (again, both stationary and mobile) to support fuel-cell electric heavy-duty vehicles will be well served by the methanol-to-hydrogen product lines.

What would you like readers to take away from this article?

Methanol is a fantastic feedstock for producing high-purity hydrogen at the point of use and on demand. And hydrogen made from methanol is affordable, being almost on par with the pump price for diesel. By utilizing renewable methanol, the product is green hydrogen (and green electricity). Renewable methanol may be blended with gray methanol to achieve stepwise reduction in GHG emissions without the need to change hardware.

How should readers get in touch with you and/or your organization?

Email me at Dave@e1na.com. I enjoy direct communication with interested persons. Alternatively, there is a web-based contact on the Element 1 website. http://www.e1na.com.

Kudos

Many thanks to Dave Edlund and Element 1 Corp. Green Success Stories is happy to support and highlight your efforts! We invite you the reader to do the same.

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