The fodder industry can play a key role in the conversion to green hydrogen, a national fodder conference in Bendigo has been told.
HydGENE Renewables chief executive Louise Brown told the Australian Fodder Industry Association conference trials had shown converting barley and wheat straw stubble into green hydrogen was showing promise, in early trials.
HydGENE is a deep-tech start-up, backed by venture capital, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and private investors.
The company has worked out a way of turning biomass residues into hydrogen and fertiliser while sequestering carbon.
"For us, it's about trying to see a future where we are free of fossil fuels and can we make chemicals without using fossil fuels, using biology to do that and to make hydrogen when it's needed and where it's needed," Ms Brown said.
HydGENE had been working with the GRDC and CSIRO for the past 18 months.
"They put a challenge out asking if we could convert agricultural residues, in particularly cropping stubble, into hydrogen and make it on farm," she said.
"Hydrogen is a massive market today, it is an amazing technology to work with because it is clean when you use it and it has high energy values.
"We have a biological-based solution, at the core of our technology is what we call a biocatalyst platform, it looks like couscous or bubble tea."
The company had come up with a way to engineer organisms to convert them to sugar and glucose.
The challenge was finding sugar feedstock, which is where the fodder industry came in.
"If you want low-cost hydrogen, you need low-cost sugar, but taking sugar from the sugar cane industry or refined sugar, you achieve high-cost hydrogen," she said.
The developments occur as PlasmaLeap Technologies, plans to revolutionise the energy and agricultural sectors with its groundbreaking green ammonia technology.
The South Australian government is also investing more than three quarters of a billion dollars to accelerate new hydrogen projects.
HydGENE looked at a range of products containing sugar, including industrial food waste - "we can use anything that's plant-based but we always come back to straw stubble.
"It's got a high content of sugar - Feed Central has sent us samples and we can extract the sugars, using heat and enzymes, and we get what looks like a very crude sugar syrup.
"About 40pc of the weight of straw is sugar."
"We are very conscious it is not taking away from feed production, we are looking at excess residues, stubble that's available and other agricultural residues as well."
In the process of making green hydrogen, the process captured carbon, stopped burning practices and stopped material going to landfill.
"For us, the future is about decentralising energy needs and manufacturing," she said.
"We need to supply chains, as we can't rely on them."
She said there was a "lot of hydrogen hype".
"Just question what you read about the hydrogen economy, that is coming - there are a lot of big voices, out there, but it's not really what is happening at the ground level.
"We can operate at a price of feedstock of $120 a tonne, beyond that it starts to get hard for us," she said.
Hydrogen was used mainly for chemical manufacturing, with 60 per cent in nitrogen fertiliser production.
But alternative uses in methanol, biofuel and sustainable aviation fuels were also being considered.
Drawbacks included the fact hydrogen was not easy to move around, it couldn't be stored for long periods of time and there was no supply chain.
The government wanted to hit a $2/kg target.
"At $2 a kilogram, one kilogram of hydrogen is enough to power an average house," she said.
"But lots of cheap electrons are needed, we are talking about three cents a kilowatt hour to achieve the low cost that is needed," she said.
"Even if you can do that, you have to store it, move it, and get it to the end user.
"That could at least triple the price, if not more - this is where we see an opportunity for the agricultural industry to take a part in the greening of hydrogen."
Australia produced about 0.7 million tonnes of hydrogen, a year "but if just take the excess straw stubble that is potentially you could double that amount," she said.
The technology could be taken on site, she said.
Andrew Miller
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
