Mote developing biomass-to-hydrogen facility

California-based company expects to start production of carbon-negative hydrogen in 2024

Californian startup Mote is establishing its first facility to convert wood waste into hydrogen fuel while capturing and sequestering the resulting CO₂ emissions. The wood waste would come from citrus or nut trees, or even almond shells, sourced from orchards in California’s Central Valley, says co-founder and CEO Mac Kennedy. The state produces a vast amount of such biomass, he says. The company expects to start producing carbon-negative hydrogen as soon as 2024. Volumes are expected to amount to c.7,000t/yr with 150,000t/yr of CO₂ removed from the air. Kennedy says the process is the first to combine the creation of synthetic gas from biomass, hydrogen production from synthetic gas and CO₂