A new hydrogen project that uses breakthrough catalytic technology to create a carbon-free heat source for food manufacturing has been launched on the Central Coast.
Berkeley Vale-based Star Scientific Limited and Central Coast Industry Connect Limited have signed a memorandum of understanding to establish the Coast Hydrogen Food Cluster.
The project will be the first time Star Scientific's Hydrogen Energy Release Optimiser (HERO) technology has been used in a commercial application.
The catalyst is applied to a substrate in the form of a coating. When introduced to hydrogen and oxygen in a closed environment, the catalyst generates industrial scale heat.
In test runs, Star Scientific has generated over 700 degrees celsius in just over three minutes
"Food manufacturers all over the world are looking for solutions to remove carbon from industrial processes such as heating, drying and cleaning," Star Scientific global group chairman Andrew Horvath said.
"The Central Coast region is home to some of Australia's biggest household brands and global food manufacturers, many of whom are realising the potential of hydrogen and our HERO technology to meet their heating needs.
"We have already commenced work under this memorandum of understanding providing heat for industrial-scale cleaning purposes in the food hub.
"This exciting work will demonstrate how our HERO can pave the way for Australian food manufacturers to reduce emissions."
The creation of the Central Coast Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) and the release of the NSW hydrogen strategy will complement the project's development.
"Taking steps to decarbonise is important for the manufacturing sector as a whole, including food and beverage manufacturing," Central Coast Industry Connect executive director Frank Sammut said.
"Manufacturers have turned to renewable electricity sources to reduce their carbon footprint but alternatives to gas for heating and cooking continues to be a challenge across a number of uses. The memorandum of understanding with Star Scientific provides the opportunity for developing that alternative carbon free heat source."
Mr Horvath said he hoped to engage and share knowledge with similar ventures emerging across Australia and New Zealand.
"Knowledge and skills sharing with similar clusters emerging around Australia and New Zealand, is of paramount importance to increase efficiency around these processes," he said.
"In particular, we want this cluster to be a 'incubator' of regulatory issues for the hydrogen supply chain, and more specifically, 'green' hydrogen made from renewable energy.
"Regulators are coming to grips with the use of green hydrogen and we hope the cluster will enable us to identify those issues early in the process and deal with them."
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