JM’s leading Low Carbon Hydrogen technology scoops IChemE award

Johnson Matthey, a leader in sustainable technologies, has scooped the Energy Award at this year’s IChemE Awards with its Low Carbon Hydrogen technology. The IChemE Global Awards celebrate chemical, process and biochemical engineering excellence and are widely considered to be the world’s most prestigious annual chemical engineering awards.

JM is a leader in the technologies enabling the world to get to net zero, and hydrogen has a big role to play in helping to achieve that. There are two methods to lower or eliminate carbon emissions when producing hydrogen, either using renewable energy and electrolysis to produce the hydrogen (called green hydrogen) or starting from natural gas (as is done today to produce grey hydrogen) but importantly removing the vast majority of carbon dioxide emissions by using carbon capture and storage (named blue hydrogen). These methods both unlock hydrogen’s vast potential as a significant contributor to the fight to tackle the climate crisis by decarbonising industries that are difficult to electrify such as heavy industry, heavy mobility, aviation and shipping. This is a critical step in helping societies meet their ambitious net zero targets.

Johnson Matthey’s LCH^TM process is the best in the world for producing blue hydrogen. The process is capable of reducing the carbon emissions of a steam methane reforming process by up to 98% and is ready to use now. It is already being used for the development of two projects in the UK, HyNet and Acorn so with the right investment and business models in place governments could use the technology at scale now to start making the carbon savings they need.
JM is also taking a leading role in green hydrogen, where Eugene McKenna was recently appointed Managing Director, and has a long history of innovation in fuel cell technology, with applications across automotive and industry and supply relationships with customers around the world, including for heavy duty vehicles and buses in China.

Jane Toogood, Sector Chief Executive, said: “JM has a really exciting opportunity in the hydrogen space. Our leading blue hydrogen technology, which is more efficient than any other commercial process, our established and growing fuel cells business, and our expertise in green hydrogen are all receiving further investment meaning we’re well placed to support customers and enable the scale up of the new hydrogen economy, on both the demand and application side. A big congratulations to the team who brought home this victory at the IChemE Awards – thoroughly well deserved.”

Mark McKenna, Syngas Technology Manager, who attended the virtual ceremony, said: “It’s an honour for JM’s technology to be recognised by IChemE, particularly given the quality of the other finalists who shared some inspiring presentations. I'm delighted to have received the award on behalf of the team and would like to dedicate it to all my colleagues here at JM who are playing a part in developing new hydrogen technology that will enable a cleaner, healthier future.”